Speculation Gen 9 Predictions (Development predictions, New Regions, Version names)

[Poke Dragon]

Could be possible that we receive Gen 4 remakes this year, and then next year is a gap year to give Gen 8 more time to settle with whatever new thing the Gen 4 remakes introduce.

 

[RileyXY1]

Yeah, but sadly not really marketable when one wants a simple and iconic name that sticks.

Yeah. Considering that not many people know what Niello and Champleve even are, they are not very good titles.

 

[Sheep40]

Yeah, but sadly not really marketable when one wants a simple and iconic name that sticks.

Hence, Niello and Ivory. Ebony and Ivory would work too, but it kind of ruins the subtelty when it's obviou by name that ebony is dark colored.

 

[Sheep40]

I think it'll come out depending on when we have a gap year, but if there is none, I could totally see DP remakes this year and Gen 9 next. Or gap year this year, DP remakes 2021, Gen 2022.

Region wise, I have a feeling it wont be a region based on the US, Europe, or Japan. I think it'll be set far away, maybe somewhere in Southeast Asia and visually I think it'll be a huge leap from Sw/Sh visuals as response to the criticism during Sw/Sh pre-release.

I don't expect the national dex to return.
I think that routes will be replaced with wild areas, and the game wont follow the traditional gym structure, but something different like S/M did.

Despite having something called a gym challenge, NI actually uses something similar to the trial system from SM, just with eight gyms instead of four kahunas. The trials also end with fighting the trial captain, not a totem pokemon.

A SEA region with this setup I feel would be too similar to SM, at least given the cultures of their real-world counterparts (hawaiians share a common ancestor with many SEA nations, Filipinos, Indonesians, and Malasyians predominantly). Why either eastern or central europe make sense to me is because Germany, the Yugosphere, and Russia are all very culturally distinct from western europe (IE Galar and Kalos). Europe has more than one climate zone, even when taking into account east and west (the western balkans are very rainy, for example) and these three areas look very distinct (the balkans are rocky, Germany is flat and forested, and russia is kind of a combination of the two with just about every other possible biome except for jungles).

The national dex just cannot return at this point. I just think that there will be more new pokemon than old, but the Dex will still number exactly 400.

Because of the use of the unreal engine, visuals are definetly going to be an upgrade compared to SS. I've seen what the fans can do, why would a four-course team of GF, GS, CI, and IS be any worse?

 

[SpinyShell]

Hence, Niello and Ivory. Ebony and Ivory would work too, but it kind of ruins the subtelty when it's obviou by name that ebony is dark colored.

Niello isn’t exactly marketable despite its shortness. The titles of the games are both short and common/iconic enough words that your average kid knows them. They should be easy to pronounce and recall. Not only is niello an obscure word, when I google it I have to scroll to find the actual definition because the first few results are businesses. That’s not marketable.

 

[Aulos]

If they do return to Europe, I think either Scandinavia, Russia, or Greece would be the best choices, as they're pretty distant from the cultures of England and France.

I actually agree with Sheep40 that a SE Asia region would feel too similar to Alola, and that's very unfortunate.

The series has now already seen two tropical regions. Honestly, it did nothing for me in S/M/US/UM so I really wouldn't be able to look forward to anything else tropical. But I do hate wishing only for Western regions. At least Russia and Greece would be less Western. China would be fine, too.

We had so many Kanto being shoved into the games but no rethinking, no actual remake where Kanto grows beyong a handful of cities and simple routes to a propoer region that has all the opportunities that were made with each new game but forgotten or dropped for the next ones.

Yeah, that's one thing I hate. I might have been okay with a Kanto remake in 2018 if they had only actually tried to reimagine the region in a new framework more appropriate for 3D/the Switch. Instead, LGP/E were just the same ol' Kanto from the GB days in 2.5D. All of the same tiny, square towns, little square patches of grass, etc. It was so uninspired, I couldn't go anywhere near LGP/E.

 

[RileyXY1]

Yeah, that's one thing I hate. I might have been okay with a Kanto remake in 2018 if they had only actually tried to reimagine the region in a new framework more appropriate for 3D/the Switch. Instead, LGP/E were just the same ol' Kanto from the GB days in 2.5D. All of the same tiny, square towns, little square patches of grass, etc. It was so uninspired, I couldn't go anywhere near LGP/E.

I'm fearing that they might do the same thing for the Sinnoh remakes if they ever decide to make them.

 

[Aulos]

I'm fearing that they might do the same thing for the Sinnoh remakes if they ever decide to make them.

I would be pretty shocked if they did anything else. Still, I think they'll try harder to at least make them look more 3D with different camera angles and the like. I think they'll also "smooth" out the environments/grass patches, etc so they look less square.

Part of the problem with LGP/E was that it wasn't even the first remake of the first generation, nor was it even the first time we'd seen Kanto in 2.5D (HG/SS featured it in 2.5D, although not as advanced as LGP/E). Combine that with the overabundance of Kanto pandering as of late, where nothing Kanto even feels special anymore. It's very hard to excuse the way LGP/E was done.

I have little doubt they'll play it conservative if they do DPPt remakes, but hey, maybe I'll be wrong. And even if I'm not, as I said above, I think they'll at least try to make them match Sword/Shield stylistically even if it's still rather shallow. It'll be interesting to see. Unless they do the worst possible thing and give us a LG style Diamond/Pearl remake.

 

[Sheep40]

Scandinavia would work perfectly! It doesn't hurt that both niello and (whale/walrus) Ivory is found in viking art (and in the former strongly associated with them).

A good region based off of the five nordic nations (sweden, denmark, norway, faroe) could be called Mithelboria (a combination of midgard and hyperborea, the ancinent greek name for scandinavia). Like Camlornia, it's steeped in traditions, at once modern and historical; looking to both the future and past. The pokemon league is based somewhat off the idea of the holmgang, or viking duel: with the trial captains and kahuna-equivalents (skalds) being fought open air. Predictably there would be a strong viking influence on the region, with many references to the sagas, but I would like to see references to the carolean period, a sort of late scandinavian renaissance in the 1500 to the 1700s. The villanous teams would be two competing groups of vikings. The helmet on Ivory version's logo is a spangenhelm, signyfing that the legendary is based off of a viking.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

If they do return to Europe, I think either Scandinavia, Russia, or Greece would be the best choices, as they're pretty distant from the cultures of England and France.

Highkey want a Greece/Egypt/Rome region tbh.

 

[RileyXY1]

I think that a region based on China would be nice and awesome.

 

[Sheep40]

Western Balkans is what I want the most given I am a bit of a slavophile. Russia would be interesting; they could insert some hints into the DP remake considering what Sinnoh's real counterpart is.

 

[Matleo]

1.Ancient Greece and Rome , Spain, India mixed with Australia, Middle east and very dry desert regions with ruins, piramids, sandy deserts, a ocean side, a big river and some oasises between cities...
Some gym leaders that travel with a caravans(traveling cities and communities that change places via Kammels, balloons or even a gym on a city thats a floating boat)

2. More sinister like Romania, Transylvania , more horror like then Galar, castles, caves, swamps, dungeons, even more european.

3. Ice age based region based on Artica, Norway, Sweden, where 80% region is ice half of the year. Vikings , North american indians.

4. Tropical paradise like Ancient South America mixed with and cient Greece and Rome

 

[ShieldFan]

I do think the european trend will continue. Countries like Italy, Russia, Germany and Spain could be great sources of inspirations to create a new region. If they choose Spain as they new source, then they could design a bull/ox based fire starter. However, a China or/Korea based region could be a good option for them as well. So, I'm betting my cents on China/Korea/Another european country. I'm not sure if we're getting Gen4 remakes in 2020, so I'm cluelesss about the year of release. Gen 9 games will be probably the last pokemon game on Switch, before Nintendo announces the new console.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

Korea will probably never happen considering how Gamefreak is Japanese.

 

[SpinyShell]

I don't think we will be seeing a Chinese region anytime soon either, but this is based on my very limited knowledge of China-Japan relations so I could be wrong.

 

[nickdt]

Could be possible that we receive Gen 4 remakes this year, and then next year is a gap year to give Gen 8 more time to settle with whatever new thing the Gen 4 remakes introduce.

Gen 4 remakes for this year is not happening.

 

[Aulos]

Gen 4 remakes for this year is not happening.

Now that's pretty clear, but back when they posted that it was reasonable to think that it could happen.

 

[Poke Dragon]

There won't be third versions or sequels anymore.

 

[Poke Dragon]

How do you know that for sure?

They said it themselves that Expansion Passes will be the thing to do from now on.