A snippet from the 265th issue of Nintendo Power published in March 2011 has went viral on the Internet.

The reason it went viral was because of what Junichi Masuda told the magazine eight years ago. When asked whether he would ever remove the least popular Pokemon out of the franchise, Masuda felt they wouldn’t ever do that as it was “one of the joys” of Pokemon to bring them to the latest games.

Here are his words in full:

Nintendo Power: And you don’t ever think, “let’s make our lives easier by cutting the least popular Pokemon out of the franchise”?

Junichi Masuda: [Laughs] I think one of the joys of Pokemon is being able to use your favorite Pokemon from the Blue and Red versions all the way through to the newest iterations. So no, I don’t think we can do that.

8 years later, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company have decided to cut Pokemon from Pokemon Sword and Shield and all future games, resulting in the #BringBackNationalDex movement that’s urging them to stay true to the franchise’s roots.

Here are some reactions to the contradiction:

“This didn’t age well”

“I wonder if they realise we just need new maps and pokemon. All the gimmicky mechanics could disappear and we would enjoy it just as much. It’s the fresh exploration and pokemon that make a new game feel new and exciting.”

“That’s depressing.”

“I’m now convinced our Matsuda is in Area 51 somewhere and the government replaced him with an alien shapeshifter.”

“You became the very thing you swore to destroy!”

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