Who created the Pokémon franchise, whose first games appeared in 1996?

Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon franchise, whose first games appeared in 1996.

Tajiri grew up collecting insects, an experience that inspired Pokémon’s collecting concept. He imagined creatures moving between Game Boys through the link cable, turning a technical feature into a way for players to exchange virtual creatures.

Tajiri co-founded Game Freak with illustrator Ken Sugimori. Game Freak began as a video-game fanzine before becoming a development company. Sugimori later created the artwork for the original Pokémon species, but Tajiri is credited as the franchise’s creator.

Shigeru Miyamoto also played an important role by mentoring the project during development at Nintendo. Junichi Masuda later became a major Pokémon composer, director, and producer. Those figures are influential, but they are not the person generally identified as Pokémon’s creator.