Pokémon Pokopia Player Is Nearly Done Rebuilding Classic Kanto Inside Pallet Town
Pokémon fans memang built different sometimes. While most players are busy clearing events and decorating their own cosy corners in Pokémon Pokopia, one Reddit user has been taking the game’s building tools to another level: rebuilding the original Kanto region almost in full.
The project comes from Reddit user starguy13, who has been working for months on recreating the first-generation Pokémon map inside Pokopia’s Pallet Town area. If you grew up with Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, or FireRed and LeafGreen, this is the kind of fan project that instantly hits the nostalgia button.
What makes it extra interesting is that Pokopia already has strong Kanto DNA. The game is set in parts of the Kanto region after an unknown amount of time has passed, so the tribute is not random fan service — it fits the world. But actually squeezing a full classic region into one buildable map is a different beast entirely.
Pokopia’s tools have been compared to Minecraft-style building, but this is not just stacking blocks and calling it a day. To make Kanto recognisable, the player had to study the original map layout, plan how towns and routes connect, and make compromises where the Pallet Town map could not perfectly match the old Game Boy-era geography.
Starguy13 first showed early progress back in March, then posted a more detailed update last month showing how many of the towns and routes were coming together. The biggest challenge seems to have been placement. Even with a large map, fitting all of Kanto while keeping everything connected is tricky, especially when the original region was designed for a very different kind of game.
In the latest update, starguy13 said they were surprised that all the cities and towns could fit inside the Pallet Town maps at all, though some routes had to be shortened and some cities compressed. They also noted that if they restarted the project, they would begin by placing Route 22 at the far western edge — basically the kind of lesson you only learn after suffering through the build yourself, bro.
The result, from what has been shown, looks seriously impressive. By using the right blocks and Pokopia’s prefabricated buildings, the project captures enough of the original Kanto vibe that longtime fans can immediately recognise what they are looking at.
For Malaysian and SEA Pokémon fans, this is exactly the sort of thing that gives a game longer legs beyond launch hype. Nintendo Switch 2 is still a premium purchase here, so players naturally want games that keep giving them reasons to come back. Community builds like this make Pokopia feel less like a one-and-done cosy spin-off and more like a shared creative playground.
It also shows why Pokémon’s older regions still matter so much. Kanto has been revisited many times, but seeing a player rebuild it manually inside a newer Pokémon game hits differently. It is fan labour, nostalgia, and game design appreciation all rolled into one.
There is also a nice behind-the-scenes connection here. Before Pokopia launched, it was revealed that senior director Shigeru Ohmori’s experience working on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire level design helped inspire the game. So when fans start rebuilding classic regions inside Pokopia, it feels like the loop has fully closed.
Now the obvious question: how long before someone attempts Johto or Hoenn with the same level of detail? Because if Kanto can fit inside Pallet Town, the Pokopia community is definitely going to try something even more unhinged next.
Source: Eurogamer
