Namco given plenty of freedom with Pok?mon fighter

As long as the trainers themselves don’t come to fisticuffs

Nintendo seems to have a burgeoning penchant for collaboration. The platform holder has recently entered into partnerships with studios like Bandai Namco and Tecmo Koei, giving its third party associates license to toy around with some of its hottest properties. 

And by the sound of it, Nintendo isn’t too shy or overprotective when doing so. According to Bandai Namco producer Katsuhiro Harada, his team is being given a good amount of leeway with its upcoming Pokémon fighting game, Pokkén Tournament.

“Surprisingly, they weren’t as strict as I expected them to be with Pokkén,” Harada told Korean outlet Inven. “We sent The Pokémon Company twenty ideas and they allowed all of them barring one: I suggested that we have different Pokémon Trainers fight, and they immediately denied it.”

The remark recalls something Platinum Games had to say about working with Nintendo. While Bayonetta 2 director Yusuke Hashimoto called Nintendo an “observer” more than anything, the publisher did make some interesting suggestions regarding the leading lady’s Link outfit. Apparently the brass at Nintendo didn’t think it was sexy enough, and had Platinum come back with a slightly more revealing redesign.

It will be interesting to see how else Nintendo and The Pokémon Company guide Bandai Namco’s hand with Pokkén Tournament, which is set to debut in Japanese arcades next year.

 [인터뷰] 하라다PD “철권7, 미시마 가문의 역사에 종지부를 찍다” [Inven via Shoryuken]