Iwata Asks: Pokemon Black and White edition

Satoru Iwata sits down with some of the team behind the latest Pokmon outing

A very large Iwata Asks has just gone up on the Japanese Nintendo website. While in Japanese, some of the important details from the feature have been translated. In this edition of the great long-running series, Satoru Iwata sits down with Pokémon Co. CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, Black & White director Junichi Masuda, and 2D art director Ken Sugimori.

The first subject touched upon was if they actually wanted to make another DS Pokémon game. Traditionally there has only been one "original" Pokémon game per generation and this would have been the second. Masuda said that he wanted to make another one due to the popularity of the DS, but if they were going to do it they would make sure it wasn’t just another Pokémon game.

Their idea was to destroy what we know about the Pokémon games, things like going to the Pokémon Centre to heal and other common things binding each game. It has been revealed that you won’t be able to see any of the "old" Pokémon until finishing the game. Technical Machines are now also multi-use. These are just small things but part of the whole in mixing up the game.

The new map the game takes place in is now modelled after a place outside Japan. All previously released Pokémon games have had their regions based on regions around Japan. Black and White take their designs from New York and Masuda even took a trip to New York for inspiration.

Inspiration for the new Pokémon too was "outsourced" with the team heading to the zoo to come up with new ideas for Pokémon. With the huge number of Pokémon out there now it was hard coming up with new ideas but the team of 17 designers feel they have reached a good mix of keeping the original feel and keeping it fresh.

Pokémon Black and White are coming out in just over a week in Japan. A release window for the rest of the world hasn’t been announced as of yet but don’t expect it this year.

Source: Andriasang