Gen 9 location potentially leaked in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

Pokemon fans believe that Gen 9’s location might have been leaked in new Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl screenshots. Game Freak’s history of hinting at future titles has kicked off a wave of speculation. 

With the Sinnoh remakes and Pokemon Legends Arceus releasing in the next year, talks of Gen 9 are probably the last thing on Game Freak’s minds.

A new screenshot from Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, however, has some fans believing that the next generation is already being teased. Is there any validity to it?

Does Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl hint at Gen 9?

Popular Pokemon expert Eclipse kicked off the speculation when they posted a handful of screenshots from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl on Twitter. The insider cryptically tweeted “BDSP hinting something?”

• Read More: Everything we know about Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

The images highlighted paintings featured in the Gen IV games that depicted Italy as well as Van Goh’s iconic “Starry Night Over The Rhone” art piece. “We know [Game Freak] like to hint future Generations with in-game paintings,” Eclipse wrote.

The expert was of course referencing to Game Freak’s history of teasing future titles. In 2018 for example, Director Junichi Masuda hinted at Sword & Shield in a tweet while holding Zelda’s iconic weapon and armor.

While this may seem like a stretch, there is validity to Game Freak dropping major hints to future projects. Pokemon YouTuber HDvee covered the Gen 9 speculation and pointed towards a viral 2020 tweet that discovered a poster of Gigantamax Toxtricity had been featured in 2016’s Sun & Moon – three years before Sword & Shield was released.

“We also had the Strange Souvenir in Generation 6 for Generation 7. So that was a big foreshadow for the next region which turned out to be Alola. So as you can see in the past they have done certain things, so maybe this could be something. But it could be nothing,” the personality explained.

(Topic starts at 3:05)

The YouTuber is correct that we should all take anything rumored with a major grain of salt. Still, many fans find the speculation exciting and Game Freak has a history of purposely dropping these hints. While many Trainers got excited by the possibility of an Italy-based Gen 9, not everyone was buying it though.

• Read More: Pokemon Legends Arceus leak hints at two new Hisui forms
  

Based on previous titles, the franchise has been alternating between Europe and the US-based locales going back to 2010’s Black and White. With Galar being UK-themed, some believe two Europe titles back to back would be unlikely. And of course, some even theorize that California has been hinted at by Director Junichi Masuda, so anything is possible.