Pikachu is considered the most famous Pokémon, as it is Ash’s starter Pokémon in the game series and is now the mascot of the series. But how did Pikachu come about and how has it developed over time?

The secret behind the creation of Pikachu has only now been revealed, 22 years after the first two Pokémon parts. Some of the developers who were involved in the creation of the first games spoke to the Japanese side Yomiuri Shinbun about the yellow Pokémon.

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Not only did it turn out that Pikachu wasn’t actually supposed to be a mouse, but also that a further development was originally planned after Raichu – and it was supposed to look much more frightening. We have summarized all statements from the interview.

Not a cute monster for Pokémon

Originally, art designer Ken Sugimori had a relatively dark picture in mind for Pokémon. After all, monsters fight against each other in the game and they are usually evil and scary. So he designed Mewtwo, Gyarados and Snorlax, all of which for him had masculine connotations.

At some point, however, the idea came up to integrate cute monsters into the game. To do this, they brought a woman on board: Atsuko Nishida, who already worked on the Game Freak title Pulseman. She was commissioned to design a cute Pokémon – Pikachu’s birth.

Pikachu is so cute

Pikachu should be cute. Apparently the sweetest thing Nishida could think of was daifuku – a Japanese dessert made from rice flour. In the first draft, body and head could not be separated; it was impossible to tell where what ended and what began. Unfortunately, there are no more pictures of this design phase, Nishida explained Yomiuri Shinbun opposite, it is up to personal imagination what Pikachu looked like back then.

Pikachu a squirrel?

As you can probably imagine, the Daifuku design was quickly discarded. It wasn’t cute enough for the other designers, because Snorlax was also supposed to be reminiscent of a Daifuku – Pikachu was supposed to be clearly different from it.

So Nishida took inspiration from something else that she found very cute at the time: squirrels! It’s not entirely true that Pikachu is a mouse. Pikachu’s red cheeks were modeled after those of squirrels with food in their mouths. The tail should be similar in size to that of a squirrel, but in the shape of a lightning bolt to match the specifications of an Electric-type Pokémon.

Or maybe a mouse?

However, when Ken Sugimori first saw Pikachu in this design, he connoted it to be an electric mouse and not a squirrel. That’s exactly how it is still noted in his PokéDex entry today.

Not yellow, but black and white

Originally, Pikachu, like so many other Pokémon, had no color. After all, the GameBoy at that time could only reproduce shades of the same color. Colors were then required for the first time for the Pokémon series. Pikachu turned yellow to make it easier to identify his type.

The mysterious Gorochu

In addition to the requirement that the Pokémon Nishida evolves should be Electric-type, she was also given the requirement to deliver two other evolutions: Raichu was born – and Gorochu. Gorochu had an open mouth and fangs, and horns grew out of his head.

However, the Pokémon had to be removed from the game due to balancing problems. To this day, it is a mystery what Gorochu really looked like. Maybe even the new electric Pokémon Zeraora was originally Gorochu and has now finally made it into the game. In terms of appearance, the Pokémon would at least fit the rough description.

And suddenly Pikachu is famous

The developers were apparently surprised that Pikachu would quickly become one of the most popular Pokémon. Because there was no internet back then, they couldn’t understand why the trend arose. However, they at least contributed a little. After all, Pikachu is one of the protagonists of the Pokémon series alongside Ash.

In addition, Koji Nishino, who was responsible for the release rate at the time, admits in the interview that he made Pikachu’s rate particularly low because he liked the Pokémon so much and wanted to keep it rare. This rarity probably contributed to Pikachu being so popular in the first games.

Pikachu becomes slimmer

In 2013, Pikachu got a new design. Although a few games had previously appeared that slightly changed the design of the iconic Pokémon, this change was probably the most severe to date. Pikachu became significantly thinner, his red cheeks a little larger and his arms longer.

The slimming craze continued

While Pikachu still follows the 2013 design in the games, it appears to have lost even more weight in the latest film. This is also indicated by the new official Pikachu artwork, in which the cute pocket monster has been slightly transformed; the head is slightly rounder and the stomach is slightly thinner than in the 2013 design.

No longer unique

However, in addition to the classic Pikachu from the games, there are now numerous variations. In Pokémon Go, Pikachus can always be found wearing different hats, be it a Santa Claus hat or Ash’s Cappy. And with the game Detective Pikachu, the cute monster became a little fatter again, although not everyone liked it. Above all, players were bothered by the fact that Pikachu now speaks, as for a long time this was only reserved for Meowth from Team Rocket.

Unexpected competition for Pikachu

Because Pikachu is coming under more and more criticism and has long had a lot of competition in the form of other, even cuter Pokémon, the site states Yomiuri Shinbun the question of whether Sugimori himself would like to create Pikachu’s successor. He admits that he has been trying to do this for a long time: he designed Piepi, an attempt to create a cute Pokémon himself. However, the Pokémon was always in the shadow of Pikachu. Maybe now is finally the time?