Satoshi Tajiri is most well known for creating the Pokémon franchise. 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.

He was so attracted to insects, in fact, that his peers used to call him "Dr. Bug."

Childhood

Tajiri did not like school. His father wanted him to be an electrical utility repairman but this is not what Tajiri wanted.

In the late 1970s, the fields and ponds Tajiri loved as a child were paved over by apartments and parking lots.

His idea for Pokémon grew, as he wanted to give modern children the chance to hunt for creatures as he did.

Tajiri 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!

Game Freak

In 1982, Tajiri and his friends formed a games magazine under the name of Game Freak. This name still appears at the start of Pokémon games.

One of his Game Freak friends was Ken Sugimori, who drew all of the Pokémon images.

In 1991, Tajiri discovered the Game Boy. When he first saw the Link Cable, he imagined insects creeping along them, and the Pokémon idea was born.

The game was given some initial funding and concept work from another game design studio, Creatures INC.

Nintendo

Tajiri went to work for Nintendo and spent the next six years working on Pokémon.

He made friends with Shigeru Miyamoto, the genius behind Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pikmin, and Donkey Kong.

In the Japanese versions of Pokémon, Ash Ketchum is named "Satoshi" and his rival, Gary Oak is named "Shigeru".)