It seems that Little Town Hero won’t be Game Freak and Nintendo’s only deviation from the Pokémon series, as the companies have filed a trademark application for a new gaming franchise called Hangyaku Crash.
Game Freak is primarily known for being the developer of the Pokémon series, but the company does occasionally release titles based on other franchises and those games are sometimes released on systems that were not created by Nintendo. One example of this is Tembo the Badass Elephant, which was released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2015. Game Freak also developed Giga Wrecker Alt and Little Town Hero in 2019, neither of which had any association with the Pokémon franchise.
It seems that Game Freak is continuing its expansion outside of the Pokémon franchise, as Japanese Nintendo is reporting that Creatures Inc., Game Freak, and Nintendo have filed a trademark for a property called Hangyaku Crash, which applies to board games, card games, and video games. It’s likely that the Hangyaku Crash name will be localized differently should the franchise be released outside of Japan, as the first word in its name can be translated in several different ways, some of which are tied to the concepts of rebellion and treason.
It’s odd that the three companies that own The Pokémon Company would be working together on a new project that seemingly isn’t related to Pokémon. The name doesn’t reveal much about its concept and it could be applied to a number of different things. The fact that the trademark applies to so many different mediums suggests that the three companies have big plans for this property out of the gate.
The Pokémon Company already has its hands full with the biggest media franchise on the planet, but it seems that the key players are not content to sit on their laurels. Hangyaku Crash already has an impressive pedigree behind it and it will be interesting to see what has the Pokémon people so excited.
Source: Japanese Nintendo
