Who created the original Pokémon concept and directed Pokémon Red and Green?

Satoshi Tajiri created the original Pokémon concept and directed Pokémon Red and Green.

Tajiri’s childhood interest in insect collecting inspired the idea of creatures that players could find, raise, and exchange. He imagined using the Game Boy Link Cable to let players trade creatures between systems, turning the handheld’s communication feature into a central part of the game design.

Tajiri pitched the concept to Nintendo in 1990. The project took several years to develop, with Game Freak building the games and Ken Sugimori leading the Pokémon artwork. Shigeru Miyamoto served as an important mentor and suggested using different versions to encourage trading, but he was not the original creator of Pokémon.

The protagonist’s Japanese name, Satoshi, was also derived from Tajiri’s given name. The franchise’s success transformed a risky, long-running Game Boy project into a global multimedia phenomenon.