The Pokemon Company wants to be a bit more adventurous with its eponymous franchise, starting with the Animal Crossing-like life sim Pokopia and, eventually, evolving beyond just monsters battling other monsters.
In a February 11 VGC interview, senior game director Shigeru Ohmori spoke about the future of Pokemon. With Pokopia looming on the Nintendo Switch 2 horizon, he said that this experience--as well as specific moments found in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl--could lead the franchise toward a battle-less future. Or, at the very least, one where battles aren't the primary focus of the gameplay.
"When I've worked previously on a Pokemon project, yes, battles have been the focus," Ohmori said. "But there's also been other side content like the Secret Bases (Ruby and Sapphire) and The Grand Underground (Diamond and Pearl). I believe a lot of the fans enjoy these things as well. So, I would like to scale the Pokemon games in general, aside from battling. I will seek new possibilities to scale them."
Ohmori then reflected on the personalities of the pocket monsters that built the company. While battling is a core part of their DNA, he expressed a desire to find out what Pokemon are really like without all that wanton violence.
"For Pokopia, as you saw, there are no trainers," Ohmori said. "I thought a lot about how Pokemon communicate with each other. What are they thinking? How are they feeling? This is something we don't get to see in the mainline titles because in those games, there are trainers."
Ruby and Sapphire's Secret Bases are empty rooms that give you the freedom to decorate them however you see fit. Diamond and Pearl's The Grand Underground not only houses those Secret Bases but also allows you to participate in other activities, such as digging for treasures, communicating with friends locally or online (depending on the game), trading with merchants, and finding rare Pokemon. It's not too dissimilar from the main gameplay loop, but it offers a slight variation on what you'd normally experience in a Pokemon game.
For its part, Pokopia is offering a drastically different take on the normal Pokemon experience. As a Ditto cosplaying a human, you go around tending land, befriending Pokemon, and building stuff to entice more Pokemon into becoming your BFF. It's a cozy-cute life sim that borrows from Animal Crossing and Minecraft, and it launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5.
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In a February 11 VGC interview, senior game director Shigeru Ohmori spoke about the future of Pokemon. With Pokopia looming on the Nintendo Switch 2 horizon, he said that this experience--as well as specific moments found in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl--could lead the franchise toward a battle-less future. Or, at the very least, one where battles aren't the primary focus of the gameplay.
"When I've worked previously on a Pokemon project, yes, battles have been the focus," Ohmori said. "But there's also been other side content like the Secret Bases (Ruby and Sapphire) and The Grand Underground (Diamond and Pearl). I believe a lot of the fans enjoy these things as well. So, I would like to scale the Pokemon games in general, aside from battling. I will seek new possibilities to scale them."
Ohmori then reflected on the personalities of the pocket monsters that built the company. While battling is a core part of their DNA, he expressed a desire to find out what Pokemon are really like without all that wanton violence.
"For Pokopia, as you saw, there are no trainers," Ohmori said. "I thought a lot about how Pokemon communicate with each other. What are they thinking? How are they feeling? This is something we don't get to see in the mainline titles because in those games, there are trainers."
Ruby and Sapphire's Secret Bases are empty rooms that give you the freedom to decorate them however you see fit. Diamond and Pearl's The Grand Underground not only houses those Secret Bases but also allows you to participate in other activities, such as digging for treasures, communicating with friends locally or online (depending on the game), trading with merchants, and finding rare Pokemon. It's not too dissimilar from the main gameplay loop, but it offers a slight variation on what you'd normally experience in a Pokemon game.
For its part, Pokopia is offering a drastically different take on the normal Pokemon experience. As a Ditto cosplaying a human, you go around tending land, befriending Pokemon, and building stuff to entice more Pokemon into becoming your BFF. It's a cozy-cute life sim that borrows from Animal Crossing and Minecraft, and it launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5.
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