Pokemon Legend: Arceus is a big deal Pokemon series. Not only does it break with the traditions of many of the series by presenting an open world inspired by Breath of the Wild in the Pokemon franchise, but it also rocks a relatively underutilized concept in the Pokemon franchise: A History story.
We briefly covered this earlier in DS Derivatives Pokemon Conquest, tells the story of feudal Japan in the Pokemon universe. But this month’s title is the first to explore the concept in a mainline full-fat Pokemon title.
Legend: The story of Arceus is set in the Shinno region, the same region of the Pokémon world, which happens to be located on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Shenao has already appeared in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, but what makes this game different is that it takes place in the past—somewhere around the 19th century, it seems. The same area, but not even the same name: in this era, it was called Emerald. In Legends: Arceus, players will work to create the region’s first illustrated book in a historical context.
It’s an exciting twist on the Pokemon franchise. That means we’ll see beloved Pokemon in long-extinct forms, and see early versions of the Poke tech we already know and love, such as PokeBalls (Kurt, eat your heart) made out of wood.
Still, all of this got us thinking. Of course there is. What other historical Poke versions of scenes around the world would we like to see?Game Name – Pokémon Legends colon Arceus – After all, it has been hinted that this could be a series of games, not just a one-off spin-off.
So, what other Pokemon Legends settings would be cool? Here are some of our thoughts…
Victorian Galar / England
We’ve seen this setup in games like Professor Layton and the recent Ace Attorney Chronicles. As Brits, we do love that filtered, idyllic version of England that always comes up when it’s a vision of a country built by Japan. One of the coolest things about Pokemon Sword & Shield is its dedication to blending into the British setting, even adding a lot of questionable slang to the dialogue. But what about turning the clock back on the British version of the Galar?
There are several options here. Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is the Victorian era. Japanese games in these British settings like to have (legally different) versions of Sherlock Holmes running around. What would Sherlock Holmes’ partner Pokemon be? Can we get an old version of Looker, go to the full Doctor Who, investigate a criminal gang inspired by Oliver Twist, a Team Rocket?
Of course, the history of the UK is rich enough that you can learn about different historical periods. Looking back at Pokemon Conquest, the medieval England setting might also be cool for knights fighting Pokemon alone. Galarian Farfetch’d even mentions this era in Sword and Shield. That would be the other best option; but an industrial revolution, Victorian Pokemon remains our favorite.
30s or 40s Unova / New York
Introduced in Pokemon Black & White, Unova made Pokemon history by being a setting in a series based outside of Japan. Depicting a Pokeverse version of New York City and the surrounding area, it’s easy to think of New York and pay particular attention to one iconic period—the Great Depression and the period that followed.
Maybe it’s too frustrating for Pokemon. But I don’t know… the series has a knack for sugar coating, like enslaving cute creatures and making them beat each other. That period in New York was iconic—architecture, hawkers, gangsters, social unrest, in just about every way you can imagine.
Fashion and design at the time were also just iconic, in a way that Pokemon designers could really have fun with. While Galar still uses a more traditional, more classic England style, the modern Unova depicted in the game is barely recognisable compared to what it was seventy years ago, so for any potential Victorian game we do, this will is a cool change to get.
The Holy Poke – Roman Empire
I keep looping back to Pokemon Conquest, in part because it’s my favorite Pokemon spinoff. So, I’ve been thinking about culture, like Nobunaga’s ambitions and the story of his conquest of Japan. So, naturally, I think of ancient Rome, which spanned a variety of settings and left a huge cultural impact on the world. That’s where it gets really interesting – seeing Pokemon versions of these influential characters and their influence on the Pokemon world. I reckon Caesar might have an Arcanine. Maybe Falinks.
Of course, another interesting thing about Rome is that it is a melting pot. It blends into multiple nations and cultures; there are Persians, remnants of ancient Greece, and of course, the Empire even touches on another background we suggest from another era – Galar. Plus, we’ve never seen Italy in Pokemon before – so at the heart of that culture will be a whole new environment, possibly full of brand new Pokemon.
Carlos/French Revolution
You’ve probably seen Les Mis (or played Assassin’s Creed: Unity – if that’s the case, we’re sorry), so you probably already have a basic idea of what happened in Paris in 1789 or another riot learn. a little later. If you want a SparkNotes summary of the whole thing, we’ve got it for you: Thousands of Parisians, tired of Louis XVI’s consistent blatant abuse of power, erupted in violent protests in the streets, eventually uprooted and overthrown the monarchy and demonstrate the power of the monarchy. Protest — and the power of popular will.
Imagine; imagine taking to the streets with all your red Pokemon – red was a symbol of French resistance at the time – fighting in urban skirmishes as ex-gym leaders and trainers worked together to dismantle that huge , the end of the imposing city of Poke-Bastille. Imagine using Cut to dismantle furniture and erect temporary barricades on the street. Imagine having Bisharp use the guillotine on the Pokemon-universe version of King Louis XVI…well, maybe that’s a bit much. But still! This era has a rich history and a lot of potential Pokemon pairings, where you can set up combative street ‘mon (Poochyena, Pidgey, Rattata, Grimer, Trubbish, etc.) against arrogant, upper-class pet types (Snubbull, Boufallant, etc.) , Togekiss, Roserade, Pyroar, Gallade). Pokemon research class division; I’ll get it the first day.
Ancient Greece
Alex mentioned his Holy Roman Elven Empire suggestion above, but I think we can also take it back a bit and go to ancient Greece. The landscape of the Greek islands does play to Pokemon’s strengths (unless there is “too much water”, hehe), while the continent itself has enough room for different biomes to effortlessly cram almost all 898 Pokemon into it go with.
But when most people think of ancient Greece, they think of mythology. So how about this? Instead of fighting your way through different gyms and fighting the Elite Four at the end, how about visiting ancient Greek temples and fighting priests with superpowers and their god Pokémon? Got a legendary trainer? Of course! With shiny sneakers? why not?
Use a device designed to usurp the 12 Olympian gods (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, A game designed by the disciples of Phrodite, Hermes, and Hestia/Dionysus to replace the standard Ba Dao Gym format sounds like a dream game. Imagine the design! Imagine the types they each excel at. Basically imagine Pokemon x Hades. Sounds incredible, man.
China – Three Kingdoms
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but isn’t the game from the Chinese “Three Kingdoms” era great? What? What do you mean it’s been done in countless Dynasty Warriors games? And a Total War game? Dozens more than that? Oh. Well, none of them can do the job like a Pokémon, right?
Think about it; you have competing factions (all considered pretty red, blue, and green primary colors thanks to the folks at Tecmo Koei) that can all specialize in different genres. You have a territorial aspect to the story, and we know Pokemon handles it well because the Pokemon Conquest game Alex shines on it. It’s a no-brainer at this point to port some of the ideas we’ve seen in Conquest into a larger game – full of incredible characters, amazing locations, and some quirky lore .
Given that a large number of Pokemon are inspired by Chinese mythology (Drampa, Absol, Suicune, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, etc.), we can also see some cool interactions with the mysterious guardians of certain locations – or see things like The likes of Guan Yu, Cao Cao or Lü Bu thoughtfully paired with the ‘mon’ associated with their heritage.
Table of Contents
