Who created the Pokémon franchise, which debuted with Game Boy games in 1996?

Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon franchise, which debuted with Game Boy games in 1996.

Tajiri founded Game Freak, the Japanese video game company that developed the first Pokémon titles. His childhood interest in collecting insects helped inspire the concept of finding, collecting, and exchanging creatures. The link-cable trading feature transformed that collecting idea into a social game mechanic.

Ken Sugimori, a longtime Game Freak collaborator, created the original Pokémon artwork and served as an important visual designer. Nintendo published the games, while Creatures and other partners later helped expand the franchise across cards, animation, merchandise, and films.

Tajiri is sometimes confused with Shigeru Miyamoto, another major Nintendo game creator. Miyamoto was not Pokémon’s creator, although Nintendo’s support was crucial to the games’ development and release. Junichi Masuda was also a major Game Freak developer, composer, and later director, but he did not originate the franchise.