Who created the Pokémon franchise from an original concept developed at Game Freak?

Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon franchise from an original concept developed at Game Freak. Tajiri founded Game Freak, first as a video-game magazine and later as a development company, and his interest in collecting insects helped inspire Pokémon's collecting-and-discovery theme.

Tajiri proposed a role-playing game built around the Game Boy's Link Cable. Instead of using the cable only for competition, he imagined players exchanging creatures with one another. Game Freak developed the project with Nintendo, while Ken Sugimori created much of the visual design and artwork.

The first Pokémon games were Pocket Monsters Red and Green, released in Japan in 1996. Their success led to an animated series, trading card game, manga, films, merchandise, and many later video games.

A common mix-up is crediting Nintendo alone with creating Pokémon. Nintendo published the games, but the original concept is credited to Tajiri, and Game Freak developed the first titles with contributions from Nintendo and Creatures.