Pokémon Art Director Wants The Next Generation To Be Simpler

It hasn’t even been a month since the release of Pokémon X and Y, and art director Ken Sugimori is already thinking of the next generation of the series. In a recent feature interview in “We Love Pokémon” magazine, he talks about the idea of going back to simpler roots for the next generation of Pokémon games.

After being asked how he’d like to work on the next Pokémon title, Sugimori answers that rather than adding a lot and making it more complex, he’d rather go back to simpler ways, while having elements similar to what was offered in Pokémon Red and Green (Pokémon Blue outside Japan) to see how it would turn out.

Sugimori mentions that just because he feels that way, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Pokémon’s seventh generation will be going that way; however, he adds, the idea of going back to a simpler form still remains a possibility.

In addition to the vast number of Pokémon we now have, together with their attacks, abilities and items, Sugimori feels that we won’t be able to decrease the number of Pokémon, but it might be in the series’ best interests to make a large adjustment to the number of attacks, abilities and items. This is also something he’s heard from Pokémon fans, he reveals.

Additionally, Sugimori is thinking about how simplifying the designs used for the Pokémon outside of the game, such as the ones seen in other forms of media, just to experiment and see what the reaction would be like.

Finally, now that Pokémon X and Y is out, Sugimori is asked the age-old question of who his favorite Pokémon is. After all these years, his favorite is still Gengar, which he known for being fond of because it doesn’t require many lines and is easy to draw. For this same reason, his least favorite is none other than Venusaur.