Region speculation/what will the region be based on?

[TheKojo]

Doesn't Japan also have its own Rabbit Island as well? I don't know if it's the same shape or seen from a beach like Oahu's Rabbit Island.

It actually does, but it looks nothing like the one in the photo.

 

[sirboulevard]

First, I just want to say, I love everyone's theories about it being Hawaii. Well researched, guys.

However, me and NettoAzure were debating IRL that it might be based in Germany. I mean, we see some palm trees around a hotel. I live in Seattle and some of the richer hotels have palm trees. It can be a lie. But Germany? Its just east of France (Kalos) making it perfect for a sequel. Not only that but Zygarde's cave is on the border of Kalos where Germany would be. Not only that but German and French cultures are like Night and Day. Pretty subtle take on Sun and Moon.

There's a difference between revisiting regions and just basing a game in a region that's already been done before simply so they don't have to put any work into the games. As a post-game gimmick? sure, throw whatever you want into the post-game. That was one of the charming things about Gen II. As the region the game is based in? I'd honestly skip the games. I would not buy into them rehashing the Kanto region again. It's lazy and seriously lacking in creativity. If that turned out to be their big "20th anniversary" bang, it would break my heart.

When you put it like that it seems a teeny tiny bit more likely that it's their plan haha. "20 years after the original games, go back and revisit Kanto like you've never seen it before!" :P

OK, so Kanto hasn't actually been touched (not really) as a region since Gen 2. The Gen 3 and Gen 4 appearances were remakes and had to stay pretty faithful to that. Why CAN'T Kanto get another shot as a primary region. I mean with all the tech advances you could really upgrade the region. Going back 20 years later? 20 years ago, most of the town around Seattle alot of fields and farmlands. Now most of it is heavily developed. I could see Pallet Town now being Pallet City. Or Lavender Town getting a Gym. New development in the mountains north of Kanto leads to new towns. Viridian Forest has turned into Suburbs. The Industrial areas south of Celadon are now open to explore... You could even start the game as a student of Pokemon Studies at Celadon University.

Just because a region is OLD doesn't mean it can't be revisited.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

First, I just want to say, I love everyone's theories about it being Hawaii. Well researched, guys.

However, me and NettoAzure were debating IRL that it might be based in Germany. I mean, we see some palm trees around a hotel. I live in Seattle and some of the richer hotels have palm trees. It can be a lie. But Germany? Its just east of France (Kalos) making it perfect for a sequel. Not only that but Zygarde's cave is on the border of Kalos where Germany would be. Not only that but German and French cultures are like Night and Day. Pretty subtle take on Sun and Moon.


OK, so Kanto hasn't actually been touched (not really) as a region since Gen 2. The Gen 3 and Gen 4 appearances were remakes and had to stay pretty faithful to that. Why CAN'T Kanto get another shot as a primary region. I mean with all the tech advances you could really upgrade the region. Going back 20 years later? 20 years ago, most of the town around Seattle alot of fields and farmlands. Now most of it is heavily developed. I could see Pallet Town now being Pallet City. Or Lavender Town getting a Gym. New development in the mountains north of Kanto leads to new towns. Viridian Forest has turned into Suburbs. The Industrial areas south of Celadon are now open to explore... You could even start the game as a student of Pokemon Studies at Celadon University.

Just because a region is OLD doesn't mean it can't be revisited.

If we return to Kanto they should make Saffron large, like larger than Lumiose and Castelia. Saffron is where Tokyo is in real life, and Tokyo is the center of the largest metropolitan area in the world.

 

[AlphaTangoFoxtrot]

First, I just want to say, I love everyone's theories about it being Hawaii. Well researched, guys.

However, me and NettoAzure were debating IRL that it might be based in Germany. I mean, we see some palm trees around a hotel. I live in Seattle and some of the richer hotels have palm trees. It can be a lie. But Germany? Its just east of France (Kalos) making it perfect for a sequel. Not only that but Zygarde's cave is on the border of Kalos where Germany would be. Not only that but German and French cultures are like Night and Day. Pretty subtle take on Sun and Moon.





OK, so Kanto hasn't actually been touched (not really) as a region since Gen 2. The Gen 3 and Gen 4 appearances were remakes and had to stay pretty faithful to that. Why CAN'T Kanto get another shot as a primary region. I mean with all the tech advances you could really upgrade the region. Going back 20 years later? 20 years ago, most of the town around Seattle alot of fields and farmlands. Now most of it is heavily developed. I could see Pallet Town now being Pallet City. Or Lavender Town getting a Gym. New development in the mountains north of Kanto leads to new towns. Viridian Forest has turned into Suburbs. The Industrial areas south of Celadon are now open to explore... You could even start the game as a student of Pokemon Studies at Celadon University.

Just because a region is OLD doesn't mean it can't be revisited.

My point is that it would be lazy and lackluster. Are there ways they can do it to try to throw the facade of it being anything other than a gimmick over the region? Sure. That doesn't mean they should, though. Kanto's story has been told. There's no reason to go back to it.

My objection to the idea had nothing to do with Kanto being old. It has to do with the fact that there is no logical reason to go back to it. Team Rocket's gone. Red became the champion. Gold followed in his footsteps only to conquer him atop Mt. Silver. That story arc is done and there's no reason to disturb it.

The can definitely take all those ideas you've suggested and implement them into future games, but why on earth would they put them in Kanto? Why would they not just go to a new region? Heck, if they did decide to revisit a region, why would they choose Kanto? What puts Kanto ahead of the other regions? We've already seen the idea of the changing landscape of a region in both Kanto and Unova in the past. It wouldn't be anything new It would be more re-hashing. The fact that it's old shouldn't be a reason to bring it back either.

 

[WishCookie]

Well this seems legit....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4oafR3F8nA

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Well this seems legit....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4oafR3F8nA

I found that palace mentioned in the video when I went looking for buildings in Hawaii that look colonial. It's a a palace. If that is the building it'll be based on, I wonder if we'll get more Monarchy. In Gen V we had N, and in XY we got AZ and Lysander. Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown in a coup, so perhaps the evil team will have someone who would want to reclaim their throne. (Interesting how in some way or another Unova, Kalos, and if this region is based on Hawaii, they all have to do with the rejecting or overthrow of a monarchy, the U.S. rejected King George, France beheaded King Louis, and Hawaii's queen was over thrown in a coup backed by the U.S.)

 

[Hikamaru]

I found that palace mentioned in the video went looking at buildings in Hawaii. It's a a palace. If that is the building it'll be based on, I wonder if we'll get more Monarchy. In Gen V we had N, and in XY we got AZ and Lysander. Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown in a coup, so perhaps the evil team will have someone who would want to reclaim their throne. (Interesting how in some way or another Unova, Kalos, and if this region is based on Hawaii, they all have to do with the rejecting or overthrow of a monarchy, the U.S. rejected King George, France beheaded King Louis, and Hawaii's queen was over thrown in a coup backed by the U.S.)

That's interesting you picked up on that, if so this'll be the second region based on a part of the US, after Unova in 5th Gen. I could picture another character associated with royalty in this region if what you're saying about overthrow of monarchy is to be believed.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

That's interesting you picked up on that, if so this'll be the second region based on a part of the US, after Unova in 5th Gen. I could picture another character associated with royalty in this region if what you're saying about overthrow of monarchy is to be believed.

Coincidently Ghetsis ended up crazy and Lysander dead (maybe), fates shared with George III and Louis XVI (his head was cut). Hawaii's last queen had a long life, and wasn't crazy. Kind of expecting a female champion or female antagonist tied with the monarchy here, if they go that route once more.

 

[Master of Memes]

Whatever happened to the U.K? That region could have fought Kalos. The Reshiram/Zekrom statue, right next to France, land of Steampunk, ect

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Whatever happened to the U.K? That region could have fought Kalos. The Reshiram/Zekrom statue, right next to France, land of Steampunk, ect

As the video says the region the tiki like head came from says it's comes from a region far from Kalos, so that would eliminate Spain, south France, and the U.K. , unless if this isn't that region...but most likely it is.

I do think that it was either a region based on the U.K. or Germany that Kalos fought, seeing how those two countries were Frances arch nemesis' and a lot of people died during Britain and France's many wars, while the French lost a lot during WW I and II at the hands of the Germans. Well so did the other side in both cases.

 

[Master of Memes]

As the video says the region the tiki like head came from says it's comes from a region far from Kalos, so that would eliminate Spain, south France, and the U.K. , unless if this isn't that region...but most likely it is.
But how far exactly? We don't know. And most likely can't be truly determined in this case.
I do think that it was either a region based on the U.K. or Germany that Kalos fought, seeing how those two countries were Frances arch nemesis' and a lot of people died during Britain and France's many wars, while the French lost a lot during WW I and II at the hands of the Germans. Well so did the other side in both cases.

But we Americans also fought against UK.

 

[Hikamaru]

Coincidently Ghetsis ended up crazy and Lysander dead (maybe), fates shared with George III and Louis XVI (his head was cut). Hawaii's last queen had a long life, and wasn't crazy. Kind of expecting a female champion or female antagonist tied with the monarchy here, if they go that route once more.

Adding to the fact we haven't had a female leader of a villain team yet, it could be a possibility if they plan to add to the grisly fates we've had with Ghetsis and Lysandre in the two recent regions.

 

[Zet]

This is probably outdated by now, but it brings up quite a few interesting facts. Both irl and in-game locations.

It's 4.1mb
http://i.imgur.com/H7gYApb.jpg

Blanked out areas are words I removed to make it a bit more word friendly.

 

[Cyrain]

I think many things point to the hawaii-theory and I wouldn't be against it, but as shown with france/kalos, the pokémon regions aren't carbon copies of their real life counterpart:). For me hoenn was never truly tropical and I'd love a region that embraces the exotic aspects of our world. Long beaches, turquoise water, temples, rainforest, ponds full of lotus, luaus, torches at night and maybe even holi festivals.
I don't care if it's based on india, south america, pacific island, hawai or whatever else, I simply want a colorfull, exotic, unique region.

 

[JP]

Hawaii based would be very interesting, but I kinda feel like we had our fill of water heavy region with ORAS recently. Probably just me though.

I still feel like we haven't seen enough of Kalos, and there are quite a few things that were touched upon in XY about the southern area of the region. It just makes a ton of sense to me that this southern area will be the region we visit. I mentioned this elsewhere, this is a big milestone for Pokemon, so I imagine that GF would like to do something extra special that fans are always asking for, a dual region game in the same breath as Kanto/Johto.

Of course that doesn't mean they have to use France again as their source of inspiration for the region. Germany would be interesting for sure. Much like what sirboulevard said, the two countries have a lot of history between the two (but then again, so does the UK.) If not those, then maybe something a bit more geographically accurate in the real world like Italy, or even Spain. Whatever it is, I personally think it's safe to say it'll be based off another major country in Europe.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I've mentioned that I've looked forward to an island region in the past. I have imagined that the gyms will be on different islands.

If the region is Hawaii I can see us beginning in Oahu island, seeing how the majority of Hawaii's population lives there.
I can see the E4 or a site linked to the legends being at Puukohola Heiau, which is considered one of the last major temples built in Hawaii. It was a site of human sacrifice, and was built for Kamehameha (cue DBZ jokes...) who is said to have been told by a priest (with his mother as the messanger between the two) that if he built a temple on the hill there he'll be able to gain the power of the gods and unify Hawaii.

 

[sirboulevard]

My point is that it would be lazy and lackluster. Are there ways they can do it to try to throw the facade of it being anything other than a gimmick over the region? Sure. That doesn't mean they should, though. Kanto's story has been told. There's no reason to go back to it.

My objection to the idea had nothing to do with Kanto being old. It has to do with the fact that there is no logical reason to go back to it. Team Rocket's gone. Red became the champion. Gold followed in his footsteps only to conquer him atop Mt. Silver. That story arc is done and there's no reason to disturb it.

The can definitely take all those ideas you've suggested and implement them into future games, but why on earth would they put them in Kanto? Why would they not just go to a new region? Heck, if they did decide to revisit a region, why would they choose Kanto? What puts Kanto ahead of the other regions? We've already seen the idea of the changing landscape of a region in both Kanto and Unova in the past. It wouldn't be anything new It would be more re-hashing. The fact that it's old shouldn't be a reason to bring it back either.

Just because THAT story ended, doesn't mean another can't start there.

If you want to break down the games, really, there is nothing truly different about any region. They have 8 gyms, an elite four, some legendaries, and a villainous team. The difference is the skin they put on it. Hoenn's tropical, Johto's extra Japanese, Sinnoh's snowy, Unova is New York, Kalos is French. So your argument that its a "rehash" rings false when every region at its core is a rehash. As they say, there are only seven stories. What changes is the variations on each of those seven stories.

Why revisit Kanto? Because you can use Kanto elements to change that story as need be. Kanto elements are pretty iconic for the series, including outside of the fandom. Take Professor Oak, he's getting up there in years. His death, from old age or because a reborn Team Rocket takes him out, could be the catalyst that starts the story, or it can be used as a twist, that age got to him before he saw his dream of a completed national dex made true.

Let's look at Black and White, imagine if that story had been in Kanto instead of Unova. You could replace Alder with Red. Its Red's starter that has died (maybe that's why he was on Mt. Silver?), his retort to Cheren of "then what?" to "I want to be the very best!" carries more weight because you were once him. You put Blue in Aurea Juniper's place with Oak the elder in her father's. The Gym Leaders' line up has changed because of an increase in immigration and a population boom. Saffron takes the place of Castelia, as the first majorly 3D city in the series, letting you appreciate it from another perspective. And Team Plasma's story could work just as well, just with them being a new team whose usurped the power vacuum that Team Rocket left.

And the thing is, you can do this with any of the games' stories and they fit (mostly) perfectly with the others. Oh sure, some like the Hoenn games have thematic elements that might not work contextually in another region, but the baseline story elements can work anywhere, with tweaks.

Lastly, there is another reason to go back: to see the effect our heroes had in the past. We saw this briefly in the Johto games, but 3 years isn't alot of time. Heck, three years feels like a blink of the eye anymore. But two decades? Something minor can, in a few decades, change everything. Maybe Red's capture of the Kanto legendary birds resulted in the Kanto government banning the capture and use of legends, leaving the villainous team to take over? Did Red make public the origins of Mewtwo after capturing it? What happened to all the towns we left behind? How did Ethan/Lyra/Kris affect the region as that Johtoan who took the region by storm? What is Giovanni doing now? What about Mr. Fuji? Who's Red's Dad? Who's Silver's Mom?

You can work alot with what we have not had answered, but more importantly, you can make it a tale about continuity vs a whole new tale about people we probably don't care about.

 

[MarinoKadame]

I don't want to revisit Kanto for an 5th time to be honest.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Just because THAT story ended, doesn't mean another can't start there.

If you want to break down the games, really, there is nothing truly different about any region. They have 8 gyms, an elite four, some legendaries, and a villainous team. The difference is the skin they put on it. Hoenn's tropical, Johto's extra Japanese, Sinnoh's snowy, Unova is New York, Kalos is French. So your argument that its a "rehash" rings false when every region at its core is a rehash. As they say, there are only seven stories. What changes is the variations on each of those seven stories.

Why revisit Kanto? Because you can use Kanto elements to change that story as need be. Kanto elements are pretty iconic for the series, including outside of the fandom. Take Professor Oak, he's getting up there in years. His death, from old age or because a reborn Team Rocket takes him out, could be the catalyst that starts the story, or it can be used as a twist, that age got to him before he saw his dream of a completed national dex made true.

Let's look at Black and White, imagine if that story had been in Kanto instead of Unova. You could replace Alder with Red. Its Red's starter that has died (maybe that's why he was on Mt. Silver?), his retort to Cheren of "then what?" to "I want to be the very best!" carries more weight because you were once him. You put Blue in Aurea Juniper's place with Oak the elder in her father's. The Gym Leaders' line up has changed because of an increase in immigration and a population boom. Saffron takes the place of Castelia, as the first majorly 3D city in the series, letting you appreciate it from another perspective. And Team Plasma's story could work just as well, just with them being a new team whose usurped the power vacuum that Team Rocket left.

And the thing is, you can do this with any of the games' stories and they fit (mostly) perfectly with the others. Oh sure, some like the Hoenn games have thematic elements that might not work contextually in another region, but the baseline story elements can work anywhere, with tweaks.

Lastly, there is another reason to go back: to see the effect our heroes had in the past. We saw this briefly in the Johto games, but 3 years isn't alot of time. Heck, three years feels like a blink of the eye anymore. But two decades? Something minor can, in a few decades, change everything. Maybe Red's capture of the Kanto legendary birds resulted in the Kanto government banning the capture and use of legends, leaving the villainous team to take over? Did Red make public the origins of Mewtwo after capturing it? What happened to all the towns we left behind? How did Ethan/Lyra/Kris affect the region as that Johtoan who took the region by storm? What is Giovanni doing now? What about Mr. Fuji? Who's Red's Dad? Who's Silver's Mom?

You can work alot with what we have not had answered, but more importantly, you can make it a tale about continuity vs a whole new tale about people we probably don't care about.

Tbh, I'm more interested in revisiting Johto 17 or so years later, seeing how it was more rural, and thus has a larger potential for development.

Anyways, it's looking like it's Hawaii from what proof people have gathered...

 

[Hikamaru]

Anyways, it's looking like it's Hawaii from what proof people have gathered...

I have to admit, it has been great looking at the evidence and seeing all the shoutouts to Hawaii that were being pointed out. Hopefully we may get more info on the new region in coming months.