Who Designed the Pokémon?

Who Invented Pokémon?

Pokémon or Pocket Monsters was created by Satoshi Tajiri. This Japanese video game designer worked on several popular games in his childhood, including Mario, Pac-Man, and Sonic. He was also an avid insect collector at a young age, which influenced the concept behind the game. Tajiri aimed to encourage children to go out into the world and explore their surroundings. This is the foundation of what would become Pokémon, a game where you collect and train creatures that you can use for battle.

The first game, "Red Blue Green" (the colors of the original Game Boy), was released in 1996 and quickly became a phenomenon. It is estimated that 75% of people aged 25 to 30 in Japan grew up playing Pokémon.

Who Drew the First Pokémon?

When Tajiri created the first Pokémon, he recruited one of his friends, Ken Sugimori. This artist had free rein to draw whatever came to his mind. However, he decided to base his drawings on creatures found in nature. These included insects, birds, and other mammals. Since these animals were already familiar to children, Sugimori didn't have to worry about the complexity of his drawings. This allowed children to understand and enjoy the game, even if they weren't very into video games. Unfortunately, very few people were involved in this initial process. The game was created by a small team, and some of the artists didn't even know what it was about.

How Many People Worked on the First Pokémon Games?

The number of people who worked on Pokémon is unclear, as there was no official record of those involved in its creation.

Some people who worked on the original game have stated that it was a team of about 10 people, including artists and programmers.

However, a more recent article suggests that it was closer to 40 people.

In any case, it was a small team that worked hard to create the first Pokémon games. This team was very different from the one that had worked on the original games.

While Pokémon was developed by a small team of friends, the next game was created by a large group of individuals. That is why Pokémon designs are sometimes inconsistent. Many characters appear only once in the series and were never seen again.

What Was the Inspiration for These Designs?

As many Pokémon are based on real animals, the inspiration behind each design was quite simple. However, some creations were a bit more complicated. This is the case with Mew and Mewtwo, which were inspired by the discussion of evolution. Tajiri had great faith in people's ability to evolve and improve. That's why Mew and Mewtwo are intended to represent the evolution (or devolution) of humanity. There was also a big discussion about which Pokémon should be the first to be created. Tajiri wanted the first Pokémon to be something easily identifiable. He thought it would be better if Pokémon were based on insects. This led to the creation of the first three Pokémon: Caterpie (Chenipan), Weedle (Aspicot), and Pikachu.

The Truth to Remember...

Even though Pokémon games achieved incredible success, not everyone was satisfied with how they were created. Some of the original artists were unhappy that their work was used without their permission. This led to a lawsuit that eventually resulted in a settlement. Indeed, the people behind Pokémon didn't have the proper contracts in place at the time of the game's creation. To make matters worse, the artists weren't paid for their work. This is one of the reasons the lawsuit was settled. The lack of proper contracts also sparked considerable controversy behind the scenes, as many people were affected by this situation.