Satoshi Tajiri is Japanese. He was born in 1965 in the suburbs of Tokyo. As a child, he developed a passion for insects which he hunted in the woods and ponds before bringing them home to collect them. He even manages to train crickets to win races organized in the courtyard of his school, which earned him from his friends the nickname of “Doctor Bug”, “Doctor Insect”.
Until the day he decides to release all his little menagerie when he realizes that some of his insects are killing each other. Corn, this passion will stay and give him an idea that will make him immensely rich, if not famous…
In the late 1970s, the fields where Satoshi Tajiri was looking for locusts, beetles and company were concreted to build an arcade room there. It was there that he discovered the second passion of his life: video games! He spends his days playing, especially at Donkey Kong, of which he becomes an expert, to the great despair of his parents who destined him for a career as an electrician. It will never be, because he becomes a game designer.
He invented Pokemon
In 1981, he was 16 and won a design competition organized by Sega. A year later, he created Game Freak, a video game magazine with friends, including one who will have an essential role: Ken Sugimori, a drawing genius. Game Freak becomes a video game label which notably develops Mario & Wario for Nintendo.
But, it is at early 90s that everything will change. Watching two children play together with their Game Boy connected by a cable that Nintendo had marketed, he had an idea. Why not recreate thanks to this cable the fights and the exchanges of insects that he did as a child? It will then take him 6 years to develop this game called Capsule Monsters, then renamed Pocket Monsters of which he will keep in the end the beginning of the two words to make only one: Pokémon !
How did he choose the names of the Pokémon?
Satoshi Tajiri, is the inventor of Pikachu and all Pokémon with Ken Sugimori who designed them all. So Tajiri had the brilliant idea of giving them names that match their appearance and their powers: Pikachu whose name comes from “Pika” sparkle in Japanese and “Chu” the squeak of a mouse.
And Nintendo didn’t really believe it at first, but eventually they realized it. And so much the better for them because today Pokémon, it is the most profitable franchise in the world: 100 billion dollars since 1996, which is almost double Star Wars and triple the universe Marvel ! And it will continue with the new game Pokemon Arceus which comes out on January 28th.
