The Game Boy, which Pokémon Red and Green ran on. Photo Evan-Amos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Nintendo’s own artwork is not freely licensed.
Pokémon
What it took directly
- statedPokémon Red and Green took from the Nintendo Game Boy Link Cable"The communication aspect of Game Boy. It was a profound image to me. It has a communication cable." Satoshi Tajiri, TIME Asia interview, Nov 22 1999
- statedPokémon Red and Green took from Dragon Quest's "Mad Cap" rare-item trading dynamic"For example, in Dragon Quest, there's a rare item called the Mad Cap" Satoshi Tajiri, 1996 official Pokédex book interview (Creatures Inc.)
- statedPokémon Red and Green took from The Final Fantasy Legend (Square, Game Boy)"When we saw The Final Fantasy Legend made by Square, we realized we could make a non-action game on Game Boy." Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo Online Magazine interview, July 2000 (via Lava Cut Content translation)
- statedPokémon Trading Card Game comes from Pokémon Red and Green's own type/rarity systems"While debugging (finding and correcting errors in the program) for the game Pokémon Red and Green, I realized that this game had a high resemblance with a trading card game." Tsunekazu Ishihara, "Pokémon Card Game Art Collection" 20th-anniversary interview, 2016
What it learned to do
- statedSatoshi Tajiri learned from Shigeru Miyamoto"No, because Pokémon was made with Miyamoto-san's advice. Since I was a teenager, playing Donkey Kong, he's always been my role model. He's a mentor for my heart." Satoshi Tajiri, TIME Asia interview, Nov 22 1999
- documentedSatoshi Tajiri learned from Gunpei Yokoi (during Yoshi and Mario & Wario development)"Tajiri worked under Gunpei Yokoi and developed Yoshi no Tamago (Yoshi) and Mario and Wario, and in doing so, I believe he learned how to transform his raw ideas into actual game form." Shigeru Miyamoto, 2018 essay in "Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon wo Tsukutta Otoko" (via shmuplations translation)
- statedPokémon (the anime series) comes from Pokémon Red and Green (the games)"Please play the games first. I want you to make the anime with an understanding of the games." Tsunekazu Ishihara, quoting Satoshi Tajiri's instruction to the anime team, Nintendo Online Magazine interview, July 2000 (via Lava Cut Content translation)
- statedMitsuhiro Arita's Pokémon Trading Card Game illustrations took from Ken Sugimori's official Pokémon game art"when I want to draw them from a different angle or silhouette, I used kneaded erasers, three-dimensional objects, and sometimes clay sculptures for reference" Mitsuhiro Arita, "Pokémon Card Game Art Collection" 20th-anniversary interview, 2016
The tradition it sits in
- statedPokémon Red and Green took from Ultraman's "capsule kaiju" concept"To be honest, the capsule kaiju from Ultraman were a big influence on me. I also enjoyed Akakage." Satoshi Tajiri, 1996 official Pokédex book interview (Creatures Inc.)
- statedKen Sugimori's Pokémon monster designs took from kaiju (Ultraman-tradition monster design)"In the beginning, I just tried to draw kaijuu-ish monsters but in a more cartoonish, exaggerated style." Ken Sugimori, Game Maestro #4 interview, 2000 (via shmuplations translation)
- statedPokémon Red and Green comes from Menko trading-card culture"He explained it would be like how we used to trade Menko cards back in the day." Ken Sugimori, Nintendo Online Magazine interview, July 2000 (via Lava Cut Content translation)
- statedPokémon Trading Card Game comes from the analog card- and board-game tradition Ishihara, Oyama, and Miura had already worked in"We had collaborated on multiple card games in the past, and have played various analog games from around the world." Tsunekazu Ishihara, "Pokémon Card Game Art Collection" 20th-anniversary interview, 2016
Where the whole form comes from
- statedPokémon Red and Green comes from Satoshi Tajiri's childhood insect-collecting in Machida, Tokyo"Everything I did as a kid is kind of rolled into one--that's what Pokémon is. Playing video games, watching TV, Ultraman with his capsule monsters--they all became ingredients for the game." Satoshi Tajiri, TIME Asia interview, Nov 22 1999
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