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[[Image:Satoshitajiri.jpg|right|frame|Satoshi Tajiri]]
[[File:Satoshi Tajiri 2016.jpg|thumb|213px|Satoshi Tajiri in 2016]]
:[[Pokémon]] was created by a Japanese man named Satoshi Tajiri.  
'''Satoshi Tajiri''' (Japanese: '''田尻智''' ''Tajiri Satoshi'', born August 28, 1965) is the creator of [[Pokémon]], responsible for the initial concepts which would lead to the metaseries as it exists today. Currently, he works as the CEO of [[Game Freak]].


As a child, he lived in a suburb of Tokyo and loved to collect insects, hunting them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly looking for new insects and coming up with new ways to attract insects like beetles.  
==Early life==
Satoshi Tajiri was born in {{wp|Machida, Tokyo|Machida}}, a suburb of Tokyo. His father was a {{wp|Nissan}} salesman and his mother cared for him at home. As a young boy, he loved to explore the outdoors and was especially fascinated with insects. He loved to collect insects, hunting for them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly looking for new insects and coming up with new ways to catch insects such as beetles. He had such an interest in collecting and studying insects that he earned the nickname "Dr. Bug" among his peers.


He was so attracted to insects, in fact, that his peers used to call him "Dr. Bug."
In the late 1970s, the fields and ponds that Tajiri loved as a child were paved over by apartment buildings and shopping centers. At this time, Tajiri's passion for insects moved to video games and arcades.


=Childhood=
==Game Freak==
Tajiri got into games when he was at technical school, spending all his time in arcades. He did not like school, and began skipping classes to spend more time at the arcades. This confused and upset his parents, who felt he was throwing his future away. Tajiri spent so much time playing games that one arcade gave him a full-sized {{wp|Space Invaders}} machine to take home.<ref>"Pokémon: The Soap Opera! Part 1" [[PoJo's Unofficial Pokémon News & Price Guide Monthly]] Dec. 1999: 38.</ref> Eventually, Tajiri graduated from a two-year program at the {{wp|Tokyo National College of Technology}}. His father wanted him to be an electrical utility repairman, but this is not what he wanted.


:Satoshi did not like school. His father wanted him to be an electrical utility repairman but this is not what Satoshi wanted.  
In 1981, when he was sixteen years old, Tajiri won a contest sponsored by Nintendo rival {{wp|Sega}} for a game design concept. A year later, in 1982, Tajiri and his friends formed a gaming magazine by the name of [[Game Freak]]. A friend and contributor to Game Freak was [[Ken Sugimori]], who would later become the illustrator and designer of all of the Pokémon images, as well as the human characters and other aspects of the games. Throughout the 1980s, the ''Game Freak'' magazine had modest sales, and became quite popular among the gaming crowd. Originally, the magazine was written by hand, but as it grew more popular Tajiri began having it printed professionally. A typical issue cost ¥300 (around US$3.00) and was approximately 28 pages long.


In the late 1970s, the fields and ponds Satoshi loved as a child were paved over by apartments and parking lots.  
As Tajiri learned more about games, he became more interested in making them. He felt that the games on the market could be better than they were. He learned how to write software by first taking apart a {{wp|Nintendo Entertainment System}} to see how it worked and then learning how to program for it.<ref>Mortensen, Lori. ''[[Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon Creator]]''. Farmington Hills: KidHaven Press, 2009. Print.</ref> The programming language he used initially was Family BASIC, an implementation of the BASIC programming language for the Famicom.<ref>Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famous". Retro Gamer (Imagine Publishing) (35): 75.</ref>


His idea for [[Pokémon]] grew, as he wanted to give modern children the chance to hunt for creatures as he did.  
In 1987, Tajiri published his first game, ''Quinty'' ({{wp|Mendel Palace}} in North America). Two years later, he officially founded the company [[Game Freak]], named after his magazine. Tajiri and Game Freak continued to develop many titles for companies such as [[Nintendo]] and Sega, such as 1991's {{wp|Jerry Boy}} (which won Tajiri the Character Design Award from the Multimedia Content Association of Japan), and {{smw|Yoshi (game)|Yoshi}}, 1993's {{smw|Mario & Wario}}, and 1994's {{wp|Pulseman}}.


Satoshi got into games when he was at technical school, spending all his time in arcades. He was such a big fan that one local arcade gave him a Space Invaders machine to take home!
In 1990, Tajiri published a book entitled ''Catch The Packland &mdash; Stories of Videogames from Youth''. It contains sixteen stories about Tajiri's memories of playing arcade games when he was in high school and college. It was published by the Japanese Information and Culture Center.


=Game Freak=
==Pokémon==
[[File:Satoshi Tajiri dolls.jpg|thumb|Tajiri in 1999]]
In the early 1990s, when Tajiri first saw two children playing together with [[Game Boy]]s using the [[Game Link Cable]], he imagined insects crawling along the cable between the two systems. As he thought about the capabilities of the Game Link Cable, his idea for Pokémon grew, as he wanted to give modern children the chance to hunt for creatures as he did as a child.


:In 1982, Satoshi and his friends formed a games magazine under the name of [[Game Freak]]. This name still appears at the start of Pokémon games.  
He pitched the idea for ''Pokémon'' to Nintendo, and although they didn't fully understand the concept of the game, he was given some initial funding anyway and concept work from another game design studio, [[Creatures, Inc.]]. Tajiri spent the next six years working on Pokémon. [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], the creator of {{smw|Super Mario (franchise)|Super Mario}} and {{zw|The Legend of Zelda (Series)|The Legend of Zelda}} (among other Nintendo series), was assigned to help in the development of the initial [[Core series|version]]s of Pocket Monsters, {{2v2|Red|Green}}. During this time Tajiri came to admire Miyamoto as a mentor. As a tribute to Miyamoto and Tajiri, the {{ga|Red|main character}} of the games and {{ga|Blue|his rival}} have "Satoshi" and "Shigeru" among their default names, while the main character of the anime, [[Ash Ketchum]], and his first rival, [[Gary Oak]], are named the same, respectively.


One of his [[Game Freak]] friends was [[Ken Sugimori]], who drew all of the [[Pokémon]] images.
After six years of development, [[Pokémon Red and Green Versions]] were completed. Although the Game Boy's hardware was becoming outdated, the game still grew steadily in popularity because younger children could not afford brand-new console games so they turned to the inexpensive Game Boy games.


In 1991, Satoshi discovered the [[Game Boy]]. When he first saw the [[Link Cable]], he imagined insects creeping along them, and the [[Pokémon]] idea was born.  
The success of Pokémon led to various {{pkmn|manga}} adaptations, an {{pkmn|anime}}, and more Pokémon games and {{spin-off games}}.


The game was given some initial funding and concept work from another game design studio, [[Creatures INC]].
==Game credits==
* '''{{wp|Mendel Palace}}''' (1989) - Producer, Director & Game Designer
* '''{{wp|Smart Ball}}''' (1991) - Director, Game Designer, Story
* '''{{smw|Yoshi (game)|Yoshi}}''' (1991) - Director, Game Designer
* '''Magical Taluluto-kun''' (1992) - Producer
* '''{{smw|Mario & Wario}}''' (1993) - Game Designer & Director, Map Design
* '''Nontan to Issho: Kuru Kuru Puzzle''' (1994) - Planner, Supervisor
* '''{{wp|Pulseman}}''' (1994) - Direction & Game Design
* '''{{game|Red and Green|s}}''' (1996) - Director, Game Design, Game Scenario, Map Design
* '''Bazaru de Gozaru no Game de Gozaru''' (1996) - Advisor
* '''[[Pokémon Blue Version (Japanese)|Pokémon Blue]]''' (1996) - Director, Game Design, Game Scenario, Map Design
* '''Bushi Seiryūden: Futari no Yūsha''' (1997) - Concept & Game Design
* '''[[Game Boy Camera]]''' (1998) - Special Thanks
* '''[[Pokémon Stadium (Japanese)]]''' (1998) - Original Game Design
* '''{{game|Yellow}}''' (1998) - Director, Game Design, Game Scenario, Map Design
* '''[[Hey You, Pikachu!]]''' (1998) - Pokémon Creator
* '''[[Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game)|Pokémon Trading Card Game]]''' (1998) - Pokémon Original Story
* '''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''' (1999) - Original Game Staff ("Pokémon" Game Design, Direction)
* '''Click Medic''' (1999) - Concept
* '''[[Pokémon Snap]]''' (1999) - Pokémon Creator
* '''[[Pokémon Stadium]]''' (1999) - Original Game Design
* '''{{game|Gold and Silver|s}}''' (1999) - Director, Game Design
* '''{{game|Crystal}}''' (2000) - Executive Director
* '''[[Pokémon Stadium 2]]''' (2000) - Original Game Design
* '''[[Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR!]]''' (2001) - Pokémon Original Story
* '''[[Pokémon Party mini]]''' (2001) - Original Pokémon
* '''[[Pokémon Pinball mini]]''' (2001) - Original Pokémon
* '''[[Pokémon Zany Cards]]''' (2001) - Original Pokémon
* '''[[Pokémon Puzzle Collection]]''' (2001) - Original Pokémon
* '''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''' (2001) - Original Game Staff (Executive Director: Pokémon)
* '''[[Pokémon Tetris]]''' (2002) - Original Pokémon
* '''[[Pokémon Race mini]]''' (2002) - Original Pokémon
* '''[[Pichu Bros. mini]]''' (2002) - Original Pokémon
* '''[[Togepi's Great Adventure]]''' (2002) - Original Pokémon
* '''{{game|Ruby and Sapphire|s}}''' (2002) - Executive Director
* '''[[Pokémon Box: Ruby & Sapphire]]''' (2003) - Executive Director
* '''[[Pokémon Channel]]''' (2003) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]''' (2003) - Pokémon Games Designer
* '''{{game|FireRed and LeafGreen|s}}''' (2004) - Game Scenario, Executive Director
* '''{{game|Emerald}}''' (2004) - Executive Director
* '''[[Pokémon Dash]]''' (2004) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''[[Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness]]''' (2005) - Pokémon Games Designer
* '''{{wp|Drill Dozer}}''' (2005) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Trozei!]]''' (2005) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team]]''' (2005) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''{{game|Diamond and Pearl|s}}''' (2006) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Battle Revolution]]''' (2006) - Pokémon Games Designer
* '''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness]]''' (2007) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''' (2008) - Senior Supervisor
* '''{{game|Platinum}}''' (2008) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky]]''' (2009) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''{{game|HeartGold and SoulSilver|s}}''' (2009) - Executive Producer
* '''[[PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure]]''' (2009) - Original Pokémon Director
* '''{{game|Black and White|s}}''' (2010) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure]]''' (2011) - Games Original Director
* '''[[PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond]]''' (2011) - Original Pokémon Director
* '''[[Pokémon Conquest]]''' (2012) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''{{B2W2}}''' (2012) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Dream Radar]]''' (2012) - Executive Producer
* '''{{wp|HarmoKnight}}''' (2012) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity]]''' (2012) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''{{g|X and Y}}''' (2013) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Battle Trozei]]''' (2014) - Pokémon Games Original Director
* '''[[The Thieves and the 1000 Pokémon]]''' (2014) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''[[Pokémon Art Academy]]''' (2014) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U]]''' (2014) - Senior Supervisor
* '''[[Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]''' (2014) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokkén Tournament]]''' (2015) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''{{wp|Tembo the Badass Elephant}}''' (2015) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon]]''' (2015) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''{{OBP|Detective Pikachu|video game}}''' (2016) - Original Pokémon Director
* '''[[Pokémon Sun and Moon]]''' (2016) - Executive Producer
* '''{{wp|Giga Wrecker}}''' (2017) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon]]''' (2017) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!]]''' (2018) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''' (2018) - Original Game Supervisor
* '''{{wp|Giga Wrecker|Giga Wrecker Alt.}}''' (2019) - Executive Producer
* '''{{wp|Little Town Hero}}''' (2019) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Sword and Shield]]''' (2019) - Executive Producer
* '''[[New Pokémon Snap]]''' (2020) - Pokémon Original Director
* '''[[Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl]]''' (2021) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Legends: Arceus]]''' (2022) - Executive Producer
* '''[[Pokémon Scarlet and Violet]]''' (2022) - Executive Producer


=Nintendo=
==Trivia==
* Tajiri's favorite Pokémon is {{p|Poliwag}},<ref>Interview with Satoshi Tajiri on ''Game Center CX'' (Japanese TV) 2004</ref> and he says that the swirl on its belly is meant to be its intestines, representing the fact that a tadpole's internal organs are able to be seen when it is picked up and inspected.
* In an interview with {{wp|Time Magazine}} in 1999, Tajiri stated that for the last three years, he slept for 12 hours, and then worked on his games for 24 hours straight. He said that the irregular schedule helped him think of new ideas for games.
* A biography of Tajiri entitled ''[[Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon Creator]]'' was published in 2008 by {{wp|KidHaven Press}}.
* In the {{Gdis|Battle Tower|II}} in {{game|Crystal}}, there is a {{tc|Bug Catcher}} named Tajiri.


:Satoshi went to work for [[Nintendo]] and spent the next six years working on [[Pokémon]].
==External links==
* {{wp|Satoshi Tajiri|Satoshi Tajiri on Wikipedia}}
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20110629022758/http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/1122/pokemon6.fullinterview1.html Time interview with Satoshi Tajiri (Archived)]
* [http://www.crunkgames.com/?p=87&page=13 Interview with Satoshi Tajiri on ''Game Center CX'' (Japanese TV)]


He made friends with [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], the genius behind Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pikmin, and Donkey Kong.
==References==
<references/>


In the Japanese versions of Pokémon, [[Ash Ketchum]] is named "Satoshi" and his rival, [[Gary Oak]] is named "Shigeru".)
[[Category:People|Tajiri, Satoshi]]
[[Category:Game staff|Tajiri, Satoshi]]
[[Category:Anime cast and crew|Tajiri, Satoshi]]
 
[[de:Satoshi Tajiri]]
[[es:Satoshi Tajiri]]
[[fr:Satoshi Tajiri]]
[[it:Satoshi Tajiri]]
[[ja:田尻智]]
[[zh:田尻智]]

Latest revision as of 17:20, 4 May 2024

Satoshi Tajiri in 2016

Satoshi Tajiri (Japanese: 田尻智 Tajiri Satoshi, born August 28, 1965) is the creator of Pokémon, responsible for the initial concepts which would lead to the metaseries as it exists today. Currently, he works as the CEO of Game Freak.

Early life

Satoshi Tajiri was born in Machida, a suburb of Tokyo. His father was a Nissan salesman and his mother cared for him at home. As a young boy, he loved to explore the outdoors and was especially fascinated with insects. He loved to collect insects, hunting for them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly looking for new insects and coming up with new ways to catch insects such as beetles. He had such an interest in collecting and studying insects that he earned the nickname "Dr. Bug" among his peers.

In the late 1970s, the fields and ponds that Tajiri loved as a child were paved over by apartment buildings and shopping centers. At this time, Tajiri's passion for insects moved to video games and arcades.

Game Freak

Tajiri got into games when he was at technical school, spending all his time in arcades. He did not like school, and began skipping classes to spend more time at the arcades. This confused and upset his parents, who felt he was throwing his future away. Tajiri spent so much time playing games that one arcade gave him a full-sized Space Invaders machine to take home.[1] Eventually, Tajiri graduated from a two-year program at the Tokyo National College of Technology. His father wanted him to be an electrical utility repairman, but this is not what he wanted.

In 1981, when he was sixteen years old, Tajiri won a contest sponsored by Nintendo rival Sega for a game design concept. A year later, in 1982, Tajiri and his friends formed a gaming magazine by the name of Game Freak. A friend and contributor to Game Freak was Ken Sugimori, who would later become the illustrator and designer of all of the Pokémon images, as well as the human characters and other aspects of the games. Throughout the 1980s, the Game Freak magazine had modest sales, and became quite popular among the gaming crowd. Originally, the magazine was written by hand, but as it grew more popular Tajiri began having it printed professionally. A typical issue cost ¥300 (around US$3.00) and was approximately 28 pages long.

As Tajiri learned more about games, he became more interested in making them. He felt that the games on the market could be better than they were. He learned how to write software by first taking apart a Nintendo Entertainment System to see how it worked and then learning how to program for it.[2] The programming language he used initially was Family BASIC, an implementation of the BASIC programming language for the Famicom.[3]

In 1987, Tajiri published his first game, Quinty (Mendel Palace in North America). Two years later, he officially founded the company Game Freak, named after his magazine. Tajiri and Game Freak continued to develop many titles for companies such as Nintendo and Sega, such as 1991's Jerry Boy (which won Tajiri the Character Design Award from the Multimedia Content Association of Japan), and Yoshi, 1993's Mario & Wario, and 1994's Pulseman.

In 1990, Tajiri published a book entitled Catch The Packland — Stories of Videogames from Youth. It contains sixteen stories about Tajiri's memories of playing arcade games when he was in high school and college. It was published by the Japanese Information and Culture Center.

Pokémon

Tajiri in 1999

In the early 1990s, when Tajiri first saw two children playing together with Game Boys using the Game Link Cable, he imagined insects crawling along the cable between the two systems. As he thought about the capabilities of the Game Link Cable, his idea for Pokémon grew, as he wanted to give modern children the chance to hunt for creatures as he did as a child.

He pitched the idea for Pokémon to Nintendo, and although they didn't fully understand the concept of the game, he was given some initial funding anyway and concept work from another game design studio, Creatures, Inc.. Tajiri spent the next six years working on Pokémon. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda (among other Nintendo series), was assigned to help in the development of the initial versions of Pocket Monsters, Red and Green. During this time Tajiri came to admire Miyamoto as a mentor. As a tribute to Miyamoto and Tajiri, the main character of the games and his rival have "Satoshi" and "Shigeru" among their default names, while the main character of the anime, Ash Ketchum, and his first rival, Gary Oak, are named the same, respectively.

After six years of development, Pokémon Red and Green Versions were completed. Although the Game Boy's hardware was becoming outdated, the game still grew steadily in popularity because younger children could not afford brand-new console games so they turned to the inexpensive Game Boy games.

The success of Pokémon led to various manga adaptations, an anime, and more Pokémon games and spin-off games.

Game credits

Trivia

  • Tajiri's favorite Pokémon is Poliwag,[4] and he says that the swirl on its belly is meant to be its intestines, representing the fact that a tadpole's internal organs are able to be seen when it is picked up and inspected.
  • In an interview with Time Magazine in 1999, Tajiri stated that for the last three years, he slept for 12 hours, and then worked on his games for 24 hours straight. He said that the irregular schedule helped him think of new ideas for games.
  • A biography of Tajiri entitled Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon Creator was published in 2008 by KidHaven Press.
  • In the Battle Tower in Pokémon Crystal, there is a Bug Catcher named Tajiri.

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Pokémon: The Soap Opera! Part 1" PoJo's Unofficial Pokémon News & Price Guide Monthly Dec. 1999: 38.
  2. ↑ Mortensen, Lori. Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon Creator. Farmington Hills: KidHaven Press, 2009. Print.
  3. ↑ Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famous". Retro Gamer (Imagine Publishing) (35): 75.
  4. ↑ Interview with Satoshi Tajiri on Game Center CX (Japanese TV) 2004
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