nintendo
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Cool
You're trxggt
GameFreak's response to BW's poor initial reception - specifically the lack of old Pokemon. This led directly to the decision to focus on old Pokemon in XY ('Beauty') and the Mega Evolution mechanic.
Pokemon Fusion, a mechanic intended for XY, was scrapped in favor of Mega Evolutions. Mewtwo's new form in the Genesect movie (which would later become Mega Mewtwo Y) is referred to as a 'fusion.' Ohmori specifically cites that fans will only be interested in a dragon-type Charizard and not in a rock-type Emboar, so they should only focus on Charizard.
The focus of Megas is immediately specifically for popular old Pokemon (Lucario, Absol, and Blaziken are cited as immediate examples), again in response to BW backlash. The decision to only focus on Pokemon from 'Japan' and not 'New York' was also informed by the backlash to BW.
'Sequel' (BW2) was meant to have brand-new Pokemon, but was changed to instead include old Pokemon in order to appease fans. The new designs drafted for BW2 were instead saved for XY. 'T-rex' (Tyrantrum?) is cited as having been already been designed, and initially intended for BW2.
I think X&Y while not much of a game now, was the correct pivot at that point at time, Gen Wunner mania was at its peak, the theorizing over what classics would get megas lead to good discussion, and at the time people were really wanting a 3d pokemon (although that was inevitable). Fusion is cool, but honestly I need more of a write up on what they mean, because regional forms work a lot better for stuff like rock type emboar.