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Tetsuya Watanabe is the General Manager of the Development Division at Game Freak. He is in charge of overseeing the development of the Pokémon titles developed by the company, as well as their internal Gear Project titles.
History[]
Watanabe joined Game Freak in 1994 and initially started as a programmer and sound effect engineer in the Pokémon series with the first entries, Red and Green. He eventually moved up to program director with Ruby and Sapphire, and carried on that role for FireRed and LeafGreen, Diamond and Pearl and Black and White.
When Game Freak established their "Gear Project" system, in which groups of employees could submit ideas for original games outside of the core Pokémon franchise, Watanabe became producer for all of the titles developed with that system. He has also regularly worked as a supervisor on various Pokémon spin-offs along with Junichi Masuda, as well as the lead coordinator for 3D Pokémon models ever since the franchise came to Nintendo Switch.
Game Works[]
- Pokémon Red and Green (1996) - Program
- Pokémon Blue (1996) - Programmer
- Bushi Seiryūden: Futari no Yūsha (1997) - Program
- Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition (1998) - Programmer, Sound Effects
- Pokémon Pinball (1999) - Sound Driver
- Pokémon Gold and Silver (1999) - Programmer, Graphics Design, Sound Effects
- Pokémon Crystal (2000) - Programmer, Graphics Design, Sound Effects
- Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (2002) - Main Programmer
- Pokémon Box: Ruby & Sapphire (2003) - Support Program
- Pokémon Colosseum (2003) - Pokémon Advisor
- Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (2004) - Program Leader, System Programmer
- Pokémon Emerald (2004) - Programmer
- Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (2005) - Pokémon Advisor
- Drill Dozer (2005) - Debug
- Pokémon Ranger (2006) - Game Design Adviser
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (2006) - Program Leader
- Pokémon Battle Revolution (2006) - Pokémon Advisor
- Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (2008) - Game Design Advisor
- My Pokémon Ranch (2008) - Game-Design Advisor
- Pokémon Platinum (2008) - Programming
- Pokémon Rumble (2009) - Game-Design Advisor
- Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver (2009) - Programming Support & System Programming
- Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (2010) - Game Design Advisor
- Pokémon Black and White (2010) - Program Director, System Programming
- Learn With Pokémon: Typing Adventure (2011) - Pokémon Game Design Adviser
- Pokédex 3D (2011) - Game Design Advisor
- Pokémon Rumble Blast (2011) - Game-Design Advisor
- Pokémon Conquest (2012) - Game-Design Advisor
- Pokédex 3D Pro (2012) - Game Design Advisor
- HarmoKnight (2012) - Producer
- Pokémon Rumble U (2013) - Game-Design Advisor
- Pocket Card Jockey (2013) - Producer
- Pokémon X and Y (2013) - Support Programming
- Pokémon Battle Trozei (2014) - Pokémon Game Design Adviser
- Pokémon Rumble World (2015) - Game Design Advisor
- Tembo the Badass Elephant (2015) - Producer
- Pokémon Picross (2015) - Game-Design Advisor
- Detective Pikachu: Birth of a New Duo (2016) - Game-Design Advisor
- Giga Wrecker (2017) - Producer
- Detective Pikachu (2018) - Game-Design Advisor
- Pokémon Quest (2018) - Producer / Director
- Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (2018) - Pokémon Model Creation Coordinator (Lead)
- Giga Wrecker Alt. (2019) - Producer
- Little Town Hero (2019) - General Producer
- Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019) - Pokémon Model Production (Lead), General Producer
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus (2022) - Pokémon 3D Modeling & Motion Design Supervisor, General Producer
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022) - 3D Visual Section Supervisor, General Producer
- The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (2023) - 3D Visual Section Supervisor, General Producer
Special Thanks[]
- Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) - Original Game Staff (Programming: Pokémon)
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Supervisor (Original Games)
- Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (2012) - Pokémon Black Version and White Version Programming
- The Band of Thieves and 1000 Pokémon (2014)
- Pokémon Art Academy (2014)
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014) - Supervisor (Original Games)
- Pokémon Shuffle (2015)
- Pokkén Tournament (2016)
- Pokémon Duel (2016)
- Pokémon Sun and Moon (2016)
- Pokémon Magikarp Jump (2017)
- Pokkén Tournament DX (2017)
- Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (2017)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) - Original Game Supervisor
- Pokémon Masters (2019)
- New Pokémon Snap (2021)
Interviews[]
- N.O.M.: Gold and Silver (translated by GlitterBerri)
- Game Freak Expansion by 4gamer (Translated by Siliconera)
- Game Freak website message (2022)