The creation myth of Pikachu

The creation myth of Pikachu: inspired by a squirrel and mochi sweets

What animal does Pikachu resemble? While most Pokemon fans believe that the cute, lemon-colored creature was created based on a mouse, the creative minds behind the popular game character recently revealed it was inspired by a squirrel. And before that, a Daifuku (stuffed glutinous rice cake).

Pikachu was designed in 1996 when Pokemon was first released on video game giant Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld game console. At the time, most Pokemon characters were created to be huge monsters, so the developers decided to create a cute, lovable character.

Pikachu’s design prototype was created by Nishida Atsuko, who came up with a mochi-shaped creature with ears. She also gave the character the name Pikachu. The name has combined the Japanese words “pika,” an onomatopoeic word for lightening, and “chu,” which has a cute sound.

Nishida was then told to make the character even cuter, and squirrels became her source of inspiration. “At the time I was into squirrels and was considering getting one as a pet,” the designer told The Yomiuri Shimbun during an interview on Wednesday.

The red dots on Pikachu’s face resembled a squirrels’ plumped cheeks. The cute monster’s thunderbolt-shaped tail was also inspired by a squirrels’ fluffy, long tails.

After Pikachu was created, it was reported that one of the game developers Nishino Kouji fell in love with the lovable character and decided to make it harder for players to catch one. Unexpectedly to Nishino though, his intention to hide Pikachu failed – the challenge only kindled a Pikachu craze and created one of the world’s most popular game characters.