>>39098662This is a horseshit meme. They weren’t always gunna have Kanto in game. It was an after though, being close to IRL Kanto meant that yes the region would have an overlap with the Kanto dex but so does every region excluding BW, though BW2 changed that.
A lot of shitmons in Johto as a whole, most of them are rare, which was a big mistake.
Rare Kanto mons could have been common/uncommon Johto mons from a retroactive perspective.
I could suggest a lot of changes to the region as a whole, make Mt. Mortar an inactive volcanic lava tube cave. You find Slugma, Magcargo and most Steel types here. Burnt Tower makes for a lackluster fire type zone. Also magby as all baby mons should be found in the wild sooner than their evos would be, that’s basically their entire reason for existing
Moo Moo ranch route has Mareep, Exeggcute, Miltank and Tauros as COMMON encounters giving off a big “woah shit this must be what late game feels like” vibe. Chansey are rare encounters.
Ilex Foest includes all bug types, not just weedle and caterpie. Venonat, Yanma, Scyther and Pineco. The bug catching contest has the levels increased by ten and it’s exclusively rarish bugs, some being underleveled evolutions like Forretress and Scizor(literally has the same BST as Scyther so don’t even go there)
Zubat are not found in half of the caves in Johto, except Union Cave, Gligar is found instead. Dunsparce is as common as either Geodude or Onix. Though Geodude could easily be removed in favor of Onix to keep the pushing new evos consistency
Sudowoodo are found as rare encounters in forest routes post Ecruteak. Sudo also becomes useful instead of dead weight.
The Ruins of Alph pushes a slightly surreal subtropic jungle like theme with Girafarig, Aipom and Natu being common there
The sea routes include all johto water mons. Octillery, Corsola, Remoraid, Mantine, Mantyke*, during the day. Staryu/Starmie, Tentacool, Tentacruel are found during the night (they glow)
