While Pokémon Pokopia’s core idea of creating your own Pokémon-filled world was inspired by senior director Shigeru Ohmori’s experience placing grass on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire’s maps, the game wouldn’t be what it is without Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force. Though the division is best known for its work on the Dynasty Warriors franchise, several Dragon Quest 2 developers, including game director Takuto Edagawa and art director Marina Ayano, were brought onto the project to share their expertise in creating sandbox-style life sims and crafting titles (source: Famitsu).
According to producer Kanako Murata, the decision to work with Koei Tecmo was made after the team saw Ohmori’s game prototype and promotional video, the latter of which became the first trailer shown during last September’s Nintendo Direct. Director Takuto Edagawa says that Ohmori’s materials provided such a clear picture of the game’s vision that Omega Force felt that they could contribute to the project and decided to collaborate with Game Freak.
Though Edagawa did not disclose the exact number of Omega Force developers working on Pokémon Pokopia, he did mention that it was one of the largest teams the division ever assembled to work on a title. With their number and Ohmori’s materials, they worked closely with Game Freak to establish an aligned vision over the course of 3 to 4 months before commencing development in earnest.
Though they were not given a fixed release date, development on Pokémon Pokopia wrapped up relatively quickly. This was largely thanks to the alignment period, which allowed all involved parties to solve the game’s core issues and ideas beforehand (and even bring up some philosophical questions, such as why and how a Pokémon develops trust with others). Despite having never worked on the Pokémon franchise, Edagawa and Ayano believe they have created something they can proudly deliver to Pokémon fans.
Pokémon Pokopia is set to release on March 5 for Nintendo Switch 2.
Related: Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s vineyards draw comparisons to Final Fantasy 14’s infamous “low-poly” grapes
