>>49168454because that fits the time-line and spread of the development of IRL taxonomy and biological knowledge, and if you adjust it to a world where 150 species are known in 1996, then 30 species having been discovered in the late 1700s kinda makes sense.
you do get the impression from the first few games that Pokémon "research" proceeds at an astoundingly slow rate. Elm is shitting his pants at Mr Pokémon's discovery of a single egg, but most kids figure out how to use the Daycare to print out however many eggs they want.
in short, I think it's supposed to be comical and a a little bit tongue-in-cheek, anon
