Game Freak has explained why a new Pokemon Stadium-style game hasn’t been released since 2007’s Pokemon Battle Revolution for Wii. Speaking at a recent event, Pokemon series director Junichi Masuda stated that legitimate reasons are needed in order to create another entry in the fighting series. Improved graphics aren’t enough to justify another sequel, according to Masuda.

“It kind of goes back to the core philosophy of Pokémon as a brand: We really want to excite people and surprise them with new things they weren’t expecting,” said Masuda. “The original games, of course, were 2D and in black and white, and seeing them in 3D was a stark contrast… it was kind of a huge surprise for players. Nowadays, the Pokémon are already in 3D, and I’m not sure that better graphics would be quite as impactful or impressive. So in order to come back to the Stadium series, I think we’d need to have some sort of new invention to justify it.”