If you’ve never heard of Pokémon, you may or may not have been living under a rock since 1996. Though most people have hear of the worldwide sensation of Pokémon, not many know about the mastermind behind the franchise: Satoshi Tajiri. Tajiri grew up in a rural area of Japan, where he had a fascination with collecting bugs. In fact, he was so obsessed with insects, his peers dubbed him “Dr. Bug.” However, as he grew into a teenager, Tajiri replaced his bug-collecting with a video game obsession. He loved video and arcade games so much, he would actually take apart consoles and put them back together just to see how they worked.
Where did these obsessions with bugs and games come from, though? Tajiri has confirmed that he has Autism Spectrum Disorder (formerly known as Asperger’s) and he is classified as high-functioning autistic. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that affects people’s behaviors and communication with others. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, people with ASD have “a lasting intense interest in certain topics.” Also, they often curate collections as a hobby, which explains Tajiri’s fascination with and collection of both bugs and video games. These passionate interests of Tajiri were drivers of his success in the gaming world.
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| Three of Tajiri's original Pokémon characters: Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander. |
According to Teresa Amabile, intrinsic motivation is “a crucial determinant of creativity,” even across various populations and different contexts. Intrinsic motivation is when a person engages in a task because they find it enjoyable, interesting, or personally rewarding. This motivation does not come from external sources, like fame or money. It is clear from Tajiri’s story that his intrinsic motivation propelled him to success. He did not develop his games for the purpose of marketing them: he did it because he was genuinely interested in developing new things. Specifically, he wanted to create a totally new kind of game. In this new game, players could wander a fictional
When first pitched to Nintendo, the company accepted his idea because of his previous game creations and growing popularity, but the executives were skeptical. Creating the game would be difficult: this was the 90s, after all, and even high-end gaming systems did not have the capacity to facilitate this level of interaction. Making the game proved so challenging that it almost bankrupted Game Freak right out of the gate, and five employees quit throughout the six-year process. But Tajiri delivered on his promise, releasing the first Pokémon games in 1996: Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green. While the release was met with less than little fanfare, the game proved infectious to the Japanese masses, selling ten million copies before being brought to America (where it also exploded with success).
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| Tajiri with one of Pokémon's main characters: Pikachu. |
Though many saw Tajiri’s idea as too weird, unattainable, and prone to failure, he never gave up on his dream of recreating his childhood world of collecting. The fact that his idea made so many people skeptical shows his eminent creativity. None of the seven creatives we studied in class became so praised and well-known by doing the same old thing. Tajiri’s creativity and perseverance has made Pokémon a household name. He created a world where people could be a different version of themselves: a safe-haven from the harshness of the real world. By perfectly encapsulating our child-like desires, Tajiri sparked a worldwide phenomenon and created the highest-grossing franchise of all-time (outperforming both Star Wars and Harry Potter).
To date, Tajiri has created over 25 Pokémon games, which have also inspired spin-off games, trading cards, television shows, anime movies, and live-action movies. For me personally, I could not imagine my life without Pokémon. It has taught me about patience and perseverance, showed me how to be creative, and has even made my relationship with my brother stronger. Satoshi Tajiri, who struggled both socially and emotionally with ASD, never gave up on creating the world of Pokémon for others to enjoy, and as a result he has touched the lives of children and adults all over the world.
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| My brother and I have both loved Pokémon since we were kids. |
Sources:
Perspectives on the Social Psychology of Creativity, by Teresa M. Amabile and Julianna Pillemer
I had always assumed something as massive as Pokemon had originated out of some big company so it was so surprising to hear it was the product of just one person's idea. I really liked how you explained how Tajiri being on the spectrum helped, rather than hindered his creative work- it seems like he may have not had the same intrinsic drive without it.
ReplyDeletePokemon has been such a staple in so many ways to my friends and I that, to this day, we will lay in our shared apartment living room and watch each other play. The game was actually the reason our friendship bloomed in the beginning - we all just started talking about pokemon and it went from there. I throughly enjoyed this read, although I may be a bit biased.
ReplyDeletePokemon was such a big part of my childhood. I started off with Pokemon Black (how scandalous) and moved back to cover all the way to Pokemon Red on the Gameboy. Reading this article and learning about how Pokemon was made brings back so many good childhood memories.
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