Summary
The concept of multiverses in fiction has become quite popular in recent years, butPokemonintroduced the idea to video games well ahead of the curve. While thePokemonseries more often revolves around the protagonist’s journey to get stronger than any interdimensional shenanigans, that doesn’t keep them from hiding plenty of surprises. Despite not being especially dramatic compared to many other gaming franchises,Pokemonhas been a trailblazer in many ways. As it turns out, one of those just happens to involve one especially popular trope. Not only that, it’s been doing so for two decades.
As one of themost popular video game franchises of all time,Pokemonis one of the biggest franchises in Nintendo’s vast library. Ever since the originalPokemon Red and Blue, the series has featured some of the highest-selling titles for every console it has appeared on. From the mainline games to spinoffs such asPokemon GO, its reach stretches far and wide across Nintendo’s landscape. While the games are accessible and easy to learn, the high amount of strategy involved has given it a remarkable competitive scene as well. All of this started with the very firstPokemontitles, and would only expand from there.
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Pokemon Games Have Long-Held Evidence of a Multiverse Theory
One of the franchise’s primary gimmicks isversion exclusives inPokemongames. The reason why each main seriesPokemongeneration releases two titles simultaneously is that each game will have slight differences from its counterpart. The most common difference is that some Pokemon will only be available in one version, but not the other. This feature started inPokemon Red and Blue, with players needing to trade between both games if they wanted to collect all of the original Pokemon in their Pokedex. While versions would get more distinct early on, these version-exclusive Pokemon were the first argument towards aPokemonmultiverse.
Later games provided more prominent version differences, such asPokemon Scarlet and Violet’s two professors. Not only that, butScarlet and Violet’s academy color theme and name changed as well depending on the version. There was also the case ofPokemon Sword and Shieldhaving a couple of version-exclusive gym leaders. These discrepancies could be explained by the Pokemon universe existing in a multiverse, where the different versions occur in different timelines or different versions of the world. This would explain why the same stories could take place in the same regions at the same time, but still be so different depending on the game.
Another piece of evidence for aPokemonmultiverse could be found inPokemon’s remakes of past games. Whether they follow shortly after the original likePokemon Platinumor come generations later likePokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, they offer significant changes to the story. Some can be simply story-wise, likePokemon Crystal’s Suicune subplot. However, games likeAlpha Sapphire and Omega Rubyoffer scores of new Pokemon and moves that weren’t present in the original games, creating a dramatically different experience. With how different two iterations of the same journey can be, the idea of aPokemonmultiverse makes perfect sense as an explanation.
While it has never been confirmed thatPokemontakes place in a multiverse, it certainly would make sense, especially in the context of Gen 7 games andPokemon Legends: Arceus. AnewPokemongame in Unovacould provide further evidence, depending on when it takes place, although the series has already offered enough reason to believe it. Multiverses are huge in fiction, whether it involves the DC Universe’s many timelines or the way thatMortal Kombat 1recently weaved it into its storyline.Pokemonmay not make references to its own multiverse, but it was creating one well before most series experimented with the idea.
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