How would you expand Kanto?

[Quantum Thief]

One of the complaints that crop up when people bring Gen 4 and 5 Pokemon into FireRed is that Kanto simply isn't big enough. The routes are all too short, or it doesn't have enough, or in some way it not built to sustain that many Pokemon (though to be fair, what Region is?) Some hacks try to solve this by adding other regions, but one possibility that I'm looking at is expanding the existing maps and adding new ones to make it feel bigger and give more areas to explore.

For instance, what if in addition to exploring the interior of Mt. Moon you could also explore it's exterior and summit? What if the water adjacent to Cerulean City was a vast mountainside lake with its own island in the center, the result of the ancient meteor impact that created Mt. Moon in the first place? Maybe make Cinnabar Island into a proper volcano with its own caverns you can explore. Ideas like that.

What areas of Kanto do you think could be better explored?

 

[Deokishisu]

I feel like GameFreak could've played it a little more fast and loose when mapping Fr/Lg. I think that it stays far too true to the originals, which works to the game's detriment after we saw what they could do with routes like Hoenn's Route 119, Meteor Falls (which they did a good job showing depth with), etc. within the same generation.

As for what I'd like to see expanded, I wouldn't mind having Cycling Road split in two, with the road we all know and love on top and another path below with different Pokemon.

Lavender Tower needs a bunch of creepy restricted basement floors, with a secret exit at the bottom into Fuji's house.

I think when you Surf down to the Power Plant, that should be a route of its own, something sprawling to make getting there a chore. I mean, the plant itself was abandoned, so the area around it should be overgrown, right?

The route east of Vermilion that connects to Silence Bridge has always been boring and forgettable. Something needs to be done with it.

You have to be very careful when doing this though, as you need to improve the maps/fill in the areas without breaking nostalgia and playability. The focus should be on adding a sense of scale, detail, and depth (so much of Kanto is literally flat), not changing town layouts. Route layout changes (if slight and deliberate) are mostly okay. HGSS added some depth to the Kanto areas (though it wasn't enough, in my opinion), giving some elevation and playing with details. I think that concept-wise that is a good starting point.

 

[Quantum Thief]

I feel like GameFreak could've played it a little more fast and loose when mapping Fr/Lg. I think that it stays far too true to the originals, which works to the game's detriment after we saw what they could do with routes like Hoenn's Route 119, Meteor Falls (which they did a good job showing depth with), etc. within the same generation.

God yes, Route 119 (and 120) are my favorite areas in any Pokemon game thanks to their use of versatility and how they manage to be very big without being tedious. Traversing those routes to me felt like truly epic journies that I've love to recapture and deploy in a Kanto hack.

 

[blade89]

Add an underground that can be accessed like in d/p/pl

I think there could be something added to Viridian Forest. Paths that can open up later that hold different pokemon.

Something to actually be built in Vermilion City where the Machop was stomping the land flat. I think it could be a good place for a tournament building like what was in b2/w2. Also a surf path that connects pallet town and vermilion with new caves along the way.

Pewter City Museum having more functionality. Also the ability to give the girl upstairs a pikachu for some sort of reward.

Battle Bill who has a team of Eeveelutions.

Add a new area in the map, there is just a large green patch in the middle of the map.

Whack a mole mini game with digletts. Just poke them with your stylus.

Some kind of better EV training game. The soccer ball thing gets old pretty fast.

 

[machomuu]

not changing town layouts.

I agree with you for the most part, but I really think that this should complement the routes. If you're going to change one, you should be able to change the other, since substantially you're making a similar change.

That, and you could finally account for where all of these people are living. And sleeping. Especially sleeping, that much bothers me to no end.

 

[thopkmnmaster]

simple many caves and other stuff everywhere a lot more space to explore

 

[Hiro TDK]

If I were to really expand Kanto, I would probably redo most of the routes. I'd make them less linear and rectangular, and probably take inspiration from Hoenn in doing so. They're also extremely tiny, and need to be generally longer. I'd probably expand the islands as well, as while they're interesting, there isn't really much to do there. There are several rather important types of areas missing from Kanto. There's only Viridian forest, as far as Bug types go, but there's only Caterpie and Weedle there. There's no area for Grass Pokemon. Dragon, Steel, Dark, and Psychic types have no real home, save for being scattered. Most of the dedicated areas for types are incredibly simplistic and uninteresting: see Pokemon Mansion, Viridian Forest, Power Plant, et cetera.

 

[Gobln]

The main problem with the region as a whole is that there is really no mythological structure besides like, Cerulem Cave, Seaform Islands.

I would expand it by making the routes a bit more diverse, adding some sort of mountain that contains pokemon mythology lore, and then probably make Seaform Islands and some towns/cities a bit more interesting.

I honestly think its 1 or 2 steps away from being the most memorable region, its got a lot of cool landmarks, lavander town, nugget bridge, pokemon mansion etc. etc.

 

[looneyman1]

I think using Emerald as a ROM base could help since the Hoenn Map is similar to kantos in many areas. Plus you have the option for extra towns and other locations. That should account for extra pokemon while going for a FR/LG storyline.

 

[BadEgg~]

I wouldn't change any of the maps of mainland Kanto for nostalgia's sake. But I would increase the size of the Sevii islands, and make the story a bit more interesting. The post game feels like a bit of a slapdash afterthought as it is.