There have been many questions about Game Freak’s development bandwidth in recent months, especially in light of Pokémon’s overall lack of polish over the past few years. : I haven’t stopped pursuing projects like Ride On.
“Resource issues are always a difficult problem,” said Masafumi Saito, General Manager of Game Freak Development 1. “Mr. Taya, the director of the Nintendo 3DS version, was working on the development of the Pokémon series game titles in parallel. The technology required for game development is complex and wide-ranging, so we need to prepare the most suitable development team for each game, so we need to collaborate with various creators in Japan and overseas.”
Saito’s comments follow the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which were particularly glitchy entries in the long-running series. Pokemon is supported by a web of companies and supporting his own studio, but Game Freak’s core team is very small by today’s standards, with just over 150 employees. In 2019, Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda talked about his preference for small teams because of the importance of communication.
Despite its size, Game Freak is committed to making non-Pokemon games. In an interview with IGN, Saito and Pocket Card Jockey director Masao Taya talked about the origins of Pocket Card Jockey and what the series means to Game Freak, and in the process, it was first a doujinshi, then a second one. touched on how it is rooted in the studio’s origins as an independent studio.
“The division responsible for developing original games is not bound by scale or platform,” says Saito. “The most important thing is to create new games that engage users. We work on projects big and small, regardless of platform. It’s an approach that I personally want to create something new and unique.”
Roots of Pocket Card Jockey
Pocket Card Jockey is one of several original games developed by Game Freak. First released in North America for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016, lauded for its humor and card-based mechanics, it was partly based on the popular Japanese-exclusive horse racing sim, Derby His Stallions, originally released on the Famicom. It is based on.
Taya is a self-professed Derby Stallion fan and remembers “the thrill of seeing how a horse behaves in 16-dot square pixels.” Even when he grew up and joined Game Freak, that experience of him remained with him and he sought to recreate it in his games.
“I used a few days off to work on implementing such a program. However, if it was just a development-type simulation, I thought it would be nothing more than a rehash of Derby Stallion. It turned out that it wasn’t such a great idea because it was just to avoid copying Derby Stallion, and at the time there were quite a few hurdles preventing Game Freak from starting to develop new games. Yes, and in the end we didn’t go ahead with it.
Pocket Card Jockey is finally here thanks to Game Freak’s Gear Project. If staff are interested in your pitch, collaborate on a prototype. Taya’s idea was backed by Pokémon composer Go Ichinose, a fellow horse racing fan who recommended the Solitaire app to Taya.
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“[Ichinose] He suggested using a solitaire type card game as I wanted to make a horse racing game and wanted to incorporate card game elements. I formed a gear project with Mr. Ichinose and invited another staff member (Toshihiro Obata) to participate. The result was a pocket he was a card he was a jockey,” recalls Taya.
Pocket Card Jockey was first released in Japan in 2013, followed by a mobile version the following year. Taya wouldn’t comment on sales numbers in Japan or North America, but said the original game was ultimately profitable.
After Pocket Card Jockey’s release, Taya said that while she remained interested in releasing a free-to-play version on mobile devices, she was disappointed by the “business failure” of the first iOS release. He was eventually drawn to Apple Arcade due to its subscription-based model. This allowed Game Freak to bring the series to mobile “without having to force it into F2P style.”
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On has some improvements in addition to being a more accessible platform. In particular, Taya hopes his new 3D engine will improve “understandability to create richer course views and effects.” Taya also improved his stamina system, allowing players to restore stamina in areas of the map in exchange for gaining energy to win races.
“We will continue to create original games even when resources are tight.”
Reception has been generally positive, with many new players discovering it for the first time. Will this be enough for Game Freak to pursue a sequel or Switch port?
“It takes a lot of trial and error to make a sequel. And so that people who haven’t played it before can try a version that’s closer to the original,” says Taya. “Of course, success at Apple Arcade increases the chances of starting development on a sequel. On a personal level, I’d love to make a sequel!”
Regarding the Switch port, Taya said Game Freak said, “The main focus is on what Apple Arcade users are having fun with, and we want to see the reaction we get from that.”
Pocket Card Jockey is far from Game Freak’s goal of finding another Pokémon, but it seems to be the most successful of the studio’s various side projects. Given the constant negative feedback from Pokémon core fans, the positive buzz around Ride On is definitely a refreshing change of pace for Game Freak.
Either way, these curious and fun side projects are a big part of Game Freak’s DNA.
“Even if resources are tight, we never stop developing original games,” says Saito. “As a company, we have to take on new challenges, and as creators, we want to create new and fun things.”
Kat Bailey is IGN’s Senior News Editor and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Any tips? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
