Developing the original Pokemon games wasn't exactly straightforward, says series boss Tsunekazu Ishihara, but the team at Game Freak remained "confident in the main gameplay elements" since they were all "tied to experiences everyone had as children," and they wanted "many people" to experience them via their RPGs.
In a new video message shared during the New York Game Awards – following Pokemon's win of the Andrew Yoon Legend Award – Ishihara, who served as producer of Pokemon Red and Green, discusses the origins of the iconic RPG series, which turns 30 this year. "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," he begins.
