No, they definitely weren't here before. Heck, for a while, we couldn't even access Kanto.

And now there's hundreds of new Pokémon in my dex, a "fairy type"... Feels like the world's playing a cosmic prank or something.

[It feels like this guy's playing a joke on him. It's definitely not a face Riku recognizes, and he was one of the first people to show up here.

...but the dates on the gear are all off, too. Ugh.]