Important takeaways
- New Pokemon leaks confirm a decade-old fan theory about a southern part of the Kalos region.
- The leaked content is considered one of the biggest in gaming history, with Game Freak publicly acknowledging the breach.
- Fans are speculating about the southern Kalos region connecting to the Paldea region.
A decade old Pokémon fan theory about the geography of the Kalos region has recently been shown to hold some weight after major content leaks revealed extensive development material associated with several titles in the franchise. Much of this information had previously been invisible to anyone outside of Game Freak's offices until recently Pokémon “teraleak”, which revealed a huge amount of information including employees' personal details, beta Pokemon designs, cut content from the games and much more.
The tide of never before seen Pokémon content that started flooding the internet as recently as October 13 is already widely considered to be one of the biggest leaks in gaming history. Game Freak has publicly acknowledged the breach and issued an apology to both staff and fans for the inconvenience caused, along with assurances that the company is committed to strengthening its security measures in the future. While there is a wealth of information that fans continue to dig through, many Gen 6 enthusiasts have been quick to acknowledge a screenshot of the game taken early in Pokemon X and Ys development that seems to confirm a decades-long fan theory.
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The theory in question refers to the existence of a southern part of the Kalos region that was not seen in the final version of the Gen 6 games. Directly based on France – or more specifically, northern France – the Kalos region features a variety of towns and cities directly inspired by real-life locations, including the large city of Lumiose, which is essentially the Paris of Pokémon world. A recently discovered gameplay screenshot from early in the games development actually contains a rather different map of the region confirming that Kalos was originally intended to represent all of France, with the early regional map including a southern section populated by several unused cities and locations.
Why Southern Kalos is such a mysterious part of the Pokémon world
This has obviously left no shortage of Gen 6 Pokémon fans upset that they never got to see the Kalos region that could have been, with fans long speculating that a potential southern Kalos would have arrived in the saga Pokémon Za third Gen 6 title that ultimately never materialized. The stretch of land south of the famous Kalos region has also been brought up in further discussion in recent years, as have many Pokémon Enthusiasts have speculated that the Paldea region – based on Spain and Portugal – may actually connect to southern Kalos in the northeast, just as France and Spain are connected in the real world.
Although this is a widely accepted theory, it is certainly not an established fact. The idea seems extremely plausible thanks to the uncanny parallel between real world geography and that of the world Pokémonbut there is little material in the official canon that concretely shows how all the games' regions connect in the world. Still, fans will be going back to Kalos next year Pokemon Legends: ZAwhich in itself might shed a little more light on just these parts of Pokémon the world and their history.
Pokémon
Pokemon is a franchise that needs no introduction. One of the most successful media empires in history, Pokémon spans games, television, movies, manga, merchandise, music and more.
- Created by
- Satoshi Tajiri
