So, among other things, Nintendo Everything translated Sakurai's Incineroar vs Decidueye comments. Here's the relevant section:
So, Incineroar was taken from the newest Pokémon games.
Sakurai: While I was having talks with The Pokémon Company, they had shared with me some of the development details for the upcoming Pokémon Sun & Moon games. Up until the very end it was between Decidueye and Incineroar – which one should I choose? I felt like I could do interesting things with either of them, but in the end, I went with Incineroar.
What led you to the deciding between those two?
Sakurai: They were both strong as characters – had it been Decidueye, I could’ve done a variety of things with projectiles and the like.
There hasn’t been a fighter that fights like a pro-wrestler.
Sakurai: Part of what they showed me had an image of a fire vortex coming out of Incineroar’s belt, but that didn’t really go with the pro-wrestling image, so I didn’t use it. I thought it would be more fun if the character revolved entirely around the wrestler concept. That being said, pro-wrestling can be completely different depending on the generation, right? I grew up in All Japan Pro-Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s heyday, when they were still being broadcast on Golden. As of today, though, it seems like there’s a lot of people that don’t really know much about pro-wrestling.
So basically, here's the full context, abridged:
- Pretty much the entire time, it was only between tiger and owl.
- Sakurai thought both would've been great picks, specifically noting Decidueye's focus on projectiles.
- In the end, Sakurai's love of wrestling won out.
So not too much we didn't know before. And hey, at least Decidueye got some hefty consideration.