Who created the Pokémon franchise and directed its first Game Boy games?

Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon franchise and directed its first Game Boy games.

Tajiri grew up collecting insects, an interest that helped inspire Pokémon's collecting and discovery themes. He founded Game Freak, initially a video-game magazine and later a development studio. Tajiri proposed a game based on exchanging creatures between Game Boy systems through the Link Cable, turning a technical feature into the foundation of the series.

Game Freak developed Pocket Monsters Red and Green with Nintendo, while Ken Sugimori created much of the original artwork and Junichi Masuda contributed programming and music. Tajiri served as director, designer, and writer on the first games, helping shape their exploration, combat, and trading systems.

The name Pokémon comes from “Pocket Monsters,” the Japanese title. The franchise later expanded into animation, trading cards, films, merchandise, and mobile games, but its defining idea began with Tajiri’s concept of creatures that players could discover, collect, train, and exchange.