Like Legend of Zelda, do you think they should relase an offical timeline?

[Alpha71689]

Are we seriously questioning the veracity of Matsumiya's Twitter account? Really?

If you really need more proof, the guy is followed by Takao Unno, Midori Harada, Hitoshi Ariga, Imakuni and many other prominent figures involved with the franchise.

But they could be fake [/sarcasm]

Oh, you're so funny!

 

[TokoTamer]

Regardless, the report has to be before the hero encounters it, as there would be no report afterwards.

Actually, the report is about the science team failing to find the red Gyarados, so many fans took this to mean that it had already been caught. I don't think that this is the only possible explanation, though. Who's to say that the red Gyarados wasn't smart enough to evade the team's detection?

In Platinum, there are also reports about the team trying to find Lugia, Ho-Oh and even the giant Bellsprout referenced in Sprout Tower. Suffice to say that they didn't find them, either.

Indeed. I do remember the Platinum report, but somehow I was misremembering the one in DP as being something along the lines of "the red Gyarados has appeared at a faraway lake." I probably should have referenced the report before writing that as it's been a while. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[The Outrage]

You know, while we have an official timeline, and confirmed time lapses between a few games, what's never been clear to me is whether we're counting from the beginning or end of a person's journey. For instance, GSC takes place 3 years after RBY, but is that 3 years after Red becomes Champion, or after he begins his journey. There's also the fact that we don't know exactly how long each journey took place. GSC may have taken as much as two years given the protagonist travels across two regions, but as Silktree mentions, parts of GSC seems to take place before DPPt, and parts seem to take place after.

Then there's also this little exchange with Jasmine and Erika

Erika: "Hi, Jasmine. I heard Whitney from Goldenrod City said you were too plain and should look more fancy. Is that true?"

Jasmine: "Yes... I'm thinking maybe I should participate in this Contest in Sinnoh to try and be more vibrant..."


Erika: "How did it go?"
Jasmine: "I couldn't bring myself to go to the Contest."


Erika: "Oh, I see... Then why don't you try putting on something especially gorgeous?"

Jasmine: "Ah, yes! Maybe I can bring myself to enter the Contest!"

The dialogue implies that Jasmine has already been to Sinnoh once, but did not participate in contests Now, we've seen Jasmine in Sunyshore near the end of the game. Interestingly, when you play all the way to Master Rank before beating the Elite 4, you won't get to see the special Master Rank trainers like Jasmine. They only appear in the post-game.

Sinnoh and HgSs' events are so intertwined with each other that you don't really need an official timeline to draw the connection.

As for the Orre games, while there is no confirmation they are canon to the main series, we do know that Colosseum and XD are 5 years apart. I imagine that Colosseum actually takes place before the RBY era, while XD takes place in the time between RBY and GSC.

 

[Fairy Ice Ricky]

You know, while we have an official timeline, and confirmed time lapses between a few games, what's never been clear to me is whether we're counting from the beginning or end of a person's journey. For instance, GSC takes place 3 years after RBY, but is that 3 years after Red becomes Champion, or after he begins his journey. There's also the fact that we don't know exactly how long each journey took place. GSC may have taken as much as two years given the protagonist travels across two regions, but as Silktree mentions, parts of GSC seems to take place before DPPt, and parts seem to take place after.

I think ultimately it depends on what event you're trying to place on the timeline. It would require some intense research, but I'm sure someone/some people could figure out the details if they really want to. For example, there's an NPC in the Violet City Pokémon Center who says this in Gen II/IV:

It was around three years ago. TEAM ROCKET was up to no good with POKéMON. But justice prevailed--a young kid broke 'em up.

It was about three years ago. This group of thugs called Team Rocket was involved in wrongdoing. They were abusing Pokémon. But! Bad things never last! A boy did a wonderful job and Team Rocket was disbanded!

My understanding of the quote is that GSC starts three years after some point while Team Rocket was still active, which would imply that GSC took place around three years prior to Red defeating Giovanni a final time in RBY. Whether or not that means that GSC started at the beginning of Red's journey or not would require more evidence from the games, but using my interpretation we could then infer that Red became Champion after that three-year starting point (basically, Red would've been Champion 2+ years ago before GSC). But of course, that depends on one interpretation, and depending on who's interpreting the evidence we could get different results. But still, that would be a really cool project to take on!

 

[Alola]

So while Lysandre was threatening Kalos, Ghetsis an ocean away was doing the same to Unova...more or less...or Ghetsis did so first and then a few moths later Lysandre?

(-____\)""

Either way, this explains why there is no Pokemon World Tournament in Kalos, right?.

 

[Silktree]

Sinnoh and HgSs' events are so intertwined with each other that you don't really need an official timeline to draw the connection.

Which is why we didn't. I'd say that Erika and Jasmine's conversation is the best kind of evidence of contemporary stories, but it isn't perfect since there is an odd time jump during the conversation (at which point Jasmine visits Sunyshore). But at least we can infer that Sunyshore roughly corresponds to Celadon in the two ongoing journeys (although the Kanto journey doesn't even have a fixed order).

As for the Orre games, while there is no confirmation they are canon to the main series, we do know that Colosseum and XD are 5 years apart. I imagine that Colosseum actually takes place before the RBY era, while XD takes place in the time between RBY and GSC.

That was my assumption at the time, and I suppose it still is despite the lack of references. It would require Wes to have returned the legendary beasts to Johto or Kanto by the time Red entered the Hall of Fame, with Greevil obtaining the legendary birds and Lugia around the same period in time for XD. After that, Michael released the birds and Lugia so they could return to their respective regions.

It would require some intense research, but I'm sure someone/some people could figure out the details if they really want to.

Research can only go so far since all the referenced Generation I events are said to have happened three years ago. I doubt that Game Freak mapped out the timeline to a very detailed extent. But Team Rocket do announce their return "after three years of preparation" as well as saying that they were broken up three years ago, so I think we can assume that the gap is counted from Giovanni's defeat. Red's badge quest may have only lasted half a year or so, which would explain the rounding down for previous events, namely: "She recently lost the Poké Doll that a boy gave her three years ago." Actually, that explanation doesn't work well since the Copycat reference follows the Johto badge quest (which should have added another half a year or so), but maybe Red gave her the doll only a month before defeating Giovanni.

Either way, this explains why there is no Pokemon World Tournament in Kalos, right?.

The World Tournament isn't canon anyway since none of the older characters look different despite around 10 years having passed. Compare them to Caitlin and you'll see that something is wrong.

 

[Alola]

Which is why we didn't. I'd say that Erika and Jasmine's conversation is the best kind of evidence of contemporary stories, but it isn't perfect since there is an odd time jump during the conversation (at which point Jasmine visits Sunyshore). But at least we can infer that Sunyshore roughly corresponds to Celadon in the two ongoing journeys (although the Kanto journey doesn't even have a fixed order).

As for the Orre games, while there is no confirmation they are canon to the main series, we do know that Colosseum and XD are 5 years apart. I imagine that Colosseum actually takes place before the RBY era, while XD takes place in the time between RBY and GSC.

That was my assumption at the time, and I suppose it still is despite the lack of references. It would require Wes to have returned the legendary beasts to Johto or Kanto by the time Red entered the Hall of Fame, with Greevil obtaining the legendary birds and Lugia around the same period in time for XD. After that, Michael released the birds and Lugia so they could return to their respective regions.

It would require some intense research, but I'm sure someone/some people could figure out the details if they really want to.

Research can only go so far since all the referenced Generation I events are said to have happened three years ago. I doubt that Game Freak mapped out the timeline to a very detailed extent. But Team Rocket do announce their return "after three years of preparation" as well as saying that they were broken up three years ago, so I think we can assume that the gap is counted from Giovanni's defeat. Red's badge quest may have only lasted half a year or so, which would explain the rounding down for previous events, namely: "She recently lost the Poké Doll that a boy gave her three years ago." Actually, that explanation doesn't work well since the Copycat reference follows the Johto badge quest (which should have added another half a year or so), but maybe Red gave her the doll only a month before defeating Giovanni.

Either way, this explains why there is no Pokemon World Tournament in Kalos, right?.

The World Tournament isn't canon anyway since none of the older characters look different despite around 10 years having passed. Compare them to Caitlin and you'll see that something is wrong.

Now I am internally disturbed. O___o

That is so true...and freaky.

 

[The Outrage]

I'd think that as an institution the Pokemon World Tournament (like the Battle Frontier) exist, but all the tournaments that happen there (except for the first plot-relevant one in-game) are non-canon.