The newest Pokémon titles are released next week in Japan and Nintendo's President Satoru Iwata has been interviewing several key people behind the titles.

Pokémon Black and White promises to reboot the series somewhat. Rather than adding a new location and 100-odd new Pokémon these soon-to-be-released DS titles will offer a range of new features in an attempt to win over cynical old fans.

Nintendo's President Satoru Iwata has recently spoken to Pokémon Co.'s CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, Black & White director Junichi Masuda, and 2D art director Ken Sugimori. The discussion has been posted on the official Japanese Nintendo website but the kind folks at Adriasang have translated parts of it.

According to Mr. Masuda the company wanted to do a second set of DS Pokémon games, following on from Diamond and Pearl because of the worldwide success of the console itself. However, he wanted to make sure that the game isn't just 'another Diamond and Pearl' but instead is unique in its own right.

Interestingly they discuss the desire to "destroy" notions of what a DS Pokémon game is and what its elements contain. They essentially scrapped what is pre-conceived about Pokémon games and instead chose to come up with new formulas and rules for Black and White.

While Pokémon may still be played by adult gamers Mr. Masuda acknowledges that many young gamers often outgrow the titles as they can be seen as being aimed at children. His team have worked hard on trying to eradicate this with Black and White by changing a few key aspects. For instance while in previous games text was written in kana-only (the most simplified Japanese alphabet) players can now chose to view the text in kanji.

For the first time in the series the locations in the games are based on non-Japanese areas, most notably Hiun City was based on the motif of New York City. Apparently during 2006 a Pokémon concert toured the four areas of the previous titles, Kanto, Kansai, Kyushu and Hokaido, and they wanted to tour New York City due to its associations with musicals and operas but couldn't for logistical reasons. Mr. Masuda even travelled to New York City and designed the general setting of the new Isshu region while sat in the New York Museum of Modern Art.

The name Isshu comes from a similar Japanese word meaning "single type". While the world of Pokémon is filled with many different people and Pokémon of a variety of types from afar they all look to be one, something Mr. Masuda likened to citizens of New York City.

As has been previously reported Black and White will be the first titles since Red and Blue (or Red and Green if we're being technical) that feature all new Pokémon, rather than simply adding some to the predecessors. The art team considered all sorts of aspects while designing the Pokémon of the new titles including the eco system, making sure they don't look too similar to previous Pokémon and ensuring they actually look like Pokémon. 17 graphic designers were responsible for the creation of these new Pokémon, however all final designs were created by Mr. Sugimori who also created the turnarounds (as seen throughout news story).

Thanks again to Adriasang for the translation.