Highlights
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus sets a precedent for future games to explore past versions of existing regions, like a potential Pokemon Legends Alola.
- The Alola Region, inspired by Hawaii, offers a diverse landscape and rich Polynesian culture that could influence starter choices and their evolutions.
- Potential starters for a Pokemon Legends Alola game could include Sprigatito, Tepig, and Piplup.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is hopefully just the first in a series of games that take players to past versions of already existing regions to paint them in a different light and demonstrate what types of creatures lived there in days gone by. While there are many great candidates for locations where a sequel to Pokemon Legends: Arceus could take place, the lore and mystery surrounding Gen 7’s Alola Region makes it a top contender. If a Pokemon Legends game were to take place in Alola’s past, there are already some great existing starters from previous gens that could appear again as starters in this game.
Although it is set in a past version of the Sinnoh Region, known as Hisui, Pokemon Legends: Arceus does not feature any of the Gen 4 starters in its trio players can choose from for their first partner. Instead, it takes starters from various other generations and offers players the choice between Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott with each of these starters receiving a regional variant of the final evolution. With the precedent set by Pokemon Legends: Arceus, it’s likely a sequel would follow the same formula, and a Pokemon Legends Alola game already has a few great options for its starters.
The Pokemon Most Likely to Be Starters in a Legends Alola Game
The Alola Region is the Pokemon universe’s take on the real-world location of Hawaii, complete with its own archipelago of islands that match the real-world locale. Hawaii has a tropical climate that includes a diverse landscape of beaches, jungles, and volcanoes that all come through in the design of the Alola Region and would likely influence which starters would be available there. Additionally, there is a rich Polynesian culture within Hawaii’s history that could serve as inspiration for thematic elements that would be incorporated into these starter choices and the regional variants of their final evolutions.
With the lush flora of Hawaii, and by extension the Alola Region, Sprigatito is a great choice for a Grass-type starter in a Pokemon Legends Alola game. Sprigatito are said to love attention from humans and will sulk if ignored, which could play into the theme of a game where Pokemon and people are still somewhat isolated from each other. Additionally, Meowscarada is famous for the flower it carries and attacks with, and given Alola’s many flower fields, a Grass/Fairy-type Meowscarada variant could take this design to the extreme and give the mon a whole bouquet to battle with.
Considering some of the native fauna of Hawaii, the ideal candidate for a Fire-type starter in a past version of the Alola Region is Tepig. Wild boars are common to most of Hawaii’s major islands and are known for eating many types of the islands’ native fruits, so a creature like Tepig who is said to love eating roasted berries would fit right in with the natural environment of Alola. Additionally, the classic Hawaiian whole roasted kalua pig could be the somewhat dark design inspiration for a regional variant of Emboar that gains the Fire/Ghost typing as a result of evolution.
Although it might be a strange choice for a region with such a warm, tropical climate, there is a solid case to be made for Piplup being the Water-type starter for a Pokemon Legends Alola. While most species of real-world penguins are associated with the cold climates of Antarctica, there are several species that prefer warmers climates. Despite not being native to Hawaii, species like the African black-footed penguin can thrive in its tropical climate, making Piplup and a potential Water/Rock-type Empoleon based on another warm climate-loving species, the Rockhopper penguin, surprisingly great candidates for the Alola Region.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is available for Nintendo Switch.
