History Headscratchers / PokemonRubyAndSapphire

* In Black and White, some remarks from Cynthia imply that Platinum is the canon version from fourth gen, adding fuel to the common "third version is canon" theory. However... In [[VideoGameRemake HeartGold and SoulSilver]], it's ''Steven'' who claims to be Champion, rather than Wallace, which seems to rule out Emerald as being the "canon" version. So, does anyone have any idea as to whether or not they just did this for simplicity's sake or whatever (being as how Ruby and Sapphire ''did'' [[CaptainObvious get released before Emerald]], making Steven more "recognizable" as Champion), or did they really mean that either Ruby or Sapphire is supposed to be the canon third gen game?

* According to the Pokedex, Absol is mistakenly believed by many people to be the cause of natural disasters when it is actually trying to warn people about them. Do all these people not have Pokedexes or other in-universe sources to tell them the truth? This seems like the kind of thing that would become common knowledge after it was discovered, but the Pokedex speaks as if most people are still making this same mistake about Absol. It should have at least made a in-universe impact when the truth was discovered, such as being mentioned in the news, pokemon nature shows, Wiki's articles about Absol (assuming the Pokemon world has Internet), etc...

* Why don't battles while soaring in the sky use Sky Battle rules? It would make a lot more sense, and Sky Battles apparently aren't in ORAS at all.

* Anyone else think it's strange that Rayquaza has a stronger connection to the origin of mega evolution than the Diancie species? I mean for starters, diancie are the only G6 pokemon to get a mega evolution, and most likely the only ones that ever will. Second, they're rock/fairy type, which kinds fits more with mystical stones. Finally, they're based on the mythical carbuncle, which would have it make all the more sense to have that legendary have a strong connection with mega evolution than the space dragon whom, to coin ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' terminology, basically serves as an auspistice between two other godly beasts whose mere presence fuck up the world's weather severely.

** That's basically what they did in HeartGold and SoulSilver. It was a 'card flip' minigame. The problem was it was rather boring and while you couldn't lose coins, it took forever to get enough coins to get anything, verses the original game corner only needing an hour or so to get the top prize Porygon. Presumably Game Freak just threw up their hands and said screw it and got rid of it completely.

* In Black and White, some remarks from Cynthia imply that Platinum is the canon version from fourth gen, adding fuel to the common "third version is canon" theory. However... In [[VideoGameRemake Heart Gold and Soul Silver]], it's ''Steven'' who claims to be Champion, rather than Wallace, which seems to rule out Emerald as being the "canon" version. So, does anyone have any idea as to whether or not they just did this for simplicity's sake or whatever (being as how Ruby and Sapphire ''did'' [[CaptainObvious get released before Emerald]], making Steven more "recognizable" as Champion), or did they really mean that either Ruby or Sapphire is supposed to be the canon third gen game?

** Because way too many humans will not believe those annoying little things called "facts". Just as one example, in RealLife, many people still believe black cats to bring bad luck, leading to them being the least adopted shelter animals, among other things. People can be very superstitious, so they won't stop seeing Absol as bad omens just because of things like that (After all, disaster still strikes after an Absol was around, no?).

* Somewhat minor, but why do people keep saying that Gen 3 and Gen 1 take place at the same time? The main reason I've seen is that you don't need a Time Machine to trade between R/S/E and FR/LG, like you did between R/B/Y and G/S/C... But you ''also'' don't need a Time Machine (for ''either'' R/S/E ''or'' FR/LG) to trade with Colosseum ''and'' XD! And remember, it's actually stated in those games that they take place ''five years apart''! So is "not needing a Time Machine" really evidence? Note, it wouldn't bug me if Gen 3 and Gen 1 are actually confirmed to take place at the same time... It just bugs me that people keep using ''trading'' as the basis.
** Well, we know that Generation II and Generation IV take place at the same time due to several references in the games (news of a red Gyarados being sighted, etc) and Generation II obviously takes place after Generation I. In [=HeartGold=] and [=SoulSilver=], the Champion of Hoenn's Elite Four shows up and mistakes the player for the protagonist of Ruby/Sapphire, and Bill says that Lanette from Hoenn helped him build the Pokemon Storage System. All of this means it's pretty safe to say that Gens I and III take place at around the same time.
** Thank you, that all makes sense. It still just bugs me that the Time Machine thing is brought up so often, but you explained everything else in a good way.
*** It [[http://archive.today/D9iPz was]] confirmed.
** Plus, the Red Gyarados sighting thing might just have been a regular shiny Gyarados living in Lake Valor, or any other lake that is not in snowy terrain, lava, middle of a city, a particular statue in the middle of the lake, or anything else that might cause the lake as being specifically one particular body of water from one specific region. And Steven might just have time-travelled from 2002 to 1998 with the help of a Celebi, Dialga, a technological device that is able to time-travel like the Time Capsule, or other newfangled crap.
** In Platinum, you actually get to meet the camera man who filmed the news story about the Gyarados and he outright confirms that it was the same one from the Lake of Rage in Johto. Further, there is zero evidence that the Steven we meet in HG/SS is from the future, be it by mechanical, magical, or any other means. Neither the character nor the game makes even the slightest of hints towards such an explanation. Trying to explain away Steven by saying he time traveled is a ''far'' more complicated explanation with far less justification than simply saying that Gen III took place prior to Gen II.
* In Black and White, some remarks from Cynthia imply that Platinum is the canon version from fourth gen, adding fuel to the common "third version is canon" theory. However... In [[VideoGameRemake Heart Gold and Soul Silver]], it's ''Steven'' who claims to be Champion, rather than Wallace, which seems to rule out Emerald as being the "canon" version. So, does anyone have any idea as to whether or not they just did this for simplicity's sake or whatever (being as how Ruby and Sapphire ''did'' [[CaptainObvious get released before Emerald]], making Steven more "recognizable" as Champion), or did they really mean that either Ruby or Sapphire is supposed to be the canon third gen game?
** Well, if III and I take place at the same time, then II happens 3 years after Emerald. That's plenty of time for Steven to take the title from Wallace. After all, Blue only held the title for about fifteen minutes.
** Strictly speaking, May or Brendan was the Champion of Hoenn at the end of Ruby, Sapphire, AND Emerald. It is likely that Steven was really just calling himself ''a'' Champion of Hoenn, and there was an error in translation (as Japanese really doesn't explicitly differentiate the cases, as far as I know).
** The remakes imply an existence of a Pokémon multiverse. Therefore, it's safe to say that [=HeartGold/SoulSilver=] takes place in a universe where Steven is still champion. Even if there's no multiverse, if the events of Omega [=Ruby/Alpha=] Sapphire are the new canons, the Delta Episode reveals that Steven gave his position as champion to Wallace just so that he could travel around the world without concerning himself about the Hoenn Pokémon League.

* I saw on the YMMV page that it's implied that [[spoiler: Wally's Gallade at his final battle is not the same one as his original.]] May I ask how this is implied? I mean, I can understand the rest of the team with how [[spoiler: Altaria and Delcatty aren't there, but Gallade's only difference I can see is that it knows leaf blade.]]
** The idea probably came from the data showing that his final battle Gallade has higher IV's than previously, but i believe the same thing happens to May/Brendan's Pokemon in their final battle too, so it's likely just GameplayAndStorySegregation

* According to the Pokedex, Absol is mistakenly believed by many people to be the cause of natural disasters when it is actually trying to warn people about them. Do all these people not have Pokedexes or other in-universe sources to tell them the truth? This seems like the kind of thing that would become common knowledge after it was discovered, but the Pokedex speaks as if most people are still making this same mistake about Absol. It should have at least made a in-universe impact when the truth was discovered, such as being mentioned in the news, pokemon nature shows, Wiki's articles about Absol (assuming the Pokemon world has Internet), etc...

** If it's not simply GameplayAndStorySegregation, you might be able to HandWave it with most Ice moves being solid. The ice would have to melt first and then evaporate, and possibly the moves happen quickly enough that there's not enough time for that to happen.

** Presumably ORAS takes place chronologically prior to XY, and since Looker appears there as his usual self he must recover in the meantime, but beyond that we have no information on how he ended up there and what caused his amnesia. Conceivably something related to an assignment of his with the international police. Just another mystery to ponder over, like the ghost girl and that hex maniac

* Why doesn't Desolate Land have any effect on damage-dealing Ice-type moves? You'd think weather hot enough to make damage-dealing Water-type moves fail would have a similar effect on what are essentially moves utilizing frozen water and/or coldness.

** I figured it was because they also added in several trainer classes that weren't in the original games (like Street Thugs, Delinquents, Fairy Girls, etc.). Plus they had all the various Kalos classes in the Battle Maison, right? Maybe they just didn't want to have even more trainer classes lying around in the code.

* Why aren't there any female Triathletes in the remakes? The lack of female Psychics is at least explainable; Hex Maniacs became a DistaffCounterpart to the class in Gen VI. Yet there's no reason as to why they cut the female Triathletes.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the remake since Ralts learns Confusion at level 4 now.

** Probably because Glalie is commonly agreed by players to be [[MasterOfNone rather underwhelming]]. Froslass isn't super-great either, but her [[FragileSpeedster increased speed]] compared to Glalie made her stand out a lot more in comparison (at least at the time). A boost for Frosslass would definitely be nice, but she needs one "less" than Glalie did.

** Groudon and Kyogre are not depicted as hellbent on wiping out life so much as slaves to their desire to absorb natural energy and fulfill their purpose in the world (to create more land and water respectively). Without masses of natural energy messing with and overwhelming their minds they are apparently as reasonable as other legendaries, and are even noted to have saved human societies in the past from droughts and floods respectively.

* Why Mega Glalie and no Mega Froslass? Why in fact, did Gallade not get a Mega until after Gardevoir? Did they purposely split up the Pokemon who evolve by Dawn Stone?

*** Voltorb flip was a lousy game though. If Game Freak were to make the game corner more like an arcade, and include Pokemon-themed minigames based on arcade classics, the game corner would be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.

** That's basically what they did in HeartGold/SoulSilver. It was a 'card flip' minigame. The problem was it was rather boring and while you couldn't lose coins, it took forever to get enough coins to get anything, verses the original game corner only needing an hour or so to get the top prize Porygon. Presumably Game Freak just threw up their hands and said screw it and got rid of it completely.

* So the game corner is no more as of ORAS after years of causing controversy among critics and irritation among fans. My question is why just close it? Why not change it up to something a little more relevant to what came to most of out minds as kids when hearing anything along the lines of "game corner"? I'm talking instead of slot machines, why not minigames based on what one would play at carnivals and arcades as a means for collecting tokens that could then be exchanged for prizes? That was something that really bothered me when I first entered the game corner on a friend's copy of Emerald back in middle school. It's a game for kids anyway. They aren't into sloth machines. They wanna play whack-a-mole (or I guess whack-a-diglet in this case), the shooting gallery, or maybe that ball-rolling game where your goal is to get the ball to fall into the center hole. At least that's what this troper was expecting to see in there.

** Presumably ORAS takes place chronologically prior to XY, and since Looker appears there as his usual self he must recover in the meantime, but beyond that we have no information on how he ended up there and what caused his amnesia. Conceivably something related to an assignment of his with the international police. Just another mystery to ponder over, like the ghost girl and that hex maniac

** A lot of what Zinnia is saying is based on the fact that the scientists are basically saying "We don't actually know where the meteorite is going to end up, anywhere but here is good though". Zinnia points out that it could well be the alternate universe that can't actually deal with it. It's a possibility, is all. Makes some more sense to players, knowing that this is a remake and all.

* So you find Looker collapsed on the shores of the Battle Resort with no memories of himself. A woman then brings him back to her hut so he can recuperate. You then get his Audinite and leave him like this. Is there something I'm missing about this story?

* Anyone else think it's strange that Rayquaza has a stronger connection to the origin of mega evolution than the Diancie species? I mean for starters, diancie are the only G6 pokemon to get a mega evolution, and most likely the only ones that ever will. Second, they're rock/fairy type, which kinds fits more with mystical stones. Finally, they're based on the mythical carbuncle, which would have it make all the more sense to have that legendary have a strong connection with mega evolution than the space dragon whom, to coin {{Homestuck}} terminology, basically serves as an auspistice between two other godly beasts whose mere presence fuck up the world's weather severely.

* So you find Looker collapsed on the shores of the Battle Resort with no memories of himself. You then get his Audinite and leave him like this. Is there something I'm missing about this story?

** The remakes have May's hair making a bit more sense. She's just got the back of her hair pulled into a ponytail, and left the front out. In the originals, it seems like the back of her hair is just cut shorter.