>>44416398It's pretty clear that early lore pointed to the Pokemon world being a version of Earth. Y'know, with Kanto being an actual region of Japan, Gastly knocking out an Indian elephant, Mew being found in Guiana, etc. I think the implication was that yeah, Pokemon mysteriously appeared at some point and outcompeted most animals...or at least, became prevalent at some point (since, well, fossil Pokemon are a thing).
I think the concept was only fully abandoned circa Gen III, and even since then there've been a handful of small references.
