Satoshi Tajiri is a
Japanese video
game designer best known as the creator of
Pokémon and the founder of development company
Game Freak, Inc. An avid fan of
arcade games, Tajiri wrote for and edited his own video gaming
fanzine Game Freak with
Ken Sugimori, before evolving it into a development company of the same name. Tajiri claims that the joining of two
Game Boys via a link cable inspired him to create a game which embodied the collection and companionship of his childhood hobby,
insect collecting. The game, which became
Pokémon Red and
Pokémon Green, took six years to complete and went on to spark a multi-billion dollar franchise which reinvigorated
Nintendo's
handheld gaming. Tajiri continued to work as director for the Pokémon series until the development of
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, when he changed his role to simply executive producer.