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Time between generations?

GengarsRevenge

Well-Known Member
Hi. I know Gen 2 took place 3 years after Gen 1. But how much time takes place between Gen 2 and Gen 3? And Gen 3 and Gen 4? And while we're at it, Gen 4 and Gen 5?
Thanks.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
Your question assumes that each generation takes place after the previous one, which doesn't appear to be the case.

What little confirmed information there is regarding continuity, timeline and canonicity in the Pokémon core titles has already been discussed several times and little if any new material has come up since, though Cynthia appearing in B/W would seem to indicate Generation V does follow Generation IV.

Here's some reading to get you started:

http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?t=351430

http://www.serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?t=469752
 

SowrdXDance

Wish Upon this Star
In terms of the timeline, originally gold and silver came 3 years after red and blue. But with the release of the updated games (firered/ leafgreen, and heartgold/ soulsilver) we found out that generations 1 occurred around the same time as ruby and sapphire, and that generation 2 happened a little before the events of diamond and pearl. You can find evidence for these things in the games.

As for generation 5, we can safely assume that is takes place a good while after gen 4 since Cynthia is in the game, and Caitlin (a former battle frontier member in gen 4) is now an Elite four member in black and white.
 
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Saga

Beginning Trainer
But with the release of the updated games (firered/ leafgreen, and heartgold/ soulsilver) we found out that generations 1 occurred around the same time as ruby and sapphire

This makes no sense. FireRed and LeafGreen are NOT gen 1 games, they are gen 3, just like Ruby and Sapphire.

Just because you revisit Kanto doesn't mean you're doing it in the same time frame as your earlier visit.

Red became Champion in Red/Blue, and kept the title until Gold/Silver. Dark and Steel types were discovered only recently, we find out. The idea of Pokémon being hatched from eggs is also mentioned as a great discovery by Prof. Elm.

In Ruby/Sapphire (and FireRed/LeafGreen), we visit Hoenn /and revisit Kanto) sometime in a future where Dark and Steel types are known, and Pokémon breeding is not new.
 

SowrdXDance

Wish Upon this Star
This makes no sense. FireRed and LeafGreen are NOT gen 1 games, they are gen 3, just like Ruby and Sapphire.

Yes, I realize that firered and leafgreen are gen 3 games, I didn't mean to phrase that the way I did. What I meant was that the events of gen 1 (red and blue) were updated and place in the same corresponding timeline as ruby and shappire. Same goes for gen 4 with heartgold and soulsilver.

But I can see why my answer seemed off, sorry for the confusion.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I used to believe that the events in FireRed and LeafGreen took place after the events of Generation 2 a long time ago. Back then, releasing remakes of older Pokemon games was a new concept so I wasn't sure what to believe. The whole Sevii Islands and Johto Pokemon addition convinced me that the events in those games took place shortly after Generation 2 though. I've been reading some articles on the timeline of events in the games lately however, so that's cleared things up for me.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
In FireRed/LeafGreen, we revisit Kanto sometime in a future where Dark and Steel types are known, and Pokémon breeding is not new.

Ah, but there's the question: do we? Are we revisiting Kanto or are Fire Red and Leaf Green meant to take the place of Red/Blue/Green in what passes for continuity?

After all, Red's quest in FR/LG is identical in talking points to the quest in Red/Blue; do you choose to believe that a boy named Red conquered the Kanto Gyms and defeated Team Rocket and became Champion of the Kanto region (in Red/Blue)... and then a nearly identical-looking boy also named Red did all of that, verbatum, again in FR/LG?

That makes no sense. The logical answer would seem to be that the remakes replace their source material in what passes for canon in this franchise, but the fact that we describe "canon" so tenuously in the core titles says quite a bit in and of itself.

The fact that Dark- and Steel-types and breeding are known in FR/LG's Kanto is not a continuital indicator. Pokémon is a game and gameplay is the top priority, first, foremost and always. Fire Red and Leaf Green were remakes, meant to show a Kanto region updated to the then-modern standard; they weren't going to omit the elements that had been added to the gameplay since Kanto's first appearance just to maintain some sort of tissue-thin story.
 

GengarsRevenge

Well-Known Member
Wow, I didn't realize how much discussion there was about this.

But yeah, like they say they've 'discovered' new pokemon and 'discovered' new types, I don't think that has anything to do with canon, I think that's just there way of introducing new features... you know?

And a remake is just a remake. FR/LG should take place at the same time as R/B/Y. Well, unless they retcon it somehow, like if they said "Lance used to be champion until he got beaten by Blue, then Giovanni took over Viridian gym!"

I just started playing Emerald, my first Gen 3 game, so I'm unfamiliar with it. Why does everyone say it takes place at the same time as Gen 1?
 

Darth Sabreus

Want to get a soda?
Wouldn't they all begin at the same time? Just because it says "3 years ago the Silph co was attacked..." doesn't mean that Gen 2 necessarily "happened" after Gen 1.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
To assume that all five generations take place at the same time, bar none, is completely illogical. We don't have a concrete timeline as to what takes place precisely when, but we know enough to be aware that Generations I through V aren't just five adventures taking place separately but concurrently.

Furthermore, constant reference is made throughout the Johto template to "Red's" journey (that's you, the player, playing through a Generation I title/FR/LG) and his defeat of Team Rocket. That Red is found at the very end, atop Mt. Silver and super-strong after three years of solitary training, is not a coincidence, nor is it coincidence that a stronger Blue (your Kanto rival) is now Leader of the Viridian Gym, a necessity since Red defeated and deposed the former leader and his organization. HG/SS takes this "three years later" point a step further with the Celebi/Giovanni event.

That the Johto template (G/S/C/HG/SS) takes place three years after the Kanto template (R/G/B/Y/FR/LG) is one of the few certainties we have in what is largely a big pot of canonical ambiguities where the core titles are concerned.
 
I have no idea when B/W takes place compared to previous gens. But I like to think that it's around the same time as Gen 1, what with B/W being a re-boot.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
But I like to think that it's around the same time as Gen 1, what with B/W being a re-boot.

With Cynthia visiting the region as a prominent world figure? Probably not.

And B/W is not a reboot in any fashion save for the lack of previous-generation critters prior to the Elite Four.
 

Darth Sabreus

Want to get a soda?
...

And if your point was that you are aware they don't all take place concurrently, then why this:



I sense you've misunderstood something somewhere.

Ah yes, is what I've missed. I believe you've won this one.

EDIT: How about this. There is some evidence to suggest that the game may happen separately (3 years later...), but the generations themselves happen "concurrently". Point clarified (hopefully)
 
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With Cynthia visiting the region as a prominent world figure? Probably not.

If we assume that Cynthia is in her late 20s, she could have been the regional champion long before the events of Gen 4. Green made it that far at age 10 after all!
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
If we assume that Cynthia is in her late 20s, she could have been the regional champion long before the events of Gen 4. Green made it that far at age 10 after all!

Which doesn't change the fact that it's just not plausible to think that Generation V takes place all the way back at the start of whatever passes for continuity among the core titles and that there's nothing to suggest that, particularly since the crux of your argument - that B/W are a reboot - is inaccurate.
 

zodiacsage

Challenge Seeker
Which doesn't change the fact that it's just not plausible to think that Generation V takes place all the way back at the start of whatever passes for continuity among the core titles and that there's nothing to suggest that, particularly since the crux of your argument - that B/W are a reboot - is inaccurate.

I am inclined to agree with this, if anything in my opinion it takes place at least a few years after the events of the last generation from what I can tell. Although it is an interesting theory I highly doubt the events of Black/White are intended to take place as some sort of prequel or past occurrence.
 
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