Real-world countries in the Pokemon world

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GoldChaos

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Early on in the franchise's beginnings certain parts of the Pokemon canon seem to state the Pokemon world is like our world except with the existance of the various Pokemon regions, not to mention sighting of Pokemon in real-world countries.

Lately though, references to real world locations are non-existant, which makes me wonder the true composition of the Pokemon world. Are there really alternate versions of nations of our own world, and if so, how different they have to be in a world where Pokemon (and the associated tech to manage them) exist?
 
GoldChaos said:
Early on in the franchise's beginnings certain parts of the Pokemon canon seem to state the Pokemon world is like our world except with the existance of the various Pokemon regions, not to mention sighting of Pokemon in real-world countries.

Lately though, references to real world locations are non-existant, which makes me wonder the true composition of the Pokemon world. Are there really alternate versions of nations of our own world, and if so, how different they have to be in a world where Pokemon (and the associated tech to manage them) exist?
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I think there may be a thread this ties in with:
http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/showthread.php?t=31461

And as for the topic, I think it's been generally accepted that Pokemon is actually real world, just, an alternate reality that contains...well, Pokemon instead of the animals that we contain. The comparison was of one to Spiderman, how he resides in New York City, and while that is indeed a real place, Spiderman of course only exists their, in this "alternate world". In summation, Pokemon is of the real world, but with edited features in life. I suppose...
 
Well, So far there are only two REAL real world locations (That being France and Hollywood). It's currently unknown if Las Vegas was mentioned in the Original version or not, and most of the others mentioned were dub-additions.

Even then, It's unknown if they meant France in the imaginative sense (like how we imagine the Land of OZ despite it not ACTUALLY existing to our knowledge) or not. (Also, for some reason, France, in Misty's imagination, seemed to be a... well, a bit worn down in certain areas, as part of the floor she was dining at seemed to have broken apart.).

As for Hollywood, it definitely isn't the Same Hollywood, as 1. Mt. Hollywood isn't even visible, 2. The town looked like it was in an Apocalyptic Era, 3. It wouldn't make any sense for the Main Characters to make it there in less than a day, even WITH a show like this. I mean, if they took a ship, that would have been too long (They needed about a month, at best, to get back to Hollywood and back, if Kanto was indeed the Kanto of Japan, which can't happen as they still had a month's worth of training left in the account for the League.). As for a plane, even that would still have taken too long (even an Air Liner would have to "Island hop" at least twice, if not three times. before they get to Hollywood.). Besides, they never even specified how they got there (The last time we saw of them before they arrived was their entering a van and leaving. For all we knew, they could have just taken a van.).

Well, anyways, I'm still under the firm belief that the Pokemon World, or Pokeria, as I like to call it, was actually a planet far different from our own (Similar to Corneria from "Star Fox")
 
The Hollywood sign isn't seen from everywhere, and parts of East L.A. are kinda run down.
 
Not just France and Hollywood. I recall Mew being found in Guyana in the games. And Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh are all based on Japanese maps, no?
 
Miyamoto went to search for Mew in the Andes in anime canon. I think they found that hair they took the DNA for Mewtwo from in South America too.
 
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/w...the_real_world#Real-world_locations_mentioned

Has most of the references.

As for Hollywood, it definitely isn't the Same Hollywood, as 1. Mt. Hollywood isn't even visible, 2. The town looked like it was in an Apocalyptic Era, 3. It wouldn't make any sense for the Main Characters to make it there in less than a day, even WITH a show like this. I mean, if they took a ship, that would have been too long (They needed about a month, at best, to get back to Hollywood and back, if Kanto was indeed the Kanto of Japan, which can't happen as they still had a month's worth of training left in the account for the League.). As for a plane, even that would still have taken too long (even an Air Liner would have to "Island hop" at least twice, if not three times. before they get to Hollywood.). Besides, they never even specified how they got there (The last time we saw of them before they arrived was their entering a van and leaving. For all we knew, they could have just taken a van.).
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The joke is that the director of the movie stinks, so they couldn't have a big premier and did it in a slum of Hollywood instead of the Chinese theater or something.

Well, anyways, I'm still under the firm belief that the Pokemon World, or Pokeria, as I like to call it, was actually a planet far different from our own (Similar to Corneria from "Star Fox")
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Most evidence points to everything being nearly identical to our own world, except for the animals being Pokemon, Japan's landscape being slightly altered and renamed, and the inclusion of Orre, Almia, and Fiore.
 
The joke is that the director of the movie stinks, so they couldn't have a big premier and did it in a slum of Hollywood instead of the Chinese theater or something.
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Actually, I don't think that WAS the Joke [I don't think that part was mentioned in the show at all.], and even IF that was on the show and was the Joke, that still doesn't explain how they were able to get to Hollywood, California and back in less than a day, (They would need every single day of the month to train for the Pokemon League, and even Plane rides don't cut out that much time.

Most evidence points to everything being nearly identical to our own world, except for the animals being Pokemon, Japan's landscape being slightly altered and renamed, and the inclusion of Orre, Almia, and Fiore.
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That, and apparantly the North Pole being very close to "Japan" (so much that it's literally just a day away, at least, when on Lapras.), some "American" locations being moved onto "Japan" among other things.

Also, there are Real animals in the Pokemon World (The Bug, the Fish, the Sea Stars, the Chicken references, the Lobster, the Tiger motif, and even the Coral Reef references all say hi.). However, that still doesn't necessarily mean it's on Earth (or even an alternate Earth, for that matter). If I must point out, in "Star Wars", the Planet Naboo had real life Earthling Ducks on there, and that planet wasn't even Earth, nor was it in the same solar system or even the same Galaxy as Earth.

@SaturnYoshi: They could have still given it a brief appearance rather than just leave it out entirely (You know, just to show it was indeed hollywood).

@Snake Bandage: That wouldn't work, as Mew would still need to move at, what, the speed of sound to make it to New Island all the way from Guyana/Andes Mountains in less than a day? I mean, It's not that fast, and not to mention that it get's distracted very easily (the whole playful attitude, The Windmill Scene, and the bubble pop contest after [unintentionally] saving Ash's behind comes to mind.).
 
Weedle Mchairybug said:
@Snake Bandage: That wouldn't work, as Mew would still need to move at, what, the speed of sound to make it to New Island all the way from Guyana/Andes Mountains in less than a day? I mean, It's not that fast, and not to mention that it get's distracted very easily (the whole playful attitude, The Windmill Scene, and the bubble pop contest after [unintentionally] saving Ash's behind comes to mind.).
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Um, Weedle? Three things.

1) They outright said Mew was at the Andes.
2) Mew's eyelash was found in Guyana. That's in South America, but not very close to the Andes at all.
3) Mew is a freaking legendary Psychic Pokemon who can learn every freaking move and is thought to have the DNA of every single freaking Pokemon. I think he can move however the hell fast he wants to move. And if he can't, then he'd just teleport. He can do that, he's freaking Mew.
 
Not to mention
-there's more than one Mew (8th movie proved that)
-I doubt that they stay in one place that long, given how playful and scatterbrained both Mews seem to be
 
This thread seems to be anime-oriented, while the other one in the link posted here is more game-oriented. Don't forget they are different canons.

In-game references to real world:
-Arcanine's Pokèdex entry that mentions Chinese legends
-Mew being discovered in Guyana
-In Pewter Museum, a man talks about man's first landing on the moon and even gives the actual date (July 20th, 1969 I think)
-Poliwrath's Pokédex mentions the Pacific Ocean.

Anime references:
-Hollywood
-Mew being sighted in Los Andes


See? They are both different canons, but I think the games canon, as it is the original one, is the one which prevales, so it seems Pokémon world is our world with animals changed to Pokémon and some places's names changed.

So the SpiderMan metaphor might be the more plausible.
 
I love how people forgot a psychic-type move called Teleport. They could just use that.

All in all, there are references to:
South America (many dex entries, Guyana Mew, Andes, etc.)
Pacific Ocean (dex entries)
China (Dex - Arcanine, Parasect)
Mt. Everest (Dex - Delibird)
Vikings (Anime)
Ayers Rock (Dex - Ponyta)
Russia (Silph Co. Branch)


Clearly this an alternate world though, and someone on Bulbapedia speculated that Almia looks similar to the northern end of Honshu. Likewise, there is a point on the north side of Honshu, to the north of Kansai and Chubu, that resembles Fiore to an extent. By that logic, I'd say there are 4 - 6 regions left in Japan to be covered, depending on if you say the Ranger regions are in the same area/universe.
 
Weedle Mchairybug said:
3. It wouldn't make any sense for the Main Characters to make it there in less than a day, even WITH a show like this. I mean, if they took a ship, that would have been too long (They needed about a month, at best, to get back to Hollywood and back, if Kanto was indeed the Kanto of Japan, which can't happen as they still had a month's worth of training left in the account for the League.). As for a plane, even that would still have taken too long (even an Air Liner would have to "Island hop" at least twice, if not three times. before they get to Hollywood.). Besides, they never even specified how they got there (The last time we saw of them before they arrived was their entering a van and leaving. For all we knew, they could have just taken a van.).
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They used a time machine? It IS a cartoon, after all.
 
Clearly this an alternate world though, and someone on Bulbapedia speculated that Almia looks similar to the northern end of Honshu. Likewise, there is a point on the north side of Honshu, to the north of Kansai and Chubu, that resembles Fiore to an extent. By that logic, I'd say there are 4 - 6 regions left in Japan to be covered, depending on if you say the Ranger regions are in the same area/universe.
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I'd say that Almia and Fiore are close to, but ultimately unconnected to the country seen in the main Pokemon games. The laws and culture of not capturing and battling Pokemon is just too darn different to be the same country, in my opinion.
 
My guess is that Pokémon was originally supposed to take place in our own world. Except that there are creatures called "Pokémon" in it. However, as the mythos of the Pokémon world grew, it quickly became so that people assume that it's now an alternate universe. Notice how references to real-world places and things are barely mentioned in later games.

The only exception being the FR/LG games, since they're based directly off of Red and Green, which did reference real-world locations and things.
 
I always thought that it was a part of the world, but by default now, since Kanto referenced many real things, but of course they only thought that it would be a short little series, but they stopped making references to real world things as time went on to make it seem less and less related to our world.

My actual theory is that when Pokemon came from outer space, they landed in different Japanese islands(Kanto and Johto Pokemon landed on one island, Sinnoh Pokemon on another, and so on). Japanese scientist actually coined these creatures "Pokemon" and made devices to capture, heal them, teach them techniques, etc. The Japanese government kept this information from the US and other countries. Slowly, the Pokemon's actions changed Japan's way of life. They still specialized in technology to keep other countries from being suspicious, but they remade their entire country, so it looks similar to things like this. Companies were made to make products to maintain Pokemon, leisure like Contests were invented as a way for Pokemon and their owners to have fun and communicate with each other. People like Oak and Elm wanted to specialize in these creatures, so they dedicated their lives to studying these creatures.
 
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Duckgon Z said:
I always thought that it was a part of the world, but by default now, since Kanto referenced many real things, but of course they only thought that it would be a short little series, but they stopped making references to real world things as time went on to make it seem less and less related to our world.

My actual theory is that when Pokemon came from outer space, they landed in different Japanese islands(Kanto and Johto Pokemon landed on one island, Sinnoh Pokemon on another, and so on). Japanese scientist actually coined these creatures "Pokemon" and made devices to capture, heal them, teach them techniques, etc. The Japanese government kept this information from the US and other countries. Slowly, the Pokemon's actions changed Japan's way of life. They still specialized in technology to keep other countries from being suspicious, but they remade their entire country, so it looks similar to things like this. Companies were made to make products to maintain Pokemon, leisure like Contests were invented as a way for Pokemon and their owners to have fun and communicate with each other. People like Oak and Elm wanted to specialize in these creatures, so they dedicated their lives to studying these creatures.
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HEY!!! This is a very solid theory, almost perfect. I support it =)
The only fault in it is that Mew was discovered in Guyana, South America =(
 
Veggietable said:
HEY!!! This is a very solid theory, almost perfect. I support it =)
The only fault in it is that Mew was discovered in Guyana, South America =(
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Remember though, there is more than one Mew though. Also Pokemon is top secret, so finding it barren South American isn't all that far fetched.
 
I think that it's a seperate world that is set in modernday almost like another planet that knows of our existence and may have copied or enhanced features of our world (like Hollywood£)pokemon world:•
 
I couldn't help but notice that the more the series progresses the more they steer clear of Real World references and the real world animals shown in occasional episodes of season 1 seem to be disappearing too. Hmmmmm.

I see things a bit differently. Given the nature of ancient civilizations in the PokéMon world (seems like a lot of them are far more advanced than even the crazy modern-day technology) I think it is the humans that came from space, not the PokéMon.

The world of PokéMon is an alien biosphere which contains a lot of different creatures that resemble Earth critters loosely although their physiology is highly different. Sometime many years before the anime, Humans arrived on the PokéMon world and colonized it - probably naming the countries and creatures after their loose equivalents on their own world. Then something catastrophic happened on a global scale (possibly taking out the fossil PokéMon?) that forced humanity into a dark age of sorts - much of the ancient technology was lost, and it is only now being slowly rediscovered.

As for the real life animals - maybe it IS lifeforms from Earth that were brought in in DNA form and mass-bred by humans for decorative and or food purposes. Since you don't see them anywhere in the wild, one can only assume they are kept by humans.

(shrugs) it'll explain why people who supposedly lived in the PokéMon world forever know what the hell a 'puppy' is to call Growlithe one. >>;
 
Please note: The thread is from 17 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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