It doesn’t surprise most that for the 30th anniversary of these games Pokemon wanted to do something with Kanto, but this has caused me to ask why. Kanto gets the most callbacks and Pokemon returning out of any generation. Even when they shouldn’t be involved they somehow steal the show.

Gen 6 introduced Mega Evolution and you would think that the starters and some other easily obtained Pokemon would get Megas, but nope in its debut no Gen 6 Pokemon including your starter could Mega Evolve, you know who could: The Kanto Starters and after the remakes release the Hoenn Starters. In the generation meant to introduce this mechanic the Pokemon meant to introduce you to the world don’t get access to said mechanic.

Gen 7 introduced Alolan forms and alternate forms of existing Pokemon. While on its own it is fine Sun and Moon came out during the 20th anniversary and advertised as a celebration of the series with tons of easter eggs and secrets to find redesigning some Pokemon to better fit the tropical setting can do wonders, but once again only Kanto got the treatment and this would continue for most of the alternate forms of Pokemon while some do exist of Pokemon from other regions it is still mostly Kanto. Meowth has its original and two other forms as well this one cat Pokemon does not need that much

Gen 8 had mostly the same this time with Gigantamax forms the Kanto Starter Charmander had a form before anything else and while they did fix this in the DLC. Charmander still stole the show being the partner Pokemon of the Champion and only Gigantamax form actually given to the player as a gift Pokemon in the base game. Along with multiple Galarian forms for Kanto Pokemon.

Gen 9 actually didn’t do anything that bad all Pokemon can take advantage of Terastallization and change their types. and when it comes to alternate forms Wiglett and Toedscool are vastly different from their Kanto counterparts. Alongside that most of the alternate forms are from other regions or return from previous games. I just wish these changes were in a different game.

Further there is one glaring problem to these games and that is Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee already exist. If people want to play Kanto again there is really no reason to play anything else. Even the mobile games have more content geared towards Kanto than any other region. I would be happier if the e shop was instead going to have heartgold and soulsilver.