Quoted By:
>GC:I think of a game like Monster Hunter, which has many similar elements, but is only popular in Japan and I wonder why that is? The Pokémon games are still very obviously Japanese in origin, so it can’t be that?
>JM:It’s very important to be yourself and have your identity, so in that sense we don’t try to curtail being Japanese or having Japanese aspects of the game. And also another area is being meticulous in everything that you do, and making sure it’s all really good and up to your standards. But it’s also thinking about what people like, talking to people, talking to young people, and learning from them and applying that to our games.
>GC:This is an obvious question, but it must be incredibly difficult to keep inventing new pokémon. There were lots of good new ones in Black/White but others… things like Vanillish and Trubbish , it did look a bit like you were just basing them on whatever someone was wandering past the desk with at the time. Will there ever come a point where you just can’t add any more?
>Both:[laughs]
>JM:In regards to, ‘Can we keep designing pokémon forever?’ Yes, in away. Because I come to Europe and they have different goats or different cows, and they have very different species that aesthetically look different; they live in different places. And I enjoy that diversity, it’s fun and it’s important to have that sort of diversity in Pokémon. In Japan there are a multitude of different bugs and things, and these things have always been an inspiration.
>TU:Influences for the design of pokémon are everywhere, I look at living things but I look at the design of anything and think, ‘Why is that?’ ‘Why is that designed that why?’ And then sometimes I’m thinking about that and maybe an idea is compatible with my line of thinking for a certain pokémon. And that’s how pokémon are designed. Points of inspiration and influence never really stop.
