Junichi Masuda discusses why 2D was best for the latest generation of Pokémon.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/25538
Many people wondered as to why Nintendo decided to release Pokémon Black and Pokémon White on the Nintendo DS as opposed to the Nintendo 3DS. When questioned on the matter, Junichi Masuda, the director of the most recent generation of Pokémon games, explained why his team decided to go with the Nintendo DS instead of the Nintendo 3DS.
"The main idea behind the Pokemon series, what's most important for it, is to have as many people be able to play it as possible," he explained. "It has to be on hardware that has lots of units and people worldwide can play it together with each other.”
In addition to this, Masuda also went on to reveal as to why the games use 2D sprites. "One of the reasons for sticking with the 2D Pokemon images is, with the 2D, it really depends on who draws it,” he said. “There's a lot of personality that's drawn from the 2D images, whereas with 3D, it's the same model used for everything, so the personality doesn't really come out. One of the reasons we've stuck with 2D is to get a more individual feel with it."
Pokémon Black and Pokémon White are set to release in North America this coming Sunday, March 6.
"The main idea behind the Pokemon series, what's most important for it, is to have as many people be able to play it as possible," he explained. "It has to be on hardware that has lots of units and people worldwide can play it together with each other.”
You're clearly taking it out of context to make an argument against a point he wasn't making. It was why it's on the DS and not the 3DS. Nintendo has made it very clear over the years that Pokemon is primarily a handheld-based franchise, which is why he didn't even mention the Wii. I don't fully agree with that view, but it's the way it is, and I've come to terms with that.
they're still very much in favor of local multiplayer, which wouldn't work well with a console version of the game.I'd say that's true before the Wii existed. The Wii allows you to store data onto a Wii Remote, so if you wanted to trade and battle with your friend(s), you could store your Pokémon on the Wii Remote and bring it over to their place. Using an SD card could also be another method of it as well. It may not be quite as seemless as having a DS with the game in it, but it would work well enough to make it worthwhile.
<3 2D
Also, I've always been against the idea of a Pokemon MMO. MMOs are big and shiny, but they're also colossal headaches in design, support, and player experience. PLUS, Pokemon's userbase has a HUGE segment in younger users, and an MMO does so much to utterly lock that Pokemon fanbase out.
Pokemon is meant to be portable and played on the handheld. How else are the kids suppose to download the Pokemon events in store? Lug their Wii system with them to Toysrus? LOL.
