I don't think we're getting a new JOHTO or UNOVA game anytime soon...
My reasoning for this is that in the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, the whole thing took place in like a terrarium in the Unova region and all the new characters were from Unova. So I don't think they were just hinting at new Pokemon Black and White things. I think it WAS the Pokemon Black and White things! As for Johto, that region dosen't really have much meat on it. It was a pretty basic region and since their going to have 2 out of 3 Johto starters in Z-A, it wouldn't make sense to make a big deal out of Johto starters when they just did.
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I'll add on: I think some people assume Kitakami is part of Johto.
But also, I need a new B&W game before I go insane.1 -
I don't think you can rely on the presence of other regions as an indicator of future games. At least, not as reliably as you did in the past.
Johto and Unova are also in peculiar spots in the franchise.
Gen 2, not quite as popular as gen 1, finds itself awkwardly stapled on to Kanto both literally and in its representation within the franchise. So called "genwunners" accept it as a part of the era, but Kanto is their true love and a lot of them were "too old for Pokémon" when the games came out. Meanwhile the younger generation of the time attached themselves to gen 3 and the Game Boy Advance era.
This leaves Johto as an awkward middle child without many dedicated fans.
As for Unova, I have made no secret about gen 5 being my favourite generation throughout this forum. But my love is not reflected in the sales of the time. The games came out during another awkward era in the franchise.
Gen 4, for all its faults, was very successful and brought the games to the DS, one of the games consoles that started to gain mainstream traction and transform gaming from a niché hobby to a medium with universal appeal. I suspect gen 4 might be Game Freak's internal second favourite generation, after gen 1, given all the attention the region and its Pokémon regularly receive.
But by gen 5 a lot of the older fans were feeling that Pokémon was out of new tricks. The all new Pokédex didn't help matters for that particular fanbase, either. Gen 6 would bring a lot of the old fans back with the novelty of 3D Pokémon and "REMEMBER MEWTWO?!"
Despite Unova's quality, I think Game Freak view it as something of a failure, which is why they may have been reluctant to remake it or produce new games in the region.
I do not think either region is gone forever. I think there will probably be Johto and Unova remakes at some point. What form they will take and when we will see them are the more appropriate questions.
Theoretically, Unova is "next" in line for a remake, but it is interesting that they chose to go to Kalos for Z-A. Gen 6 was already a 3D game, though, so a remake would lose a lot of the "wow" factor that a modern remake could bring, and I am sceptical that they would give it the BDSP treatment.
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Both haven’t gotten much love lately but with new forms for their pokemon, it’s clear people still want more.
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