Who conceived the original Pokémon franchise that began with the 1996 Game Boy games?

Satoshi Tajiri conceived the original Pokémon franchise that began with the 1996 Game Boy games.

Tajiri founded Game Freak and drew on his childhood interest in collecting insects and exploring nature. The Game Boy’s link cable inspired his idea that players could exchange creatures between two handheld systems.

Tajiri pitched the project to Nintendo around 1990. Shigeru Miyamoto later mentored the development, while Ken Sugimori handled much of the artwork and Junichi Masuda composed the music.

A common mix-up is to credit Nintendo alone. Nintendo published the games, but the original concept came from Tajiri and development was carried out by Game Freak. The franchise’s first games took about six years to complete.