Hoenn Confirmed

About

“Hoenn Confirmed” was a catchphrase associated with fan speculations and hoaxes about a possible re-launch of Nintendo’s Pokémon Generation III video games Ruby Version and Sapphire Version, both of which are set in the Hoenn region. In May 2014, the phrase became self-fulfilling prophecy following the official confirmation of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire for Nintendo 3Ds.

Origin

The Ruby and Sapphire versions were released in November 2002 in Japan and throughout 2003 for the rest of the world, marking the launch of the third generation of Pokemon video games. The belief that there would be remakes of these games stems from the fact that there had been remakes of the Pokemon generations prior to Ruby and Sapphire. Because the remake of Generation I was released during the Generation III games, and Generation II during the Generation IV games, many fans believed that Generation III would be revived during Generation V. This lead to certain fans looking for details in the Generation V titles that would hint at a re-make of the Generation III. Amidst intense speculations on Pokemon fan forums, “Hoenn confirmed” became a tongue-in-cheek way of mocking these believers.

Spread

The phrase became notable on 4chan’s Pokémon board, /vp/ around July 2012. Many people on /vp/ were overly enthusiastic about the possibility of Hoenn being remade, but others became annoyed with the more loosely strung together theories and predictions, and began to counter these with “Hoenn confirmed” jokes. It has since spread to several social media platforms and websites, such as Tumblr,^[2]^[3] 4chan’s /vp/ board,^[4]^[5] Cheezburger’s Pokememes site,^[7] Facebook^[8] and Reddit.^[6]

The phrase’s popularity rised in 2013, when Pokémon X and Pokémon Y came out on October 12th of that year, as several hints and easter eggs that indicated a Generation III remake (such as NPCs mentioning Hoenn as their homeland) were scattered throughout the game, subtly reinforcing the idea that remakes were more than a possibility.

The phrase then began to gain momentum even further when Junichi Masuda, the director and composer of the Pokémon games, responded to a fan requesting a remake of Hoenn,^[1]and was quoted saying what roughly translates to “Thanks! I’ve received your sentiments. Ruby and Sapphire are very important games to me. I want to make something good. Thanks!!" (shown below).

RSremake</a> ありがとう！想いはしっかり受け止めました。RSはマスダにとっても大切な作品。いいもの創りたいです。ありがとう！！</p>— 増田順一GAMEFREAK inc. (@Junichi_Masuda) octubre 9, 2011

Notable examples

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

On May 7th, 2014, Nintendo released a video on their official Youtube Pokemon channel^[9] that indicated the release of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, the remakes of Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire, on the Nintendo 3DS in November of that year. The video managed to get over 300,000 views within the first 8 hours after being uploaded.

The same day, following the official announcement, various news and gaming websites made articles related to the announcement, such as the Digital Times,^[10] Cinelinx^[11] and Marriland.^[12][Editor Note: More links will be added as the news spreads.] Likewise, fans reacted with high anticipation towards the announcement, quickly generation various types of media to express their excitement.