Game Freak explains how Soriti Horse came to be
Soriti Horse is a rather peculiar game. It’s certainly not something that most would thought that the developer behind Pokemon would have created.
But Soriti Horse was made possible due to the company’s unique “Gear” system, Game Freak programmer Masao Taya told Famitsu:
“Yes, for starters, let’s talk about Game Freak’s very own unique system. At Game Freak, there’s a system called ‘Gear’ where anyone can start up a plan, and then if they can get three staff members together who say ‘that looks like fun,’ we can begin a manufacturing trial. It’s a system that began about three years ago, which was applied towards this opportunity.”
“There are many staff members at Game Freak who think, ‘I want to make a fun and original game’ and we’re always thinking about what we can do for new games. The company itself has as policy of wanting to release new titles, so the system is made for that.”
Regarding the mix of solitaire and horse racing, Taya said:
“I personally had a few ideas in stock, but I’ve always liked horse racing, and thought ‘I wonder if I can make a game that mixes horse racing and card games’.”
Composer Go Ichinose also offered the following insight:
“For me, it was when I played an iPhone app called Solitaire Golf and began thinking about making a lighthearted product that mixes something like Solitaire Golf and horse racing. I wanted lighthearted content that could also show how fun horse racing is, which would also be part of it. It started after talking to Taya about it.”
And programmer Toshihiro Obata added:
“I actually wasn’t interested in horse racing, but after hearing talks about throwing Solitaire into horse racing, I thought that it sounded like fun.”
