With every teaser forPokemon Legends: Arceus,Game Freak is showcasing more new and returning Pokemon that are appearing in the highly anticipatedpseudo-open world game. When the game arrives, players will explore the Sinnoh region in the distant past, back when it was called the Hisui region. Being so far in the past, Hisui may feature plenty of Pokemon that were not found in the Sinnoh region inPokemon DiamondandPearl. The geography may also vary in places - though the iconic Mt. Coronet is still a staple.
While there haven’t been any officially confirmed changes coming to Hisui geographically, outside of the lack of civilization, several Pokemon from other regions (not initially found in the Sinnoh Pokedex) have made an appearance in trailers. While the vast majority of Pokemon shown off forPokemon Legends: Arceushail from the Sinnoh region, there have been a growing number of Pokemon from other regions, especially in new regional forms. Three of the four regional forms shown off for the Hisui region are Pokemon that hail from Unova. This begs the question if there is a deeper connection between Sinnoh and Unova that will be explored inPokemon Legends: Arceus.
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Pokemon Geography
Based on what is known about the geography of the world ofPokemon, Unova and Sinnoh are not next-door neighbors. While Sinnoh, Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn have been confirmed to be part of a larger continent, the Unova region is been seen as an outlier. Most older regions arebased off various areas in Japan, meanwhile Unova is based on New York. Unova was so far disconnected from the rest of thePokemonregions at the time that no non-Unovan Pokemon were found until after the Elite Four was beaten.
The Alola region ofPokemon SunandMoon,the Kalos region ofPokemon XandY, and the Galar region ofPokemon SwordandShieldare also based off non-Japanese locations and tend to share less connections to the others. While there has been some mention in the past of special routes that connect regions, the only realy mention of anything like that in Unova is the Cave of Being. The Cave of Being is where players in Unova could discover Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. Supposedly this cave connects to Sinnoh , though the game does not elaborate more on that subject. With the introduction of regional forms, of which theHisui region will feature several, this begs the question of how interconnected the regions really are.
A History of Forms
Regional Forms were first introduced inPokemon SunandMoon. All of the Pokemon in the Alolan Region whoreceived unique Regional Formswere Pokemon from Kanto that made their way to Alola and adapted to survive in the new environment. InPokemon Sun/MoonandPokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, Professor Samson Oak explains the Pokemon likely changed their form to match either social or environmental differences, though Oak does not explain how the Kantonian Pokemon made it to Alola to begin with. Alola is based on Hawaii, which is geographically nowhere near Japan where Kanto is based on. Since Alola is such a tourist destination, it may not be a leap to assume some of these Pokemon were brought by people who stayed in the region after visiting, or were traded to residents.
Regional Forms continued with the release ofPokemon SwordandShield, and the Galar region based on the United Kingdom. Several new Regional Forms, includingRegional Forms for Legendary Pokemon, were introduced in this region. This further complicates the matter of having Regional Forms, as it essentially means no Pokemon is off limits. Much like in Alola, not much information was given in-game as to how these Galarian Forms came to be, other than that some of the Pokemon adapted to fit the environmental conditions present in the Galar Region.
Familiar and New Faces
So far, three of the four Hisuian Forms revealed forPokemon Legends: Arceushave been Pokemon from the Unova Region, withHisuian Zorua and Zoroarkbeing the latest additions to the list. The other Hisuian Pokemon revealed are Braviary (also from Unova) and Growlithe (from Kanto). While the big focus is on Hisuian Forms, it is also worth mentioning that Basculin, Unova’s archetypal fish, is receiving a brand-new evolution in the form of Basculegion. While Alolan forms were all from Kanto, Galar introduced a wide spread of Pokemon from multiple regions. The fact that, so far, nearly every Hisuian Form has been from Gen 5 - a region that tends to get overlooked - is certainly interesting.
So far it is unclear if the rise in Unova Pokemon inPokemon Legends: Arceusis merely coincidence, Game Freak giving some love to an underrepresented Generation, or something deeper. Geographically, players assume Unova and Sinnoh/Hisui are nowhere near one another, but with the rise in Unovan Pokemon having new forms, there may be a deeper connection.Pokemon Legends: Arceusisbreaking the mold of thePokemonfranchise in several ways, so it would be the perfect opportunity to really bridge the gap between several generations not only in terms of available Pokemon, but also in terms of lore. Previous attempts to explain Regional Forms have fallen under the radar but with the primary goal ofPokemon Legends: Arceusbeing to create the Hisui Region’s first Pokedex, now is the perfect time to make some cool connections to other regions that long-time fans can really appreciate.
Pokemon Legends: Arceuslaunches May 18, 2025, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
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