It was a very natural thing for two people who love games to team up. (laughs) First of all, could you tell us how you came up with the idea of making "Pokémon Dungeon"? Tsunekazu Ishihara ("Ishihara") Next year will be the 10th anniversary of "Pokémon", and "Mystery Dungeon" has been on the market for more than 10 years. Mr. Nakamura and I have been working together for a long time, and I asked him if he would like to make a game that combined the two titles into one. I'm glad that we were able to make it happen because I had planned to do it at some point. What did you think when you heard the story from Mr. Ishihara? Hajime Nakamura (Nakamura) Actually, I've been working on the Nintendo 64 version of Kazarai no Shiren 2: Demon Attack! Shiren Castle! The Kingdom of the Mononoke that appears in the Nintendo 64 version of "Shiren Castle! So when Mr. Ishihara told me about it, I knew I had made the right choice. (edited) How did you feel, Mr. Miyamoto, when you heard that these two games would be combined? Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto (Miyamoto) I thought it was a very natural thing for two people who love games to work together like this. Besides, we've been working together since "Pomplice" (laughs). The game will be released simultaneously on two different hardware platforms! This time, there will be a Nintendo DS version and a Game Boy Advance version. Ishihara The main reason for this was to be able to choose the one that best fits the hardware you have, but we also tried to add a few different elements, and we included an element that something good will happen when you insert both software into the Nintendo DS. I heard that the initial release of Pokémon Red and Green included some ideas from Mr. Miyamoto. Miyamoto I meant, "Why don't we release two kinds? I was referring to the suggestion, "Why don't we release two types? Up until then, games were designed to end up only in the package. However, at the time, I felt that games were more interesting if they could communicate with other people. The copy I came up with for "Red" and "Green" was, "The game begins when you play it in the store. I wanted to make it so that players could expand the scope of their game by communicating with their friends over the communication cable when they selected a package. I'm looking forward to this game because it seems to have a number of communication devices, such as rescuing friends. There are many ways to combine the two games so that fans of both can enjoy them. Were there any points that you took into consideration when combining "Pokémon" and "Dungeon of the Dead"? Nakamura The worldview is based on Pokémon, so I was careful not to destroy that. Also, since the game starts with the player himself becoming a Pokémon, we had a lot of discussions about whether the Pokémon should talk or not. Ishihara So Chunsoft asked us to have the conversation go on with only the Pokémon, without the humans. If it was a request to expand the world, I wanted to keep challenging new things. Nakamura When I told them that I woke up in the morning and found myself as a Pokémon, they said, "Actually, there is a similar story in a picture book. I was able to understand that it was possible. Ishihara As an element that can be enjoyed by fans of "Mystery Dungeon," (taking out the "blue" software) you can see next to the name of the Kamex I raised,... There's a number in the name of the move...! Ishihara That's right. There are strong and weak attacks in the game, so both fans should be able to enjoy the game. In addition to the Pokémon moves, objects and wooden arrows from Mystery Dungeon have been incorporated into the world in a new form of expression. Nakamura At first, I thought it would be unexpectedly easy to integrate with Pokémon. At first, I thought that it would be surprisingly easy to combine them with Pokémon. But I didn't realize how hard it would be to create all kinds of Pokémon. When I asked Mr. Ishihara, "How many kinds of Pokémon do I need to make? When I asked Mr. Ishihara, "How many kinds of Pokémon do I have to include?" he said, "You have to include them all. (laughs) I had to put in all of them. (laughs) I had to put in characters for 8 directions, damage patterns, attack patterns, etc. I couldn't stop making them. Ishihara In the original Pokémon game, Pokémon themselves don't appear on the map much. It's really hard work (laughs). (laughs) What does Mr. Miyamoto think of the work you two are doing? I think it's very fun to see the creation of a game that's different from what we create. It's not like we can mix and match, and I think the most important thing is to create something that users can enjoy. I think the most important thing is to create something that users can enjoy. How far along are you in the development process? Ishihara It's already 99% complete. The remaining 1% is just about adjusting what kind of items people would be happy to receive through StreetPass. We're planning to develop a more advanced version of the "Nintendogs" communication system that Miyamoto-san and his team were working on. Please look forward to it!