Who conceived the original Pokémon concept before the first games were made?

Satoshi Tajiri conceived the original Pokémon concept before the first games were made.

Tajiri grew up collecting insects and observing small creatures around Machida, Japan. When he later saw the Game Boy and its link-cable communication feature, he imagined players exchanging collectible creatures between handheld systems.

He first conceived the Pokémon idea in 1990 and pitched it to Nintendo. The project was initially associated with the working title Capsule Monsters, before becoming Pocket Monsters and eventually Pokémon. Shigeru Miyamoto served as an important mentor during development.

Ken Sugimori was crucial to Pokémon’s art and character design, while Junichi Masuda contributed music, sound, and programming. Those collaborators are sometimes credited as co-creators in popular summaries, but Tajiri is the person who conceived the central idea and directed its development.