Pokemon art director wants to take series back to basics

Pokémon's art director, Ken Sugimori wishes he could take the franchise back to basics. In an interview translated by Siliconera, Sugimori talked about creating an experience closer to "what was offered in Pokémon Red and Green (Blue outside of Japan)," the original Pokémon games on Game Boy.

While he admits it's unlikely that the next game in the series would be able to cut back on what has grown to a 700+ roster of monsters, "it might be in the series' best interests to make a large adjustment to the number of attacks, abilities, and items."

Given the Pokémon series' continuing worldwide popularity, the next iteration of the game probably won't make such substantial changes, but Sugimori says that "it remains a possibility." In the meantime, the art director is thinking about gauging preliminary fan reactions to the pared down aesthetic by "simplifying the designs used for Pokémon" in other media outside the games.