Pokemon Creators on Platinum

There's only a month to go before Nintendo releases the latest iteration of the Pokemon franchise: on March 23rd, Pokemon Platinum Edition hits the Nintendo DS system, and if the Japanese release is anything to go on, the stateside launch should be pretty boffo indeed.

In anticipation of Pokemon Platinum, Nintendo gave us a rare opportunity to throw a few questions to the men in charge of the Nintendo DS project. Game Freak director Jyunichi Masuda and game designer Takeshi Kawachimaru were on hand to answer our pressing inquiries.

Mr. Masuda has been with Pokemon since Day One on the original Game Boy providing much of the audio. He directed the original DS games Diamond and Pearl, and composed much of the music in the design. Mr. Kawachimaru has been designing Pokemon since Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, and in Pokemon Platinum he served as the game's director.

IGN: What was the inspiration for the new concepts in Pokémon Platinum? Do you think the process for coming up with new concepts has changed since the first Pokémon games were developed?

Jyunichi Masuda: We created Platinum with a new method of determining the game's direction that was based on the image of one Pokémon - Giratina. When I imagined Giratina, the idea of a "reversed world" came to my mind. I thought of concepts such as "E=mc2" and matter and antimatter. There is no top or bottom, no left or right. We increased the number of developers for Diamond and Pearl, so we wanted to clarify the game concepts for the team before we started the project Its better to hammer out the overall vision of the game first, and then all the team members will work towards that vision by throwing out ideas. The concept of "ultimate" was what we started out with for this title.

IGN: Did you ever think that Pokémon would be as popular as it is when you worked on the first Pokémon games more than a decade ago?

Masuda: I didn't. I think the first Pokémon games sold in a unique way. Sales didn't soar right after launch but gradually rose over time. A year later, a quite a few of copies had sold. It's like how your kids grow - you don't realize how much they've grown as it's happening. It turns out the games had sold really well once we realized it. I never imagined Pokémon would be so popular. I thank other Pokémon brand pillars like the Trading Card Game and the animated TV series and movies because they drove the game sales (laughs).

IGN: If you could attribute the strength of Pokémon to one single philosophy, what would it be?

Masuda: The philosophy of play. Pokémon games are packed with active elements because to "play" is the foundation of the games. Imagine if you caught a Pokémon immediately when you throw a Poké Ball. That would be no fun - you want the excitement of seeing the ball rolling, shaking etc. You can catch Pokémon more easily when you attack them and lower their HP. It's like fishing in our world - you can fish for Pokémon more easily when they are weak. If you like fishing (in our world), you may make a record of your catch as a keepsake. It's the same principle in Pokémon. Pokémon games are designed to register Pokémon data in the Pokédex and you can look back on it later. Also, we want to incorporate basic play concepts that inspire us, like in Rock-Paper-Scissors. The big picture concept of a game is very important, but we don't want to forget the simple enjoyment of a game like Rock-Paper-Scissors.