"New Ken Sugimori Interview on Pokemon design from The Official USUM National Dex Guide"

So some images from the Official Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon National Dex guide have surfaced 4chan, and it contained an interview with Ken Sugimori highlighting design aspects on what gives "life" to Pokemon designs. The interview can be seen hereHere's some notable parts of the interview:And the pinnacle of that counterculture movement led to the creation of these creatures known as Pokemon. Tell us about how Pokemon were first born.Sugimori: It first started with designs of dinosaurs and monsters in a super-deformed style. They had fangs and long tails, and spikes jutting out all over their bodies. It started with Pokemon like Rhydon and Nidoking, for example. And when we looked at them all together, the designs felt rather uniform. So then we started adding cute Pokemon like Clefairy and Pikachu. As the games' development progressed, we added the idea of "types" to the game system, and so we added in changes like the flame on Charmander's tail or having a plant growing on Venusaur's back. When the designs became something that seemed to make sense, well, that was when I really felt that we'd been able to create creatures unlike anything in any other RPG.I've heard that the theme of people and Pokemon coexisting was there from the start in Pokeon Red and Pokemon Green, is that right? How does this theme of coexistence affect Pokemon design?Sugimori: In the earliest days of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green's development, I drew a piece of concept art. Even in those days, there were Pokemon that would let people ride on their backs like horse do, Pokemon that would take you to distant places like an airplane might, and Pokemon that would go everywhere with you as your partner. What really came out of that was the sense of each Pokemon's size. If they were as huge as dinosaurs, they couldn't really coexist with humans, so we used humans as a standard and settle down into designing the Pokemon to be a bit big or a bit smaller than people.So that's how you ended up creating these entirely new monsters that feel completely natural when you see them beside people, is that it?Sugimori: You see, even Pokemon appear before you as enemies to fight, they'll become your allies if you can catch them. That's the way they are constructed. Even if we had Pokemon that had frightening stories behind them or looked unsettling, we give them a sort of charm and depict them in a way that feel you could get close to them. This idea of "charm" is a basic part of every Pokemon's design. We give every Pokemon some sort of friendly aspect, and we've never made a Pokemon a complete villain in our stories.I always hear that another key concept for Pokemon is their vitality-they have to feel alive-just as much as they need to capture coexistence with people. In the battle scenes in Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green, the Pokemon is shown from behind. I feel like designing these monsters not just from the front but even designing how they would appear from behind really helps create this sense of vitality.Sugimori: The original idea behind showing the Pokemon's back in battle was a question of camera work. The battles in Red and Green were designed to appear in first-person view for the Pokemon's trainer-in other words, from the player's own point of view. Unlike in other games, Pokemon games didn't have the main character fighting against other humans. The ones doing the fighting were the Pokemon, so what you would see in front of your eyes was the back of your own Pokemon. And if we were going to go to the work of drawing out those backs anyway, we wanted to put the effort into adding details there as well for the players to discover. Like, for example, the wings on Clefairy's back, which look like a bow. And that's how Pokemon get designed. I guess more than "vitality" , showing the Pokemon's backs contributes to creating a sense of realism. Red and Green were sold on the GameBoy, and it had a monochromatic palette that could only show four shades. That was the kind of limit we were working with, but I still wanted those backs to appear real.The uniqueness of Pokemon designs can be seen in how some Pokemon have been based on inorganic items as well. When I noticed that Klefki was based on a key ring in 2013's X and Y, it reaffirmed for me the variety and richness of Pokemon. There aren't any who would think to design monsters around not only living things but to use non-living items as a motif.Sugimori: I suppose the first example of using an inorganic object for a Pokemon's motif must have been Magnemite, in Red and Green. That was an idea that the games' director, Satoshi Tajiri thought up. On the work order, he'd just written something like: "A magnet Pokemon" (Laughs.) Then I designed it.I'd like to get into the real meat of the interview now and ask about our main theme: what it takes to create a Pokemon. I've often seen you say in magazine interviews and the like that you start the design process by thinking about how a Pokemon must live, its physique, even what it eats.Sugimori: One of the biggest things to decide there is what the Pokemon eats. I think everyone must wonder about that. It's easy to imagine when it's a Pokemon like Snorlax, which eats anything, but we have a lot of Pokemon with mysterious bodies or no mouths. And so what do Pokemon based on inorganic items, like Magnemite, eat? It's the job of GAME FREAK's creative team to make sure there are proper answers for all these kinds of Pokemon. And then it's the job of us in the design team to make the ideas that the creative team came up with seem convincing.Ghost-type Pokemon, for example, might feed on the spirit, or reap energy fro the air around them. Whether or not we can think of something for a Pokemon to survive on is a huge turning point in the creation of any Pokemon. If we were going to make a Pokemon based on the motif of a car, for example, what would it eat? Would you make it able to suck up gasoline? How would it use the energy it got from-how would it use that source of power? Even if the design is based on a car, a Pokemon is a living creature, so we would work over and over how to express its "car-ness" and what its source energy should be.TL;DR:Some Pokemon were originally designed without types in mindBack sprites were made to also include hidden details (Clefairy's wings)Pokemon's vitality, friendly charm and coexistence with humans are important aspects on a Pokemon's design. (Also why your Charizard is '5'07')Magnemite was the first inanimate object Pokemon (although it's somewhat obvious)Despite being based on inanimate objects, the Pokemon's way of living is still a design aspect that is crucial (Would a car Pokemon eat by sucking gasoline?) via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2ABahhv