Morimoto, Ohmori talk more about Sun/Moon – favorite Pokemon, Hyper Training, Battle Royal

Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon were featured at Gamescom this past week. Battle director Shigeki Morimoto stopped by to show off more of Battle Royal, and we also got a first look at the new Pokemon Turtonator.

To start off the segment, Morimoto said he was indeed the one who included Mew in Pokemon Red/Green. Despite not actually being obtainable at the time, he added it because it might be used in some way further down the line. When asked about his favorite Pokemon, he naturally went with Mew.

Morimoto was also asked which new Pokemon is the most interesting to him and the one would he like in his team. His response? Alola Exeggcutor is his favorite. Morimoto used it before and is looking forward to using it again in its new form.

Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda next appeared in a video segment to “interview” Shigeru Ohmori. Ohmori was involved in answering three questions.

The first question was about how Ohmori is approaching his new role as director. He said he learned a lot from Masuda about what developing a Pokemon game is like; this time he wanted to deliver his own interpretation of that accumulated knowledge to players. This can be seen in some new features and in the overall presentation.

Ohmori was next asked about what significance the new Hyper Training feature has for battles. Level 100 Pokemon can be made even stronger via Hyper Training. In Ohmori’s view, being able to improve even level 100 Pokemon will add more depth to battles. Hyper Training is designed so all players can experience that new depth.

Lastly, Ohmori said Mimikyu is his favorite new Pokemon so far. He sympathizes with its sad backstory, which almost brings a tear to his eye. Mimiyku will have a special / unusual appearance (as in, the way it appears or makes its entrance, not the way it looks) in Sun and Moon, so players can look forward to that.

After this, the segment went back to Morimoto, who was asked where the idea for Battle Royal came from. He explained that the team wanted to design a type of battle that allows as many players as possible at the same time to participate and have fun. It was also important to him that not necessarily the strongest player will win in a Battle Royal.

Some other Battle Royal tidbits:

– The winner is determined by the number of Pokemon defeated by each player and how many they have left.
– 1 gold star (seen in the Battle Royale UI) marks 1 defeated Pokemon.
– If it’s a draw, the remaining HP of the remaining Pokemon determines the winner.