Pokemon Let’s Go Director Talks Style And Mechanics Of The Game

Why did the team behind Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee go the direction they did? What was their desire for it?

While the Nintendo Switch is on a bit of a 1st party hiatus for the next few months, in the holiday months, they’re going to bounce back in a big way. Especially in November with Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee. There’s been a lot of talk about the game, from its graphics, to its gameplay mechanics and more, and not all of it has been positive.

In an interview with Famitsu, the games’ director Junichi Masuda had a lot of things to say about the title, including the fact that the team wanted to blend the core mechanics with one of being on the move in everyday life:

That’s the kind of natural blend between Pokemon and the flow of everyday life that we considered over the course of the games’ development. It isn’t just about the experience of throwing a Pokeball but being able to play and experience Pokemon as a part of everyday life – I really wanted both fans of the mainline series and fans of Pokemon GO to be able to get a taste of that. Again – to put it frankly – we wanted to make a Pokemon game that all fans could enjoy.

He admitted though that with this change in gameplay, and desire for all to play, came the challenge of making the graphics match the intent:

Well, we had to update the graphics without making them too realistic – we wanted to maintain the game’s fantastical elements, so as not to surprise any parents who may be watching, for example. For instance, we pictured a child playing the game in the living room while their mother watches from the kitchen; it needed to seem like the kind of game that would give her peace of mind. We based the sound design off of a similar philosophy.