“So much so that one of his teachers blocked out time for him to present his findings to the class” That is so wholesome. Imagine having a student so passionate about something that you willingly give them the floor to share what they found.
It seems like such a small detail but the teacher who blocked out time for him to share his findings changed his life for sure. It seems insignificant but its so important when mentor figures nurture passion. That just stood out to me so much
i still remember being in 1st grade and my hippie 20 yr old teacher inviting me up 2 teach the class when i caught her on some simple mistake, and then i did the same when 1 of the other kids caught a mistake i made she also gave me extra points on a spelling test bc i drew the letters in the style of the word, like spikes coming out of the word spiky n shit like that shit sticks in my head 2 this day, what a dope fuckin learning experience she fostered
This is the type of thing that keeps me motivated to make something out of my own life. Tajiri: -Barely finished college -Struggled through debt for many years -And had to put his passion project on hold for 6 years so that he could pay his employees. I respect that so much.
True. But his reaction was to create something that became a gift for all mankind. It's a lesson for all of us. When things we don't like happen, don't get upset, get creative.
Anyone can do anything, you just got to show the world that you got what it takes to be an rpg master! So don't just sit there, because now it's YOUR turn to strategize.
If you talk to him when your gameplay time is exactly at 4:20 he will begin to go down on your character and then the screen goes black and all of your pokemon are healed.
@Seven Vile Eyes It's sad because whenever someone is gaining a lot of attention in media, like when a persons name is trending on Twitter or DYKG features them, it's usually because the person in question either did something very controversial/stupid or they flat-out died. And we've had a lot of that happening lately.
I think they learned that with Mr. Iwata. A few months after his passing, you could see equally passionate videos about Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, Sakurai and now Tajiri.
Most all of them were very eager pioneers, who just really liked something and wanted to make it better, at a time when the tech was very new and no one else was doing a ton with it. It's incredible to hear stories like this.
Despite everything I don’t like about Sword and Shield and GF not telling us everything, I cannot lie about how much Tajiri’s work has had an effect on my life. Dude’s a good man, would high five him.
Well, that's the trouble. It's not Satoshi Tajiri's fault that Sword and Shield are bad. He hasn't worked on a Pokémon title since Crystal. And I give the guy a LOT of credit. The trouble lies with Junichi Masuda, who was the music director for the original games. I don't know how he became game director and game producer but clearly the man does not know what he's doing. The ship has switched captains and the newest captain isn't doing a good job.
@@mikeliosketch746 it's not really Masadaa fault all that much, the problem is that the Pokemon company is pushing them too hard with yearly releases and the jump to HD really hurt them (and many other 3ds developers) But even with all the problems and complaining from the internet I must say sword and shield are pretty good, I definitely like them more than Gen 7 (and 5 but I'm probably the only one) Let's just hope we will get the rest of the Pokemon in the game in the future (if they don't come when Pokemon home is out we can loose all our hope )
Mike LIOSketch Why do game companies seem to do that a lot? Eidos also gave one of their art directors a lead designer role back in 2010 What makes a business go "Hey, this guy is good at one very specific aspect of our company so let's make him the head of everything" ? Makes no sense to me
@@idonteatcheetos well iwata was a programmer and did a good job as ceo at Nintendo And masuda was a assistant director for Gen 2 and was ether a director or producer for every other Pokemon game, so don't go blaming him because he was probably in a leading role for your favorite Pokemon game
Tajiri's story is such an inspiration for me. In the 90's, Pokèmon was basically my religion, and sparked my interest in art because I loved drawing all of Ken Sugimori's creatures. Unfortunately instead of allowing me to share my drawings with my classmates, my teachers would confiscate them, and every adult would tell me how much I'm wasting my time and mind on video games. Today I have an art degree and am working on a big indie game that I hope will inspire others the way Tajiri's own passion project has inspired me.
@@PloopChute It's still being worked on, unfortunately 🤣 Progress is slow because of work, life and other projects & commitments, but I refuse to give up on it. I plan on posting Devlog videos about it once I get back to working on it full time though, which will hopefully be soon 😊 Thanks for the interest!
@Alfredo I'm gonna sub to your channel so if you finish it and post about it, I find out and can check it out! Hope to play it eventually! Good luck with the project!
It's another reminder that one of the world's most beloved franchises is lucky to have been created at all. Sure, many newer fans wouldn't know all this stuff and how close pokémon was to never getting made or being a success but when you hear it all through the lives of the devs you know everything they make in the franchise is very personal to them and regardless of what fans think at times, are made with alot of love and passion. We're super lucky they even made more than two generations as many games don't even get that far! ❤️
@@justice7788 i don't think so. What is happening is that for one, pokémon is primarily a kid game and adults who grew up with it expect more out of their gaming experiences than what they offer. Also, many people play pokemon for different reasons (like the sims community) and no matter what way you slide your game making decisions you can't please anyone and trying to make a middle ground always ends up pleasing no one. Pokémon is a slower franchise to implement change and for a good reason, not for bad ones. Atm pokémon is trying to edge itself off its railroad experiences however they haven't yet worked out how to weave a story around that more open concept so we've ended up with a strange mash of the two, but after playing it it's pretty clear they've been trying something they are not entirely home with creating yet. Other franchises go through this weird period (Zelda and Mario certainly have and have some strange experiments in some but ultimately those built up into to amazing experiences that we now have) and pokémon has had some brilliant ones over the years, but now they're in need to start fiddling around again to find what will work on the switch for them. It won't make everyone happy, however they have still ultimately poured love into every inch of what they have given us, even if they themselves are still finding their feet. For a first attempt at something the franchise has never done before (a little bit of open world and more multiplayer focus) they have done reasonably alright and its a step in an interesting direction which I hope they continue with and improve on. One day we'll get that open pokémon world, we've just got to let them figure out how to go about it. Other companies have at least had practice to some degree before jumping into it and pokémon should be no different.
@@meikahidenori I didn't read much of your comment, because i don't care enough to. But I'm playing Sword right now and it doesn't feel good and I've been supporting the game this whole time but it's sadly really not that fun. I'm sure it's making money though
@@justice7788 and that's fine. All I did was explain why you're probably not enjoying it. All bandwagon hating aside, truth is pokémon is in a transition period and in a state where trying to make everyone happy, they've made no one happy. While it doesn't scratch my own expectations, I can see what they were trying to do and would like them to keep trying. New players and younger ones will still love it and that won't change (my 4 yr old loves it to peices and that makes me happy as it was her birthday present)
Okay I think it can be agreed that Mr. Tajiri has had incredible self motivation all his life and it truly shows what can happen with true determination and passion. But I'm so blown away by the Game Freak magazine. He drew everything and wrote everything himself. As a teenager. And thusly managed to sell in stores. Like, the amount of drive this man had even in the years most of us have next to none is so moving and inspiring. Would love if anyone knows of a good documentary about Mr. Tajiri.
I like to think Xenoblade was based a lot on frustration in other RPGs "why can't I just go back there NOW? I just want to buy an item sold in that store and come back. It should just be in the menu to warp back there" "I've killed the 5 rhino things for the quest, can't the quest just be OVER now?" "WHERE does that guy live who gives out that quest again?" "ugh I don't like waiting for my turn to fight, maybe my MOVES should be waiting for ME to take THEM"
I'm not sure what that emoji is because i'm commenting from a PS4 and I see a rectangle with a cross going through it but I don't think need have to know, thank you for replying! \(^v^)/
12:51 "Tajiri also insisted the monsters faint after losing a battle instead of dying, because he thought there was already enough violence in the world and didn't want kids to associate losing a game with death" *Nuzlock Challenges: "ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES"*
I know he won't read this but thanks for this piece of work, Satoshi Tajiri. You and your team helped give me a wonderful childhood and everlasting love for this franchise even when things may seem bad for it. :)
Nightling Bosconovitch 0:00 Pallet Town 0:37 Professor Oak's Lab 1:36 Violet City 3:50 Route 24 5:25 Ecruteak City 7:45 ??? 8:21 Gym 10:24 ??? 11:45 Azalea Town 13:27 Pokemon Main Theme 15:15 Goldenrod City 16:57 National Park
You can thank the future co-director and director of 2nd gen and 3rd generation for that respectively. Mayuda was the composer originally. His thing was music.
I will never get tired of hearing Satoshi Tajiri's story. How catching small bugs and playing outside impacted his life, nature has its way of inspirong everyone
Man, this is really good! Satoshi's story is even more inspirational than I had imagined! Those character illustrations on the magazine covers/early game concept art are clearly where the NPC trainers' designs came from too.
I am so glad I was a kid during Pokemania. It was such an amazing and fun time in my life. So many memories I would never give up for anything in the world.
Yeah, I loved Red/Blue and Gold/Silver, but I could not STAND Ruby/Sapphire. Everything felt completely different, it didn't have the same soul anymore. It killed my interest in Pokemon. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that this was why.
@@L33PL4Y ummmm ur drunk and stupid, what about Pokémon black and white 2 , platinum , and hg/ss those were excellent games and hg/ss is a better game than gold and silver since it was an enhancement of the game
15:47 "The game became so popular that many schools had to ban the trading cards" I remember when they were banned at my school. Some people brought bootleg trading cards and sold them for money. That was the straw. XD Must've been be 98-99 or something.
In my school they used as an motivation to learn. If a student solve some math problem in front of the class the teacher would give a Pokémon sticker. She bought an entire collection of stickers and all my class got better at Math just to collect it.
@@Weareonenation303 Yep, same here. My school was just as rife with it as any other American school at first and I still look back on that time with great fondness. For a time there wasn't a single lunch that went by without at least two guys battling or trading on their GameBoy Colors off by themselves and a whole crowd of people watching two kids play the card game at a different table. My school was hyper Christian and conservative, and it eventually came out that, *gasp*, some of the designs were based on a variety of real world mythologies. The parents flipped their shit and the school reacted accordingly. From what I understand, though, it made its way back as my youngest brother and his friends would bring their 3DSs and their copies of Diamond/Pearl to play at lunch. :)
I went to a Christian school and they completely banned anything Pokemon. I brought in a magazine article on the infamous seizure episode to show my friend, and they confiscated it. I created my own fakemon cards on lineless note cards, and even made a little carrying/storage case out of notebook paper to hang on my desk with tape. They never took those away. I kept my Pokemon obsession at home only, collecting cards, manga, guides, toys and coloring books, wishing I could show them to my classmates. Eventually, I learned about other anime and was able to share my collections and ideas with others at last!
"Tajiri compared working on games like this to doing homework, just wanting to get them done as quickly as possible to the best of their ability so they can work on projects they were passionate about." And now sadly, Pokemon is Game Freak's homework.
Samuel Jansen that’s japan in a nutshell. If I’m remembering correctly that’s how they felt about fire emblem and so many other games. Our cultures are very different so it’s understandable but I think they underestimate gaming culture in the US.
This man is to thank for making my two favorite pastimes as a kid. 1. Playing pokemon with my brother and cousins 2. Going outside and pretending to play pokemon
I only knew the general story about him for years, and I haven't looked through the manga yet. Hearing the full details makes me respect this man much more especially for how much Pokemon has been a part of my life.
Tajiri is unlike many "superstar" game developers Meanwhile: *Kojima Productions will start making movies* Jokes aside, it's amazing how both Tajiri and Kojima stayed with their childhood passions and never gave them up. Big respect
Funny how my favourite games in the series are still the ones he directed (gen 2). Wonder what state the games would be in if he had stayed at the helm.
My first was yellow along with my dandelion yellow Gameboy color 20 years ago. I couldn't put the game down, wish I knew where my old cartridge is but it's been a long time
My first is heart gold. I'm not really good at games but this cemented my love for both pokemon and nintendo. Despite being burnt out by the poke controversy about sword and sheld.
Shin Megami Tensei was a huge influence on the final version of Pokémon. This has been documented at length in the past. While Pokémon was in development someone in the team played SMT. It fit so well with what they were trying to make that they just copied large chunks of the gameplay. It’s funny, since Persona 4, P4G, Persona 5, and SMT 4 have blown up in global popularity, it’s hard to find the interviews that used to have these old quotes. I think there Nintendo/Gamefreak has done a through Internet legal scrub to avoid having to pay out the massive amount of money that they owe Atlus.
And his rival was his mentor during Red/Blue. Sounds like a dick lol, tbh though, I think Gary gets a bad rep. When you're a kid, he sounds like a jackass, when you play later though, you sense a very subtle sense of tough love coming off him.
the part that talks about how he was looking for a verb & the whole cooperating & trading part after & based on his early life in nature was just beautiful how brilliantly did he develop these simple concepts
I'm actually really shocked I've never heard of this guy but now I know why I haven't. He is a much more private man. But wow it's amazing how much of an impact you made without having to be too far into the public eye. That would be a dream!
it's fascinating to me that this guy isn't recognized on the same level as miyamoto. he created a series just as influential (if not moreso) than mario OR zelda ... yet very few people know him by his name.
I think it's a good thing Tajiri decided to stay out of the public eye given the controversy surrounding the series, the national dex crowd will pretty much attack anyone involved with the series, even when they had nothing to do with Sword and Shield, they even attacked the game's producer (Masuda's job only focuses on pre and post production, so if you're blaming him for the dex cut, you're barking up the wrong tree)
@@Wiiguy1606 really every single complaint would be OK if it weren't for 2 thing First is game freak has to make yearly games they don't have the resources to make better games, hell even cod is made by 3 different developers Second game freak has only like 150 employees, that's just crazy when you realize some companies have 800+ and all their games sell less than 1 Pokemon games, sometimes even all their games combined
11:44 It takes a lot of courage to keep pushing forward in such trying times, thankfully he didn't give up, it's a bit of an understatement but his determination clearly paid off.
When I saw the title i thought "oh this will be a boring compendium of their life". But instead, his story was fascinating and I enjoyed the entire video. What an amazing guy and team.
Man, that's a hell of a story. Definitely felt like one of those "at the right place at the right time" deals. Otherwise, he might've been shelved due to not being funded or had he been at a different spot growing up he wouldnt have thought about some bug collecting thingy haha. Just wow tho.
The difference between the first game and games today really shows. Tajiri treated it like his own child, building the game for so long and the world reacted accordingly. Now they churn something out every 12 months from the leftovers of the previlus game.
@@Sullytaan yeah, before they aimed for a worldwide November release every year (with 2 from ORAS and SM) starting with XY, their release schedule was at least a year and a half between each game, and that included the sister games along with the remakes. From my remembrance, sword and shield had a 2 year development with not all of gamefreak working on it. Honestly, I prefer Valve's "work on what you want, release when you want" policy over yearly releases. I'd rather have no games be released and know they are polished (even if they suck, like artifact) than have unsustainable yearly releases.
@@sokoTV2 Except that Valve can allow themselves to work on their games for so long because Steam brings them a load of money on the table. If Steam wasn't so profitable, Valve would've either developed yearly game releases to stay afloat or completely focused on Steam and neglecting their franchises.
@@quasar4780 Does gamefreak not pull any money from merchandise, the card game, and the anime? Or is that all just creatures inc.? Also, even without steam, valve was really bad about releasing games. Half Life 1 only came out when it did because of Sierra, other than that they've either just outsourced work to other companies, been contractually obligated to release at a certain time, or released on their own time. So while I see where the thought that if they didn't have steam and loot boxes, they'd release games, comes from. I still get the feeling that valve would have run themselves bankrupt because of Gabe's tenacity to hold on to his work model. But it's hard to tell what exactly would make them start finishing games again because of the chaotic nature of the company.
The "humble beginnings" stories are always so good to listen to. To think that for most of us it started being the new early morning cartoon you'd watch before going to school when it actually started like this.
Woah, did I step back in time? Because you show the same reaction comment as a hardcore Star Wars fan after Disney bought they're asses, keep your opinions to yourself and i'll pretend to give you a Mega Ampharos OwO. Respect others opinions! *pretty please with Pokébeans on top?*
So thats the reason for the existence of Genwunners and Gentwoers. They were both directed by Satoshi Tajiri. After that it was never the same. When he wasn’t directing anymore.
I have a deep appreciation for that man and his dedication throughout it all. I don't play Pokemon anymore, but I still love it and all the memories, lessons and joy it has brought me and others, and all of it stems from that bug catcher.
So much effort and so much passion into a project to finally see it turn into such a big franchise, i have a lot of respect for Satoshi Tajiri and how he battled all the way through without giving up on his goal. Cant help but to also feel sad from the vid seeing how GameFreak is nowadays and in combo with the second gen soundtrack it made me shed a tear, could be that GF doesnt know how to handle/what to do with the new games or the yearly releases(could be a combo of both) but i guess one can only wait to see what happens,havent purchased a pokemon game since Soul Silver and from what i have seen from the new games its gonna be even more time for me to buy one again.
This game and its development is so interesting to me. Enough to where it deserves it’s own full fledged Documentary that then explores the insane craze that Pokémon was for the late 90s. Getting Pokémon Red when I was 8 is such an impressionable moment for me, I recently got to play the Switch remake with my kid and it having the 2 player option is just such a full circle moment. A part of me though kept thinking we were cheating, we should be starting off with GBC Red, exploring the glitches, the cheats…playing it vanilla, wondering if I can pass that forever passion and moment on to my son. The irony is it didn’t, instead Minecraft became that thing for him, but I get to play with him while I know that wonder and passion is there it’s just a different game..maybe one day we can play Pokémon Red in Minecraft and can meet in the middle
hey, if anyone that runs the DYKG channel sees this, this video isnt in the "Developer Videos" playlist, and neither is the Ken Sugimori video. just thought id let you know.
tajiri NEEDS to come back for the more relevant roles! the games really lack the flair from back then. it was mainly about collecting, exploring the world, YOUR adventure. alola had lillies family drama and narrow hallway routes...
I often wonder why Santoshi tajiri is so underappreciated despite coming from such big franchise he didn't gets the same love as shigero mymamoto get for making Zelda and mario I was 8 year old when I first learned about him since than I want to meet him sure you could say that's because he barely appeared in any sort of media but we as a fan should've given him recognition he deserves
"He played games so often during this time that one arcade just gave him a Space Invaders cabinet."
Goddamn.
And he actually spent a very long time on a single credit in Xevious
The only thing the local arcade here in town did, was let me stay until closing even if i didnt have cash that day. lol
I wonder if he still has that
If that doesn't tell you just how long he could go without paying a single yen, I don't know what does.:P
The only thing ever given to me at an arcade is Herpes simplex b ):
“So much so that one of his teachers blocked out time for him to present his findings to the class”
That is so wholesome. Imagine having a student so passionate about something that you willingly give them the floor to share what they found.
Present*
Tajiri would have been one heck of a scientist/science communicator in another life
It's because he had a learning disorder, so they felt bad for him.
American teachers would tell you to stfu and get back to work
@@prismatic1239 he seems around like 5-8 by that time, so its moreso if your school is crappy or not.
It seems like such a small detail but the teacher who blocked out time for him to share his findings changed his life for sure. It seems insignificant but its so important when mentor figures nurture passion. That just stood out to me so much
I thought you figured out that his teacher is the Pokemon professor and tajiri was the Pokemon catcher
Thank a teacher
Same, especially at that age. Like that's such a huge deal.
also the guy who gave him the space invaders cabinet. If only I had such visionary mentors
i still remember being in 1st grade and my hippie 20 yr old teacher inviting me up 2 teach the class when i caught her on some simple mistake, and then i did the same when 1 of the other kids caught a mistake i made
she also gave me extra points on a spelling test bc i drew the letters in the style of the word, like spikes coming out of the word spiky n shit like that
shit sticks in my head 2 this day, what a dope fuckin learning experience she fostered
This is the type of thing that keeps me motivated to make something out of my own life.
Tajiri:
-Barely finished college
-Struggled through debt for many years
-And had to put his passion project on hold for 6 years so that he could pay his employees.
I respect that so much.
He had alot motivation and passion. Imagine if he quit, we probably would have never had pokemon
chrischimera i wish we didn’t have trash sword and shield
@@Evan-ru6ro true maybe the next one won't be so ass
@@Evan-ru6ro please don't put that on Tajiri.
@@Runnersfree Why are you so mad?
Kid go in a forest = Zelda
Another kid go in the forest = Pokemon
Conclusion : take your kids and put him/her in a forest then wait.
Legit made me laugh.
Rooster Cake I smiled lol.
Logan paul would have done something
Shakeel Mubarak ....
I know my reply is incredibly cursed
That’s really sad how he lost a lot of his favorite nature spots
True. But his reaction was to create something that became a gift for all mankind. It's a lesson for all of us. When things we don't like happen, don't get upset, get creative.
@@williamgroves3134 Get upset and creative I say
Which is probably what inspired some of the environmentalist themes of the franchise
No it isn’t stop being a softy
@@Evan-ru6ro It does kinda suck.
This guy's life is crazy. He did so much at such a young age, I wish I had spent my childhood the way he did.
I wish I was anywhere was smart or motivated as he was lol.
@@tjlnintendo same. Man I have so many ideas about rpg games but it's never going to happen
Find SOMETHING and start SOMEWHERE
Anyone can do anything, you just got to show the world that you got what it takes to be an rpg master!
So don't just sit there, because now it's YOUR turn to strategize.
packlesswolf1 It's totally doable, you just gotta set realistic goals for yourself and you can do it
The Battle Tower in Pokémon Crystal has a Bug Catcher named Tajiri.
If you talk to him when your gameplay time is exactly at 4:20 he will begin to go down on your character and then the screen goes black and all of your pokemon are healed.
@@justice7788 What?
@@Ephraim225 He's not lying.
@@Nomad you are lying
Austin Starke how did someone figure that out
Man I love how you dont wait the person to be dead for celebrating his/her life
I still get a mini-heart attack every time they do one of these person of interest stories. 😢
It’s sad in today’s day and age.
@@brandonwilliams6119 wuh what is sad about this.
@Seven Vile Eyes It's sad because whenever someone is gaining a lot of attention in media, like when a persons name is trending on Twitter or DYKG features them, it's usually because the person in question either did something very controversial/stupid or they flat-out died. And we've had a lot of that happening lately.
I think they learned that with Mr. Iwata. A few months after his passing, you could see equally passionate videos about Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, Sakurai and now Tajiri.
I like how Miyamoto is always mentioned in some way lol
He's the Nick Fury of the Nintendo Cinematic Universe.
@@XellosNi that's a very good comment. We need more people like you on CZcams
@@XellosNi we like to talk about the nintendo initiative
@@JoseAlberto-dh8pf The Smash Initiative
The capitalist bastard.. we would have one version of the game if it wasn't for his meddling.
Man, these japanese game devs all have such beautiful stories.
Most all of them were very eager pioneers, who just really liked something and wanted to make it better, at a time when the tech was very new and no one else was doing a ton with it. It's incredible to hear stories like this.
Invader boom is like the bigbang of japanese game industry
It’s similar to other pioneered and new industries. It’s where young men really shy. Outcasts of society until it becomes a big success.
Dad: go to school or we are disowning you.
Son: Could I just make the biggest media franchise ever instead?
Pro-Gamer move if there ever was one...
Despite everything I don’t like about Sword and Shield and GF not telling us everything, I cannot lie about how much Tajiri’s work has had an effect on my life. Dude’s a good man, would high five him.
Same here
Well, that's the trouble. It's not Satoshi Tajiri's fault that Sword and Shield are bad. He hasn't worked on a Pokémon title since Crystal. And I give the guy a LOT of credit.
The trouble lies with Junichi Masuda, who was the music director for the original games. I don't know how he became game director and game producer but clearly the man does not know what he's doing. The ship has switched captains and the newest captain isn't doing a good job.
@@mikeliosketch746 it's not really Masadaa fault all that much, the problem is that the Pokemon company is pushing them too hard with yearly releases and the jump to HD really hurt them (and many other 3ds developers)
But even with all the problems and complaining from the internet I must say sword and shield are pretty good, I definitely like them more than Gen 7 (and 5 but I'm probably the only one)
Let's just hope we will get the rest of the Pokemon in the game in the future (if they don't come when Pokemon home is out we can loose all our hope )
Mike LIOSketch Why do game companies seem to do that a lot? Eidos also gave one of their art directors a lead designer role back in 2010
What makes a business go "Hey, this guy is good at one very specific aspect of our company so let's make him the head of everything" ? Makes no sense to me
@@idonteatcheetos well iwata was a programmer and did a good job as ceo at Nintendo
And masuda was a assistant director for Gen 2 and was ether a director or producer for every other Pokemon game, so don't go blaming him because he was probably in a leading role for your favorite Pokemon game
Tajiri's story is such an inspiration for me. In the 90's, Pokèmon was basically my religion, and sparked my interest in art because I loved drawing all of Ken Sugimori's creatures. Unfortunately instead of allowing me to share my drawings with my classmates, my teachers would confiscate them, and every adult would tell me how much I'm wasting my time and mind on video games. Today I have an art degree and am working on a big indie game that I hope will inspire others the way Tajiri's own passion project has inspired me.
How'd the game go? I wanna check it out if you're done!
@@PloopChute It's still being worked on, unfortunately 🤣 Progress is slow because of work, life and other projects & commitments, but I refuse to give up on it. I plan on posting Devlog videos about it once I get back to working on it full time though, which will hopefully be soon 😊 Thanks for the interest!
@Alfredo I'm gonna sub to your channel so if you finish it and post about it, I find out and can check it out! Hope to play it eventually! Good luck with the project!
@@PloopChute Thank you SO much! That really means a lot :) I should hopefully be able to get back to work on it soon, so I'm excited 😊
Satoshi Tajiri is a genius who shaped our childhood as well as adulthood. What a man!
It's another reminder that one of the world's most beloved franchises is lucky to have been created at all. Sure, many newer fans wouldn't know all this stuff and how close pokémon was to never getting made or being a success but when you hear it all through the lives of the devs you know everything they make in the franchise is very personal to them and regardless of what fans think at times, are made with alot of love and passion. We're super lucky they even made more than two generations as many games don't even get that far! ❤️
It used to be personal, now I think it's mostly run in a way to please the shareholders sadly
@@justice7788 i don't think so. What is happening is that for one, pokémon is primarily a kid game and adults who grew up with it expect more out of their gaming experiences than what they offer. Also, many people play pokemon for different reasons (like the sims community) and no matter what way you slide your game making decisions you can't please anyone and trying to make a middle ground always ends up pleasing no one.
Pokémon is a slower franchise to implement change and for a good reason, not for bad ones. Atm pokémon is trying to edge itself off its railroad experiences however they haven't yet worked out how to weave a story around that more open concept so we've ended up with a strange mash of the two, but after playing it it's pretty clear they've been trying something they are not entirely home with creating yet.
Other franchises go through this weird period (Zelda and Mario certainly have and have some strange experiments in some but ultimately those built up into to amazing experiences that we now have) and pokémon has had some brilliant ones over the years, but now they're in need to start fiddling around again to find what will work on the switch for them. It won't make everyone happy, however they have still ultimately poured love into every inch of what they have given us, even if they themselves are still finding their feet.
For a first attempt at something the franchise has never done before (a little bit of open world and more multiplayer focus) they have done reasonably alright and its a step in an interesting direction which I hope they continue with and improve on. One day we'll get that open pokémon world, we've just got to let them figure out how to go about it. Other companies have at least had practice to some degree before jumping into it and pokémon should be no different.
@@meikahidenori I didn't read much of your comment, because i don't care enough to. But I'm playing Sword right now and it doesn't feel good and I've been supporting the game this whole time but it's sadly really not that fun. I'm sure it's making money though
@@justice7788 and that's fine. All I did was explain why you're probably not enjoying it. All bandwagon hating aside, truth is pokémon is in a transition period and in a state where trying to make everyone happy, they've made no one happy. While it doesn't scratch my own expectations, I can see what they were trying to do and would like them to keep trying. New players and younger ones will still love it and that won't change (my 4 yr old loves it to peices and that makes me happy as it was her birthday present)
@@meikahidenori read that comment, and I agree.
8:46 "In 1989 Nintendo released the Gameboy."
*"Oh yeah, it's all coming together now."*
It's unfortunate that he doesn't have as much involvement in creating the games anymore. I love his work.
I don't blame him. Like Valve, he switched from making games to making money.
Okay I think it can be agreed that Mr. Tajiri has had incredible self motivation all his life and it truly shows what can happen with true determination and passion.
But I'm so blown away by the Game Freak magazine. He drew everything and wrote everything himself. As a teenager. And thusly managed to sell in stores. Like, the amount of drive this man had even in the years most of us have next to none is so moving and inspiring. Would love if anyone knows of a good documentary about Mr. Tajiri.
His father before: stupid boy
His father now: *silently plays Pokémon*
How Pokemon was made:
I WANT MADCAPS!
I like to think Xenoblade was based a lot on frustration in other RPGs
"why can't I just go back there NOW? I just want to buy an item sold in that store and come back. It should just be in the menu to warp back there"
"I've killed the 5 rhino things for the quest, can't the quest just be OVER now?"
"WHERE does that guy live who gives out that quest again?"
"ugh I don't like waiting for my turn to fight, maybe my MOVES should be waiting for ME to take THEM"
I like how the only bad luck in this mans life was not getting a mad cap in dragon quest.
Almost going bankrupt and living off his parents income is considered good luck???
@@kylewoodowens4488 that's not luck, that's economy,
A lot of props and respect to this man, very passionate and his hard work paid off
Shit makes me wanna cry 😭
C'mon, no need to reply to you're own comment, I'm here for you fam. I am the reply!
Natto Nep 🥺
I'm not sure what that emoji is because i'm commenting from a PS4 and I see a rectangle with a cross going through it but I don't think need have to know, thank you for replying! \(^v^)/
Yes we get it another rich guy gets his private parts sucked off by a brainwashed consumer that will buy anything with the word pokemon slapped on it
12:51
"Tajiri also insisted the monsters faint after losing a battle instead of dying, because he thought there was already enough violence in the world and didn't want kids to associate losing a game with death"
*Nuzlock Challenges: "ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES"*
Yeah but Nuzlocke could be seen as an adult type of challenge.
THIS IS GOLD
+ pokedex entries,pokémon special manga and the anime
It’s a shame he never makes media appearances though
Yeah it's really a shame but I really hope he's still happy and appreciated in his current position at the company because he really deserves that 🙏
You don't want him to. He's a HUGE asshole to American Poke'mon fans.
@@BadGirlsBeotchBlog can i get an example? I'm interested
Bad Girl's Bitch Blog
Can you really blame him though?
@@BadGirlsBeotchBlog perhaps I have the answer for that
I know he won't read this but thanks for this piece of work, Satoshi Tajiri. You and your team helped give me a wonderful childhood and everlasting love for this franchise even when things may seem bad for it. :)
"It all started with a kid catching bugs"
I love the Pokémon music in the background, good choice.
National Park ❤️
Nightling Bosconovitch
0:00 Pallet Town
0:37 Professor Oak's Lab
1:36 Violet City
3:50 Route 24
5:25 Ecruteak City
7:45 ???
8:21 Gym
10:24 ???
11:45 Azalea Town
13:27 Pokemon Main Theme
15:15 Goldenrod City
16:57 National Park
Yeah these tracks brought me back
They are great tracks
You can thank the future co-director and director of 2nd gen and 3rd generation for that respectively. Mayuda was the composer originally. His thing was music.
I'm just happy that his teacher had the sense to encourage him with his passion. His teacher must have recognized his genius then.
I will never get tired of hearing Satoshi Tajiri's story. How catching small bugs and playing outside impacted his life, nature has its way of inspirong everyone
Man, this is really good! Satoshi's story is even more inspirational than I had imagined!
Those character illustrations on the magazine covers/early game concept art are clearly where the NPC trainers' designs came from too.
This video has the wrong hashtags.
Seems about right to me~
What do you mean, Death Stranding is my favourite Pokemon game to date.
Pokémon Stranding: Diamond and BTearl
Gotta deliver ‘em all!
No no, they're right :^)
I am so glad I was a kid during Pokemania. It was such an amazing and fun time in my life. So many memories I would never give up for anything in the world.
No wonder silver and gold are my favorite ones, those were the last ones he directed
sephiros9999
Makes sense
Yeah, I loved Red/Blue and Gold/Silver, but I could not STAND Ruby/Sapphire. Everything felt completely different, it didn't have the same soul anymore. It killed my interest in Pokemon. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that this was why.
Chillin' Like a Villain Killin' Krillin
Yup which is a shame
I dont see how r/s/e sucks
@@L33PL4Y ummmm ur drunk and stupid, what about Pokémon black and white 2 , platinum , and hg/ss those were excellent games and hg/ss is a better game than gold and silver since it was an enhancement of the game
I literally teared up watching this...
"The next step of Tajiri's career came from an unexpected place: frustration. After Dragon Quest 2's-
Say no more, I feel him.
Ah, yes. Who can forget Satoshi Tajiri's most beloved game?
Death Stranding
Yeah and dark souls.
@@DK19998 And the Elder Scroll V
15:47 "The game became so popular that many schools had to ban the trading cards"
I remember when they were banned at my school. Some people brought bootleg trading cards and sold them for money. That was the straw. XD Must've been be 98-99 or something.
In my school they used as an motivation to learn. If a student solve some math problem in front of the class the teacher would give a Pokémon sticker. She bought an entire collection of stickers and all my class got better at Math just to collect it.
The school I studied at all my life ban anything Pokemon related due to it's satanism.
@@Weareonenation303 Yep, same here. My school was just as rife with it as any other American school at first and I still look back on that time with great fondness. For a time there wasn't a single lunch that went by without at least two guys battling or trading on their GameBoy Colors off by themselves and a whole crowd of people watching two kids play the card game at a different table. My school was hyper Christian and conservative, and it eventually came out that, *gasp*, some of the designs were based on a variety of real world mythologies. The parents flipped their shit and the school reacted accordingly. From what I understand, though, it made its way back as my youngest brother and his friends would bring their 3DSs and their copies of Diamond/Pearl to play at lunch. :)
I went to a Christian school and they completely banned anything Pokemon. I brought in a magazine article on the infamous seizure episode to show my friend, and they confiscated it. I created my own fakemon cards on lineless note cards, and even made a little carrying/storage case out of notebook paper to hang on my desk with tape. They never took those away. I kept my Pokemon obsession at home only, collecting cards, manga, guides, toys and coloring books, wishing I could show them to my classmates. Eventually, I learned about other anime and was able to share my collections and ideas with others at last!
"Tajiri compared working on games like this to doing homework, just wanting to get them done as quickly as possible to the best of their ability so they can work on projects they were passionate about."
And now sadly, Pokemon is Game Freak's homework.
oof man
Is that a biographical manga about him?
Yup and details his life and development of red and blue, even shows some prototype pokemon
No it isn’t genius
Did you watch the video at all?
"Despite fears that western audiences wouldn't find the game so compelling..."
They. Were. Wrong.
Samuel Jansen that’s japan in a nutshell. If I’m remembering correctly that’s how they felt about fire emblem and so many other games. Our cultures are very different so it’s understandable but I think they underestimate gaming culture in the US.
@@NATA5II Nani desu ka?
I love hearing stories like these, they're very inspiring.
This man is to thank for making my two favorite pastimes as a kid. 1. Playing pokemon with my brother and cousins
2. Going outside and pretending to play pokemon
I only knew the general story about him for years, and I haven't looked through the manga yet. Hearing the full details makes me respect this man much more especially for how much Pokemon has been a part of my life.
"Tajiri Was An Insect Fanatic."
I can relate...I used to collect bugs when I was a little girl!! 😌😉👍
I can’t hold back the tears when I think about what incredible things this man’s work has done in my life. Bless this man, and his creativity.
Tajiri is unlike many "superstar" game developers
Meanwhile: *Kojima Productions will start making movies*
Jokes aside, it's amazing how both Tajiri and Kojima stayed with their childhood passions and never gave them up. Big respect
Now that is an inspiring story from gamefreak's golden days. Gens 1-3 are my personal favorites.
Funny how my favourite games in the series are still the ones he directed (gen 2). Wonder what state the games would be in if he had stayed at the helm.
It was all a dream, I used to read Game Freak magazine
I’ll never forget the first time I beat Pokémon Red.. on Gameboy Color.. how nostalgic
My first was yellow along with my dandelion yellow Gameboy color 20 years ago. I couldn't put the game down, wish I knew where my old cartridge is but it's been a long time
I will never forget erasing my brothers save file then tried making it up to him by catching a charizard on the new game I started
Elite 4
My first is heart gold. I'm not really good at games but this cemented my love for both pokemon and nintendo. Despite being burnt out by the poke controversy about sword and sheld.
12:51 I wonder what his opinions on nuzlockes are
This was amazing to watch. Thank you for making this documentary.
No mentions on Ultra Seven? It was one of the inspirations for the monster capturing concept.
Hello mate what is your favourite kamen rider Seres
Shin Megami Tensei was a huge influence on the final version of Pokémon. This has been documented at length in the past. While Pokémon was in development someone in the team played SMT. It fit so well with what they were trying to make that they just copied large chunks of the gameplay. It’s funny, since Persona 4, P4G, Persona 5, and SMT 4 have blown up in global popularity, it’s hard to find the interviews that used to have these old quotes. I think there Nintendo/Gamefreak has done a through Internet legal scrub to avoid having to pay out the massive amount of money that they owe Atlus.
My boy Satoshi is the *real life Ash Ketchum.* 😂
Real life Red actually
That's why in the japanese version of the anime, Ash is called Satoshi
Did he catch em all though?
He’s probably Red, because he’s more chill and not annoying.
And his rival was his mentor during Red/Blue.
Sounds like a dick lol, tbh though, I think Gary gets a bad rep.
When you're a kid, he sounds like a jackass, when you play later though, you sense a very subtle sense of tough love coming off him.
Damn hearing the Title Screen music from G,R,B,Y made me smile so much 😢. Amazing how far this series has come!
You can thank the future director Junichi Masuda for that. He originally started off as the composer.
the part that talks about how he was looking for a verb & the whole cooperating & trading part after & based on his early life in nature was just beautiful how brilliantly did he develop these simple concepts
During college I purchased both red and blue and captured all 151 (using a glitch to encounter mew in the wild.) One of my proudest accomplishments.
When you recognize Game Grumps game footage because of the name Claarf.
I'm actually really shocked I've never heard of this guy but now I know why I haven't. He is a much more private man. But wow it's amazing how much of an impact you made without having to be too far into the public eye. That would be a dream!
it's fascinating to me that this guy isn't recognized on the same level as miyamoto. he created a series just as influential (if not moreso) than mario OR zelda ... yet very few people know him by his name.
This brought tears to my eye :')
I think it's a good thing Tajiri decided to stay out of the public eye given the controversy surrounding the series, the national dex crowd will pretty much attack anyone involved with the series, even when they had nothing to do with Sword and Shield, they even attacked the game's producer (Masuda's job only focuses on pre and post production, so if you're blaming him for the dex cut, you're barking up the wrong tree)
It's a good and bad thing, he won't get blamed for stuff like you mentioned but he will also never get the respect and acknowledgment he deserves
@@Wiiguy1606 really every single complaint would be OK if it weren't for 2 thing
First is game freak has to make yearly games they don't have the resources to make better games, hell even cod is made by 3 different developers
Second game freak has only like 150 employees, that's just crazy when you realize some companies have 800+ and all their games sell less than 1 Pokemon games, sometimes even all their games combined
@@VeranaXS Finally someone with a brain
@@VeranaXS But gamefreak should rly hire more people and start innovating
Gold and Silver will always be my favorite gen.
Oh wow! This is how much hard work, sweat, and tears went into this beloved franchise?!
11:44
It takes a lot of courage to keep pushing forward in such trying times, thankfully he didn't give up, it's a bit of an understatement but his determination clearly paid off.
Bug Catcher: Gotta catch em all!
Or about half of em, maybe less.
Now is just "Gotta catch some of 'em"
Its amazing to see the games we like came from such humble beginnings
When I saw the title i thought "oh this will be a boring compendium of their life".
But instead, his story was fascinating and I enjoyed the entire video. What an amazing guy and team.
Man, that's a hell of a story. Definitely felt like one of those "at the right place at the right time" deals. Otherwise, he might've been shelved due to not being funded or had he been at a different spot growing up he wouldnt have thought about some bug collecting thingy haha. Just wow tho.
I cried watching this. Holy.
6 years...
Imagine what gamefreak could do with that time today.
The difference between the first game and games today really shows. Tajiri treated it like his own child, building the game for so long and the world reacted accordingly. Now they churn something out every 12 months from the leftovers of the previlus game.
@@Sullytaan yeah, before they aimed for a worldwide November release every year (with 2 from ORAS and SM) starting with XY, their release schedule was at least a year and a half between each game, and that included the sister games along with the remakes. From my remembrance, sword and shield had a 2 year development with not all of gamefreak working on it.
Honestly, I prefer Valve's "work on what you want, release when you want" policy over yearly releases. I'd rather have no games be released and know they are polished (even if they suck, like artifact) than have unsustainable yearly releases.
Sultan Ijaz yeah that’s an issue with huge franchises they have keep product out all the time or else the begin to lose lots of money
@@sokoTV2 Except that Valve can allow themselves to work on their games for so long because Steam brings them a load of money on the table. If Steam wasn't so profitable, Valve would've either developed yearly game releases to stay afloat or completely focused on Steam and neglecting their franchises.
@@quasar4780 Does gamefreak not pull any money from merchandise, the card game, and the anime? Or is that all just creatures inc.?
Also, even without steam, valve was really bad about releasing games. Half Life 1 only came out when it did because of Sierra, other than that they've either just outsourced work to other companies, been contractually obligated to release at a certain time, or released on their own time. So while I see where the thought that if they didn't have steam and loot boxes, they'd release games, comes from. I still get the feeling that valve would have run themselves bankrupt because of Gabe's tenacity to hold on to his work model. But it's hard to tell what exactly would make them start finishing games again because of the chaotic nature of the company.
The "humble beginnings" stories are always so good to listen to. To think that for most of us it started being the new early morning cartoon you'd watch before going to school when it actually started like this.
Video correction: in the US the anime began airing first on Sept 7 1998, with the games released Sept 28 1998.
Where are you when we need you, Satoshi?
@Bo Bo hes not exactly doing a good job considering that pos junichi is in charge.
@@heydude4193 pos junichi made some of the best games in the series y'know
@@wermutton2125 false. As soon as he took over was when things started declining.
Woah, did I step back in time? Because you show the same reaction comment as a hardcore Star Wars fan after Disney bought they're asses, keep your opinions to yourself and i'll pretend to give you a Mega Ampharos OwO. Respect others opinions! *pretty please with Pokébeans on top?*
@@nattonep8788 yeah your mega ampharos doesnt exist anymore so no
He looks like he's being held at gunpoint and being forced to smile in the thumbnail.
So thats the reason for the existence of Genwunners and Gentwoers. They were both directed by Satoshi Tajiri. After that it was never the same. When he wasn’t directing anymore.
Satoshi winning the Pokémon league was his biggest win!
Pokemon: Solid & Liquid are my favorite!
Mine is Pokemon: Vapor
Tags in description are still for Kojima lol
I have a deep appreciation for that man and his dedication throughout it all. I don't play Pokemon anymore, but I still love it and all the memories, lessons and joy it has brought me and others, and all of it stems from that bug catcher.
I was this years old when I found out Tajiri made Ash with his own name in Japanese. Satoshi means Ash for those who never watched pokemon in japanes3
So much effort and so much passion into a project to finally see it turn into such a big franchise, i have a lot of respect for Satoshi Tajiri and how he battled all the way through without giving up on his goal.
Cant help but to also feel sad from the vid seeing how GameFreak is nowadays and in combo with the second gen soundtrack it made me shed a tear, could be that GF doesnt know how to handle/what to do with the new games or the yearly releases(could be a combo of both) but i guess one can only wait to see what happens,havent purchased a pokemon game since Soul Silver and from what i have seen from the new games its gonna be even more time for me to buy one again.
From humble beginnings came great things.
Satoshi is the reason for so many wonderful memories💘
This game and its development is so interesting to me. Enough to where it deserves it’s own full fledged Documentary that then explores the insane craze that Pokémon was for the late 90s. Getting Pokémon Red when I was 8 is such an impressionable moment for me, I recently got to play the Switch remake with my kid and it having the 2 player option is just such a full circle moment. A part of me though kept thinking we were cheating, we should be starting off with GBC Red, exploring the glitches, the cheats…playing it vanilla, wondering if I can pass that forever passion and moment on to my son. The irony is it didn’t, instead Minecraft became that thing for him, but I get to play with him while I know that wonder and passion is there it’s just a different game..maybe one day we can play Pokémon Red in Minecraft and can meet in the middle
I saw Dragon Ball's Bulma in one of the GameFreak mangas wearing her skanky bunny suit lol
We need Tajiri to return. Pokemon is suffering and it needs his passion.
Dreams from Asia in the 60s changed my life in the 2000s and still to this day. So much so my children now love Pokémon as well
hey, if anyone that runs the DYKG channel sees this, this video isnt in the "Developer Videos" playlist, and neither is the Ken Sugimori video. just thought id let you know.
Sick hideo kojima death stranding vid dawg!
I saw you sneak that game grumps fire red footage in there.
Well, I never!
It makes me happy knowing my favorite franchise is the highest grossing one of all time.
Anybody else blown away by the art work?
tajiri NEEDS to come back for the more relevant roles! the games really lack the flair from back then.
it was mainly about collecting, exploring the world, YOUR adventure. alola had lillies family drama and narrow hallway routes...
Agreed! Satoshi needs to be more hands on again instead of letting others drag his creation through shit.
I wonder what he thinks of the state of pokemon currently. Im sure if he hates it, Nintendo wouldnt give two shits.
As a jrpg pokemon needs a story. Im guessing you also dislike bw smh
I'm playing Sword right now. 👀
I often wonder why Santoshi tajiri is so underappreciated despite coming from such big franchise he didn't gets the same love as shigero mymamoto get for making Zelda and mario I was 8 year old when I first learned about him since than I want to meet him sure you could say that's because he barely appeared in any sort of media but we as a fan should've given him recognition he deserves
Pokemon will always have a special place in my gaming life
What i learned from this is that the simplest passions can drive you to great success
Tajiri is so handsome.