Interviews

Game Freak on Pokémon: "We'll make the games we want to make, then choose the hardware!"

Team Pocket's blasting off again!

Game Freak on Pokémon: "We'll make the games we want to make, then choose the hardware!"

Last week, shortly after the launch of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, I met up with Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Ohmori.

Masuda-san is the producer of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and one of the founding members of developer Game Freak. He has also composed pretty much every Pokémon tune that's ever earwormed its way inside your head.

Ohmori-san is the director of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and has been designing the Pokémon games since the original Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire on the Game Boy Advance.

We exchange pleasantries and complain about how cold it is, then press on.

Looking at the original Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire games, which features did you consider most important to bring back for the remakes? Ohmori-san: I wanted to bring over everything from the first games, so the original players would have all the content they remember. However, if that were all we had done it would get dull quite quickly.

We wanted to do much more, adding content which can surprise veteran players. One aspect I particularly wanted to focus on in terms of making it much more grandiose was the Hoenn Region itself.

At this point, Masuda-san grabs a pen and paper to the kanji for Hoenn:

Masuda-san: So the original meaning for Hoenn came from these two Japanese characters: "ho" and "en". "Ho" means rich, or flourishing, while "en" means bond.

The rich nature and depth of the countryside in Hoenn was brought over and expanded for Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

For that reason as much as anything we introduced the "soar" feature where you can control Latias or Latios to fly all around Hoenn.

There are some smaller features that haven't made it across or have been cut back. It used to be possible to attach mail to Pokémon, and in Dewford Town you could set a catchphrase that would spread to your friends' games. Ohmori-san: Yes, that's true, but since Pokémon X and Y the wireless Player Search System has enabled you to give a self introduction of sorts. We wanted to make the functionality more appropriate for the generational change in technology that the 3DS now provides.

Considering the amount of trainer customisation in Pokémon X and Y, why do you have to play as the set male or female trainer in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire?

Ohmori-san: For Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire the decision was taken to focus more on the trainer as he or she appears on the field, whether diving, using goggles, or the dowsing machine. We've focused our intentions more on these situational changes.

Will Secret Bases be back in future games? Masuda-san: Contents along the same theme as Secret Bases, or something similar, could be included in the future. However, we like to challenge ourselves and think of new ways in which to bring fun content to the players. They wouldn't be exactly the same. We're up to 721 Pokémon now, do you think there will ever be an end point or do you see thousands of Pokémon in the future? Masuda-san: In future games we will certainly see Pokémon from previous games featuring prominently, like Charizard and Groudon have recently.

If new regions are discovered, then it's definitely an attractive idea to think there will be new Pokémon for that area. The ability to bring over Pokémon from other regions is a key focus.

We don't like to think of it as more Pokémon being created, but rather new Pokémon being discovered.

In the same way that when you come across a cicada for the first time in Japan, discovering it might be a great delight.

I think, in the same way, there's always going to be a process where we continue to discover new things which to delight, so there's new possibilities for Pokémon in that way.

Speaking of bringing over Pokémon from other regions, my main concern for Pokémon X and Y was whether I'd be able to bring my favourite Pokémon across. How important is it for people to be able to import their Pokémon from 12 years ago? Masuda-san: If we go back to Pokémon Red and Blue, it wasn't possible to transfer their Pokémon to the games that came after Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Personally, that was very disappointing, but hardware limitations at the time prevented it from happening.

Now we have Pokémon Bank with cloud functionality, where you can bring Pokémon over from as far back as the original Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, as well as transport your Pokémon to future games.

It's very important for me that we are able to do that. We recognise that Pokémon aren't just characters on their own; that they actually have personal value to the players as well.

If you go to an event and catch a Pokémon, that Pokémon may have a lot of personal value to that particular player. That's very important to us. We will continue to think of ways that players can bring all their Pokémon over to the latest games.

I was very pleased that I could bring mine over - I had Pokémon from the GameCube game, Pokémon XD, that I've transferred through every Pokémon game over the years to collect Ribbons. So thanks! Masuda-san: It was very difficult to make that possible! [laughs]

You've brought up how hardware functionality meant that you couldn't bring Pokémon from the Game Boy games. I believe a lot of people are interested in playing these versions on 3DS Virtual Console, even if Pokémon can't be transferred across to new versions. Any chance of this happening?

Masuda-san: To refer to your earlier question, the most important thing to consider is whether the Pokémon you catch there are able to go anywhere else. If that were possible in the future, we would be interested in doing that.

M2, the developers responsible for the Game Gear Virtual Console version of Columns, managed to get local multiplayer working between 3DS units. Perhaps trading could work that way?

Masuda-san: On Virtual Console there's no communication function. No link cable! Each Pokémon has individual values - what you could call genes - when you encounter them in the wild or hatch them from eggs. There are also effort values that can be raised for each stat depending on how you train your Pokémon. With the new functionality of the DexNav, and Legendary Pokémon guaranteed to have three perfect stats, it seems like you're making it easier to get really strong Pokémon. Are you trying to make the inner workings of the game more transparent as time goes on? Masuda-san: With Super Training, which was first introduced in Pokémon X and Y, we've made it possible to power up your Pokémon and increase stats in a more transparent manner. That's one thing we did consciously.

Considering the Internet era that we are in, all these details you speak of are already open to the public anyway. It's not that we necessarily wanted to make these aspects of the game open and available.

One thing in terms of making stats more open is players who have played the old games. We're in an era where there are many older players, but also a new generation of younger players as well.

One reason behind adding Super Training was to bring the balance back to help younger players a little bit. Veterans who know an awful lot can now battle against a young player who can, with Super Training, raise his Pokémon's stats to stand a chance in competitive battling.

Recently, Pokémon TCG Online and Pokémon Camp have been released on the iOS App Store. Are you looking to release a full Pokémon game on smartphones in the future?

Masuda-san: We start from the point of view of "What do we want to make?" for all our games. For that, the consideration is, "What is the best hardware for this game?"

The Nintendo 3DS is a safe and secure environment for children to play in. In that context, the 3DS is the best platform for these games. With Pokémon TCG Online you can battle with other players, and for that the iPad seems to be the most appropriate hardware.

For us its always a question of not starting from the point of view of "What hardware is available?" and "What can we do on it?", but rather "What do we want to make?" in the first place, then matching that title to the best hardware.

But are you looking to develop more titles for smartphones and tablets? Masuda-san: We'll make the games we want to make, then choose the hardware! Many thanks to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for organising this interview. Stay tuned for more Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire features.
Danny Russell
Danny Russell
After spending years in Japan collecting game developers' business cards, Danny has returned to the UK to breed Pokemon. He spends his time championing elusive region-exclusive games while shaking his fist at the whole region-locking thing.