05-27-2019, 11:02 AM
Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda Reflects On The Original Yoshi And Pokémon Games
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<p>Game Freak has shared a new video on its <a class="external" href="https://youtu.be/ux2BlmbButQ">YouTube channel</a> featuring director Junichi Masuda talking about the development of the original <strong>Pokémon</strong> games as well as the puzzle game <strong><a href="http://www.nintendolife.com/games/gameboy/yoshi">Yoshi</a></strong> – also known as <strong>Mario & Yoshi</strong> in Europe and <strong>Yoshi’s Egg</strong> in Japan.</p>
<p>For starters, most people to this day still don’t know the classic puzzler for NES and Game Boy was developed by Game Freak, simply because there are no end credits. Masuda further explained how it was Ken Sugimori who came up with the gameplay and the development team wanted to add a “realistic sounding” Yoshi voice but was ultimately knocked back by Nintendo. Many players have probably also noticed how the items in the main menu bop up and down, which was something Masuda programmed into the game himself.</p>
<p>The conversation shifted to storage capacity limitations and this is when Masuda began to reflect on how the development team of the original Pokémon games had quite a lot of “fun” due to the fact pocket monster names (in Japanese) had a 5-character limit. Certain tricks were also required to get all 151 Pokémon voices in the game and if it wasn’t for the fact he was the main programmer of these games, Masuda believes he would have likely been told off.</p>
<p><em>Did you learn anything new about these classic Nintendo titles? Reminisce about these simpler times in the comments below.</em></p>
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<aside class="object object-youtube">
<div class="youtube"><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='900' height='507' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ux2BlmbButQ?version=3&rel=0&fs=1&autohide=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=0&iv_load_policy=1&hd=1&wmode=transparent' allowfullscreen='true' style='border:0;'></iframe></div>
</aside>
<p>Game Freak has shared a new video on its <a class="external" href="https://youtu.be/ux2BlmbButQ">YouTube channel</a> featuring director Junichi Masuda talking about the development of the original <strong>Pokémon</strong> games as well as the puzzle game <strong><a href="http://www.nintendolife.com/games/gameboy/yoshi">Yoshi</a></strong> – also known as <strong>Mario & Yoshi</strong> in Europe and <strong>Yoshi’s Egg</strong> in Japan.</p>
<p>For starters, most people to this day still don’t know the classic puzzler for NES and Game Boy was developed by Game Freak, simply because there are no end credits. Masuda further explained how it was Ken Sugimori who came up with the gameplay and the development team wanted to add a “realistic sounding” Yoshi voice but was ultimately knocked back by Nintendo. Many players have probably also noticed how the items in the main menu bop up and down, which was something Masuda programmed into the game himself.</p>
<p>The conversation shifted to storage capacity limitations and this is when Masuda began to reflect on how the development team of the original Pokémon games had quite a lot of “fun” due to the fact pocket monster names (in Japanese) had a 5-character limit. Certain tricks were also required to get all 151 Pokémon voices in the game and if it wasn’t for the fact he was the main programmer of these games, Masuda believes he would have likely been told off.</p>
<p><em>Did you learn anything new about these classic Nintendo titles? Reminisce about these simpler times in the comments below.</em></p>
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