Game Freak’s Little Town Hero to release physical collector’s edition

A physical collector’s edition of Game Freak’s Nintendo Switch RPG, Little Town Hero has been announced.

The ‘Big Idea Edition’ from NIS America contains a collector’s box, art book, pin set, official soundtrack and poster for $49.99. The bundle is available for pre-order now and will release in Spring 2020.

Released for Nintendo Switch in October, Little Town Hero is a turn-based RPG which takes place in a town overrun by monsters.

The game is the latest result of Game Freak’s Gear Project initiative, which encourages Pokémon creators to pitch original game ideas during quiet periods.

So far Gear Project has resulted in HarmoKnight, Pocket Card Jockey, Tembo the Badass Elephant and Giga Wrecker, all of which released after 2012.

Programmer and director Masayuki Onoue told VGC in 2019 that by taking breaks from the flagship Pokémon series, Game Freak’s creators can return to the franchise “refreshed” and improve the series with experience gained.

“There are two different production teams here, simply named Production Team 1 and Production Team 2,” Onoue explained. “Team 1 is fully dedicated to Gear Project, while Team 2 is for the Pokémon operation.

“What that means is that Game Freak as a company is prioritising Gear Project, which is production team number one, more than Pokémon in general. We are always trying to create something that is equally exciting, or more exciting than Pokémon.”