The Making of Pokémon RGB/GS: New Staff Interview Unearthed & Translated!

[GlitterBerri]

The topics covered include...

1. The Making of Pokémon Red & Blue
2. Designing the First Pokémon
3. Tweaking the Game
4. The Making of Pokémon Gold & Silver
5. The Staff's Predictions for the Future of Pokémon
6. Some Secrets Behind the Games

There are more Pokémon-related translations to come, so stay tuned. And feel free to add this info to the Wiki if you don't already have it! I'm tied up with translating and can't do it myself.

 

[Silktree]

While it's great that you translated this interview, I wouldn't call it "newly unearthed" when it has been available for viewing on Nintendo's online magazine for 11 years. Still, I assume that most people haven't seen it.

I personally found the interview a little disappointing when I first read it. The tidbit about types not being originally planned was interesting, but Game Freak didn't reveal anything about the beta versions of Gold and Silver, nor did they discuss what they were currently working on (and by July 2000, Nintendo had announced that Game Freak were working on a game, and Crystal's announcement was just around the corner).

On second reading, there is something else that attracts my attention:

Why did you decide to have 151 Pokémon?

Sugimori: At first, the game was more RPG-like. It was only in the middle of development that the goal of the game became completing your Pokédex. That’s when memory capacity and deciding on a good number of characters became an issue. We actually wanted to have more. We designed around 1.5 times more characters we actually used.

Why did the game change from an RPG to one where your goal was to complete your Pokédex?

Sugimori: When we were writing the text for the Pokédex, we started talking about how fun it was to collect Pokémon. We hadn’t wanted to do a fantasy RPG from the start. We felt a story about a boy travelling to fill up his Pokédex was more appropriate for modern times than a tale of a hero battling an evil villain.

This is interesting, because it seems that as the Pokédex is expanded, the story veers more toward "a tale of a hero battling an evil villain". With all due respect to Pokédex completionists, the task has become entirely skippable by now; only in the Kanto games is the Pokédex an integral element of the story (being part of Red and Blue's rivalry). Based on recent interviews, Sugimori still maintains that the story has remained simple and devoid of fantasy, but I question that statement.

 

[Joshawott]

So if we weren't allowed to nickname our Pokémon, we'd have 3 save files?

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

If the developers didn't want the game to contain full of extremely powerful and extremely weak Pokemon, then why the heck do we have tiers? It appears that they're aren't doing their job well. Also, Mew's creation now reminds me of Derpy Hooves'.

 

[Martian]

Aw man, those three save files would have been awesome. :C Then again, I do nickname all of my Pokemon...

 

[33Whimsicott33]

I thank you for crossing the language barrier for us to make all this information readable to the english-only!

I love the hype behind the words of that last article. "Did you know!?!?" XD

 

[GlitterBerri]

Thanks for the feedback, all!

While it's great that you translated this interview, I wouldn't call it "newly unearthed" when it has been available for viewing on Nintendo's online magazine for 11 years. Still, I assume that most people haven't seen it.

I assume that most people don't go digging around in Nintendo of Japan's archives, but I could be wrong. It didn't appear to be translated yet, either!