Game Freak has released a new video interview with Shigeru Ohmori, in which he describes the development of Pokémon Pokopia while showcasing some early prototype footage.

According to Ohmori, development on Pokopia began soon after Scarlet and Violet wrapped, with just three people working on it: Ohmori himself along with two programmers. This soon grew to five people, and the idea of planting grass to spawn various types of Pokémon was already implemented at the early prototyping stage. It also wasn’t long before the concept of having Ditto be the protagonist was locked in.

Ohmori stresses the importance of retaining aspects of random encounters for Pokopia, which is particularly interesting given how much the series has strayed from this in recent years. As for Ditto, he wanted to ensure that the player character was the proper scale when compared to the other Pokémon. There was also a lot of testing regarding how much Ditto should transform when taking on other Pokémon abilities, and of course, this was mostly focused on Ditto’s arms in the final game.

It’s a fascinating glimpse into the development of Pokopia, and we hope to see more videos like this from Game Freak in the near future.

As for Pokopia itself, the first DLC release is now available, earning a review score of 8/10 from us in the process. Here’s what we said:

“The Pokopia Expansion Pass is off to a solid start with Bubbly Basin, with much-needed quality-of-life improvements, new Pokémon to find, and a refreshing new map to explore. If you’ve already completed the other towns (or even if you haven’t), Bubbly Basin offers something else to quench your thirst. In Bubbly Basin, life is the bubbles, take it from me.”