Pokemon Diamond and Pearl: Exploring the history of Sinnoh

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were some of the most innovative games in the franchise due to them introducing deep lore into the franchise. While other games had an overarching story as the player continued their journey across their region of choice, the Sinnoh region was the first to introduce world-building into the Pokemon formula.

The history of the Sinnoh region has become a bit more complicated with the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus, but the lore of the region has stayed relatively consistent. With Game Freak turning their attention to the Kalos region with the development of Pokemon Legends Z-A, the lore of the Sinnoh region most likely will not be changing anytime soon. Here is everything to know about the interesting history of the beloved Sinnoh region.

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Story of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl's Sinnoh region

Arceus is the first thing ever created in the Pokemon universe (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The history of the Sinnoh region starts long before Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and even before Pokemon Legends: Arceus. It all started with Pokemon's version of the Big Bang, that being the birth of Arceus. After Arceus was born, it created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina to help control the universe's time, space, and antimatter.

After reality was created by the Legendaries and their Mythical master, Arceus decided that this new universe needed things to inhabit it. As such, it created the world. Where Arceus started its creation became known as the Sinnoh region. This means that Sinnoh is the oldest region in the franchise as it served as a ground zero for Arceus' creation of the rest of the world.

Stark Mountain and Heatran were also created around this time. For whatever reason, Heatran appears to be a side-effect of Arceus using its power to make volcanoes, which can be seen in the Unova region as well. Heatran, Regigigas, and the original three Legendary Golems also fought sometime while the world was populated by humans.

Heatran was the first-ever major threat to the Sinnoh region and is also a catchable Legendary in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Heatran remains dormant for as long as the Magma Stone is in its place, but for whatever reason, Heatran rampaged, causing a massive volcanic eruption that threatened Snowpoint City. Thankfully, the Regis showed up and saved the city. Afterwards, Regigigas went to slumber in Snowpoint Temple, while the other Regis returned to their base elements, laying dormant in their respective chambers.

This was the last major event to happen in the Sinnoh region, until the time Pokemon Legends: Arceus takes place. However, since this game features time traveling, it is unclear if the ancient Hisui region is the true direct past, or if the version we see is in an alternate timeline. This game will most likely become easier to place on a timeline when the next Legends title releases, and we can see how Game Freak is handling these spin-offs from a narrative perspective.

For the last games on the timeline, we have Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. While these titles debuted the fourth generation, many Pokemon lore enthusiasts see the tertiary title, Pokemon Platinum, as the canon title for this generation. It is unclear how the remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl fit into the mix, but dedicated fans who care about the lore of the Pokemon universe mostly disregard these games.