Why Ruby And Sapphire Were The Most Challenging Pokémon To Make

Just as development began, however, trademark research revealed the names Ruby and Sapphire may not be usable, which would have hobbled plans for the next three games from the beginning. That coupled with the franchise perception made everything more stressful. "At the time, the atmosphere and general thinking was that the Pokémon fad was over and there was huge pressure to prove people wrong," Masuda says. Toy stores that used to be filled with Pokémon toys were clearing out their stock, and when visiting America, Masuda says he noticed that all the Pokémon merchandise, including the unofficial toys featured at mall kiosks, were beginning to disappear. "The next time I visited it was all Star Wars. Everyone was saying it was on a downtrend, the fad’s over and I really felt that pressure to make something amazing," Masuda says.

"I got really stressed out and had to go to the hospital and had some stomach issues and had to get a camera inserted and they didn’t know what it was – very stressful," Masuda says. "The night before release I had a dream that it was a complete failure, a total nightmare." Alternatively, Shigeru Ohmori, director of Sun and Moon and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, views the game as a far less stressful time in his career. Ruby and Sapphire were the first Pokémon games he worked on, marking his official transition from fan to creator. "It was actually a lot of fun to work on it and I was able to think, 'I’m making this',” Ohmori says.

>>33299280
we already had this thread yesterday

Despite the general perception of the series, and Masuda's stress-induced hospital visit, he never gave in to the pressure. "We at Game Freak took that as a challenge and said, 'It’s not dead. We’re going to show you guys you’re wrong!'." Masuda says, and ultimately, it worked out. Game Freak were able to use the names Ruby and Sapphire and the games sold well. "The morning after, the day of release, I went into the local shop and saw people lining up to buy it and was extremely relieved. It was close. Super scary at the time."

in 2014, Game Freak returned to Ruby and Sapphire for the 3DS remakes, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, with Ohmori taking on director duties. "I kept hearing from Masuda about how hard the original Ruby and Sapphire games were and I kind of had that pressure in mind while creating Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby," Ohmori says, "But from my perspective, it was a lot of fun to work on them, so I was super motivated to work as the director on the remakes."

>>33299303
Masuda-Ohmori OTP
what´s the name of the ship?

>>33299347
Masumori

maybe that's because they're the best in the franchise then. There was no way ORAS could ever get close to the originals

>>33299280
So this is finally definitive? Hoennbabbies who say that Gen 2 was the real decline of Pokemania are just full of shit?

>>33301368
If by full of shit you mean spot on. Pokemania WAS dying shortly after gen 2 came out, and Ruby and Sapphire kept the series alive.

>>33301368
I never heard anybody say that but I have heard people say that Gen 3 almost killed Pokemon and Gen 4 saved it. According to Masuda at least Pokemon was all but dead before Gen 3 came out. I wouldn't say Gen 3 saved the franchise but Pokemania certainly ended before it was released.

>>33301368
He said before ruby and Sapphire he saw huge decline in pokemon.

Gold and sliver was the decline and ruby and Sapphire saved it

>>33299280
>between three different handheld generations comfortably (four if you count Game Boy to Game Boy Color)
Wait what?
GB --> GBA --> DS --> 3DS
I count four generations, not including GB to GBC.

>>33301368
as you can see by this post >>33301519, Hoennbabbies are full of shit

>>33301537
Did you read the article? Masuda went to America and saw Pokemon merch disappear in favour of star wars. This was all before ruby and Sapphire

The games before ruby and Sapphire that saw the end of pokemania was gold and sliver

>>33301534
GB to GBA was not comfortable for GF

File: pokemon-red-green.png (861KB, 976x549px) Image search: [Google]

861KB, 976x549px

I must say, Masuda is a crying baby.
Gen I WAS the most challenging game to make.
Tajiri had no money, it took 6 years of development because the without the money GF had to make another games so it could get the cash. In the meanwhile, many producers dropped the franchise because they saw no future on it. Tajiri had to create concepts from nothing. Gyms, battles, trading, they created everything. Gen III just copied.

>>33301576
Did you?
>After Gold and Silver came out, it was a huge hit around the world, but shortly after everyone was saying, 'That’s it. The Pokémon fad is over! It’s dead!'
Gold and Silver (not sliver) was a huge hit. The thing is, what can you do after gen II? We battle a gym leader of pretty much each type, we went to not one, but two regions. We got something to do after the league. We battle ourselves, we saw that our first journey worth it (Red). We did everything.
So, what can you do after gen II? Go to another region, beat 8 gyms, E4 and a champion? We already did that.

>>33301519
He literally says GS was a huge hit and people werent interested in the next set of games going in

>>33301600
Underrated

Also we had this thread yesterday why didn't you bump it if it was so important? I'm not going to explain how rse fucked up again

>>33301368
>using the term Hoennbaby unironically

>who say that Gen 2 was the real decline of Pokemania are just full of shit?
This is literal confirmation from literally a GF employee.

How did RS "save" Pokemon when it sold less than GS? Hell, GS sold slightly more than RSE combined, without even adding in Crystal. It's not like RSE was any more of a critical success than GSC either. Nor did people start to pay any more attention to the anime or other side material during Gen III.

You can try and claim that Gen II had a downward trend, but that's because Pokemania was ending. And Pokemania was always going to end because it pretty was a huge fad for many people. It was just plain unsustainable for more than a few years. Hell it was already dropping as soon as it began. Look at TV ratings for anime in Japan for example and you'll see they peaked in the first year of airing. All Gen III did was continue off what they were already doing, and stabilized the series at the popularity level it's pretty much been at since then.

>>33301368
Neither gen 2 nor gen 3 killed Pokemon, the fad just died after gen 2 finished. Stop trying to start shit.

I thought Gen 7 killed Pokemon?

>>33301600
I'm no genwunner, but I have to agree with this. Straight up CREATING concepts and visualizing them and realizing them is a huge challenge simply from a creative standpoint, to say nothing of translating them into a story, or even tougher, a game.

>>33302004
>How did RS "save" Pokemon when it sold less than GS?

Because it managed to keep the franchise alive despite the original fanbase growing up, a new handeld and the overall passage of time that kills most fads no matter how big they are.
It doesn't matter if it didn't sell THAT well, it still was very damn impressive.

What I don't understand is, why do fads exist? I mean, I get that kids grow out of things and the next generation of kids usually isn't that much into it, but for things that also generally appeal to older audiences, why do people start to enjoy something if they're only gonna not follow through with it?

>>33304765
Because everyone else is doing it, people get into it. Either they stop enjoying it after a while, or just follow what is "in". It's stupid, but that's how trends are. Pokemon GO is a fine example.

File: 1500020825953.png (288KB, 1000x1000px) Image search: [Google]

288KB, 1000x1000px

The decline started with Gen 2. Holy shit, I remember having to twist one friend's arm to even get Gold at the time because all of my original Pokemon Red/Blue friends hated the new designs and "not muh 151", and this was back in 2001. Now I don't know how Gen 3 was with the rest of you but I never knew too many people who played it, only interest coming up around FireRed/LeafGreen.

>>33301368
You've got a serious obsession problem against Hoennbabbies, holy shit. Can't have a normal thread without one of these retards trying to start a genwar.

>>33304765
I agree.

>>33301368
no, they're correct. did you even read the article

>>33301787
>>33301639
And he also literally says that after GS sold well, pokemania started to fade. The fact that GS were a hit and that the pokemania declined on that generation are not mutually exclusive.
So, at least according to that article and Masuda (and anyone who played pokemon back then, honestly), the fad did start to die during gen2.
Read the fucking article.

>>33301844
>I'm not going to explain how rse fucked up again
If you're really the guy from yesterday it's better that way, you'd be still wrong.