Pokemon president on the difficulty of making a Pokemon game for Switch
Pokemon made its proper debut on Switch last month with the two Let’s Go games. Traditionally a handheld-focused series, the franchise finally had a mainline entry on a console.
Pokemon president Tsunekazu Ishihara spoke about this in an interview with Dime. He pointed out that Switch has a few different playstyles, causing it “harder to make a new mainline Pokemon game than I had originally thought.”
Ishihara’s full words:
“The main entries in the Pokemon game series have always been on handheld systems – from the Game Boy all the way to the 3DS. For this next entry, the Nintendo Switch has a variety of playstyles. While you can still play in handheld mode, you now have the option of playing on a bigger TV screen while in docked mode. Given this new hardware, I’ve found it harder to make a new mainline Pokemon game than I had originally thought. Even as a Pokemon game on the Switch, does it still work? Is it possible for me to make all of those playstyles interesting? I think it’s probably about five times harder than any of you could imagine! (laughs)”
