Pokemon Sun/Moon Ultra Beasts Were Based On Rejected Pokemon Designs

In Pokemon Sun/Moon, fans were introduced to the Ultra Beasts, Pokemon from another dimension that looked strange and alien even by the standards of the franchise.

As it turns out, there was a very good reason why they seemed to out of place. Yusuke Omura, the formerly the lead Pokemon Designer on Pokemon Sun/Moon, recently revealed on social media that the Ultra Beasts were based on past Pokemon designs rejected by Ken Sugimori, his senior at Game Freak and the original illustrator for Pokemon. Omura joked that they were a “manifestation of his own resentment”, although he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward Sugimori.

I designed the Ultra Beasts by recalling some of the designs I made which were rejected by Mr. Sugimori, and I decided to deliberately use the very reasons for why they were rejected and base the artistic direction of the designs on them. So in some way, they’re like a manifestation of my own resentment– pretty scary.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that I hate Mr. Sugimori or anything like that.

Omura’s explanation goes a long way to explaining why the Ultra Beasts look so different from the Pokemon that came before, and could be considered part of the group’s charm by their fans. It would be interesting to see if this philosophy will continue if any new Ultra Beasts are eventually added to the franchise.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.