Platinum Interview with Game Freak’s Masuda and Kawachimaru

G4TV has posted an interview conducted with Junichi Masuda, Game Freak’s Pokemon director, and Takeshi Kawachimaru, Game Freak’s Pokemon game designer. The interview mainly discusses Pokemon Platinum (which will be released in stores Sunday) and some other general franchise ideologies. Here’s a small excerpt:

G4: Masusda-san, you’ve said that you like Pokemon characters that are “well thought out” and used Pichu as an example. Pichu seems to have a special place in your heart. Why is that?

JM: Our art director, Ken Sugimori and I spend a lot of time talking about Pokemon. Since Pikachu is very popular, we wanted to create a Pokemon that was as cute as Pikachu, but we were having a very difficult time. Pikachu is so popular that it was hard to come up with something just as appealing. So we talked a lot and decided to come up with a Pokemon that would eventually evolve into Pikachu. We spent a lot of time designing Pichu and that’s why I have a special love for this Pokemon.