Thanks for saying what I wanted to say, the bit about the box system pretty much proves FRLG and RSE were concomitant or at least very close in the timeline, because how could you link with Lanette if Lanette was in the future? Of course, the Hoenn Pokémon may have existed since the very beginning of the series' timeline, but if RSE were (much) ahead of FRLG in the timeline, a point would've been made in the games themselves about Hoenn being a number of years after the other games. 3rd gen, unlike BW, was a "true reboot", because they retconned a lot of the things about the old games afterwards, like, existence of Dark and Steel-type, existence of Johto Pokémon before Johto becoming relevant to the storyline, and so on.
Was it established that they started their projects during our adventures? No, they just have worked together is all we know(which has little to do with everything that's going on other than trading between regions). With it being the first reboot, they may not have had a whole timeline thing planned out so it might not have matter as much to them then. As I'm sure we can all agree on, a remake could place things better than the 'next to nothing' info we have now to get a true idea of where the Hoenn storyline comes into play.
What I see from Xander's post is the further possibility of a zelda timeline.
An explanation wasn't needed because the games ran on the same mechanics. Although, I'm not sure you can use Black Kyurem/White Kyurem for link play against someone who has BW (linking compatibility aren't my strength because it's been a while since I last linked with someone).
You can't use the new forms(because, IIRC, they weren't programmed in the original games) but that still doesn't take from the fact that B2W2 happened two years after BW yet can trade and battle with each other as if they occurred at the same time. Same game engine or not, the whole argument you and others made about how RSE and FrLg had to be at the same time was based on the direct trade between the two sets. That was broken when B2W2 came along(like a lot of a things) because they did not happen simultaneously with BW yet can communicate like nothing's different.
There would have been no problem at all with making some kind of time thing to connect the two stories. That could possibly show that it is the least of their worries.
This was retconned in HGSS.
Until we are 100% sure that no further remakes are coming, I think we can safely say that there is a possibility of a more recognizable retcon with Hoenn's main games.
Just like how the 'new' type thing was made arguable later on until HGSS came around.
But the PC system and the ability to connect with Lanette became plot points as soon as the characters were mentioned.
They may connect the regions, but that doesn't mean that they automatically connect the main plots of their respective regions(Aqua/Magma and the Rockets doing what they did as we played through). About all we know is that they, over time, have helped each other on the PC systems of the regions. There is no mention of when they started or how long they've been working on it or anything. They know each other, not a big deal really.
HOWEVER, if we're going this route then I'll consider the possibility of after FrLg, considering the connection takes place after the main stories there. I'm not going to fully believe though until we get much more notable things thrown at us.
It could go both ways. In BW, Ghetsis is shown to have obtained the Adamant, Lustrous and Griseous Orbs from DPP. How, it's not known and probably will never be, but it's something of note and we know BW takes place many years after DPP.
The fact the Red/Blue/Jade Orbs are in a different location in HGSS therefore rules out the possibility that RSE is concomitant with DPP/HGSS. So they can only be before or after those games. Since there's no evidence of them being after apart from the two grunts in B2W2, even though they mention things in the past and it could be a small while or a huge period of time, I'm going to go with them being before 4th gen. I suspect they could be after FRLG but not long after.
Like I'm surewe can agree on, this is opened to different interpretations, as with a lot of other stuff.
Another thing, which isn't much of a proof but makes you wonder, is the fact that, of all the new evolutions discovered in 2nd gen and 4th gen, I believe Crobat and Kingdra are the only ones to appear in RSE. Crobat/Bellossom/Politoed/Slowking/Espeon/Umbreon/Steelix/Scizor/Kingdra/Porygon2/Blissey aren't native to Kanto, although they can be obtained in FRLG (not Espeon/Umbreon though), but only after you obtain the National Dex. The new evolutions from 4th gen aren't known in Hoenn, which pushes it far back in the storyline.
Couldn't that go both ways as well seeing as Kingdra and Crobat are available during the main storyline?
Also note that Marill, Azumarill, Slugma, Magcargo, Chinchou, Lanturn, Wynaut, Wobbuffet, Phanpy, Donphan, Natu, Xatu, Heracross, and Girafarig, among others(all of which were introduced in Gen II) happen to be native to Hoenn as well. Can we automatically write that off as just coincidence? I'm not using it as proof, because it really isn't either, but more as something to think over as well.
The incident with Teams Magma and Aqua had little repercussion out of Hoenn because not even all of Hoenn was affected by the change in the weather. If we take Emerald as canon, Brendan/May managed to summon Rayquaza before things got more dangerous. Besides, I think criminals like Team Plasma wouldn't take Magma and Aqua much seriously because Maxie and Archie weren't high criminals like Giovanni for example, they did criminal deeds but their ultimate goal wasn't a criminal one. And, in comparison with Team Galactic, they were much less dangerous. Maxie/Archie couldn't even control the Pokémon they summoned. Meanwhile, Cyrus was able to capture several legendary Pokémon and was only stopped because Giratina intervened.
Another thing to contribute to the debate: a trainer in FRLG mentions Bruno trained with Brawly once. For someone of the stature of Bruno (E4 member) to have trained with Brawly, it must've been after Brawly became gym leader. Brawly was already a gym leader during the events of RSE, and he doesn't look too old either.
*sigh*
It's not all about how sinister the plans were, even though Aqua ans Magma chose thievery, etc. as well to accomplish what they wanted. The Grunt makes mention of how noticeable they made themselves and that being the downfall of their plans. Make of it as you wish, but Magma and Aqua made themselves well known as well.
As for Brawly and Bruno, now you are(as you claimed I was) seeing what you want it seems. Them training together doesn't mean it had to have been after he became gym leader, they could have been old friends for all we know. On top of that, correct me if I'm wrong but, we don't even have real ages to work with. While I'm not going to argue that Brawly isn't on the younger side, Bruno doesn't appear to be ancient either, just really fit(although a safe bet is that he is older nonetheless).
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