About

Unova Confirmed is a catchphrase among the Pokémon fandom in which fans satirically speculate on the imminent release of remakes to the fifth generation of Pokémon games, Pokémon Black and White, which take place in the Unova region. Like similar memes Hoenn Confirmed (for the Gen III titles) and Sinnoh Confirmed (for Gen IV), the catchphrase is generally paired with comically elaborate conspiracies drawing tenuous connections between Pokémon games to assert that the company is prepping remakes of Pokémon Black and White. While initially "Unova Confirmed" jokes were meant as riffs on the previous similar memes, speculation that Pokémon could soon release Black and White remakes intensified after the company released "Sinnoh" remakes of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Origin

The earliest known mention of "Unova Confirmed" was posted by user Kanon on Neoseeker^[1] on July 12th, 2013, who jokingly suggested that the maps of Unova and X & Y's Kalos vaguely lined up, therefore Unova was "confirmed" (shown below).

Spread

Over the following several years, "Unova Confirmed" jokes appeared sparingly and usually featured comedically tenuous evidence. For example, on October 6th, 2017, Amino Apps^[2] user pokemonletsgo compared some similarities between Pokémon designs from Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Black and White, humorously arguing this "confirmed" Unova remakes (shown below, left).

On June 17th, 2020, Redditor Mudkiplover44 posted a screenshot in /r/MandJTV^[3] from Pokémon Sword and Shield where a player can choose between a white or black bike, joking these "confirmed" Unova remakes, gaining over 110 points in four years (shown below, right).

Speculation about possible Black and White remakes intensified after the 2021 releases of Pokémon Legends Arceus, which takes place in the Sinnoh region, and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which is a remake of the Gen IV games, thus bringing the "Sinnoh Confirmed" meme to fruition.

Furthermore, one of the two DLCs for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, "The Indigo Disk," canonically takes place in Unova, and fans speculated that there are clues in the DLC that indicate the imminent release of Gen V remakes.

On February 3rd, 2024, Screenrant^[4] posited that the futuristic paradox Pokémon of those games may be due to the experiments of Team Plasma, the villains of Black and White.

On February 20th, The Pokémon Company announced^[5] a stream that would take place on February 27th, dubbed "Pokémon Day." This fueled anticipation that the company could announce Black and White remakes that day.

On February 24th, 2024, YouTuber MunchingOrange posted a video speculating about the possible remakes, gaining over 50,000 views in two days (shown below, left). Furthermore, some purported leaks suggested the remakes would be announced during the 27th stream and that they would resemble Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. On February 21st, YouTuber TyranitarTube asserted that the leaks were fake, gaining over 46,000 views in five days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References