A lot of us are looking forward to beating each other in the upcoming fighter Pokkén Tournament, but speaking with The Verge, The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed that this may not have been possible, if they went with the original idea.
When Bandai Namco met with Tsunekasu Ishihara, they had the idea to do a Pokémon-themed version of their rhythm game series, Taiko Drum Master; However, Ishihara had his own plans:
“Mr. Ishihara actually said, ‘If we’re going to work with Bandai Namco, I want to do a collaboration with Tekken,’” explains Katsuhiro Harada, long-time producer of the Tekken fighting game series, who is working alongside Hoshino on Pokken Tournament.
Hoshino also added the following quote about their goal of Pokkén Tournament’s development, which wasn’t to create a hardcore fighting game, but something that can appeal to fans of the series that are new to fighters:
“When we first announced [Pokken], a lot of people had the impression that it’s Tekken gameplay but with Pokemon characters, but that’s not what we wanted to do,” explains Hoshino. “We wanted to make sure it was a lot more approachable, something that’s really easy to understand and pick up and play for pretty much anyone.”
Pokkén Tournament is currently available for arcade in Japan and will release worldwide for the Wii U on March 18th.
