Just how big is this vast land?

[phineas81707]

I'm writing a story, and in it I planned to put a gag about Arcanine's travel speed. As I began to think about this, I wondered... is there a way we can scale the Pokemon world? As in, convert the tiles the game measures into real life units of measurement? Would the world truly be huge, and the player character can move about at speeds a cheetah would be jealous of, or is the world tiny, no bigger than a dollhouse? Or is the world truly incomprehensible?

 

[SobriquetP]

If I am not mistaken, I have seen photos that describe about 2-4 of the regions being in a Japan-esqe shape. If that is considered true based on scale compared to the real world, then the games have only covered about .5~ish of the planet.

Again, this is based on Pokemon World=Real World with Pokemon so do with that what you will.

 

[Karpi]

I'm posting here so i get updates if someone decides to do calculations.

My opinion: the games aren't necessarily to scale with the real world. I put together a sort-of map of the regions (and MS Paint-ed in the rest of imaginary continents), using Kalos and Orre (i.e. "~France" and "~Arizona") as the general size in relation to the real world. So if you apply the same general size to the other regions, the "Japan" part of the world (Sinnoh, Johto, Kanto, Hoenn) is a continent roughly the size north to south of North America.

So what I ended up with was:
Japan and North America being roughly the same size north to south, but with North America obviously having much more east to west land mass when I draw it all in. Unova turned out to cover roughly the area of New York+New England+Maritime Canada, and Orre was the size of Arizona+the coastline of Mexico directly south of it. Johto was similar to the size of Unova, with Hoenn being slightly smaller and Sinnoh being slightly larger than the other regions (though I also scaled these two a little to make the Japan continent look more similar to the real world, so they could theoretically be the same size as Johto).

tl;dr Japan is a continent as tall as North America and we have no idea what the world looks like in Africa/Asia/S.Am

 

[Skittypaws]

Have you thought about anazyling the game data for each region (like the land your character gets to walk on in megabytes)? If you did, you might get a rough estimate of how big each region is. then again, I could be entirely off

 

[Beth Pavell]

For my story I've taken the size of the real-world locations each region is based on as a rough guide (Side note, it's amazing how a pocket atlas was far more useful for this than any program on my laptop) and scaled up a little. Having said that, if you're going to take the game as your basis, you might want to just fudge it anyway. After all, the in-game Pallet Town would barely qualify as a farmstead in the real world

 

[Karpi]

After all, the in-game Pallet Town would barely qualify as a farmstead in the real world

Yep, this is the real problem. Saffron City is what? A few blocks at max.

 

[phineas81707]

(Post mostly exists because I forgot to subscribe.)

Having said that, if you're going to take the game as your basis, you might want to just fudge it anyway. After all, the in-game Pallet Town would barely qualify as a farmstead in the real world.

-Pavell

For the purposes of my joke, this may just serve best. My story is intended to be the games (note: I saw Pokemon Origins after I planned it), so a very loose gag probably makes the most sense.

Japan and North America being roughly the same size north to south, but with North America obviously having much more east to west land mass when I draw it all in. Unova turned out to cover roughly the area of New York+New England+Maritime Canada, and Orre was the size of Arizona+the coastline of Mexico directly south of it. Johto was similar to the size of Unova, with Hoenn being slightly smaller and Sinnoh being slightly larger than the other regions (though I also scaled these two a little to make the Japan continent look more similar to the real world, so they could theoretically be the same size as Johto).

-Karpi

For the purpose of the measurements, we do have proof that the Pokemon world is incomprehensible, from things like squished maps to the closest 'big city' we have being Castelia. Or Lumiose.

Does everyone in Nintendo run faster than Sonic?

 

[reynard]

Wow, that's a really tough question. I wish I could offer exact measurements, but I can't. I do agree with Pavell though that perhaps it would be best for your joke just to take a guess at it. Though as far as Pallet Town's size, it would be smaller in the game than in other mediums since the game is just trying to condense it.

On a side note, would you mind if I ask what you mean when you say the story is meant to be the games? I'm just curious is all.

 

[Te-em]

Perhaps you can watch the anime and see how far it takes for people to travel from one area to another. For instance, how many days does it take to pass through a forest. They do not necessarily take the shortest path, however; in a forest you can walk lost which causes a delay. But if you look at the anime and then at the size of the area in the game and try to compare, then maybe you'll get a rough estimation of the size.

You can look at the town sizes as well. They tend to be small in the game but larger in the anime. See how far it takes to walk through a large city in the game and guess how large the city would be for real and how long it would really take. The distances are not necessarily in the right proportion in the games however, so you may have to do several measurements.

 

[phineas81707]

On a side note, would you mind if I ask what you mean when you say the story is meant to be the games? I'm just curious is all.

-Reynard

I mean that, similar to Pokemon Origins, this story is meant to represent the journey through the Kanto region as it does in the games. The only liberties are just things to help the individual stories, like moving or removing battles or replicating the effects of elemental stones.

And I am showing the entire adventure, as opposed to only select few areas like Origins. The joke in question is about Red riding his Arcanine to get to Lavender Tower from Celadon Gym in a rush. If Arcanine can hit 6200 miles per day, how quickly can he travel this distance?

...I said two seconds in a random stab in the dark. I'm sticking by it, because it's about time I upload the chapter.

 

[reynard]

Oh. Okay then. I've never heard of Pokemon Origins.

That's an incredible speed, and while I think the joke is funny, it would technically inaccurate. I did the math on that speed. If it can run 6,200 miles in 24 hours, that makes a speed of 258.33 miles per hour. Converted into seconds, that would be 0.072 miles per second.

...But like I said, the joke is still funny. Please carry on. Although what do you mean by replicating the effects of evolutionary stones?

 

[phineas81707]

Although what do you mean by replicating the effects of evolutionary stones?

-Reynard

Basically, because of plot reasons, a Pikachu evolved using the electrical power of the Vermillion Gym. That, and while it wasn't used, a Growlithe mentioned a 'fire deposit', where Growlithe evolve into Arcanine.

 

[reynard]

Although what do you mean by replicating the effects of evolutionary stones?

-Reynard

Basically, because of plot reasons, a Pikachu evolved using the electrical power of the Vermillion Gym. That, and while it wasn't used, a Growlithe mentioned a 'fire deposit', where Growlithe evolve into Arcanine.

Oh I see. Well, I'm sure evolution could happen without the stones anyway. The way I see it, the stones just accelerate the process. Though I suppose your characters won't have to worry about safely storing those things (their being radioactive and all). And even though you did not use it, wouldn't it be better to replace "fire deposit" with maybe an open flame or something? I mean if you do use it, the phrase "fire deposit" just sounds a little weird. Good luck with your story.

 

[phineas81707]

And even though you did not use it, wouldn't it be better to replace "fire deposit" with maybe an open flame or something?

-Reynard

The intention was that it was 'supposed' to be a mine for Fire Stones.

I'm sure evolution could happen without the stones anyway. The way I see it, the stones just accelerate the process.

-Reynard

I subscribe to that theory to, but for all evolutions. Erika all but stated it when Charmeleon evolved.