Who created the Pokémon franchise and served as the director of Pokémon Red and Green?

Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon franchise and directed Pokémon Red and Green.

Tajiri grew up fascinated by collecting insects, an interest that influenced Pokémon’s central idea of finding and collecting creatures. He also recognized the possibilities of the Game Boy Link Cable, which allowed two handheld systems to communicate. His concept combined collection with interaction: players could trade creatures that were unavailable in their own version.

Tajiri founded Game Freak with illustrator Ken Sugimori after first using Game Freak as the name of a gaming fanzine. The company later became the developer of Pokémon. The first Pokémon project took approximately six years to complete and placed severe financial pressure on the small studio.

Sugimori is often associated with Pokémon because he created much of the early artwork and character design, while Shigeru Miyamoto mentored Tajiri during development. However, the franchise’s creator and the director of the first games was Tajiri. His concept ultimately became one of Nintendo’s most important properties.