Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon franchise and served as the original director of its first games.
Tajiri grew up fascinated by collecting insects, an interest that became one of the inspirations for Pokémon's collecting concept. He also recognized the creative possibilities of Nintendo's Game Boy link cable after seeing how two handheld systems could communicate. His original idea developed into a game about collecting creatures and exchanging them with other players.
Tajiri founded Game Freak with illustrator Ken Sugimori after first producing a video-game fanzine with that name. Game Freak then pitched the Pokémon project to Nintendo. The original Red and Green games took about six years to complete, a lengthy development period for a Game Boy title.
Sugimori is frequently associated with Pokémon because he designed and illustrated many of the original species, while Shigeru Miyamoto advised the project. Neither replaced Tajiri as the franchise's creator. Tajiri later continued working with Game Freak, changing from game director to executive producer on later Pokémon projects.