Who designed Pikachu?

[33Whimsicott33]

It's the mascot of the franchise we love, subject to small redesigns in the early years and art evolution over time. But who came up with the idea for this specific Pokemon?

There's 4 people in the credits of the original Pokemon Red and Green that were charged with the task of monster design, but no one specific is ever cited as a designer for a specific Pokemon.

We've gotten little tidbits like how James Turner made the Vanillie and Golett line, or on how Shigeki Morimoto snuck Mew into the game. Ken Sugimori standardizes all monster designs to his own style. But... who came up with the original Pikachu's design?

Just something for curiosity.

 

[Almonds]

Pikachu was one of several different Pokémon designs conceived by Game Freak's character development team and finalized by artist Ken Sugimori.

So it seems it was made as the result of teamwork

 

[S.S. Shadow Minun]

Pikachu is designed by Ken Sugimori, and artwork has been changed slightly over the years due to Ken's drawing style. May (Haruka)'s design was based off Lisa Hartfield from Pulseman, but looked different due to the same reason.

 

[Garren]

Atsuko Nishida

No lie, a Black and White interview done with GameFreak mentioned it was her.

 

[Owain]

Atsuko Nishida

No lie, a Black and White interview done with GameFreak mentioned it was her.

Darn, was going to post that, only a few hours late *O*

Kinda weird how her BP page doesn't mention it IMO.