Questions for the Creators

[tofucocoa]

As you may or may not know, Nintendo will be having a special X/Y presentation at e3 with Q/A with Junichi Masuda and Tsunekazu Ishihara. While some of the questions here probably won't make it to their ears, I think it would make for an interesting topic to post some questions you would ask them, should you have the opportunity. This isn't the place for trollish questions like 'why don't you remove crits', 'get rid of stealth rock it is ruining the meta' and 'why does bidoof exist', rather some interesting questions that have been bugging you about the games or Pokemon in general, like "what kind of Pokemon were supposed to be in the 'original' 190?".

My question would be "I've heard in previous interviews that you conduct tournaments inside the company to determine which Pokemon need to be retooled stat-wise and that you were surprised to see what different kind of strategies players used with new Pokemon. Are there any specific fan-made strategies that you liked, and do these strategies influence the internal tournaments, and by extension the creation of new Pokemon?"

 

[Yveltal]

I'd want to know about the creative process for the side game distractions, such as contests, battle frontiers and musicals, and ask about where the line is drawn on preserved award data, such as ribbons won and plaques earned. I'd ask about why certain awards and titles that involved certain Pokemon are encoded on a specific Pokemon and remembered when the participant Pokemon is traded/transferred, and why the Pokemon you enter in musicals receive no ribbon or other memento for doing well.
(and I'd try to find out about the new distraction for Gen VI)

 

[Gokuzbu]

I would ask about the theories like is Ditto a failed clone of Mew, is Gengar Clefable, was Dragonair originally supposed to evolve to Dragonite, is Voltorb a ghastly trapped in a pokeball etc.

 

[Molk]

Like lucariojr mentioned i'd be very interested to hear which Pokemon were removed in place for missingno out of the original 190, what were they like? Were any of them used for later gens/planned to be used later? If not, has their design influenced the design of any later gen Pokemon at all?

I'd also like to know how gamefreak determines the base stats and movepool of each Pokemon, i know the staff make tweaks to the stats before the final game is released, but how do you determine the initial stats that you tweak in the first place? Do they think up a specific concept for a Pokemon and stick with it through all the stat/movepool tweaks? or do they kinda just make it up as they go along?

also,

and why the Pokemon you enter in musicals receive no ribbon or other memento for doing well.

Well actually, there is a certain reward thats given to Pokemon in Pokestar studios, its not a ribbon though, its a special shine that happens every time the pokemon is sent into battle, showing that its a "star", kinda like the shine for shiny Pokemon.

 

[Magicxgame]

I'm very interested to know how much (un)official tournaments affect the decision-making process. In an Iwata Asks/Pokemon.com interview, Game Freak stated that they analyzed the strategies from VGC Worlds, but do they take worldwide strategies into account? Or do they mostly focus on the Japanese metagame?

Also: Was Pokémon influenced by the Mother/EarthBound series? It's not just an outlandish fan theory; a lot of the Red/Green staff worked on the first two EarthBound games, Satoshi Tajiri was impressed by EB Zero, etc. I even wrote up a post of the similarities if anyone's interested.

 

[Iamlegendshot66]

I'm interested to know why your pokemon don't walk behind you, like in heart gold and why you can't by the looks of it walk with them in x and y. I also want to know why every fire type starter is fire/fighting. Also why does "you know who" not get flare blitz?

 

[khaozz13]

I vaguely remember back in 2006 when there was a contest where fans could design a (back then) new move. This is how Draco Meteor was made. I would ask if something similar would/could happen again.

 

[Majestic Electric]

Im interested in knowing the official theme for these games. The most I've heard is that X & Y are based on Norse mythology, the X & Y axis, and chromosomes. Of course it's all fan speculation, but I think it would be cool if we knew exactly what influenced them.

 

[M. Rock]

"what kind of Pokemon were supposed to be in the 'original' 190?".
"

You can find this on Bulbapedia: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pokémon_by_index_number_(Generation_I)

I would ask about the theories like is Ditto a failed clone of Mew, is Gengar Clefable, was Dragonair originally supposed to evolve to Dragonite, is Voltorb a ghastly trapped in a pokeball etc.

I would do this, no doubt.

One personal question I would ask them is: "What was the deal with the early gens? Why was Ghost physical when the only ghosts around had abysmal attack, but huge special? Same with Dragon: why make it a special type initially if all the early dragons (like Dragonite and Salamence) had much better attack scores?"

 

[Shiruba]

I vaguely remember back in 2006 when there was a contest where fans could design a (back then) new move. This is how Draco Meteor was made. I would ask if something similar would/could happen again.

i think this is how spinarak came into being, too! i really like it when big companies like pokemon do this - really shows they care, y'know?

 

[Yveltal]

i think this is how spinarak came into being, too! i really like it when big companies like pokemon do this - really shows they care, y'know?

I also read that somewhere :O Definately worth knowing more about!

Also, they have been interviewed about things like Ditto & Mew and the relationships between cubone and Kangaskahn, and they gave these innocent roundabout answers that make it look completely coincidental. You can find one of those interviews on gameinformer's website.

I'm interested to know why your pokemon don't walk behind you, like in heart gold and why you can't by the looks of it walk with them in x and y. I also want to know why every fire type starter is fire/fighting. Also why does "you know who" not get flare blitz?

It'd be nice to have the reasoning behind why certain gimmicks aren't sustained throughout the games after their introduction, but that's just because I'm obsessed with closure.

 

[breh]

I would ask about the theories like is Ditto a failed clone of Mew, is Gengar Clefable, was Dragonair originally supposed to evolve to Dragonite, is Voltorb a ghastly trapped in a pokeball etc.

IIRC somebody actually stated that Ditto is not Mew. Sorry about that :/

To be honest, I'd ask something about how they feel about battling sims and if they would ever include something similar into their own games... It'd be really, genuinely cool if we could have a showdown (or even PO1!!!) style teambuilder for online play. You could unlock pokemon to use by completing some sort of challenge or, perhaps...

Maybe by catching them all?

 

[Codraroll]

I'd ask if Secret Bases would ever make a return. Hoenn was the most explorable and awesomely laid out region ever (at least the land parts of it), and being able to have your own little hideout in some remote corner of it was just golden. It got even better when you scrambled data with your friends, and they didn't tell you where they had built theirs. Time to go searching (speaking to the kid in Mossdeep is cheating!)! The concept was reused (in an extremely flawed fashion) in D/P, but it was sorely missed in every game since.

I'd also ask how map design is done. Sinnoh's great flaw was that it was so boring and tedious to walk between the interesting locations, that you ended up flying and never bothered to explore places (unlike Kanto, where biking around is a very viable alternative to Flying - and you get a lot more connected to the region when exploring it). Unova's great flaw was that it was way too linear. Were these things intended, or just oversights? Hoenn's mix of natural obstacles, backtracking and shortcuts made it a place I just loved to roam, while also being linear enough to deliver the story elements in the right order. At the moment, Kalos looks like a rimless wheel, or a big star. I wonder if the "arms" are all dead ends? What impacts might that have on travelling? Would players still roam if they always had to go through Lumiose City?


I'd also ask if having an O in every region's English name is intended, an in-joke, or just the mother of all coincidences.

 

[Yixagurpuldink]

I would be interested to know how many ideas people have for pokemon actually go through and enter the animation stage?

I'm not comparing it to create-a-pokemon project, but I bet they are TOTALLY DIFFERENT LEAGUES.

How many unseccessful attempts and ideas did you think it took to make Xerneas and Yveltal?

 

[Perfect Cell]

I'd ask why some events(notably the Azure Flute) were never distributed.

 

[DHR-107]

I'd ask why some events(notably the Azure Flute) were never distributed.

This would actually be an interesting question to be honest... I never understood why they would go to the effort of creating these areas, making an item to go to said areas, and all the text/characters/maps etc that go with it...

And then never use it :| It's super weird. Maybe they put it in as safeguards if Wifi didn't take off or something? :|

 

[Gokuzbu]

I'd ask if Secret Bases would ever make a return. Hoenn was the most explorable and awesomely laid out region ever (at least the land parts of it), and being able to have your own little hideout in some remote corner of it was just golden. It got even better when you scrambled data with your friends, and they didn't tell you where they had built theirs. Time to go searching (speaking to the kid in Mossdeep is cheating!)! The concept was reused (in an extremely flawed fashion) in D/P, but it was sorely missed in every game since.

YES

They were so much fun. I loved finding the perfect spot to put it and finding the right decorations, and then building a good team for when people battle you. Its the only place in game where you can battle lvl 100s and gain experience IIRC.

They should use Streetpass to connect to secret bases.

 

[Cresselia~~]

Classical Cubone problem.
Oh, and Kangaskhan's baby.


Also,
I seriously and selfishly want to know what exactly is Jynx.

I mean, I just don't believe the Ganguro theory because they came out after the time the Pokemon staff should have finished the games, which comes AFTER the designs.

I know Yama-uba is probably the one, but Zwarte Piete is also very similar.

 

[Chaoswalker]

Will Parabola Chage be a TM, and if so how many times can I teach it to Rotom?

Seriously though, I want to know what their super Pokemon dream is. What kind of spin off or really big Pokemon game have they always wanted to make but never have?

 

[RedMeowth]

I also want to know why every fire type starter is fire/fighting.

I have this theory that Torchic and Chimchar become Fighting-types because the first Gyms of Hoenn and Sinnoh are Rock gyms. This way, the Fire starter would be able to stand as good a chance against the first major boss of the game as the Grass and Water starters. Yeah, they could have gone with Ground or Steel if that is the reason, but Steel seems like it would be too good a type to have that early in the game, and a Fire-Ground Pokemon would take neutral damage to Grass attacks, so the initial type triangle could be thrown off a bit. Adding a Fighting-type would let the Fire-type beat this early boss without screwing with how the starters work early on.

As for why Tepig becomes a Fighter... that I can't explain. The first two gyms of Unova (Normal and "whatever type beats your starter but only in the Leader's case") would've been even matches for all three if they stayed as they are. But making one of them a Fighter gives one an unfair and unnecessary advantage. If they had to make one of them adapt for a Gym, why not make Servine part-Flying to fight the Bug gym instead? :P

OT: I would second the question of "Were there really supposed to be 190 Pokemon in the original games?". If that is true, then that brings a lot of interesting implications if it's like how Bulbapedia described it.

I would also be curious to know this: "Did you decide to weaken Pokemon to catch them from the start? Or was the original idea for catching Pokemon retooled into the Safari Zone?" Apparently, the Boulderbadge and Cascadebadge were originally items to let you throw bait or rocks, so I wouldn't be surprised if the original idea was basically the Safari Zone.

And of course, I want to know "What is Sylveon's type?"

 

[Mario With Lasers]

You can find this on Bulbapedia: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pokémon_by_index_number_(Generation_I)

This doesn't answer anything. That list only shows what the MissingNos. transform into when sent to a GSC game, and that's only because their index numbers were finally being used for a real pokémon. What lucariojr (and many other people) would want to know is if those MissingNos. were meant to be pokémon that got removed before release, and which pokémon they were (in example, Mew was planned to be in GSC, but SURPRISE Shigeki Morimoto sneakily put it in Red/Green's coding).


Now that I think of it, why didn't Morimoto have Mew in BW, gah

 

[Yveltal]

This doesn't answer anything. That list only shows what the MissingNos. transform into when sent to a GSC game, and that's only because their index numbers were finally being used for a real pokémon. What lucariojr (and many other people) would want to know is if those MissingNos. were meant to be pokémon that got removed before release, and which pokémon they were (in example, Mew was planned to be in GSC, but SURPRISE Satoshi Tajiri sneakily put it in Red/Green's coding).

Shigeki Morimoto did that.
They grazed over the creation of Pokemon in an interview from about 3 years ago, and they mentioned that it starts from the design in, rather than from the function out like what is done in CAP. I'd like to know more about the process behind figuring out stat distributions for mid to late game Pokemon.