The Pokemon Game That Only Made Sense In Japan
Pokemon has been known for its surplus of handheld video games, and the series has remained highly popular throughout the years. Pokemon came into the mainstream after the success of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue. The games put the Pokemon franchise on the map. New Pokemon titles now seem to be very common, but most of them seem to fit a particular mold. With the exception of a couple of spinoffs, Pokemon games often revolve around the protagonist traveling the Poke-universe as they catch 'em all and defeat a number of gym leaders.
One specific Pokemon game was slightly different than the rest. Pokemon Conquest was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on March 17, 2012, and in North America on June 18, 2012. The game was a tactical role-playing game that featured a crossover between Pokemon and Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition, and featured a storyline in which players used Pokemon to battle feudal warlords. This crossover was a little odd, to say the least, but the game was received positively, nonetheless.
Why was it hard for audiences to understand?
Pokemon Conquest simply did not make as much sense in the western world. Firstly, Nobunaga's Ambition is a game that is based during a Japanese warring period in the 1500s. The series is actually based on Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese warrior, who brought unification to Japan during a long period of war. Nobunaga's Ambition is a game that is deeply rooted in the rich history of Japan, so it makes a certain amount of sense that the title was not as popular in the United States.
When asked about the details of the collaboration, Hisashi Koinuma, the Chief Operating Officer at Tecmo, held nothing back. According to Koinuma, "... Mr. Ishihara, the president of the Pokemon Company, said he enjoys playing Nobunaga's Ambition. So he actually brought the proposal over and said, 'How about we do some kind of collaboration between these two titles?'"
In other words, Pokemon Conquest was born from a mutual admiration of work between Koinuma and Ishihara. Still, it is a little odd that they decided to drop the Pocket Monsters into feudal Japan.