Quoted By:
>With Pokémon Black/White, you've made some big changes to the series - a new region, 156 new monsters. Why have you chosen now to shake things up?
>In order to make players surprised, there needs to be something different. That's why there are 156 new Pokémon, so players can only encounter new Pokémon up until they clear the main storyline, and that leads to some surprises.
>What was the thinking behind the new setting being based on the United States? Was it a conscious decision to appeal to a more international audience?
>As you mentioned, appealing to an international audience is one of the reasons, but there are also others, too. One is that I organise musical concerts in Japan based on the setting of the regions in the past titles, like Johto, Kanto and Hoenn.
>Then I thought if I could hold another concert somewhere else, where should it be? And I thought perhaps New York would be a good place to choose. That's why we used the US as the setting for this new region.
>Why New York in particular?
>[Laughs] I perhaps have a longing for New York as a city! Also because I organise these concerts that use classical versions of videogame music, it's quite modern and not really authentic classical.
>If it was authentic classical I may have chosen Europe, but because it's closer to pop music, New York seemed to fit better.
