Meta:The Three Key Figures Behind Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
This Q&A was included in Weekly Famitsu, released October 28, 2005.
Questions and Answers
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Transcript
Translation
- This interview was professionally translated for the Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wiki / Mystery Dungeon Community by Nob Ogasawara on June 10, 2025.
- The Three Key Figures Behind Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
- The charms of Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team discussed!
- At first glance, a collaboration between the Pokémon franchise and the Mystery Dungeon franchise seems outlandish. However, in speaking with Pokémon’s Tsunekazu Ishihara, Chunsoft’s Koichi Nakamura, and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, we were surprised to learn that the collaboration was inevitable. We hope readers will feel the charms of the new titles as told by the three VIPs.
- The Pokémon Company President & CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara
- Founded Creatures Inc. in 1995 for producing games including Pokémon. Founded The Pokémon Company in 1996. Involved in all facets of the Pokémon franchise.
- Chunsoft Co., Ltd. President Koichi Nakamura
- Founded Chunsoft in 1984 while still attending university. Starting with the publication of the sound novel Otogiriso, Nakamura has produced the sound novel franchise and the Mystery Dungeon franchise.
- Nintendo Co., Ltd. General Manager, Nintendo EAD Shigeru Miyamoto
- Joined Nintendo in 1977. Producer of the Super Mario franchise and The Legend of Zelda franchise. Also involved in the development of the Pokémon franchise and hardware such as Nintendo DS.
- Games are more fun when you communicate with others.
- It was only natural for two game enthusiasts to partner.
Interviewer: To start, can you tell us how Pokémon Mystery Dungeon came to be?
Ishihara: Next year [2006] will be Pokémon’s tenth anniversary. The first Mystery Dungeon was launched over ten years ago. Having worked with Nakamura-san from long ago, we got to talking, “Want to make a game that brings the two franchises together?” It was something we’ve always wanted to do. I’m glad it came to fruition.
Interviewer: Nakamura-san, when you were approached by Ishihara-san with this project, what was your reaction?
Nakamura: To tell the truth, in 
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 2 - Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion, there is the Monster Kingdom
(Japanese: もののけ王国)[notes 1]. We had Pokémon in mind when we made it. So, when we heard from Ishihara-san, we knew we weren’t mistaken.
Miyamoto: I thought it was only natural that these two game enthusiasts form a tag team. And, if you were to look back, you’ll see that they were a combo from Bombliss[notes 2] (laugh).
- Simultaneous launch on two game systems!
Interviewer: These games will be released on two game systems: Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance. What is the intent behind this?
Ishihara: The big reason is that we wanted to provide players with choices to suit the game hardware they own. We have injected somewhat different elements into each one. Also, if a player were to insert both the DS version and the GBA version in their Nintendo DS, something good will happen.
Interviewer: Miyamoto-san, when the original Pokémon Red and Green were released, we heard that it featured your ideas.
Miyamoto: You mean the proposal, “Why not release two versions?” Before that, games were complete as one experience within a single package. But even back then, I thought games would be more fun if players could communicate with others. That led to the ad copy we thought up for Red and Green, “The game starts right when you buy it in a shop.” Choosing which package you want started the game for players. We wanted to make it so that the framework of gaming would subsequently expand by enabling communication among friends using link cables. With these titles, there appear to be several features that rely on communication such as rescue missions for friends. I’m excited for them.
- Cross-fusions abound so fans of either franchise can enjoy playing.
Interviewer: In melding Pokémon and Mystery Dungeon, what were your main concerns?
Nakamura: The game’s worldview is based on Pokémon, so we had to be careful not to damage its image. Because the story starts with the player taking the guise of a Pokémon, we debated long and hard about whether Pokémon should speak or not.
Ishihara: So, we had Chunsoft request that there be no human characters and allow Pokémon to converse among themselves for telling the story. We wanted to take in new requests that would let us mount new approaches for expanding the world of Pokémon.
Nakamura: When I broached the idea of waking up one day as a Pokémon, I was told, “There’s actually a storybook with a similar premise.” That made it acceptable as an idea for me.
Ishihara: There’s also this element that Mystery Dungeon fans would enjoy. [Pulls out a DS with Blue Rescue Team.] This is the Blastoise I’ve been raising. If you look at the list of moves, you’ll see what I mean. See beside them?
Interviewer: There are numbers beside the move names!
Ishihara: That’s right. Moves come in many varieties, some strong, some weak. There are all sorts of integration going on, so fans of both franchises should enjoy themselves. In addition to the Pokémon moves, these games also feature scrolls and arrows and so on from the Mystery Dungeon games. These elements are all represented in this world as a new style of presentation.
Nakamura: At first, we thought the fusion with Pokemon would be surprisingly easy. But we had no idea that it would be this horrendous for making every kind of Pokemon. When we asked Ishihara-san, “How many species of Pokemon should we include?” he replied, “You have to put in all of them.” We turned green (laugh). We needed to make each character face eight directions, as well as drawing up damage-taking and attacking patterns. That process was never-ending.
Ishihara: In the main franchise, Pokemon don’t appear very often on the world map. That was a staggering amount of work (laugh).
Interviewer: Miyamoto-san, what are your feelings on seeing these two creators work together?
Miyamoto: Well, Nintendo has had Mario appear in a basketball game made by Electronic Arts[notes 3] and so on. It makes me very happy to see my creations making new and different kinds of fun. It’s not as if mixing franchises will make them one. I think the most important is for us to make games that players can enjoy.
- A more advanced version of StreetPass featured in Nntendogs.
Interviewer: How far along are you in development?
Ishihara: We’re about 99% done. The remaining 1% is adjustments for things like what gifts would be pleasing to obtain through StreetPass. We’re planning to introduce something that’s a bit more advanced than the StreetPass feature of Nintendogs that Miyamoto-san and his crew did. Please look forward to these.
- A fusion of a game that can be played a thousand times and a game that can be played a thousand hours.
Notes
- ↑ Monster Kingdom (Japanese: もののけ王国)
Appeared in the Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 2 - Shiren's Castle and the Oni Invasion. Using a Monster Pot (Unofficial Translation) (Japanese: モンスターの壺), a monster could be captured. Such monsters could then be kept in the Monster Kingdom. These monsters could be even taken into dungeons as fighting party members. Naturally, they can even be leveled up. It really can be considered Shiren’s idea of Pokemon. Players can only be true Mystery Dungeon masters by completing the Monster Kingdom.
Editor's Note: Monster Pot is an official translation, used for an item in Shiren 5 for the PlayStation Vita: See Monster Jar. When pressed, it will summon monsters. This item (モンスターの壺) is used for capturing monsters and turning them into allies. The Shiren series has a history of sloppy, lazy, and contradictory localizations and unofficial translation patches that create issues such as this. - ↑ Bombliss
Debuted in 1991 as the companion piece to the classic Tetris in the Famicom “Tetris 2 + Bombliss” from BPS. Surprisingly, the involvement of both Ishihara-san and Nakamura-san in the development of this game is little known. Additionally, the game music was by [DQ] composer Koichi Sugiyama. An SFC version was also released afterwards. If a completed row contains a bomb, the bomb explodes and destroys surrounding blocks. - ↑ Electronic Arts
Collaborated with Nintendo on the GameCube NBA Street V3 (Japanese: NBA ストリートV3マリ オでダンク) (rel. March 2005). Nintendo characters like Mario and Princess Peach take on actual NBA players in street basketball matches. Miyamoto-san purportedly fretted over the length of ultra-mini skirt worn by Peach—how far can this go? Regularly proportioned NBA players take on the three-head tall Mario and gang in this major collaboration.