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A Pokemon fan has attempted to create a map imagining what the regions of the iconic video game world would look like if most of them were overlayed on the land of their creation, Japan. There are quite a few different Pokemon regions at this point in the franchise, but Game Freak has yet to put out anything resembling a map of the Pokemon world and where most of the regions are in relation to each other.
It’s pretty well known by now that every Pokemon region takes inspiration from different parts of the world, and the region maps can often bear striking similarities to locales like New York City or the actual region of Kanto in Japan, which contains major cities like Tokyo and Chiba. One dedicated Pokemon fan connects these similarities between real-life locations and game locations that they were inspired by.
A Detailed Pokemon World Map
The map, created by Reddit user u/smokeabowlofbud, takes every region that is known to be inspired by a certain area of Japan and overlays it onto where it’s based on a map of the island country. It’s pretty surprising seeing how much of Japan is covered by Pokemon regions at this point, and it seems like there aren’t many spaces left to put new areas in the future outside of central and northern prefectures like Fukushima and Niigata.
The main series regions present are obvious. Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn are all in the south, with Sinnoh taking up the entire northern island of Hokkaido and the newest Scarlet and Violet DLC area Kitakami, also being nearby. Some of the other regions might not be as obvious to certain players, though, like Fiore, Almia, and Oblivia, all of which were regions in the Pokemon Ranger spin-off series.
The Remaining Pokemon Regions
So, nearly all of Japan is taken up by various Pokemon regions at this point. Still, if that means the world of Pokemon is basically an alternate version of our own, then there’s a lot of the world out there still missing its own regions. The Reddit user who created this map did note that it’s only part one, which means there will likely be more maps in the future covering other parts of the world that have their own regions, like the US, which has the Unova region based on New York City, the Alola region based on Hawaii, and the Orre region (from the Pokemon Colosseum spin-off series) apparently based on Arizona despite the state not actually bordering any kind of sea.
Other regions missing include Kalos, a region inspired by France; Galar, a region inspired by the United Kingdom; and the most recent, Paldea, a region inspired by Spain. Overall, this would leave a larger Pokemon world map looking pretty sparse outside of Japan, which makes sense since it’s likely a lot easier for the Japanese developers at Game Freak to develop locations based on existing places they already know and have likely visited.
Still, it would be great to see more of the world, especially continents that haven’t been covered, like Africa and South America, getting new regions in the future.
