The Pokemon Timeline Explained (in seven minutes)

Also apparently I wrote 3+2+2=5 at both 4:11 and 4:56... let's just not talk about it ok

My theory on the timeline is that Dialga was making lunch but he accidentally spilled his apple juice on the time line and he was like whatever ill just make another one over here

Honestly it’s pretty obvious that gamefreak never intended to make a cohesive timeline. It’s just odd that they decide to put old characters into new games and say that they’re x years older than they were before, because that just begs fans to try to put a timeline together

The best part is, you can see in Red's character model that Sun and Moon takes place 20 years after Gen 1. Which is perfect as Sun and Moon were the 20th Anniversary games.

I kind of feel like Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon has its own little alternate timeline. The story, while largely enough is the same, still manages to have its own differences. It's not a case of Emerald or Platinum where the story is expanded upon, but it changes just enough to warrant it to separate from Sun and Moon.

Fun fact: It’s a canon fact that every single Pokémon cartridge is a parallel dimension.

Nintendo and Gamefreak: I know you have a lot of questions about the timelines, but in order to answer those questions, we have to talk about P A R A L L E L U N I V E R S E S

Just some thoughts about the Pokemon timelines I've had over the years. In Heartgold and Soulsilver, Steven introduces himself as THE champion of Hoenn, meaning Emerald cannot share the same timeline as HGSS. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Steven wants Wallace to become the champion, this may be a desire shared across other timelines. This would allow Ruby and Sapphire to share the same timeline as Black 2 and White 2 as it explains how Wallace is a champion in Gen 5's PWT. With that said, I don't think Emerald can be written off as non-canon since it ties into Gen 7. The Battle Frontier theme plays for Annabel even in Gen 7 implying she came from a timeline where she was a frontier brain, and of course the Battle Frontier didn't exist in RS. So its hard to accept which of the Gen 3 games are cannon and just say that even the Original Timeline is split in two. Also in Gen 5, Cynthia briefly mentions the events of the Distortion World, allowing only Platinum to share the same timeline as Gen 5. Finally Let's Go does belong in a corner as the video explains. Its so hard to fit that game to even a new parallel timeline that I'm just convinced Game Freak doesn't care anymore, and frankly neither did I at that point.

You can make a Timeline out of anything, because everything has to have some sort of Timeline. So that's nothing special. The better question is: did the creators consider the Timeline and thought about it in the creation process. If the Timeline that the fans are trying to reconstruct gets as complex as this one - I think it's safe to say that the answer to that is "no".

Don’t forget that game freak confirmed that each and every player’s save file is a separate canon universe :)

People who are recommending Kingdom Hearts wants to see this guy suffer.

I prefer the simplicity of how the manga does it. It’s all one timeline and there is a definite passage of time with the original characters aging. As far as I can remember, Mega Evolutions are introduced as this cool new thing and left at that. The remakes are also still part of the timeline, but are extensions of the original story. The best example is probably Emerald when all the main cast come together Avengers style.

I have the feeling Legends: Arceus will have a major impact on the timeline, I have a theory that that game will be the first game playing out on one of the "evil team victorious" timelines!

Playing pokemon: smol brain Knowing pokemons lore: big brain Knowing pokemons timeline: MEGA BRAIN

The day this guy does Kingdom Hearts is the day he ascends to legend-hood.

Honestly I love the mega-arc and the looker stories. So sad to see that they kinda just gave up on that on swsh

0:22 could've put an Avater the last airbender reference

All we know about Sword and Shield is that it takes place after the creation of Porygon... that’s about it

The thing is, with different timelines that influence thousands of years, it's to be expected that slight differences in ages of normal characters in the original timeline. Because of the introduction of something as influential as Mega Evolution, something like some parents deciding to have a baby earlier or later than they would in the original timeline wouldn't be too surprising. This explains why some characters are in Mega timeline but not in original, and why some are different ages. In fact, it's amazing that they ended up so similar to the original timeline, given how much things should've changed.

I like it when game companies don’t intend to have a difficult timeline but they end up making it as convoluted as humanly possible to trigger the theorists. Like almost every big Nintendo franchise.