Who designed Pikachu for the Pokémon video-game series?

Atsuko Nishida designed Pikachu for the Pokémon video-game series.

Nishida was a graphic artist at Game Freak during the development of the original Pokémon games. She created Pikachu’s character design, which combined a compact animal-like body with the distinctive yellow color, pointed ears, and red cheek markings now associated with the franchise.

Pikachu was not originally planned as the sole face of Pokémon. The creature became especially prominent after the anime selected it as Ash Ketchum’s partner. Its expressive shape, memorable sound, and central role in the television series helped make Pikachu the franchise’s best-known Pokémon.

Ken Sugimori is often credited broadly with the visual identity and artwork of the original Pokémon games, which can cause confusion about individual designs. Pikachu’s specific design is attributed to Nishida. The Pokémon is number 025 in the National Pokédex and is an Electric-type Pokémon that evolves from Pichu and can evolve into Raichu when exposed to a Thunder Stone.