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Easter Eggs and References
March 25, 2026 at 05:09 AM
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Pokemon Pokopia is set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Kanto region, the setting of the original Pokemon Red and Blue. Because of this, the game is filled with references, callbacks, and easter eggs that connect to the original games and the broader Pokemon franchise. This page catalogs the confirmed discoveries.
Each of Pokopia's five areas is based on a specific Kanto town, as detailed in the Kanto Setting article. Beyond the obvious geographical connections, each area contains environmental details that reference the original towns:
Withered Wasteland (Fuchsia City): The ruins of what appears to be the Safari Zone fence line can be found in the far corners of the area. Broken enclosure gates and old feeding stations are scattered among the dried vegetation, referencing Fuchsia City's most famous attraction.
Bleak Beach (Vermilion City): The S.S. Anne is docked at the harbor, partially submerged and covered in barnacles. This is the same luxury cruise ship that players explored in the original Red and Blue to obtain HM01 Cut from the ship's captain.
Rocky Ridges (Pewter City): Crumbling display cases and fossilized exhibits can be found in cave areas, referencing the Pewter Museum of Science that was a landmark of the original Pewter City.
Sparkling Skylands (Celadon/Saffron Cities): The huge building that players rebuild across four floors is implied to be the former Celadon Department Store, once the largest shop in Kanto. The rooftop where you find the Master Ball mirrors the rooftop vending machine area from the original games.
Palette Town (Pallet Town): The name itself is a double reference. "Pallet" refers to both the original town name and an artist's palette, reflecting the area's creative sandbox nature. Professor Tangrowth's research station contains remnants of a Pokemon lab that resembles Professor Oak's original laboratory.
In the Bleak Beach ruins (based on Vermilion City), players can discover a worn plaque on a building that reads something to the effect of a man named Kenzo completing its construction with the help of a Machamp. This is a callback to one of the longest-running pieces of lore in the franchise. In the original Pokemon Red and Blue, an NPC in Vermilion City mentions that his Machop is helping with construction work. That same NPC returned in Pokemon Gold and Silver with an evolved Machoke, still working on the same plot of land.
The Pokopia plaque reveals what became of that construction project decades later, showing that Kenzo's family dream was eventually fulfilled and the building was completed with the help of a fully evolved Machamp. This detail provides a satisfying conclusion to something fans had wondered about for nearly thirty years, and it was widely covered by outlets like GamesRadar, TheGamer, and GameRant as one of the game's standout references.
One of the most emotionally resonant easter eggs in Pokopia involves Cubone. To attract Cubone, the player must build a Gravestone habitat and surround it with four Wildflowers, creating the unique "Grave with Flowers" habitat. This is the only habitat in the game that attracts the Cubone line.
The reference connects to Cubone's tragic backstory from the original games. Cubone's Pokedex entry describes it as a Pokemon that lost its mother at a young age; the skull it wears is canonically its dead mother's skull, and it cries for her every night. When Cubone spawns at the Grave with Flowers habitat, it says: "Mom prob'ly woulda liked a place like this too..." At night, Cubone can be seen sleeping at the grave, staying close to its mother's memory.
This interaction generated significant attention on social media and gaming outlets. Kotaku ran a piece titled "Pokemon Pokopia Is Fun When It's Not Being A Colossal Bummer," while GameRant called it "surprisingly sad." The developers' decision to acknowledge Cubone's lore through gameplay mechanics rather than just text was praised as a thoughtful piece of design.
The Team Rocket Hideout is a secret area that can be discovered through exploration. In the original games, the Team Rocket Hideout was located beneath the Celadon City Game Corner. In Pokopia, the hideout exists as an abandoned underground complex. Since there are no humans left in the world, there are no Team Rocket members inside; instead, players find remnants of their operations including the Rocket Hideout CD, which can be played in your CD player.
The hideout serves as a piece of environmental storytelling about the world that once was. Several journal entries found in the area reference a Grunt that's part of "Team R," hinting at the organization's presence before the evacuation. A large Team Rocket poster can be found on one of the walls, another callback to the original games' hideout.
The S.S. Anne is one of the most recognizable locations from the original Pokemon games. In Pokopia, the ship sits at the Bleak Beach harbor in a state of disrepair. Players can explore parts of the vessel to find materials, Human Records, and references to the ship's storied past. The ship's captain's quarters contain items that reference the original scene where the captain teaches you HM01 Cut after you cure his seasickness.
To reach the S.S. Anne's outer ruins, players must first unlock the ability to transform into Lapras, which grants the Surf ability needed to cross the water to the ship.
Scattered throughout Pokopia's treasure blocks are CDs that can be collected and played through DJ Rotom's Stereo Form. Many of these CDs are remixed versions of iconic tracks from the main Pokemon series. Notable soundtrack easter eggs include:
Rocket Hideout CD: A remix of the Team Rocket Hideout theme from Pokemon Red and Blue, found inside the Team Rocket Hideout area.
Game Corner CD: The classic Celadon City Game Corner music, one of the most recognizable tunes in the franchise.
S.S. Anne CD: The ship's theme from the original games, found aboard the S.S. Anne wreck at Bleak Beach.
Discovering each CD provides a nostalgic callback to the original games. ComicBook noted that "finding each one unlocks a core memory from playing the main series games over the years."
Several special Pokemon in Pokopia have unique names that reference the broader Pokemon universe:
Pokemon | Reference |
|---|---|
A Snorlax with moss growing on it, referencing both the passage of time since humans left and the tendency of Snorlax to sleep so long that things grow on them. According to the game's lore, Mosslax tried to sleep off a bad mood after losing a fight and accidentally slept through the entire apocalypse. | |
A Pikachu variant with the Illuminate specialty. Its name combines "peak" with "Pikachu." | |
A Smeargle variant whose name combines "Smeargle" with "guru," reflecting its mastery of the Paint specialty. | |
A Greedent variant whose name plays on "al dente," an Italian cooking term, fitting its role as the game's cooking instructor. |
One of the most disturbing discoveries in Pokopia involves a conversation between Paras and Bulbasaur. When placed in the same area, Paras tells Bulbasaur that it is "absolutely starving." Bulbasaur points out that they just ate, to which Paras responds: "I dunno why, but it feels like my tummy is bottomless lately. And now I think I'm starting to get kinda heavy... Especially up on my back..."
The dialogue is innocent on the surface, but players familiar with the franchise's lore quickly recognized the horrifying implications. The mushrooms on Paras's back are parasitic tochukaso fungi based on the real-world Cordyceps (the same organism that inspired the zombie infection in The Last of Us). As the mushroom grows, it siphons nutrients from Paras, which explains the Pokemon's insatiable hunger and the increasing weight on its back. By the time Paras evolves into Parasect, the mushroom has completely overtaken the host's body and mind.
In another exchange, Paras excitedly talks about evolving and promises to meet up with Bulbasaur later to show off its new form. This is played as cheerful and hopeful, which makes it all the more tragic. When Paras evolves into Parasect, the Parasect in Pokopia speaks in a noticeably flat, robotic tone that makes it clear the mushroom is now controlling the Pokemon like a puppet. Despite this, there is a glimmer of nuance: the mushroom still experiences genuine emotions and wants to be more expressive, especially when it is happy. This detail adds a layer of complexity to what could have been a straightforward horror beat.
GameRant covered this discovery in a piece titled "Pokemon Pokopia Player Discovers Horrifying In-Game Conversation," noting how the game cleverly uses its dialogue system to make veteran fans recontextualize a well-known piece of Pokemon lore.
Players have discovered that several placeable items in Pokopia have hidden visual variants that appear randomly when the item is placed. These variants cannot be deliberately crafted or selected; instead, they have a random percent chance of appearing each time the item is set down. Some can be manipulated by repeatedly picking up and placing the item until the variant triggers.
Item | Variant | Details |
|---|---|---|
Green Metal Fence | Oddish-face fence | When placing green metal fences in bulk, one of them may randomly spawn as an Oddish version with an Oddish face on it. Players have noted it is "so much cuter" than the standard fence. |
Ditto-face variant | The Pikachu Fountain has a chance to display a Ditto's face instead of Pikachu's normal face, referencing Ditto's signature ability to transform imperfectly. | |
Chansey Plant | Ditto-face variant | Similar to the Pikachu Fountain, the Chansey Plant can randomly appear with a Ditto face. This variant is reportedly easier to trigger by repeatedly picking up and placing the item until the Ditto face appears. |
Duckweed | White-flower variant | Duckweed can randomly spawn with white flowers instead of its usual appearance. |
Lily Pads | Lotus flower variant | Lily Pads have a random percent chance of appearing with lotus flowers on them rather than the standard flat pads. |
Game Boy | Link cable connection | When two Game Boy items are placed adjacent to each other, a link cable automatically connects them. This references the original Game Boy Link Cable used for Pokemon trading and battling in the early generations. |
These discoveries were highlighted by GamingBible, which noted that "unless you spam the option in bulk, you probably won't come across this little surprise for a while." The Ditto-face variants are a particularly fitting reference given that Ditto is the player character in Pokopia, and the game frequently incorporates Ditto's transformation theme into its world design.
A copy of the in-game magazine "Island Monthly" (July Issue) contains a passage that reads: "The Sevii Islands, located in the southern part of the Kanto region, are a popular vacation spot due to their temperate climate... I heard that there are a lot of rare Pokemon to see here." The Sevii Islands originally appeared as the post-campaign content in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen and are a beloved set of locations among veteran fans.
Content creator Light_88 highlighted this note, which generated community speculation about a potential DLC expansion centered on the Sevii Islands. No official announcement has confirmed such plans, but the specificity of the reference (naming the islands directly and describing them as a vacation destination with rare Pokemon) has led many fans to interpret it as intentional foreshadowing rather than simple world-building.
Players have discovered what appears to be a reference to the upcoming Generation 10 Pokemon titles, Pokemon Winds and Pokemon Waves. The exact nature and location of this reference has been discussed in the community, though the details are subtle enough that they could be coincidental. This discovery generated significant discussion among fans who view it as an early teaser planted by Game Freak.
Pokopia is the first Pokemon spin-off game to include the Mystery Gift system. In the mainline Pokemon games, Mystery Gift has been a staple feature since Generation II (Pokemon Gold and Silver), used to distribute event Pokemon and special items. Its inclusion in Pokopia, adapted to deliver furniture and decorative items rather than Pokemon, is both a reference to the mainline tradition and a milestone for the spin-off series.
The game's Japanese title, "Poco a Pokemon" (Poko a Pokemon), shortened to "Pocopoke," derives from the Italian and Spanish musical term "poco a poco," meaning "little by little." This reflects the game's gradual rebuilding theme where players restore the world one habitat at a time. The English title "Pokopia" blends "Pokemon," "copy" (referencing Ditto's transformation ability), and "utopia" (the paradise players create). This multilingual wordplay is a reference to the Pokemon franchise's tradition of naming games and regions after real-world concepts.
The Pokedex that Ditto finds and uses belongs to its former trainer, who left it behind when humans evacuated into space. This mirrors the original Pokemon games where players receive a Pokedex from a professor at the start of their journey. In Pokopia, the Pokedex serves the same cataloging function but in a world without a professor to give it to you; instead, Ditto finds it on its own and Professor Tangrowth helps explain its purpose.
Pokopia is the first Pokemon game to use game-key cards for physical distribution, replacing traditional game cartridges. While this is a hardware change related to the Nintendo Switch 2 rather than an in-game easter egg, it marks a significant milestone in the franchise's history. Physical copies come with a card containing a download code rather than a cartridge with game data.
