Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire/Headscratchers

• Somewhat minor, but why do people keep saying that Gen 3 and Gen 1 take place at the same time? The main reason I've seen is that you don't need a Time Machine to trade between R/S/E and FR/LG, like you did between R/B/Y and G/S/C... But you also don't need a Time Machine (for either R/S/E or FR/LG) to trade with Colosseum and XD! And remember, it's actually stated in those games that they take place five years apart! So is "not needing a Time Machine" really evidence? Note, it wouldn't bug me if Gen 3 and Gen 1 are actually confirmed to take place at the same time... It just bugs me that people keep using trading as the basis.
  • Well, we know that Generation II and Generation IV take place at the same time due to several references in the games (news of a red Gyarados being sighted, etc) and Generation II obviously takes place after Generation I. In Heart Gold and Soul Silver, the Champion of Hoenn's Elite Four shows up and mistakes the player for the protagonist of Ruby/Sapphire, and Bill says that Lanette from Hoenn helped him build the Pokemon Storage System. All of this means it's pretty safe to say that Gens I and III take place at around the same time.

• In Black and White, some remarks from Cynthia imply that Platinum is the canon version from fourth gen, adding fuel to the common "third version is canon" theory. However... In Heart Gold and Soul Silver, it's Steven who claims to be Champion, rather than Wallace, which seems to rule out Emerald as being the "canon" version. So, does anyone have any idea as to whether or not they just did this for simplicity's sake or whatever (being as how Ruby and Sapphire did get released before Emerald, making Steven more "recognizable" as Champion), or did they really mean that either Ruby or Sapphire is supposed to be the canon third gen game?
  • Well, if III and I take place at the same time, then II happens 3 years after Emerald. That's plenty of time for Steven to take the title from Wallace. After all, Blue only held the title for about fifteen minutes.
  • Strictly speaking, May or Brendan was the Champion of Hoenn at the end of Ruby, Sapphire, AND Emerald. It is likely that Steven was really just calling himself a Champion of Hoenn, and there was an error in translation (as Japanese really doesn't explicitly differentiate the cases, as far as I know).