Pokémon art director wants to see series return to Red and Blue roots

Pokémon X and Y art director Ken Sugimori said recently in an interview with Japanese magazine We Love Pokémon that he would like to see the next generation of Pokémon return to simpler roots.

Speaking to the magazine (in an interview translated by Siliconera), Sugimori was asked how he'd like to approach the next generation of Pokémon games after Pokémon X and Y. In response, he said that he'd prefer to go back to a simpler way, similar to what was offered in Pokémon Red and Green (Pokémon Blue outside of Japan).

Pokémon games have become increasingly complex since the first generation of the games was released in the 1990s. Along with more Pokémon, more complicated battle systems and more detailed worlds, players also have many more abilities and items than in earlier generations.

Sugimori said that his personal feelings about what direction the game should go will not necessarily determine how the next generation of games will turn out, but he did say that simplifying the series was a possibility. He gave examples of adjusting the number of attacks, abilities and items in the game, and possibly simplifying the designs of the Pokémon themselves.