Pokémon X & Y: each pokémon takes between 3-6 months to fully create, says Masuda

Pokémon X & Y is coming out this week, and here's some insight into the creative process for you: it took the team between three and six months to create each Pokémon in the games.

Speaking in an interview with VG247's Dave Cook, which will be published in full tomorrow, Game Freak director Junichi Masuda said when designing Pokémon, the teams takes into consideration who will be playing the games, and how to maintain the right balance.

"We have a team of 20 different graphic designers who are responsible for coming up with the Pokémon design themselves, and then there's a team of five people who actually judge the designs, and are responsible for deciding which Pokémon go into the final games," said Masuda.

“Then they consider what goes into making a Pokémon, their various aspects, but they look very deeply at the characters to see where we think a Pokémon would live, what kind of things it would eat, and what characteristics are very particular about the Pokémon.

“It's not just about the design, as a lot of thought goes into creating each individual Pokémon. On any particular, individual Pokémon the process to creating it can be anywhere between three months, and in the longest cases up to half a year.

“When it comes to how we maintain the balance in the game and knowing what features to include, we always consider very carefully who is actually playing the games. Is it girls or boys, adults or children? When we consider who is playing the game, we make decision as to which features to include and how to maintain the overall balance of the game so it's appealing.”

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y will release worldwide on Saturday, October 12 for 3DS and is compatible with 2DS, which launches the same day.