05/11/08 And it rises from the dead

The Cave of Speculative Theories lives!

The reason for this revival is obviously that we have more main-series game speculation at last. Enter Pokémon Platinum, the long-awaited third version to Diamond and Pearl. Or so says a Japanese blog and a supposed CoroCoro scan:

Pokémon Platinum

Now, CoroCoro isn't actually supposed to be out yet, and there have been fake CoroCoro scans before, but this looks pretty darned real for a whole host of reasons.

To go briefly over what we see in the scan:

Now for some speculative theories. Firstly, despite the many who cry out in alarm at the idea of the game being called Platinum rather than the speculated Opal for a Giratina-based game (due to a type of opal called girasol), this actually makes perfect sense in Japanese and in fact I think we are all idiots for not having noticed this before. Being that Japanese does not differentiate between R and L, the "ratina" part of the name is exactly the same as the "latina" in the Japanese name of the metal. The actual katakana is different (Giratina is written Gi Ra Te i Na, the Te-small i combination being a recent workaround to the fact that Japanese has no Ti syllable, while the metal platinum, presumably being an older word in the language, is written Pu Ra Chi Na, Chi being the native syllable replacing Ti), but both of them are obviously approximating the pronunciation of the same foreign word.

Presumably, the storyline involves Cyrus trying to get both Dialga and Palkia in order to use them to somehow awaken Giratina, which would be why Dialga and Palkia are present on the pillar. It would make sense.

Now, Serebii also reports that the Japanese blog from where he got the information about the game's name and featured Pokémon, blue skY, claims the following information is revealed in CoroCoro as well:

Volkner leaving reeks of Wallace, but it's not as if the Pokémon games haven't repeated themselves before. This has, however, led fans to speculate that Volkner will be the Champion of the Elite Four, and here I'm extremely skeptical. Supposedly he has some in-game dialoguein D/P which I'm too lazy to confirm, saying he'd like to try to challenge the Elite Four out of boredom, but I can't really believe they'd pull such an identical bit of plot twice. Perhaps he takes his friend Flint's place in the Elite Four or something? At least, if he replaces Cynthia, I will not be happy. We need to keep the female champion, damn it!

The new Sunyshore Gym leader has been speculated to be Jasmine, who after all had a cameo in Sunyshore City in Diamond and Pearl, trains Magnemite (perfect chance to show off Magnezone) and is connected to an Ampharos (the one in the Olivine City lighthouse in G/S/C). Interesting thought, especially since she has a history of changing the type of her Gym (somebody in G/S/C revealed that she used to train Rock-types before her Onix evolved). However, it would seem a little odd for them to move an established Gym leader from another region to this one. Hmm. (Heh, it would be funny if SHE were the new Champion...)

The "Battle Island"... I'm skeptical about. Mostly because we already have a "Battle Island". I could believe some changes being made to the Battle Tower on the island, however, adding some more of the Battle Frontier's features. I could see this being a misunderstanding of words.

The new forms of Regigigas and Shaymin sound interesting enough. (Am I the only person who does not think they are overdoing the legendary forms thing? I like it.) I suppose the movie will tell us more about them. There is a crazy discussion on Serebii about it being the other way around, with Regigigas having an Ice-type form and Shaymin having a sky form, but that sounds... extremely unlikely to me, to say the least. Mostly since the lord of the Regis should not have a form of the same type as just one of them and because there is in general no reason to think they got it the other way around.

I'll be posting more when it comes.

Comments

(Comments are closed.)

Flora and Ashes
Indeed, it lives. ^^

I agree on the we-must-keep-the-champion part. This is the first time we ever had a girl champion! *will seriously consider killing someone if they do*

Not really, but still.
Ambipom
If Jasmine is a Gym Leader... *coughGSremakescough*

I don't want Cynthia to leave... She's cool.

Why would Regigigas have a Sky Form? It's a golem, for Arceus sakes!

And the same thing applies to Shaymin, with ice.

Good day.
DreamChaser
Wow. This is cool. I just hope Cynthia doesnt get replaced, she was cool. I also liked Volkner (we both have no life) and I can' imagine him as the champ.
Polursine
If Cynthia does get replaced, she'll do a Steven Stone and run away and hide somewhere.

Yes, the Giratina art is real
http://www.pokemon-movie.jp/
Click on the picture of Giratina for info, or explore around.

And to side with you, I myself would like to see more Legendary 'forms'. If Deoxys could do it (provides more opportunities for Uber-EVs :D), why not others?
Automatistic
Aw, I wanted the third game to have Arceus as a version Mascot. Just because there are no events outside of America, doesn't mean we can't have things too! But, I guess it does now. -_-;;

I like the idea of Jasmine being a Sinnoh Gym Leader, though! But, I hope Cynthia stays Champion. It's always good to see that females are included in all the action. =D
Silver Rampardos
Hmmm, so Giratina is going to be the version mascot, that means they are going to mess up the Sinnoh dex...
On other sites, everybody is talking about the blue character being the player in a new costume, but it looks more like Cyrus with the blue hair and stuff (and in the battle interface, the player is still in it's original clothes).
And Jasmine? NO WAY SHE'S GOING TO BE THE NEW SUNNYSHORE GYM LEADER! Why would she anyway? She's got her own gym back in Johto + D/P storyline probably takes place in the same time as the G/S/C storyline, so what reason does she have to leave her gym 0_o ?
Goldumbreon
Pokemon Opal sounded tacky anyway.
Butterfree (Website)
The main character is not wearing his original clothes in the battle screenshot - his shirt and backpack are clearly blue - but seeing as his hat is still red, there is no way the Spear Pillar picture is of him.
Crystylla (Website)
@Silver Rampardos: Well, why would she, of all people, have made an appearance in D/P in the first place? I rather hope she is the new Gym Leader if Volkner does a Wallace on us.

But of course I want Cynthia to stay as well. Black-garbed, mythology-loving female champions for the win. :D

About the supposedly different battle interface. *Squints.* Does the name/health box in the upper-left corner of the screen look like that in D/P, or is it a little bit different? It looks like it might be to me, but I haven't got my Diamond version to hand...
Silver Rampardos
@Butterfree: Oops, you're right. Sorry^^

@Crystylla: But what if Jasmine is going to be the new gym leader, what type will she be training? It won't be steel because Canalave already has a steel gym and she doesn't realy looks like the type to train electric Pokémon. The appearance in D/P was probably just a cameo, I thought she said something about being on some sort of vacation(maybe to forget what happend to "Amphy" in the Olivine lighthouse, who knows).
Bob
Jasmine, even if she were to be the gym leader,couldn't have a Magnezone because it's in the National Dex. Unless you somehow get it before the 8th Gym.
Crystylla (Website)
@Silver Rampardos: Well, as the original post says, she has apparently changed her gym type once already from Rock to Steel. Between Ampharos and Magnezone, I can quite easily see her making another type shift and taking up Volkner's place. Seems like a perfect opportunity to me.
Butterfree (Website)
Bob: Don't forget Giratina is in the National Dex in D/P too and yet it's obviously involved in Platinum's storyline, presumably before the Elite Four.
Lorem Ipsum (Website)
Your story is good, and hurrah for TCoST being revived. I honestly believed that it would be called Opal.

I must learn katakana as well.
Atoyont
Does that mean that Giratina's name should really be Giratinum?
Anyway, having it be Platinum makes more sense, in retrospect, anyway.
Diamond are the "ultimate hardness," and pearls are the "ultimate roundness." Opal isn't really the "ultimate" anything, unless you want to go with color. Platinum, on the other hand, could be considered several things- the "ultimate metal," "rareness," or "reflection."
Zora the Terminian
Welp. I certainly did hope it would be called Opal, but only for my own personal reasons. Platinum's cool with me.

GIGANTIC GIRATINA <3<3<3
Lorem Ipsum (Website)
Atoyont, as Butterfree explained, the Japanese call platinum platina.
Atoyont
I mean the English name.
It's more of a joke than anything.
Crystylla (Website)
Now that we have a clearer scan (and I have my Diamond to hand :D), I think it's pretty safe to say that the name/hp box looks quite different?

Also, it's probably not important, but anybody got a clue what those black splotches around the giant shadowy overworld Giratina are supposed to be? o.O Caught my eye, so I just wondered. My first thought would be just a tad graphic for a Pokémon game, so are they just blobs of shadow from Giratina or something?
dragonite
the man with the blue head is believed to be cyrus by some people
If you look closely it he seems to have spiky hair and a white suit so I think it's true.
Crystylla (Website)
Yyyyyes. That's what the original post says. o.o
Fox McCloud
Blue-haired guy...

... Um, duh? You really haven't gotten that far in the game yet if you can't tell that that's Cyrus...

Giratina's Origin Form...

Looks nice... I just thought... Could a dark HP bar be the return of SHADOW POKEMON? Just a thought...

Shaymin and Regigigas

Ah, I also noticed that the movie title is something to the effect of "Regigigas and the Bouquet of the SKY - Shaymin. This leads me to conclude that Shaymin will have the Sky form, and Regigigas will do something else...
My 2nd theory for this is Shaymin becomes an ice type INVERSELY to what it is, a grass type. Spring and summer, warming and hot months, are opposite to Fall and Winter, cooling and cold months. Similarly, Regigigas, a golem, would INVERT to something that could fly.
Of course, I'd prefer the first theory...

Sinnoh/National Dex...

Well, my guess is, Nat. Dex is unlocked BEFORE Sunyshore, etc. Otherwise, it would screw up the levels on the rest of the game.

Volkner, Cynthia, and the 8th GL

I think Volkner would be at the "Battle Island" or whatever...

Cynthia hopefully stays, if not pulls a Steven...

And the 8th GL will either be some Juan-esque random or Jasmine, due to Magnezone and Amphy, as stated earlier...

Or... Volkner and the first E4 could switch... he said something about "Back to training camp for me! Wait, no, that was wrong... keep going..."

Or it could be YOUR MOTHER. Who knows? Btw... Where is your FATHER????? *falls over*

Anyway...

Hope this little discussion helped. This is the Firefox saying, thank you, and have a good evening.
Jirachi
I would have preferred to have Darkrai as the mascot, Giratina is just so...random
Jirachi
Sorry for the double post, but wouldn't it be cool for the 5th generation games to be Opal and Topaz version?! Just mine and my friends opinion, her bday is in october and mine is in november, so we wouldn't fight over who got what version!yay! Once again, the fact I think those names would be cool for the 5th generation's games is my opinion, but if you feel the same, feel free to agree with me.Just type 'I agree' or something like that as a reply. Seriously.
Icy the Umbreon
Hmm... Volkner leaves... While it would be very Wallace-esque for him to become champion, and they need to keep at least one female champion, I hope he doesn't drop out of the game entirely. Maybe, as Cynthia is still champion and thus still an important character, he could take on her role as random helper? Or not. It's just that he's my favorite of the Sinnoh gym leaders, and I'd hate to see him completely disappear.
phil, the giant, flying, fire-breathing turtle of doom!!!
hmmmm....... yeah topaz & opal would be cool names for the 5th-gen pkmn games. I just hope that somehow there's a quest type thing that involves mew, volkner, cynthia, and a truck full of tacos.
good day to you sirs and ladies.
I SAID GOOD DAY!!!
phil, the giant, flying, fire-breathing turtle of doom!!!
And I do hope that the game designers stop making the gym leaders pull wallaces and stevens left and right, otherwise i might have to get a website and post long rants myself. It's either that, or I'm actually going to have to get a life. I like the first choice better. speaking of which, does anyone know a website where i can get/design a web site for free without having to download something?
P.S: don't hire willy wonka as your lawyer.ever. I MEAN IT.