meaning "rich relationship (between humans and Pokémon)" was introduced in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald and is located south-west of the Kanto/Johto landmass. The region contains a large proportion of marine routes and the games' first underwater locations. Hoenn was modeled after the Kyushu region of Japan due to Ruby and Sapphire director Junichi Masuda's desire to recapture his memories of being there in the summer vacation; Hoenn is rotated 90° counterclockwise from Kyushu's real world orientation due to the development team's belief that it would improve playability. The Hoenn region contains its own Pokémon League, called the Hoenn League, and its own Elite Four, unlike Johto and Kanto which share their Elite Four in the video games. Seasons 6-8 of the Pokémon anime, called the Advanced Generation series, are set in this region, as protagonist Ash Ketchum and company explore this new region.
