Preview Pokémon Crimson & Crimson: A Mega Poké Surprise!

The Pokémon Company remains true to its lineage and continues to work on annual Pokémon releases. Nevertheless, the announcement of the ninth generation of the series for the end of 2022 was surprising, since we are with Pokémon Legends: Arceus already got a full-price Pokémon game this year. Many fans have long wished that Game Freak would invest more time in the development of their games in order to finally bring the well-known quality back to the franchise.

The first trailer for the games didn’t look disastrous, though, and fans are hopeful that Pokémon Crimson and Crimson will represent the desired break in the series. But as is so often the case, the Pokémon Company only gives us a small glimpse of the new generation. We can only speculate about the majority at the moment, but the announcement has already revealed a few things to us! We have compiled everything that is known about trailers and press material for you. All facts as well as speculation and hopes for the new Pokémon adventure in the analysis!

New adventure in Europe

The clothes of the protagonists are reminiscent of a school uniform and differ depending on the edition – for the first time in the history of the series.

Credit: Nintendo/Pokémon Company/Game Freak

As most Pokémon fans know, the regions in the games are inspired by real world locations. The first four generations (i.e. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh) are geographically based on Japan. The Unova and Alola regions are based on the USA and Kalos and Galar are based on European countries.

To be more precise, to France and Great Britain. Also, the region in Pokémon Crimson and Crimson, for which no name is known as of now, is said to be in Europe, namely on the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in Portugal and Spain.

The main characters look significantly younger in crimson and purple than in previous generations. Are they really ten years old?

Credit: Nintendo/Pokémon Company/Game Freak

The announcement trailer provides clues: Here you can see in some excerpts that the region is located by the sea. In addition, there is a map hanging in the protagonist’s room that looks like it depicts a part of south-western Europe. Another clue is the large, church-like building in the trailer.

It commemorates the Sagrada Família, a Roman Catholic basilica in Barcelona. However, there are not only large cities in the new region. You also see many nature reserves, forests, grasslands or beaches, which suggests a very varied geography and sounds like an excellent mix. Game Freak has always relied on variety in this regard. So that wouldn’t be a big change.

Characters and Edition Differences

If you look at the differences between the editions, however, something new becomes apparent: It has not yet been confirmed that there will be different Pokémon in the different editions, but it is almost certain, since there have been differences in this regard in every generation up to now.

What is new, however, is that the clothing of the main character also differs depending on the edition. For example, the protagonists in Pokémon Crimson wear bright colors and lots of orange, while those from the Crimson Edition are dressed in dark and wear more blue.

In terms of clothing, they adapt to the themes of the games and form the same contrast to each other as the colors crimson and purple. Appropriately, further references to edition differences can be found in the trailer. Because oranges and grapes, which also represent the two colors, are repeatedly staged in the live-action sequences. It is not yet clear whether this fruit will ultimately play a role in the adventures and if so, which one.

But there is already an interesting theory related to this: In Pokemon Sword and Shield there is a room that cannot be entered by the player. In this hangs a wallpaper that shows oranges and grapes. Possibly that was a teaser for the ninth generation! After all, Game Freak has often hidden such hints in their games.