Hoenn inspired Pokémon Pokopia’s habitat-creation concept through Shigeru Ohmori’s work on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
While Pokopia’s story is set in Kanto, its development inspiration came from Hoenn. Shigeru Ohmori reflected on his earliest work in the Pokémon series as a map designer on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, which are Hoenn-region games.
That experience helped him imagine a Pokémon game where players could create and cultivate their own habitats. The idea became a foundation for Pokopia’s building systems, in which players reshape land and create conditions that attract particular Pokémon.
This is a useful distinction: Kanto is the game’s narrative setting, whereas Hoenn is the region associated with the development inspiration described in the game’s history. Confusing those two regions produces the most tempting wrong answer.