Pokemon Company Interested in More Remakes

The success of the Pokemon Virtual Console re-releases isn’t changing the company’s approach to remakes like Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen.

By Jose Otero

Pokemon series producer Junichi Masuda says the Pokemon Company is interested in more remakes of older Pokemon games.

“I think the remakes, like Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, is still an approach we’re interested in,” Masuda told IGN. “With the Virtual Console releases of the original games, specifically there had never been a way to bring those Pokemon over to the latest generation. It had always been that you couldn’t get those Pokemon out.”

Masuda explained that services like Pokemon Bank and the Poke Transporter finally gave the developers an option to release the original versions on Virtual Console, essentially letting people upload first generation into the new game.

The Pokemon Company started releasing remakes as part of the third generation of Pokemon, with Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen for the Game Boy Advance released in 2004. Pokemon remakes established how the developers would use Nintendo’s newer handhelds to showcase improved graphics and introduce features not included in the original games.

Earlier this year, The Pokemon Company released Virtual Console versions of the original Pokemon games with updated battle and trading features on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. It’s important to note that the Virtual Console versions are essentially the original game with a few updated features. The Virtual Console Pokemon games quickly went on to become the best-selling retro games on the Nintendo 3DS digital storefront. We asked Masuda if the success of these digital Pokemon re-releases would entice the developer to release Pokemon Gold and Silver on the eShop.

Masuda said there were no plans at the moment to re-distribute Pokemon Gold and Silver games on Virtual Console. “With the 20th anniversary, it was the right timing to release the original games,’ Masuda explained. “I think that we really want to give people the experience of bringing these Pokemon from the original Game Boy and seeing what they look like in Pokemon Sun and Moon. That is something that I want people to enjoy.” The company released a full scale remake of Pokemon's second generation, called Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, in 2010.

We asked Masuda if he could detail how the Pokemon Bank will import the first generation Pokemon into the new games, specifically because some stats in the newer games didn’t exist in the original versions. “I wonder how they’re going to change,” he teased, “I hope that’s something people will look forward to seeing how it works.”

Jose Otero is an Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. You can follow him on Twitter.

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