A keen-eyed Pokémon fan may have found a clue to the setting of Gen 10 hidden inside Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The newest games in the long-running franchise have introduced plenty of new features and concepts to fans, although performance issues have also led to dissatisfaction among players.
As reported by TheGamer, Reddit user Brenduke believes that they may have identified an Easter egg hinting towards the future of Pokémon. Inside the Academy’s Art classroom, players can see a variety of artwork created by their fellow students. Much of this artwork features Pokémon, but one curious exception on the right-hand wall instead depicts a distinctive rock formation, which does not seem to have an easily-identifiable counterpart in the known Pokémon world. Brenduke suggests that this may be an interpretation of Australia’s Uluru, also known as Ayer’s Rock, and that Australia (and perhaps New Zealand) could therefore be the country Pokémon's next region will be based on.
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Fan Theory Matches Up With Past Easter Eggs
This is certainly an interesting observation, and moreover, Brenduke’s theory is not without precedent. Although subtle, there have indeed been similar hints towards then-future Pokémon generations in previous games. For example, a poster featuring Gigantamax Toxtricity can be seen in Pokémon Sun and Moon, at the in-game Game Freak office in Heahea City. Similarly, a hint towards Scarlet and Violet themselves can be found in an out-of-bounds room in Sword and Shield: wallpaper featuring oranges and grapes can be glimpsed inside Chichester’s Hotel Ionia, fruits which are now known to be the emblems of Paldea’s Naranja/Uva Academy in Scarlet and Violet respectively. Similar hints to Scarlet and Violet were also found in BDSP.
Previous generations of Pokémon have taken players to regions inspired by locations all around the world. The first four main regions in the games, from Kanto to Sinnoh, are all based on parts of Japan; in fact, Kanto even shares its name with its inspiration, the Kantō region of Japan. After Sinnoh, the Pokémon world began to expand to a global scale. For example, Unova is based simultaneously on both New York City and the wider US state of New York, whilst Kalos is based on northern France.
While some details of the region’s relative locations (such as Kanto and Johto’s proximity) are known, an official map of the whole Pokémon world is not currently available. Although, that being said, the goal of an ongoing Pokémon fan project combines the regions in Minecraft into one all-encompassing map, and it can be assumed that the Pokémon world bears a strong resemblance to real-life Earth.
Only time will tell if Brenduke is correct about the future of Pokémon, but their observations and theories do line up with what is known about the Pokémon world and the actions of the developers. The Academy’s art students will have painted something from their world, and the rock formation depicted does not appear to match a known location. It could be that the painting is simply a random illustration created to fill out the Art classroom’s walls. But considering that the next Pokémon game might already be in development, Game Freak could just have easily slipped a reference to the next generation into Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Sources: TheGamer, Brenduke/Reddit