‘Who’s that Pokémon’ just became a tad more complicated in China.
In an unprecedented move, The Pokémon Company is changing the name of three Pokémon for Chinese fans. Announced earlier this week on Weibo (China’s regulated version of Twitter), the official Pokémon Company account shared the name changes in a “before and after” image. Captured and translated by Twitter user @JynxClub, we know the new names for Porygon2, Porygon-Z, and Mimikyu.
According to the official Pokemon Weibo account,
the Chinese names of several Pokemon are being changed.It was speculated that the name changes were due to the new regulations for game characters, in which the Chinese names of game characters can NOT contain English letters. pic.twitter.com/J8DiX0da8o
— Jynx Propaganda ルージュラだいすき (@JynxClub) March 23, 2020
As for why this change occurred, it’s being speculated by the community that Pokémon Sword and Shield are being prepped for release in China. According to a censorship rule, the English alphabet/characters cannot be used in the Chinese named version. The easiest way to bypass this set back in the review process is to alter the names and use Arabic numerals instead.
Weird, but let’s see if the name change sticks within the Chinese fanbase who’s been importing the games and merchandise for years.
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Written by Jennifer Burch
Illustrator, designer, writer and big Nintendo geek, you can find Jennifer with an N3DS within reach 24/7. As the oldest of three, she has survived many Mario Party, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart sessions intact in addition to getting her brothers hooked on some really weird games. (Cubivore anyone?)
