what year is pokémon set in?

[red M95]

the title says it all, i'm not sure if that was asked before, but it looks like it wasn't, i even tried searching on the web but still, couldn't find anything related to that specific thing at all. do they even use a calendar in pokémon? is the year pokémon is set a secret? did the game freak employees even thought of asking that to one of the guys who made pokémon? that's really a mystery to me, a lot of the wiki pages i visited don't even mention about an approximate year or anything... sorry if that's a stupid question, though. i haven't played nor watched pokémon in a while.

 

[SadisticMystic]

https://twitter.com/DrLavaYT/status/1234508424051752961

As a reasonable first-order estimate, for any game except PLA, you can assume it's set in whatever year that the first game to introduce its starting town was physically released in the real world (so Kanto games would be set in 1996, including the remakes--though LGPE becomes hopeless anachronistic if you try to reckon it with the rest of the timeline; Johto games are set in 1999; and whether Hoenn games are set in 2002 as corresponds to their real-world release, or 1996 as is implied by their concurrency with RGB, isn't such a big deal at that point).

 

[red M95]

"Pokemon director Junichi Masuda told fans not to think too much about it, because some events might contradict the timeline's canon."
"But despite any contradictions... it DOES appear Pokemon's writers adhere to a timeline while crafting each game's story."
if the writers actually think of a timeline, then not wanting people to think of a timeline is weird, a timeline is really necessary for organizing everything.

 

[KJNanika]

"Pokemon director Junichi Masuda told fans not to think too much about it, because some events might contradict the timeline's canon."
"But despite any contradictions... it DOES appear Pokemon's writers adhere to a timeline while crafting each game's story."
if the writers actually think of a timeline, then not wanting people to think of a timeline is weird, a timeline is really necessary for organizing everything.

The Pocket Monsters Encyclopedia explicitly states that Generation 1 is set in 1996 (the same year the first games of the generation came out)

fwiw, the Kanto games and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald come first (with ORAS explicitly being in an alternate dimension seemingly set 11 years after Gen 3's release), then the Johto and Sinnoh games are 3 years after those (the Johto games really hammer that fact in). Black/White takes place 12 years after those, B2/W2 also beats you over the head that it's set 2 years after the first Unova games, and X/Y happens concurrently. The Alola games take place 2 years after that. PLA takes place no more than 300 years before Diamond and Pearl.

Therefore:
1699>: Legends Arceus
1996: Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/LeafGreen & Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (coinciding with Red/Green/Blue's Japanese release year)
1999: Gold/SIlver/Crystal/HeartGold/SoulSilver & Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl (coinciding with Gold/Silver's release year)
2011: Black/White (coinciding with its European release year, funnily enough)
2013: Black 2/White 2 & X/Y (coinciding with the latter's release year)
2014? (in another dimension): OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire (coinciding with its release year)
2015: Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

Let's Go!, Sword and Shield don't adhere to this timeline (the former conflicts in several places and might as well be considered another alternate dimension), and I doubt Scarlet and Violet will, either.

 

[PinkIceFox]

I always just assume "current year" of when its released if I ever think about it. I try not to very often.

Except legends arceus of course that's set in the past. ...Just not far enough back for my tastes to explain how new pokemon are just gone from the region.

 

[Cute Charm]

My idea is this:

• 1890s - Legends Arceus
• 1996 - Red/Green/Blue
• 1997 - Let's Go
• 1997 - Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald
• 1998 - Gold/Silver/Crystal
• 1999/2000 - Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
• 2003 - Black/White
• 2004/2005 - Black 2/White 2
• 2005 - XY
• 2006 - Sun/Moon
• 2007 - Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
• 2008 - Sword/Shield
• 2010 - Scarlet/Violet

The alternate timeline:

• 2004 - Fire Red/Leaf Green
• 2008 - Heart Gold/Soul Silver
• 2012 - XY (but different)
• 2016 - Omega Ruby/Alpha Saphire

Orphaned entries:

• 1997 - Yellow (Based on the anime)
• 2021 - Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl (it's BDSP.)

 

[Funnylion]

The Pocket Monsters Encyclopedia explicitly states that Generation 1 is set in 1996 (the same year the first games of the generation came out)

fwiw, the Kanto games and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald come first (with ORAS explicitly being in an alternate dimension seemingly set 11 years after Gen 3's release), then the Johto and Sinnoh games are 3 years after those (the Johto games really hammer that fact in). Black/White takes place 12 years after those, B2/W2 also beats you over the head that it's set 2 years after the first Unova games, and X/Y happens concurrently. The Alola games take place 2 years after that. PLA takes place no more than 300 years before Diamond and Pearl.

Therefore:
1699>: Legends Arceus
1996: Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/LeafGreen & Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (coinciding with Red/Green/Blue's Japanese release year)
1999: Gold/SIlver/Crystal/HeartGold/SoulSilver & Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl (coinciding with Gold/Silver's release year)
2011: Black/White (coinciding with its European release year, funnily enough)
2013: Black 2/White 2 & X/Y (coinciding with the latter's release year)
2014? (in another dimension): OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire (coinciding with its release year)
2015: Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

Let's Go!, Sword and Shield don't adhere to this timeline (the former conflicts in several places and might as well be considered another alternate dimension), and I doubt Scarlet and Violet will, either.

How do we actually know that Sword and shield are part of a different timeline?

 

[MightyAphrodite]

Besides PLA being set centuries past, I can't really say on main games that came out at the time. I guess they're all set in the years they came out since we had old-style phones in Red/Green and now we have smartphones and drones in Sword/Shield.

Not sure about remakes though.