It's not often that creators behind huge, huge franchises offer themselves up for interview, but Game Freak has done just that. The team behind the insanely successful Pokemon recently gathered for a conference call that was attended by select members of the European press. Answering questions on its global phenomenon were Game Freak's Mr Junichi Masuda, Mr Shigeki Morimoto and Mr Ken Sugimori.
You have 300-plus Pokemon. We were just wondering where you get all of your inspiration and ideas for the creation of each Pokemon?
Mr Sugimori: In many cases members of the design team get their inspiration and ideas from their experiences, or from insects and nature etc. But they also get ideas from their different perspectives.
Mr Masuda: I don't actually have nightmares about Pokemon, but we do tend to have nightmares that systems will break down etc.
Do you feel that with the leap from the Game Boy Colour version onto the GBA you've made an evolutionary leap in terms of Game Play?
Mr Masuda: What is new about the Game Boy Advance version is that it has made transmitting systems possible for four people all involved at one time. This means that four people can enjoy playing the game together at the same time. Also in Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire the graphics are new, and in this game new aspects have been included such as the Pokemon contest.
When you want to create new characters, where does your inspiration come from? Movies or insects from the real world?
Mr Sugimori: As I have answered previously, experiences the designers have from their childhood have become the main inspiration when creating Pokemon. Experiences they have along with cartoons and movies from their childhood have become the main source of their ideas. And also encyclopaedia insects have made an impact on the designers in order to create new Pokemon characters. They also recall memories of weird animals or animals from encyclopaedias and they get inspiration from that.
Once you have picked one insect how do you change it to create a Pokemon?
Mr Sugimori: First we select an insect and after that we add essential elements to the insects to make it more like Pokemon, such as adding some hard shape to it, to be more like steel.
Mr Sugimori: Many of the Pokemon characters first became loved because they were funny, that's why many people have supported it. And I'm sure that younger people will still support the Pokemon because it's funny. And in Japan, before Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire was released, many of the mass media began rumours that the Pokemon had already down trended and the software would not become a big seller. But that wasn't true and we still had support from fans, and I'm sure that we'll still keep on getting this support. (Note: 4.4 million Pokemon Ruby and Saphire sold in Japan to date)
Mr Morimoto: We have created this Pokemon software to be easy for young players to play. I'm sure that new generations will still enjoy this game.
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