Who conceived the Pokémon franchise's original idea?

Satoshi Tajiri conceived the original idea for the Pokémon franchise.

Tajiri grew up in Machida, Tokyo, where he enjoyed collecting insects and exploring natural areas. Those childhood experiences later inspired Pokémon's central ideas of finding, catching, collecting, and studying creatures.

While working on Game Boy projects with Game Freak, Tajiri realized that the system's Link Cable could allow players to exchange creatures between cartridges. This became a defining feature of the Pokémon games and reflected his interest in social play as well as collecting.

Tajiri founded Game Freak with illustrator Ken Sugimori and presented the Pocket Monsters concept to Nintendo. Sugimori became deeply involved in the visual design, while Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freak later shared major roles in developing and managing the franchise. A common mix-up is crediting Shigeru Miyamoto as Pokémon's creator; Miyamoto offered important development suggestions, but Tajiri originated the concept.