An official press release from The Pokemon Company has just confirmed that Junichi Masuda is leaving his former role as Game Freak’s Managing Director to become The Pokemon Company’s Chief Creative Fellow, effective immediately. Essentially, that means that while he should no longer be directly involved with the development of the series’ games, he will now be focusing on managing the franchise as a whole.
Junichi Masuda’s role in the development of the Pokemon franchise is a noteworthy one; he has been involved in the development of the games ever since the original Pokemon Red Version and Green Version, has directed several games in the franchise himself, and has generally assisted in the development of other games in the franchise, such the mobile spin-off title Pokemon Go. In a way, his new role in the company should mimic that of Shigeru Miyamoto, who also stepped into the role of Creative Fellow at Nintendo to focus more on managing their brand rather than be directly involved in developing their games.
Included below is a transcript of The Pokemon Company’s full PR statement, including a comment from Junichi Masuda himself:
Balloon Flight dropped on Switch just a few days ago, and we now have gameplay. 10 minutes of footage shows off the first-person arcade title.
Below is some information about the game:
Konami has announced that Super Bomberman R Online will be coming to an end later this year. On December 1, 2022 at 01:00:00 (UTC), the game’s service will be terminated. This applies to Switch as well as all other platforms.
Konami didn’t go into detail about its decision to end full support for Super Bomberman R Online. It merely said that there are “various circumstances” involved.
Today, Spike Chunsoft confirmed a final release date for Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness. The game will launch for Switch on September 2, 2022 in both North America and Europe.
Note that in Europe, Numbskull Games will be handling publishing.
Other than the release date news for Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness, Spike Chunsoft shared profiles for the game’s main characters. You can read about them below.
It’s our tenth-episode anniversary! In this week’s episode, join your hosts Nick, Nicholas, Dennis and Luiz as they check out the Mario Strikers: Battle League demo to get a feel for how the game will play. We’ll also discuss the upcoming Live A Live remake, the Pokemon-inspired MMO Temtem, and more!
Our show is available on most major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Audible, or you can check out the video version below:
The Kirby Nendoroid – Kirby: 30th Anniversary Edition was just shown off at WonHobby Gallery 2022 Spring over the weekend, and Good Smile has already followed up with a release date. The figure is currently planned for January 31, 2023.
As the name of the Nendoroid implies, the figure is intended to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Kirby. The included magnets make it easy to pose.
Tyrunt and Amaura are about to join Pokemon GO as part of the game’s Adventure Week event. This will be happening between Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at 10 AM to Sunday, June 12, 2022, at 8 PM local time. Rock-type and Fossil Pokemon will be featured, along with various bonuses.
The full details on the Pokemon GO Adventure Week event with Tyrunt and Amaura are as follows:
Nintendo has updated the Japanese release schedule on its platforms for the week of June 9, 2022. Here’s a look at the upcoming digital download schedule:
Minecraft has unveiled another crossover, with the game now teaming up with Ice Age movies from 20th Century Studio. Players on Switch can begin playing starting today.
The DLC is comprised of 30 new skins, including Sid, Manny, Diego, Ellie, and many others. There’s also a different-looking Overworld to explore, featuring saber-tooth tigers, prehistoric pigs, vultures, and a dark shadow lurking beneath the ice-blue waters.
