Some of both, really. I feel I should say again that I’m not actually against new Pokémon, and I would continue to add them, but I wouldn’t have a specific target number and I’d reject any that appeared to overlap significantly with existing species. I just don’t think 100-150 new ones in a generation is necessary, and I don’t think the designers can maintain the standard of their best designs over such a large number; 30 or 40 would be more reasonable, in my view, and leave more time for everythig else I’d want to tackle.
As for what I would do… I’m sort of leaning towards the latter, but it doesn’t have to be a choice, really. Fixing all the old ones would be a hell of a job, and I don’t think it would ever be possible to really achieve anything resembling game balance with so many factors in play, but a lot of them have obvious problems that could be fixed quite easily. Minor stat adjustments, evolutions, more signature moves, new growth mechanics, and so on… and of course I would rip out great chunks of the type chart and reconfigure everything.
That’s only half of it, though; I’d want to work with the Pokémon as characters as well – include side stories and mini-quests and puzzles and the like that show off the particular abilities of specific Pokémon in ways that we don’t necessarily see in battles, the way the anime does. Basically, I’d want players to feel just how important and how omnipresent Pokémon are in the game world, and place more focus on learning about their powers and ways of life (which, remember, is supposedly the whole point).
I actually want to do a whole series of entries on how I would go about creating a new Pokémon game (or pair of games) if I had the chance – I’ve sort of been meaning to do this all year, but other stuff kept happening, and now I don’t want to do it until I’ve had a look at Black/White 2 to see what they’ve done with everything (it has been strongly hinted that I will get one for my birthday in December). Er… first thing next year, maybe?
Pokémaniacal 