Hoenn
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The Hoenn region (Japanese: ホウエン地方 Hōen-chihō) is a large region to the southwest of Johto, and resembles the real-world Japanese main island of Kyushu. It is the setting of the Generation III games Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. The names of most of the cities in Hoenn are made of two words put together (Little Root, Fort Tree, Slate Port, etc.). Professor Birch of Littleroot Town offers the Pokémon known as Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip to trainers beginning their journey of this vast land.
Geography
The Hoenn region boasts many dramatic environments from rainforests to deserts. However, its most striking feature is its abundance of water. There are several large islands off the mainland only accessible via water routes, many of which are suitable for diving because they are so deep. It seems to have a warmer climate than Kanto, Johto, and snowy Sinnoh.
Much of the interior area is forested or mountainous, so most notable cities are found on the coastline. People who live in towns and villages in the mountain areas must adapt to the harsh environment. An extreme example of this is the inhabitants of Fortree City, who live in tree houses. This is in stark contrast to other regions in the Pokémon world, as noted by Ruby, who preferred Johto's many modernized cities to the wilderness and countryside in Hoenn.
Locations
Cities/Towns
- Littleroot Town
- Oldale Town
- Petalburg City
- Rustboro City
- Dewford Town
- Slateport City
- Mauville City
- Verdanturf Town
- Fallarbor Town
- Lavaridge Town
- Fortree City
- Lilycove City
- Mossdeep City
- Pacifidlog Town
- Sootopolis City
- Ever Grande City
Areas of interest
- Petalburg Woods
- Rusturf Tunnel
- Granite Cave
- New Mauville
- Mt. Chimney
- Cave of Origin
- Scorched Slab
- Safari Zone
- Seafloor Cavern
- Sealed Chamber
- Southern Island
- Abandoned Ship
- Meteor Falls
- Shoal Cave
- Mt. Pyre
- Jagged Pass
- Sky Pillar
- Island Cave
- Desert Ruins
- Ancient Tomb
Emerald-exclusive areas
These areas can only be found in Pokémon Emerald:
Routes
Routes in Hoenn number are numbered as 101-134, breaking the former pattern set up by Kanto and Johto. This is presumably to discourage the idea of being able to travel back to either region after completion of the game, as was done in Generation II. Some of the routes have differing weather conditions depending on the day they are traveled on.
League
Gym Leaders
| # | Leader | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roxanne | Rock |
| 2 | Brawly | Fighting |
| 3 | Wattson | Electric |
| 4 | Flannery | Fire |
| 5 | Norman | Normal |
| 6 | Winona | Flying |
| 7 | Liza and Tate | Psychic |
| 8 | Wallace* | Water |
| Juan* |
Elite Four
| # | Elite Four | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sidney | Dark |
| 2 | Phoebe | Ghost |
| 3 | Glacia | Ice |
| 4 | Drake | Dragon |
| C | Steven* | Steel |
| Wallace* | Water |
Contests
Hoenn is one of the few regions in which Trainers may compete in Pokémon Contests. Contest Halls are located in Fallarbor Town, Verdanturf Town, Slateport City, and Lilycove City in Ruby and Sapphire, but have all centralized to Lilycove in Emerald, while their previous locations are taken by Pokémon Battle Tents.
Contests provide a different style of battle, as emphasized in the anime by May during the Advanced Generation series, though the anime's interpretation of Contests is slightly different from their in-game mechanics.
Trivia
- Hoenn designer Jun'ichi Masuda has explicitly confirmed that Hoenn is modeled after Kyushu, the fourth of the main islands of Japan, in the 15th article in his Director's column. Indeed, it appears very similar to its real-world counterpart, however rotated 90 degrees.
- Masuda's parents were both born in Kurate District, Fukuoka Prefecture, and so he has many relatives in Kyushu. When he was young, he went to Kyushu for his summer vacations. The happy memories he had of Kyushu eventually led him to choose Kyushu as the stage for Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
- As with Kyushu, Hoenn (a pun on 豊縁 hōen) is a place where the relations (縁 en) between Pokémon and people, between person and person, are abundant (豊 hō).
- Hoenn was the first region to introduce its own regional Pokédex, who didn't include all the known Pokémon at the time, unlike the older Johto Dex
- Hoenn is also the only main region where one can't get an Eevee. In fact, the Generation III is the only one who didn't introduce at least one new Eevee's evolution
- The main character, at the beginning of the game, is on a moving truck. NPCs in Ruby and Sapphire eventually reveal that Norman, the player's father, and his family moved from the Johto region so that Norman could take up the Gym Leader position in Petalburg City. This dialogue is replaced in Emerald, mentioning instead that Norman's family moved from "somewhere far away". The reference to Johto in Ruby and Sapphire could possibly be a reference to the fact that the last set of Pokémon games mainly took place in Johto, and its replacement in Emerald could possibly be to discourage players from thinking that Johto is accessible in the other games of Generation III.
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