Chronological Order

[michael95]

If this topic already exists I apologize but it's hard to sift through all of them lol.

Anyhow, I've been reading up on it a lot but I cant seem to find something I'm satisfied with. I'm really curious to determine he chronological order of the video game series. For the sake of the game sets where there were three games, I really only consider the canon games as being in the proper story line (being Emerald and Platinum). Obviously the events of generation 2 took place 3 years after generation 1 due to Team Rocket falling and the events surrounding Red, and the events of generation 5 take place some time after the events of generation 4, what with Caitlin being at the top of the battle castle and looking pretty young based off of the artwork, then looking older for her elite 4 artwork in Unova.

I am also going to assume generations 1 and 3 are linked due to the Sevii Islands, and 2 and 4 are linked due to the reports of the Lake Of Rage in the beginning of Platinum.

I can't determine exactly what the order is, or what takes place after what, or whether or not two different generations take place at the same time.

(I just wish they would remake generation 3, it would probably help clear a lot of this up).

Discussion time!

 

[Linkachu]

The likelihood of Gen 1 and Gen 3's plots occurring closely together seems high due to FireRed/LeafGreen and Emerald's various connections (particularly with the Pokémon Network machine), but the more I think about it the more I seem to recall Ruby/Sapphire also dropping hints that they took place around the same time period as Gen 1...

Like you've already said, Gen 2 and Gen 4 obviously happen around the same time period because of various references within Sinnoh, particularly regarding the Red Gyarados. This is likely the fault of them wanting to tease HeartGold/SoulSilver prior to their reveal.

Again as you've said, Gen 5's games take place in the future following Sinnoh's adventure due to the connections with Caitlin and other small tidbits.

So I guess we can look at it as Gen 1 - Gen 3 - Gen 2 - Gen 4 - Gen 5 chronologically but with 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 occurring closely together. Maybe? I'm sure there are more hints dropped within R/S/E to suggest when the plot takes place but it's been too long since I last played any of 'em for me to clearly remember.

 

[Toastie]

Yeah, Gen V seems to take place a significant amount of time after Gens II and IV. In that time, the Rocket grunt who stole the machine part has (presumably married and) had a child, who uses the schoolkid sprite, so is probably between 5 and 8. However, I don't think Game Freak really had a specific time frame in mind.

Of course, there is also the chronology within Gen V - B2W2 take place two years later, so the timeline goes like this:

Gen I and Gen III --3 Years--> Gen II and Gen IV --Unknown amount of time--> Gen V (BW) --2 Years--> Gen V (B2W2)

That means Red and Blue are at least 16 in the PWT, most probably older.

 

[Satoren]

I wouldn't really base a character's age on their appearance in the PWT since they mostly just recycled sprites from HGSS and DPPt. If the Hoenn games did occur around the same time as the Kanto games, then the Hoenn Gym Leaders would be a lot older. Wattson would've retired by now and the twins would be teenagers already.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

That always bugged me about the PWT was that B2W2 is based at least ten years after RSE and yet the Hoenn Gym Leaders and Champions remained unchanged. Same goes for the characters from Gen IV. I simply chose to think of the non-plot related tournaments as noncanon battles with no relevance other than nostalgic fan service for the players to enjoy. That is why Tate and Liza are still kids, and why everyone else looks the same from years prior.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Officially, Generations I and II didn't happen. As far as the 'canon' of the games go anyway. The remakes have retconned those away - so the canon versions are FR/LG and HG/SS.

Likewise, it's probably safest to assume that Emerald and Platinum are the 'canon' versions of the stories in Hoenn and Sinnoh, also.

The timelines as specified in Gens III and IV are that the events of Team Rocket's machinations in Kanto take place at the same time as the events happening in Hoenn at the time. Note that to send Pokemon from Kanto to Hoenn requires a transporter to go over long distances, not through time (as we saw in Gen II->I).

3 years later, the events in Johto and the events in Sinnoh take place at the same time, as evidenced by the TV report at the beginning of D/P/Pt detailing the events going on at the Lake of Rage.

So, it goes Generation III-> 3 years -> Generation IV -> Some time later -> Generation V.

The real interesting thing will be if Generation VI, which will almost certainly be home to a R/S remake, can easily be considered as part of that same original timeline with the events in Hoenn and Kanto, or if there'll be anything that specifically places them elsewhere in the currently established timeline.

Given the 20th Anniversary will take place during Generation VI, it may be a good chance for them to go back to that time era in the games - though how they would/might tie that back to the original events in Kanto is something I won't even begin trying to predict.

 

[michael95]

While I do agree that Platinum is canon to Diamond and Pearl, the one issue I've always had with considering Emerald canon to Ruby and Sapphire is the difference in Champion. Although it's not much, for that reason alone, I like to consider Ruby and Sapphire as well.

But yea, come the 20th anniversary, it will be quite interesting to see what they decide to do as far as Gen 3 remakes

 

[Toastie]

I wouldn't really base a character's age on their appearance in the PWT since they mostly just recycled sprites from HGSS and DPPt.

Well we know that Red (and presumably Blue) are 16+ in the PWT because he was 11 in FRLG, and B2W2 take place at least 5 years after. However, as you said the PWT can't really be used to judge the aging of characters. Bugsy is still a little boy and hasn't changed at all, for instance, which I find quite amusing.