Career
Masuda has worked at Game Freak since the company's inception in 1989. Masuda has been involved in every title that Game Freak has ever produced, and was one of the original developers of the Pokémon series, beginning with Pokémon Red and Blue. He now serves as a member of the Game Freak board of directors.
He was first hired to compose and program video games. His first game at Game Freak was Mendel Palace, a puzzle game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Next, he worked on Smart Ball, and then on Yoshi, the company's first collaboration with Nintendo. When the company first began releasing Pokémon titles, Masuda worked mainly as the composer, though he did minor programming work as well, and later began directing and producing them. His work on the first games included writing the program to play audio in the games, music, and sound effects. He directed and composed the music for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and produced Pokémon Platinum. He also produced Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
Masuda has been directly involved in the naming and design of many Pokémon. He has stated that one of the hardest aspects of design is making sure that a Pokémon's name and attributes will appeal to a global audience. Since Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Masuda has been one of the main employees who approve or reject designs for new Pokémon. Most characters take around six months to design, while more central ones take more than a year. He also oversaw the composition of the Pokémon Stadium level music in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Read more about this topic: Junichi Masuda
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