Pokémon Pokopia's new Bubbly Basin DLC didn't just add an underwater area and a pile of new Pokémon — it quietly answered a question players have been asking since the game's post-apocalyptic Kanto setting was first revealed: what else is out there, and does it connect to anything else in the Pokémon franchise?

As Polygon first reported, the answer is yes. New content in the DLC confirms Pokopia shares its universe with Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, the 2018 Kanto remakes built around Pokémon GO-style catching mechanics. The clearest evidence comes from a pair of small but deliberate details: Trace, the character who appears in Pokopia alongside his Marowak, and an NPC version of Misty who's dressed in her Let's Go outfit rather than her classic gym leader look. Neither detail reads as accidental — both are specific enough to function as an intentional continuity nod rather than a coincidental reference.

The DLC also drops a bigger reveal for anyone tracking the wider regional cast: the Champion of Hoenn in this shared universe is May, the player-character-turned-rival from Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. It's a small line of lore, but it's the kind of detail longtime fans tend to seize on, since Game Freak has historically been cagey about which protagonists "canonically" become Champion in any given region.

There's also a practical link between the games worth knowing about if you've got old save files lying around: Pokémon caught in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! can be transferred into Pokémon Champions through Pokémon Home, meaning the in-game universe connection lines up with an actual mechanical one. If you've been sitting on a save file from either Let's Go game since 2018, that Kanto team of yours has a real path into Champions.

None of this has been confirmed as part of a larger crossover push from Game Freak or The Pokémon Company — it's still just world-building sprinkled into a DLC expansion. But for a game that opened with a genuinely unsettling twist on a familiar region, tying its universe explicitly to an existing mainline entry is a notable step, and likely won't be the last thread Pokopia pulls on.