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3rd Gen Hoenn's similarities to Greece

Do you think Hoenn is based off of Kyushu or Greece?

  • Kyushu

    Votes: 4 66.7%
  • Greece

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I'm not sure...

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • Total voters
    6

gold/silverFTW

Ecruteak Champion
24
Posts
11
Years
Ok, I don't know if this is true or not, but on Bulbapedia Sootopolis City is supposedly based on "The Greek island of Santorini, also known as Thera." And so I looked at a map of Greece, and it looks shockingly similar to Hoenn, only turned 180°, just like Kyushu. And I realized, what if Nintendo based Hoenn off of Greece and Kyushu? Has Nintendo confirmed this at all? What are your guy's opinions on this? I've also seen that on the island of Zakynthos there is a shipwreck, and that looks about where Dewford Town is, and there is a shipwreck outside Dewford Town. Is this a Coincidence?
 
Last edited:
87
Posts
11
Years
Hmm... Interesting theory, but I'm not fully sure. The regions up to Unova are all based on somewhere in Japan (Kanto, Kantō, etc), and the franchise is more popular in Japan, but they could have been trying to appeal to a wider audience, just like the case in Unova, and the upcoming X and Y region, based off of Europe. I am trying to think that this "Shipwreck" and the shape of Sootopolis City are mere coincidences, but anything is possible. Look at Orre, for example. This is a region that is EXPLICITLY based off of Arizona, in the United States. The folks at Gamefreak probably wanted to broaden their venues, and create this desert, America-Based region. If Hoenn were like Greece, this would also hold true (Just so we're on the same page here, Orre was revealed as inspired by Arizona in an interview).

Still, Hoenn has its similarities to Greece. The myths of Hoenn could have loosely been inspired by the Gods of Greek mythology, and I personally think that some music included in RSE has Greek roots, like said music of the shipwreck. I have noticed that with some of that music.

Also able to take in account is the similarities Hoenn has with other world destinations. The most likely inspiration is from Africa. Greece, as well as all of Europe, is desertless, while Africa's well known for its deserts. Also, many Hoenn Pokémon have similarities to African animals. I won't list them all here, but take a look for yourself sometime.

The point is, there is no official source claiming that Hoenn is based on Greece. Its unlikey, but not impossible.
 

gold/silverFTW

Ecruteak Champion
24
Posts
11
Years
Hmm... Interesting theory, but I'm not fully sure. The regions up to Unova are all based on somewhere in Japan (Kanto, Kantō, etc), and the franchise is more popular in Japan, but they could have been trying to appeal to a wider audience, just like the case in Unova, and the upcoming X and Y region, based off of Europe. I am trying to think that this "Shipwreck" and the shape of Sootopolis City are mere coincidences, but anything is possible. Look at Orre, for example. This is a region that is EXPLICITLY based off of Arizona, in the United States. The folks at Gamefreak probably wanted to broaden their venues, and create this desert, America-Based region. If Hoenn were like Greece, this would also hold true (Just so we're on the same page here, Orre was revealed as inspired by Arizona in an interview).

Still, Hoenn has its similarities to Greece. The myths of Hoenn could have loosely been inspired by the Gods of Greek mythology, and I personally think that some music included in RSE has Greek roots, like said music of the shipwreck. I have noticed that with some of that music.

Also able to take in account is the similarities Hoenn has with other world destinations. The most likely inspiration is from Africa. Greece, as well as all of Europe, is desertless, while Africa's well known for its deserts. Also, many Hoenn Pokémon have similarities to African animals. I won't list them all here, but take a look for yourself sometime.

The point is, there is no official source claiming that Hoenn is based on Greece. Its unlikey, but not impossible.

Yeah, you do have a point there, Isseu. I guess since Gen III has a lot to do with nature, the region can look like a lot of things. Especially since Hoenn had a desert, a volcano, a huge ocean, island environments, etc. And Sootopolis is a city in a dormant volcano, so I see a lot of similarities to real-world locations. Also Sootopolis does have the word "Soot", and the suffix "opolis". With soot, I guess I see a reference to the eruption of Pompeii, seeing as how that city was near Mt. Vesuvius, and Sootopolis was on a dormant volcano. With "opolis", that is a greek word literally meaning "city." So maybe that is the only Hoenn city with greek influence, I really don't know for sure. Thanks for the reply though. :D
 
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