Detective Pikachu stars a very different Pikachu than the usual cute yellow Pokemon everyone is used to. Unlike other Pokemon, this Pikachu talks. Detective Pikachu director Naoki Miyashita and producer Hiroyuki Jinnai explains how they wanted their Pikachu to be the opposite of cute. To them, that means a “middle-aged man type of character.” Since Pikachu originally debuted 22 years ago, most Pokemon fans from back then are now adults.
Speaking to IGN, Jinnai added that “It might be interesting, we felt, for a lot of these people to come back and see this, their best friend Pikachu from when they were a kid, is now this older middle-aged gruff man. We thought this would just be an interesting kind of experience.”
The highlight of the game is the relationship between Detective Pikachu and the main protagonist, a teenage human named Tim Goodman. The story will contain several mysteries, like Tim’s missing father, some Pokemon rampaging through the city and the most important one of all, the reason why Tim is the only human who understands Detective Pikachu.
Jinnai says that while the previous main games and anime series tend to focus on trainers with their Poke balls and Pokemon battles, they wanted to divert from that and focus on “focus on the aspect of Pokemon and humans living together. For example, Pokemon are working different professions in this world.”
Instead of just wild Pokemon waiting in tall grass or dark caves, players will see Pokemon working with human beings at cafes, labs and other places. According to Miyashita, there are approximately 100 different species of Pokemon hailing from different generations and regions in Detective Pikachu.
The few story details that we know is that Charizard and Mewtwo will have significant roles in the story. In the very beginning, Tim and Detective Pikachu have to investigate a pack of Aipom who stole a necklace from a little girl. The gameplay involves speaking to people and Pokemon, gathering clues and putting them in the Case Notes on the 3DS’s touchscreen, as well as the occasional puzzle and quick-time event.
Detective Pikachu is an adventure game developed by Creatures Inc and published by the Pokemon Company. It was originally released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in February 2016, with a worldwide release slated for March 23rd, 2018. In other news, the upcoming live-action adaptation of Detective Pikachu has recently started filming and will be released in 2019.
