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HK Magazine

Think twice before you scream “I choose you!”—Nintendo’s newest video game “Pokémon Sun and Moon” is out this November, and along with it are some very unfamiliar names.

In a statement released May 10, the world’s largest game developer announced that it would standardize the Chinese names of all first-generation Pokémon to the versions used in Putonghua in both China and Taiwan.
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As a result, of the 151 original Pokemon, only four are keeping their original names. Nintendo's local critics are saying this is another step in the slow erosion of Cantonese identity.

On Monday, around 20 members from localist group Civic Passion and the gamer group Lonely Media protested the name changes outside the Consulate-General of Japan.
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“It is the collective memory of a generation,” Sing Leung, deputy editor of Lonely Media, said during the protest.


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These Nintendo Pokémon Are Getting Different Names in Cantonese

Illustrations: Elaine Tang, Kay Leung and Wing Chan 

Illustration: Elaine Tang

Magazines

“Pokémon Sun and Moon” is out this November, and along with it are some very unfamiliar names.
