Satoshi Tajiri

Satoshi Tajiri at the Game Developer Conference.

Satoshi Tajiri (Japanese: 田尻 智, Hepburn: Tajiri Satoshi) is a Japanese video game designer known by the creation of the Pokémon series Whit Ken. Satoshi is born on August 28, 1965, in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. The creation of Pokémon brought Satoshi Tajiri become a worldwide inspiration source. IGN named Satoshi Tajiri one of the top 100 game creators of all time because of creating the Pokémon series into a worldwide phenomenon. Electronic Gaming Monthly stated that Satoshi Tajiri is one of the 10 most influential people who made a modern video game market and video game magazine Edge placed Tajiri on their list of the "Hot 100 Game Developers of 2008".

Early life

Satoshi is born to a father that was a Nissan car salesman and a housewife. Satoshi enjoyed as a child in collecting insects which was his hobby that he enjoyed and that became also a major influence on the Pokémon series. Satoshi grew up in Machida, Tokyo, which at the time still maintained a rural atmosphere. He gained the nickname "Dr. Bug" by the children around his home town because of his favourite hobby to capture bugs. Satoshi initially wanted to become an entomologist which was his main profession. Later in the years, the urban areas of Japan spread and was more paved over, this resulted in that many places to hunt for bugs where lost due to that major renovation. Satoshi wanted to share his enjoyment of capturing bugs by creating Pokémon which he tells that he wanted to allow children to have the feeling of capturing and collecting different kinds of creatures he had.

Teen years

His major reason of interest in video games was during his teen years which he was fascinated with arcade games. His parents thought that he was a delinquent for playing hours long in the arcade hall, known that there are many delinquents active to play different kinds of games. Satoshi enjoyed playing the Taito's Space Invaders which that was his major interest in video games. His interest became that far and evolved over the years which he wanted to create his own video games. Satoshi won a contest for a video game idea that was sponsored by Sega. The impact of his love for arcade games made Satoshi frequently cut classes which he nearly didn't graduate. He refused a job his father suggested which was the Tokyo Electric Power Company, but instead of taking that job he managed to take make-up classes to achieve his high school diploma. Satoshi went for two-years long to technical school at Tokyo National College of Technology, where he studied electronics instead of going to college.

Inspirations

Satoshi has said that if he did not design video games he would be most likely in the anime field because Satoshi drew much of his inspiration from old Japanese shows and anime which includes Godzilla and Ultraman.

Satoshi also said that Shigeru Miyamoto the creator of major video games such as Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda and many other successful video games that has been given a good name to Nintendo. Satoshi stated that he saw Shigeru Miyamoto as a sort of mentor because he helped him with the first creation of the Pokémon video games and also the development style closely matches with that of Shigeru Miyamoto.

Ash Ketchum known as 'Satoshi' (Japanese: サトシ, Hepburn: Satoshi) in the Japanese anime series is inspired by Satoshi Tajiri himself. His first rival Gary Oak also known as 'Shigeru' (Japanese: シゲル, Hepburn: Shigeru) is based on Satoshi's mentor Shigeru Miyamoto. Satoshi once said that the western audience understand the true meaning behind his game which he had said that they understand that the games are about partnership and identification with one's team.