Johto was the first big step in the rest of Pokémon’s franchise history. Despite there being tons of nostalgia for first region Kanto, branching out into new settings allowed the Pokémon games to grow. It helped expand the culture and lore but it also lead to plenty of new critters to find!
As the home of the second batch of Pokémon released, a lot of Johto’s Pokémon have become iconic and recognizable. That’s due in part to a lot of them being cut from the first Gen. Johto has a lot of interesting trivia like this. Whether the result of behind-the-scenes development or just fun lore, there’s a lot only fans know about Kansai’s Pokémon stand-in.
Anyone who’s played a lot of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will attest that Smash features a ton of Pokémon representation. The series launched as Pokémon was just beginning, after all. But some regions get less content than others, and Johto is one such region. In Super Smash Bros Melee, the only Johto representation was Pichu and some Pokéball summons.
However, there was actually plenty more Johto content that was cut. Both Pokémon stages added in Melee were Kanto-themed, but Sprout Tower from Johto was originally planned, according to The Gamer. The location in Johto was a partially-destroyed Buddhist temple. It’s possible it was cut for religious sensitivity reasons, but it would’ve been a unique stage, as evidenced by Beyond Melee, a fan mod that added it back in.
Johto is the only mainline Pokémon region to not have a unique league. It instead shares its top trainers with Kanto whilst also having its own Gym Leaders. This was really exciting in Gold and Silver's main quest because it meant that players got to return to Kanto. But for the anime, it was a bit anticlimactic, as it meant backtracking.
So the anime came up with its own solution. It created the Silver Conference, an annual competition similar to the Indigo Plateau's league. It’s held in Silver Town, an anime-exclusive location that doesn’t share the rest of the region’s naming theme. Ash lost this competition, but it’s notable that his opponent did not win either.
Water and Fire are two of the most fundamental typings in Pokémon. Two of the starters always have these opposing types, after all. So they’re among the most common to see Gym Leaders or Elite Four members using. But none of the trainers faced in Johto have these types.
Perhaps it doesn’t sound too strange, as there are plenty of missing types in different Pokémon regions. However, Johto is the only time fire and water are missing. This may be because Misty and Blaine held these types in the Kanto revisit. Whatever the reason, players would have rather faced types with obvious weaknesses than had to deal with Whitney’s Miltank.
As mentioned before, Kanto and Johto share a lot. This is because they share the same landmass, much like their real-life counterparts. The real-life Kanto and Kansai are the two regions on the largest Japanese island of Honshu. While there are plenty of Pokémon regions that aren’t islands, these two ironically feel the most landlocked despite being on an island.
Even when the inspiration moved out of Japan, this remained the case. It’s understandable, though, as Kansai and Kanto have a close relationship in real life. Including one without the other wouldn’t feel proper. Though it is a bit odd that the formerly remote Palette Town turns out to be feet from Johto.
In Azalea Town, players can find the Pokéball designer, Kurt. He’s a rather curt man, but is a real craftsman and gives the player specialty Pokéballs. In the anime, he plays a larger role with the sadly unresolved plotline of the GS Ball. But that’s not the only unresolved plotline Kurt is involved with.
Azalea’s plotline involves the local Slowpoke being hunted for their tails; Kurt isn't very involved. But if players examine the inside of his house, they’ll find a picture of a young Professor Oak. In addition, a picture of a woman with fierce eyes can be found. This hints Kurt may be a friend of the Pokémon Professor and knows about his mysterious past with Elite Four member Agatha.
Like much else, Johto shares Bill’s Pokémon storage system with Kanto. However, the boxes worked a little differently in Johto. In the Japanese versions of Gen 1 and 2, there were 8 and 9 boxes respectively. The international versions increased that to 12 and 14 and had a different border on the Box.
It makes sense, considering with the passage of time both in and out of the universe there would be better digital storage. But the actual boxes held different numbers of Pokémon. It held 30 in Japan, but 20 internationally. This weird discrepancy wouldn’t be present in any games after this, allowing fans to store their iconic gen 2 Pokémon easier.
Alto Mare is a town from the Pokémon anime that bears a striking resemblance to Venice/Venezia. It’s in the Johto region, which is strange because it debuted in Pokémon Heroes: Latios and Latias. This movie was promoting the upcoming Gen 3 Pokémon games and used two legendaries from that region. As such, the city is presented as a halfway point between Johto and Hoenn.
There was a lot for the heroes to do in the city, such as compete in races. There was also a secret garden to be discovered. Most frighteningly, there was a machine deep under the city that could be powered by Pokémon to destroy whatever is targeted with it. Weirdly, racing, water-logged cities, and ancient death machines would all become plot points in future Pokémon games.
The Game Corner was one of the most classic reoccurring locations in older Pokémon titles. It was an iconic set piece for the franchise, with the Rocket Hideout behind the Game Corner in Red and Blue being a highlight. Every generation up to IV included the establishment. But the locations have ceased appearing in the franchise, with their last appearance in Johto.
In particular, the remakes of the Johto games, HeartGold and SoulSilver were the last games to feature it. This means the Goldenrod Game Corner was the last time the location appeared. The Game Corner was probably axed due to changes in the way gambling was defined in video games. In the remake of the other Gen 4 Pokémon games, the game corner is simply closed.
New Bark Town was the starting location in Johto, where Professor Elm hands the player their new Pokémon. It's a pretty chill place where the vibes are very soothing, and it begins a theme of plant-themed starting towns. So it may surprise players to learn the original name of the town. In the Pocket Monsters 2 demo, it was called Silent Hills.
The name brings to mind Konami's incredibly dark and scary Silent Hill horror game series. But when the games were finally released, the name was changed to Wakaba Town. As the Silent Hill series launched during the development of Gen 2, it's possible that the name was changed to avoid comparisons. The actual reason for the name change has never been shared.
At the turn of the century, Pokémon was an unstoppable media juggernaut. It was producing so many toys, shows, and even music. Totally Pokémon was an album released in 2001 that saw its songs played in the anime and other promotional material. A variety of artists were fielded to contribute to the album and were credited under the name Johto.
Johto consisted of eight artists, although they only all performed together on Pokérap GS. The members included Jolan Boockvor, Jamily Gray, P.J. Lequerica, Shauna McCoy, Shareef McQueen, and Elan Rivera. The band’s music was composed by John Loeffler, and Eric Stuart, a voice actor from the anime, even guested on it. The band disbanded shortly after their debut album, but the songs still see some use in the anime and the hearts of fans.
