Is Johto The Forgotten Region?

[Unovia]

One thing I have noticed is that, with all of the Kanto love, Johto, Kanto's neighboring Region to the west, seems to have been forgotten. We have not had a Johto game since HeartGold & SoulSilver (HGSS) in 2010. I am currently playing the Virtual Console version of Crystal and I have recently played the Virtual Console version of Silver. With Pikachu & Eevee (which should have included Johto in a DLC), and the Johto Legendaries showing up in recent games, why have we not had a Johto Remake in 13 Years? Kanto gets all of this love, while Johto seems like it has been forgotten. #Let's Go Johto

Any clue why this has been? Any speculation? I know we need to be giving Paldea love right now, but this has been bothering me.

I would like to have a Johto game that does not require you to sit and grind (a Johto game with modern mechanics) forever and a day. It just seems to me that, as much as people love HGSS and Johto in general, it is strange that there is no Johto update for the Switch.

Any conversation on this would be nice.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I absolutely love the Johto region, but I wouldn't want to see a Let's Go variant for it. (Since those were some of the most oversimplified, hand-holdy games in the series.) Something more of a Legends: Arceus type deal, since the Johto region is so rich with history, it would be perfect to see its past.

 

[c la fet]

I don't think it's forgotten,
In gen 9 they gave Wooper, Girafarig and Dunsparce new evolutions and the gym leaders use Johto Pokémon like Teddiursa and Sudowoodo. It might be a coincidence but I feel like we could get new Johto games soon

 

[Unovia]

I absolutely love the Johto region, but I wouldn't want to see a Let's Go variant for it. (Since those were some of the most oversimplified, hand-holdy games in the series.) Something more of a Legends: Arceus type deal, since the Johto region is so rich with history, it would be perfect to see its past.

Legends Arceus type thing would be more fitting, I agree. I only was thinking Let's Go Johto was a missed opportunity due to having a Let's Go Kanto.

I don't think it's forgotten,
In gen 9 they gave Wooper, Girafarig and Dunsparce new evolutions and the gym leaders use Johto Pokémon like Teddiursa and Sudowoodo. It might be a coincidence but I feel like we could get new Johto games soon

It would be nice. As I have said, I would like to see something like a Johto with modern mechanics and not so grinding.

 

[prog rocker]

Johto with semi-modern mechanics would be nice for me. Maybe a whole rebalance to Kanto considering how they changed almost all trainers between Yellow and LGPE (ex: the Hiker that referenced Pat Benatar is now a Black Belt).

 

[Jimothy]

I mean my prediction for the rest of this gen absolutely include Legends Celebi and B3W3, and there have been so many Johto references in recent games. Plus unless they switch up the order, we're due for a revisit to Johto before Unova.

I'm actually playing through LGE for the first time right now and I must say it's way more different than the original than I expected it to be based on what fans have said. And while PLA is easily my favorite game in the series gameplay-wise, Let's Go is easily the best looking Pokemon game we've ever gotten.

At this point I don't think Let's Go specifically is going to continue as a series, but I hope its aesthetic comes back. And much like Zelda, I think and hope there's room for both fully 3D and top-down Pokemon games.

 

[WyndonCalling]

I think Johto struggles a bit for not having the standard story tropes and colourful cast of later Gens - no world-threatening legendary plot, no particularly standout cutscenes, little absurd Dragon Ball/Yu-gi-oh! hair. Johto certainly has some highly memorable environments and locales and the remakes spiced up the Rocket Executives a bit, but it's not really the kind of place that's going to get repeated call-outs or high-profile cameos in other regions.

Funnily enough, there is actually a Switch title that gives the Johto starters some time in the spotlight. All three of them are present in a pretty big way in New Snap, especially Meganium - in fact, it's one of the game's 'bosses'.

 

[Ryoma Maser]

Johto as always been forgotten in favor of Kanto Pandering, heck the Johto references in Alola makes the Kanto characters reference every other second feel more at home. Despite Johto and Gen II doing more for the franchise than Gen I ever did and it's often forgotten is stupid.

However, Johto as never really never given its time of day since most of the games Johto as been featured in don't even give it their own region love, Johto Gym Leaders barely use their own regions Pokémon, they don't have their own League, they don't have their own evil team and most of their popular Pokémon are locked to late game areas. Their disrespect is why I write them in my stories distancing themselves from their Kanto neighbors.

The fact Johto/Gen II Pokémon are getting so much in Legends and SV is surprising to me. One of my major problems with Let's GO is that it did not give us Johto despite that game literally giving you nothing to half the time outside of it being a copy-paste of the Gameboy Kanto games (to this day I say that Fire Red and Leaf Green is the game you should play, not Let's Go for to play Kanto as Let's Go failed its mission so hard).

Personally with Johto being giving more spotlight I hope we'll get a Legends game for it since I do not want a Let's Go game for it (partially I don't want to go to Kanto again). But judging how the last remakes went, I think we'll be going to Unova for the next Legends games if there is one.

 

[Volphied]

However, Johto as never really never given its time of day since most of the games Johto as been featured in don't even give it their own region love, Johto Gym Leaders barely use their own regions Pokémon, they don't have their own League, they don't have their own evil team and most of their popular Pokémon are locked to late game areas.

Gold/Silver were released at a time when the whole franchise was still trying to figure out how a sequel to the incredibly successful R/G/B is supposed to look like.

Gold/Silver were known in development as Pocket Monsters 2. Kanto was expanded by Johto, and so was the number of Pokemon. Johto thus existed as a mere appendage to Kanto. It's purpose was to expand on it. It's therefore more logical to instead look at these two regions as a single big one. The Kanto Pokemon are native to Johto just as much as Johto Pokemon. Thus, the type of Pokemon Johto Gym Leaders use can be explained as them pulling from a common Kanto-Johto source.

"Generations" as a concept didn't exist yet. Nobody could imagine a different villainous group than Team Rocket. There was no "National Pokedex". Most of these features were only introduced in Hoenn. It was actually a huge surprise (and a controversy!) when Ruby and Sapphire dropped the player into an entirely new region that was not connected to Kanto.

Today, you (and many others) look at Johto not having its own league as a bad thing. But back when Ruby/Sapphire were released, people were shocked to learn that the Indigo League is not "the" league. That there are other leagues in other Regions. The Pokemon franchise found its footing in what came to be known as Gen 3. And Gen 2 started to look like an awkward experiment that GameFreak didn't wanted to repeat for future sequels. Can you imagine an alternate history, where the Indigo League remained the premier League, where Hoenn Gym Leaders mostly use Kanto-Johto Pokemon, where most Hoenn pokemon are locked to late game areas, where Team Rocket is always the main villain, where after beating all Gyms you travel to Johto and Kanto? Back then, a lot of people were really angry that this isn't what happened when they first played Ruby/Sapphire.

 

[Unovia]

Johto as always been forgotten in favor of Kanto Pandering, heck the Johto references in Alola makes the Kanto characters reference every other second feel more at home. Despite Johto and Gen II doing more for the franchise than Gen I ever did and it's often forgotten is stupid.

However, Johto as never really never given its time of day since most of the games Johto as been featured in don't even give it their own region love, Johto Gym Leaders barely use their own regions Pokémon, they don't have their own League, they don't have their own evil team and most of their popular Pokémon are locked to late game areas. Their disrespect is why I write them in my stories distancing themselves from their Kanto neighbors.

The fact Johto/Gen II Pokémon are getting so much in Legends and SV is surprising to me. One of my major problems with Let's GO is that it did not give us Johto despite that game literally giving you nothing to half the time outside of it being a copy-paste of the Gameboy Kanto games (to this day I say that Fire Red and Leaf Green is the game you should play, not Let's Go for to play Kanto as Let's Go failed its mission so hard).

Personally with Johto being giving more spotlight I hope we'll get a Legends game for it since I do not want a Let's Go game for it (partially I don't want to go to Kanto again). But judging how the last remakes went, I think we'll be going to Unova for the next Legends games if there is one.

LGPE could have easily handled an addition of Johto. Frankly, it would have been nice to have Johto be second so it was the stronger Region of the two, instead of standard practice where Johto starts the journey and Kanto ends it.

 

[team_____grunt]

honestly no its forgotten by nintendo but not people. everyone loves hgss.

 

[prog rocker]

I don't think it's forgotten by Nintendo either, considering they went through the trouble of reprogramming Crystal so people could get the Celebi event outside Japan... Which is something that nobody expected them to do.

They also didn't forget about them in Paldea. And isn't Malie City a reference to Johto, too? And there's also Valerie, who is from Johto.

 

[Palamon]

Definitely not forgotten. There's many Pokemon from Johto in Scarlet/Violet. Honestly, the only thing Pokemon has forgotten is Pokemon Sleep. That hasn't had anything happen to it at all. It's also referenced, I think in legends arceus.

 

[Aulos]

I think LGP/E were just pure Kanto pandering and that's it. So I wouldn't expect a Johto sequel or think much of it. Kanto was only remade again because of pandering, and thus we shouldn't look at no recent Johto games in such a light.

 

[Morningstar]

Gold/Silver were released at a time when the whole franchise was still trying to figure out how a sequel to the incredibly successful R/G/B is supposed to look like.

Gold/Silver were known in development as Pocket Monsters 2. Kanto was expanded by Johto, and so was the number of Pokemon. Johto thus existed as a mere appendage to Kanto. It's purpose was to expand on it. It's therefore more logical to instead look at these two regions as a single big one. The Kanto Pokemon are native to Johto just as much as Johto Pokemon. Thus, the type of Pokemon Johto Gym Leaders use can be explained as them pulling from a common Kanto-Johto source.

"Generations" as a concept didn't exist yet. Nobody could imagine a different villainous group than Team Rocket. There was no "National Pokedex". Most of these features were only introduced in Hoenn. It was actually a huge surprise (and a controversy!) when Ruby and Sapphire dropped the player into an entirely new region that was not connected to Kanto.

Today, you (and many others) look at Johto not having its own league as a bad thing. But back when Ruby/Sapphire were released, people were shocked to learn that the Indigo League is not "the" league. That there are other leagues in other Regions. The Pokemon franchise found its footing in what came to be known as Gen 3. And Gen 2 started to look like an awkward experiment that GameFreak didn't wanted to repeat for future sequels. Can you imagine an alternate history, where the Indigo League remained the premier League, where Hoenn Gym Leaders mostly use Kanto-Johto Pokemon, where most Hoenn pokemon are locked to late game areas, where Team Rocket is always the main villain, where after beating all Gyms you travel to Johto and Kanto? Back then, a lot of people were really angry that this isn't what happened when they first played Ruby/Sapphire.

In a way that makes the exclusion in LGPE more baffling. Like the Genwunners aren't gonna seethe at the inclusion of Johto guys.

FWIW I think a revisit is possible, but it seems like it would do its won thing and both Let's Go and Legends seem like one and done deals for now.

 

[nickdt]

I absolutely love the Johto region, but I wouldn't want to see a Let's Go variant for it. (Since those were some of the most oversimplified, hand-holdy games in the series.) Something more of a Legends: Arceus type deal, since the Johto region is so rich with history, it would be perfect to see its past.

What about a Lets Go Johto style first, then after we get Legends Johto.

I say this, because we got BDSP and then Legends: Arceus... but considering Johto already got its remakes... i feel like its only natural for them to follow up the Lets Go game with a Johto variant and then have Legends: Celebi. A problem timeline wise however might be Sneasel, since if the timeline between Hisui and the Johto region will be close... it would not make a whole lot of sense for regular Sneasel to be a thing in that region, since nothing indicates Hisuian Sneasel changed form from regular one, unlike Braviary and the Zorua line.

There is only a thing in J-Sneasels dex entry that it shares roots with H-Sneasel... which doesn't say much of which came first, just that it shares roots.

So imo... that means Legends Johto needs to be either set before or after Legends Arceus in order for it to make sense.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

Johto is my favorite region so I'm obviously biased, but I don't think Johto is forgotten. I think of all the mainline Pokemon games, fans would be the first to request a Johto remake made with modern mechanics and an original storyline. A lot of fans seem to enjoy the region's aesthetics and lore and is referenced in later games several times. I'd love to see another game set in the region (either a deep dive in its history a la Legends or some sort of modern take on the region and gym quest)

 

[Unovia]

Johto is my favorite region so I'm obviously biased, but I don't think Johto is forgotten. I think of all the mainline Pokemon games, fans would be the first to request a Johto remake made with modern mechanics and an original storyline. A lot of fans seem to enjoy the region's aesthetics and lore and is referenced in later games several times. I'd love to see another game set in the region (either a deep dive in its history a la Legends or some sort of modern take on the region and gym quest)

I think it is fitting that the fanbase on here would like a Johto update with modern mechanics. The grinding in the Johto games has always been crazy ridiculous. Even if you give fans a Johto game with better leveling (and that alone, with a regular Johto storyline) would make new Johto the best Johto experience.

 

[Harryghost]

Well, it certainly felt like that was the case for the longest time lol. Though, lately Game Freak has been pretty generous in their Johto representation, and we love to see that.

 

[Unovia]

Well, it certainly felt like that was the case for the longest time lol. Though, lately Game Freak has been pretty generous in their Johto representation, and we love to see that.

Frankly, with all of the Johto representation, I think (like some of the others here) that we may be getting a Johto update, especially if the spoiler is true about the DLC.