Mr. Masuda: On the GAME FREAK staff, we have a group that is constantly examining each Pokémon and figuring out what kind of parameters they would have. They’re focusing on the fine details of each Pokémon. This group is constantly battling to test out new moves and how they interact with each other. And their focus is to make sure everything is balanced.
But obviously you can’t predict everything. By going to events such as the World Championships and watching the players there, a lot of unexpected things come up. We pay attention to the trends of the competitive players and see what is strong, and work those ideas back into the next games later on. It makes live events very exciting for us to watch.