Mainly asking this because there is a bit of conflicting information about the matter. The first Teraleak claimed that the events of Pokémon Legends: Arceus took place 150 years prior to Pokémon Diamond/Pearl; however, Bulbapedia (typically the most reliable place for Pokémon anything) says that it took place at most 300 years ago: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/History_of_the_Pok%C3%A9mon_world
Although in Bulbapedia's case, that placement is based on educated guesswork rather than anything solid. I haven't heard any mention on it's timeline placement in ZA despite there being a whole museum dedicated to Hisui despite the museum essentially placing it in the main timeline (unlike Masters EX which made Hisui a Lostbelt). Because of that, I don't think it's much help in that regard, so uhh… Yeah, when did Pokemon Legends: Arceus take place?
by Flashlight237
3 Comments
Takes place around the mid 1800’s most likely. Still during colonial times but with a bit of tech starting to come through.
There is no definitive canon statement or evidence AFAIK, the closest thing we have is the fact that a lot of the setting is based on Meiji era Japan which was 1862-1912, so that’s where the 150 year figure came from
A streamer I watched freaked out about the architecture and pinned it to a surprisingly narrow slice of the Meiji Restoration, during the westernization of Japan.