http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/ds/pokemon/0/1

>Iwata: You've just used the term "ultimate" and I feel that even in their names, Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver12 were meant to be the ultimate in Pokémon games.

>Ishihara: That's right. After we released Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, we began working on these titles, thinking that the ultimate in Pokémon games could only ever be Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver.

>Iwata: Not in your wildest dream did you think that you'd be making more and more games after Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver. (laughs)

>Ishihara: The reason that I licensed so many products and developed things like the trading cards was basically to ensure that Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver were successful. I felt that this was my primary role. So at that time, I worked with the assumption that after we put out Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver, my work as far as Pokémon was concerned would be done.

>Iwata: I see.

>Ishihara: So for me, Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver represented the finish line.

>Iwata: They were the finish line?

>Ishihara: I didn't intend to make any more Pokémon titles. I even thought that once we entered the twenty-first century, it would be time for me to do something else entirely. (laughs)

How do you thing Pokemon would be if it actually "stopped" after the release of Gold and Silver? Would it still be a hit today, bring remakes of the originals and/or more, or do you think it would have been better off this way and cut short?