Pokemon president Tsunekazu Ishihara used a video message at the New York Game Awards to look back on the franchise’s origins, revealing just how difficult the development of the first Pokemon games truly was.
The message was played after Pokemon was awarded the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the event, recognising the series’ impact on the games industry.
As well as thanking fans and collaborators around the world, Ishihara took the opportunity to look back on the earliest days of Pokemon and the challenges faced by the original developers.
Ishihara explains how difficult early Pokemon development really was
Speaking about how the idea behind Pokemon came together, Ishihara explained that what would ultimately become one of the most successful entertainment franchises on the planet started as a simple concept at Game Freak.
“Pokemon originated from a small idea from the Game Freak development team; Wouldn’t it be fun if you could catch creatures in a game and trade them with your friends? Everything started from that simple concept.”
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Turning that idea into a finished game, however, proved far more difficult than expected. Ishihara said the team struggled for years to make the concept work within the technical limits they were dealing with at the time.
“The development process, however, was not quite as easy. It took a great deal of trial and error to figure out how to actualize that idea with the limited resources we had available. In the end, it took six years to complete the first games, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green.”
Despite the lengthy and difficult process, Ishihara said the team believed they had landed on something special by the end.
“Still, we all felt confident in the main gameplay elements that would become the foundation of the Pokemon video game series.”
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