4th Gen Why did it take so long for Nintendo to do this?

[Sweet Smoochum]

I see the original GS as a beta (more like an alpha) and HGSS as the final result. You need new ideas to keep an old game fresh and feeling like a new one. Also, I think I remember them saying they only have a planning time of three weeks or something. They take the ideas they can use and implement while leaving some ideas out. They also have a deadline. The reason why I believe only few Pokemon were implemented in Amity Square was because they didn't have enough time to put the rest in. Also, it was like a hint for the next game in a way. Showing us how fun it was to have a Pokemon following again, now we can have any following us and we value it more because it has never been done before in the main stream games. There has to be some ideas left out of a new game so they can use the really good ones for remakes so it's not like "why should I play this?" Also, I believe they had more time to work on this game. Also, they had different game directors I believe.

 

[Ayselipera]

They probably save features they have in mind for future games so they sell better.

As of right now they probably have great ideas that they aren't putting into HG/SS because there waiting to put it in a future game.

 

[IcyArceusRider]

This is by far going to be the greatest game of the series so far.

Oh, yes, I will agree with THAT. HG/SS = Awesomeness!

I think maybe the reason it took them so long was they weren't sure if they'd end up having enough room to add all these things...I mean, they had the Pikachu follow you even way back in Yellow version, though, so that doesn't really explain why they had taken that out...we probably should've seen most of these features a little sooner.

Maybe the reason they didn't add this stuff in the earlier games is because they wanted to have somewhere to go with the new versions that were scheduled to come out later.

 

[PokeBabe]

Yeah. I was dissapointed after playing Yellow to find that you couldnt have any other pokemon follow you, I really expected that from Nintendo.
I sorta also see why it took them so long for the 3dness, too.
Cant wait for them <3

 

[Midnight Beat]

You're all assuming that Nintendo's main goal isn't making money. They knew that they could still make money off the amount of features that they included in DPPt. Sure, they knew some people would complain that they lacked a bit, but they would still buy the games. Now if they pulled the same stunt for HG/SS, then people would read the reviews saying that Nintendo copped out, and then not buy the games. So they add some new feature to satisfy that earning. I promise you that Nintendo has hundreds of new features that they're saving for the 5th gen, but they don't include them yet because they can still make money of the lesser features without having to pay to implement more.

 

[Mōnštȝr¿]

Not the remaking of Johto, but the features of HG/SS.
The touch screen controls, Pokemon following behind the player, actual pictures of roaming Pokemon on the map... that kind of stuff.

I think we should have seen a lot of these earlier. This is by far going to be the greatest game of the series so far.

Yeah I don't know why it took so long either. lol. But all in all. I don't really care I mean it's here now.

 

[AlphaMightyena]

pokemon did follow you behind, but only in that troll area.

and pokemon games get better as newer generations arive comming with ideas.

shoot, they might add some new pokech features as well.

 

[Ooka]

Because advancements in technology don't just walk up and pat you on the back....

 

[Red]

It's because the staff all love and remember GSC like we do, and gave it the best features first due to the special place in their hearts.

 

[balkj06]

Nintendo takes forever to put new features in because they are more into the story then the features and because they have already done the stroy, they then work on the features

example. the boy/girl feature was going to be in gen 1. (RGB) they alredy had the female for it but they were un susseful until Cyrisal

 

[Red]

Nintendo takes forever to put new features in because they are more into the story then the features and because they have already done the stroy, they then work on the features

example. the boy/girl feature was going to be in gen 1. (RGB) they alredy had the female for it but they were un susseful until Cyrisal

By that logic, Pokémon Yellow should've had the option to be female...

 

[Wings Don't Cry]

By that logic, Pokémon Yellow should've had the option to be female...

Notice the unsuccessful bit unsuccessful bit until Crystal, Gold ans Silver came after Yellow and they still didn't have it, besides Yellow was just R/B/G with a Pikachu following you around and you could get all 3 starters, nothing else that was big. Besides the Pikachu thing was to promote the anime and it would be weird if the game that was meant to be like the anime had a girl protagonist

 

[Astinus]

By that logic, Pokémon Yellow should've had the option to be female...

Yellow was based on the anime. Why would they include a female trainer when the game pretty much retold the anime in pixel form?

To answer the question asked by the OP, the answer was already said by Hiroshi. They had time to work on this game, and could think better on what features they would implement in the game.

Also, I guess you could say that they are throwing out all the features that they could think of in these games, not only to make them special, but also to see how many of the new ones are actually liked.

 

[Red]

Yellow was based on the anime. Why would they include a female trainer when the game pretty much retold the anime in pixel form?

When I said, "by that logic," I meant that I thought that logic was incorrect. (Not that I actually thought there should've been the ability to be female in Yellow.)

 

[Sweet Smoochum]

If you put all the same features in every Pokemon game, 1) It would get boring/predictable, 2)You won't appreciate any of the features, 3) You need money. Video game companies need money in order to stay in business. 4) The more money you make the better the following games could be. 5) You need new ideas to make people want to play a game they have already played before.

No offense, but those of you who are saying "they're doing this for the money." UH hello? Isn't Pokemon one of their most popular selling games? Everybody does things for the money. It's called having a job. It sounds like it's your parents are saying stuff like that to try to turn you against playing a game you know you like having fun playing. They just don't want to spend their money on it anymore.

They wait a long time to do this, because of memory the cartridges hold, how much money you need to make a game. Plus, the people who worked on the first gen of games, probably aren't all the same exact people who are making Gen 4. New ideas. We're lucky to even have the privileges of playing video games in the first place. So many kids nowadays are so spoiled. You can't get everything you want in life.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

I agree that maybe they needed some features to save for later games.
Who knows what they have in store for 5th Gen?

 

[Sweet Smoochum]

It just needs to be pointed out that GameFreak hasn't hit the roof (or even half of it) of the game's space ever since they switched to Game Boy Advance cartridges.

If GameFreak seriously wanted to get lots of money at one point, they'd have spilled the features all into Platinum. They didn't - they have other projects to allocate money to (like HeartGold/SoulSilver, which is said to have been in development simultaneously with Platinum). Features of HG/SS would've came up after the development of Diamond/Pearl after assessing the feasibility of D/P's original touch controls. It's all about costs and time. And in time, the development team gets the benefits as they sell the publishing rights to Nintendo and Nintendo sells the games.

What's the point of holding back features?

I don't know. (I'm sorry if I sounded rude in my previous post, but I was trying to make a point.) I don't know why they were holding back features. Maybe it was because they had different game directors? I honestly don't know. I don't work for them nor do I look into that kind of information. For Platinum, all they really had to do was fix up DP's graphics and change some of the scripting. The game was basically done already. For HGSS they had to do everything new. Plus, this game is after Platinum so they have more time to work on the game. I really don't know. I'm just guessing to the best of my ability despite my massive headache.

 

[Midnight Beat]

What's the point of holding back features?

Well if they can still make money without exhausting all their current ideas in one game, what's the point of including all of them at once?