Encounter Region Change

[Stanac]

Pokémon Encounter Region Change

I’m probably not the only player who genuinely enjoys progressing through the story in the original four regions this game offers. Playing through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh in a natural, story-driven way is a big part of what makes Pokémon Pro fun for me.

However, due to the large number of events where Pokémon are heavily hunted, many high-quality Pokémon end up being encountered by default in the Kanto region. This unintentionally limits their usability in later regions, since they become locked out of Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh story progression.

Core Idea

I’d like to propose a system that allows players to change the encounter region of a Pokémon, under controlled conditions.

One possible implementation could be an NPC (or a similar mechanic) that allows players to select a limited number of Pokémon — for example 1 to 3 Pokémon per account, or per region, or behind a prerequisite — and change their encounter region.

This would allow players to meaningfully use special Pokémon (shinies, rare forms, event catches) during story progression in other regions, without breaking balance.

The community could also discuss whether legendary Pokémon should be included in this system or excluded entirely. Personally, I wouldn’t mind playing through a story with a level 5 Mew — I think that would be incredibly fun. That said, a possible compromise could be applying region restrictions, allowing Pokémon to switch only to regions they originally belong to. Even if the final decision is to exclude legendaries altogether, I’d be fine with that as a community-driven choice.

 

To keep the system fair and balanced, the following limitations could apply:

• The Pokémon would be reset to level 5 (I’m not entirely sure how already evolved Pokémon should be handled within this system, so I’ll leave that part open for the admins to comment on and decide)

• EVs would be reset to 0

• It would receive a basic/default moveset

• IVs, shiny status, and form would be preserved

• Possible prerequisites:

  • Region completion

  • Quest of some sort:

    • 30k per poke (any other price)

    • same poke sacrifice (like 5 of the same poke)

    • some items giveaway to NPC

    • any other idea quest

  • Limited usage (cooldown of some sort) or only 1(any other number) poke can be changed to other caught region

I don’t have a fully finalized design in mind, but the core goal is to preserve progression integrity while giving players more emotional and gameplay freedom.

Why?

• Encourages replayability of regional storylines

• This feature wouldn’t be focused purely on EV hunting or power leveling for special/high IV pokes, but rather on enhancing the overall story experience.

• Allows players to bond more deeply with rare, special Pokémon, special forms and or good IV pokes

• At the end of the day, this is a game, and the whole point is to have fun — being able to use our favorite Pokémon in other regions would make that experience even better.

Example:

For example, I recently caught my very first shiny Pokémon — a Pikachu. I know this might sound funny to players who already own many shinies, but for me, it was a big moment. I would really love to experience a Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh story run using that Pokémon instead of being forced to leave it behind just because it was encountered in Kanto.

 

This feature wouldn’t be about gaining an advantage, but about enhancing the story experience and letting players enjoy their favorite Pokémon in regions they truly care about.

Thanks for taking the time to read this suggestion, and I’d love to hear feedback or alternative ideas on how such a system could be implemented.