Pokemon's leaked series timeline explained

The timeline of events throughout Pokémon series is complicated — much, much more complicated than many fans just getting into the franchise would think. Various minor inconsistencies, rampant misinformation among fans, and the fact that there is much more than just a single timeline to Pokémon series are all factors that play into this complexity, but in one of the only instances in the franchise's history, fans recently got a look at an official and rather in-depth breakdown of the series' timeline… or part of it, at least.

This information originated with the infamous “teraleak” that occurred earlier this month. This monumental data breach occurred after an anonymous hacker gained access to Game Freak's internal archives earlier this year, and has since resulted in the internet being flooded with unprecedented developments. Pokémon content from the past decades. Alongside personal information from over 2,600 employees and contractors, almost everything from concept art, source code, scrapped narrative details, glimpses of early game builds, and even some details about unreleased games have been leaked online.

How these leaks determine part of Pokemon's timeline

The data that glistened from these leaks is a rabbit hole, but the sequence of events throughout Pokémon continuities and timelines are completely different. The leaked information about the main series Pokémon the timeline, shared on Twitter by @CentroLeaks, says that the Gen 1 and Gen 3 games take place in the same year, around the same time. As fans know, the Gen 2 titles take place three years later, although the events of the Gen 4 games take place around the same time here – according to Game Freak to take place “slightly later” than the Gen 2 games. The first of the Gen 5 games, Pokemon black and whiteis then stated to take place 10 years after the events of the Gen 4 games.

The Gen 4 games are somewhat transparent about taking place at the same time as
Pokemon Gold and Silver
when they begin with the player watching a news broadcast about the red Gyarados in Lake of Rage.

This isn't the first time fans have been tipped off about Pokemon's timeline

First, most of this is not technically new information. Many invested Pokémon theorists and fans have long run with the idea of ​​these games co-occurring, thanks in large part to a now-deleted tweet from Toshinobu Matsumiya, a script writer at Game Freak who has worked on the series since Gen 1. This tweet, originally shared in May 2014 , seemed to confirm that Gens 1 and 3 occurred simultaneously, with Gens 2 and 4 similarly occurring at the same time later in the timeline. Further, the tweet claimed that after the events of Pokemon black and whitethe sequels Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 also occurred around the same time as Pokemon X and Y.

Fans should keep in mind that leaked content is rarely Canon content

Unlike this tweet, the information from the latest leaks actually adds some more context Pokémon timeline by clarifying the number of years between the events of Gens 4 and 5. Many may even consider Matsumiya's decade-old tweet in retrospect to lend credence to the recently leaked timeline information, as it is crucial that fans understand that almost everything was leaked Pokémon documents represent content that was under active development at the time. This means that the canonicity of absolutely every bit of leaked content should be taken with a generous pinch of salt, as many designs and narrative details ended up changing between development and release.

Since the games themselves hardly provide any detailed insight into the series' timeline, it's very possible that this information could be quickly retconned in the future. However, as understood as far as fans know today, this is the most concrete and comprehensive layout of the timeline throughout the main series games – regardless of Pokémon remakes, spin-offs, manga, or the main anime series, all of which appear in either different continuities or, in some cases, different timelines within the same continuity.

Pokemon's timeline remains something of a mystery beyond Gen 6

Of course, the elephant in the room is that this information doesn't account for games past Gen 6. While Pokemon X and Y was included in Matsumiya's timeline tweet, only loose theories are available to help fans pin Gens 7, 8, and 9 on the timeline. All that is known about these games is that they take place back-to-back – something that is understood only thanks to very niche bits of information in these games that refer to the events of previous entries to the game. Pokémon series.