Isshu

[Falconwing]

Upper left corner of the map. What is that?

 

[iTeruri]

Doesn't look like Hong Kong nor New York City at all, to me, atleast. It looks like it's our first main region not based on the real world.

Am I the only one that thinks the amusement park in the center of the map could be the new Battle Frontier? Of course, most pre-game area's (like the Battle Frontier) have been covered by clouds in the past gen, but it screams Battle Frontier to me. Iirc, the Battle Frontier was mentioned to be a amusement park for trainers in Emerald, so it fits.

 

[Mitchman]

So, while I'm completely against this idea and see no reason why to believe this, are some of you thinking that its only some of Isshu? Just wondering, cause I wanna know how this doesn't seem it.

 

[V Faction]

There's small pockets of population spread throughout the region -- stuff that doesn't pop right off the page, as it were. Plus some of the map is taken up by extra crap.

 

[Mitchman]

So in other words, this is not the whole map for you?

 

[V Faction]

In other words, I think you should wait for the in-game map because these things always differ from what's actually in the game.

 

[Mijzelffan]

Isshu has a fucking theme park! I want to ride that Ferris wheel!

 

[Fig]

For the New York Doubters:

 

[Falconwing]

Amazing how Hiun City is so far from the starting town.

EDIT: Are those rice paddies at the top of the map?

 

[Kokoro]

I think Isshu is in a made-up world. I mean, what place in the world has a desert, several mountains, a giant city, a factory, and what appears to be a castle (in the bottom right corner)?

 

[iTeruri]

So, while I'm completely against this idea and see no reason why to believe this, are some of you thinking that its only some of Isshu? Just wondering, cause I wanna know how this doesn't seem it.

Well, we can't see the whole thing because of the clouds and text, but don't think there is anymore of Isshu outside the borders of the image. So yeah, an inbetween answer. If not for the clouds and text, we could see the whole region.


Evil Figment: Isshu still looks like any island in between two bodies of water. Rotterdam, for example, also has an island in between two bodies of water, a bridge very simmilar to the one in Isshu (albeit it's red), but you don't see me claiming Isshu is based on Rotterdam, because, well, it's silly to base a region on a city.

 

[Falconwing]

Well, are you saying that Kyuushu or whatever it is matches up with Hoenn exactly?

 

[Fig]

iTeruri - perhaps, but does Rotterdam have a world-famous park exactly where the Isshu park is? Does Rotterdam have rivers that follow near picture-perfectly the path of the rivers of New York?

I mean, Montreal is an island too, and if I were playing favorite I'd be trying to argue it's Montreal...but Montreal just doesn't fit. The rivers come out wrong. There are bridges like that, of course, and you could twist them in being in the right place, but the park isn't really there either.

Of course, they too liberties with the map - the mountains just shouldn't be this far south, the Hudson highlands are much further north of New York in reality, not parallel with Central Park. Then again, every region has taken liberties with the landscape previously - anyone can point me where the desert is on Kyushu (Hoenn), for a start?

But the bottom line is, the basic geography and landscape fits New York near-perfectly.

 

[V Faction]

This image scares me.

 

[iTeruri]

Evil Figment: I'm not against Isshu being based on New York City, but I'm just not jumping to conclusions because of two rivers. Let's face it, Isshu is basicly an island in between two rivers and two landmasses. Could be anything.

Of course, there are (some/many) signs pointing to NYC, but I'm not convinced just yet. There are so many possibilities, heck, the region could be made up completly, without any real world counterpart (although unlikely) or the region could be a mix of different parts of the world. We don't know yet.
I'm willing to accept it's NYC, I'm just not convinced yet.
I'd prefer some other part of the world over NYC, but in the end it's the region that counts, not the inspiration. =P

Also, your avatar scares me.

 

[Fig]

Agreed on that last.

Honestly, from where I stand, it's the park that's the big decisive clue. The rivers could just be rivers (Although they mirror the rivers of New York extremely well). But the park, exactly where Central Park should be? New York wins.

 

[Zeta]

I wonder if we could get GF tickets to Florida for the seventh generation? Always thought that would be an awesome region for a Pokemon game. Swamps, jungles, lots of ocean, themeparks that could be re-purposed into Battle Frontiers or strange areas to explore.

 

[Rayne]

This image scares me.

Damn it, beat me D: but this just goes to show more people are thinking in a similar mindset. I'm also glad they think the 'desert' area is a 'nuked' zone.

My basic interpretation of Isshu

EDIT: Wow I suck, I spelled Jersey City wrong and on top of that, it's more likely to be Union City. Well, as close as they are it could really pass for either or, but just a minor oversight there.

 

[Coach]

Just noticed something, Hiun City has 5 docks. One for each generation (and region) so far.

I really like Isshu, it's different. From the time we first saw Hiun I kinda thought it would be more of a central hub for Isshu. I'm curious to find out what all of the other places are though.

 

[Katherine]

Oh man I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the possible Isshu-New York connection.
When I saw the map, New York was the first thing that popped into my head. The shape is just incredibly similar.
Although I'd love for it to be based off of New York, my conscience keeps telling me to not let my bias of being an American get in the way. The possibility of it not being New York is still there.

Are there any other real-world maps that resemble what we see so far of Isshu? I'm curious to see if there are other theories.

I wonder if we could get GF tickets to Florida for the seventh generation? Always thought that would be an awesome region for a Pokemon game. Swamps, jungles, lots of ocean, themeparks that could be re-purposed into Battle Frontiers or strange areas to explore.

While I would love to see a Florida-based region (being a proud Floridian), I'm not totally sure if it would make a good Pokemon region. Yes there are really neat environments, but there's not a whole lot of variety. It's pretty much, wetlands, rivers, and oceans. There are no mountains, which means there's not a whole lot of change in the terrain. It'd be kinda cool at first, but I think eventually people would get bored of it.

whoa long response