Satoshi Tajiri created Pokémon, but the first creatures weren't designed by just one person. Ken Sugimori was in charge of the official designs for Red and Green; Atsuko Nishida designed Pikachu and the three starter Pokémon. As for the very first Pokémon, an interview with Game Freak provides specific names without establishing an order or attributing the first sketch.
Satoshi Tajiri created the series; Ken Sugimori was in charge of the official character designs
The first games, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, were released in Japan on February 27, 1996. Nintendo credits Satoshi Tajiri as the creator of the series. However, creating the series does not mean drawing all of its characters oneself.
Ken Sugimori, one of the founding members of Game Freak, was in charge of the official character designs for Red and Green. This is a central role, but it does not make him the sole creator of the Pokémon from that era. Sugimori himself recounts that several colleagues would propose ideas and could modify the design of a single creature.
At Game Freak, Several People Worked on the Same Pokémon
Initially, three people were involved in creating the Pokémon. The arrival of Atsuko Nishida brought this group to four, while Game Freak had about ten employees in total. These figures refer to two different things: the team that designed the creatures and the company’s total workforce.
Tasks were not strictly divided. Koji Nishino, who worked on game data, explains that programmers also drew Pokémon. As a result, several people could propose ideas or tweak the design of a single creature before it was incorporated into the game. The official design lead was therefore not necessarily the creator of the first sketch for each Pokémon.
In an interview published by the official Pokémon website, Sugimori cites Melofee among his own creations.
Rhydon, Melody, and Loxias were among the first Pokémon created
In an interview with Nintendo’s online magazine in 2000, Sugimori was asked which character was created first. He responded by naming Rhydon, Melody, and Loxias among the earliest creations. He does not say that Rhinoferos predates the other two, nor does he specify who drew the first sketch of each. At the time of our verification, the original page of this interview was inaccessible; his response is preserved in a reproduction of the Japanese text and an English translation.
This account therefore provides three specific names, but not the name of an indisputable “first” Pokémon. Rhyhorn is listed as number 112 in the Pokédex and Bulbasaur as number 1; this numbering does not indicate the order in which the characters were created.
Atsuko Nishida Drew Pikachu Pixel by Pixel
Nishida explains that she did not start Pikachu with a sketch on paper. She drew the character directly on the computer, placing each pixel one by one. The first version was round, with a barely noticeable separation between the head and the body.
Nishida says she drew inspiration from squirrels’ cheeks when designing Pikachu’s. She also designed Raichu. Koji Nishino, for his part, asked her to make Pikachu cuter with each new proposal. The initial design was therefore Nishida’s, but its appearance was refined by the team. The guide to drawing Pikachu details the character’s shapes step by step.
Nishida recounts that an evolution beyond Raichu, called Gorochu, had been considered. Sugimori cites game balance as the reason for its abandonment. Nishino also mentions the decision to limit Pikachu to a single evolution and the need to reduce the game’s data volume. In Red and Green, Pikachu evolves only into Raichu.
Nishida also designed the three starter Pokémon
Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle—the three creatures players can choose from at the start of Red and Green—were also designed by Nishida. Pikachu, however, was not among these three choices.
The artist explains that she designed these three Pokémon starting with their final forms. For Charmander, she wanted its transformation into Charizard to surprise the player: the small starter Pokémon wasn’t meant to give too much away about the dragon to come.
Pikachu’s Silhouette Changed for the Anime Series
On the Game Boy, Pokémon first appeared as small, black-and-white pixel art. Sugimori explains that the official illustrations for Red and Green were based on these versions. He helped select the colors, including the yellow that has become synonymous with Pikachu.
The character’s appearance continued to evolve after the games were released. According to Sugimori, Pikachu’s body was gradually elongated and its neck made more defined to facilitate its movements in the animated series. This change subsequently influenced Pikachu’s design in games released after the animated series began.
Which Pokémon was drawn first, and by whom?
The accounts examined do not allow us to identify either the very first Pokémon drawn or the creator of that first sketch. They establish who designed certain characters, but attributing a creation to an artist does not prove that their drawing preceded all others.
