Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon video game series, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026.
Tajiri founded the Japanese video game company Game Freak, first as a fanzine and later as a development studio. His interest in collecting insects helped inspire Pokémon's central idea of finding and collecting creatures.
Tajiri proposed the concept to Nintendo, and development eventually produced Pocket Monsters Red and Green for the Game Boy. Ken Sugimori provided the original character artwork, while other developers contributed programming, music, and game design.
A common mix-up credits the entire franchise to Nintendo alone. Nintendo published and distributed the games, but Tajiri is recognized as the creator, with Game Freak developing the original titles.