On the day Pokemon Let’s GO Pikachu/Eevee was revealed, The Pokemon Company shared an interview on the details behind Pikachu’s creation, where Game Freak designers Sugimori, Nishida, and Nishino discussed about the popular Pokemon.

The interview has been translated into English. Check out all the important points below.

– Pikachu was specifically designed to be cute
– Pokémon were originally envisioned to be more “tough-looking” overall
– a few people in the company expressed desire for cuter Pokémon
– Sugimori was unsure of how to approach a cute design since he was coming at it from a “boy’s perspective”
– the women of the company were turned to to make Pikachu cute
– Nishida wasn’t on the Pokémon team at first, as she was actually working on character designs for a Mega Drive game
– after switching over to the Pokémon team, she was given the vague outline to design an “electric type” with “two evolutions”
– the original design was done directly in pixel art and resembled a daifuku (a mochi rice cake filled with sweet filling)
– Pikachu’s electricity-holding cheeks were inspired by squirrels
– the color yellow was chosen because of the electric motif
– yellow also naturally complimented the red-green-blue colorings of the first-generation starter Pokémon
– Nishida collaborated with Nishino on the design
– Nishino sent it back a few times, telling her to “make [it] even cuter.”
– Nishino was so attached to Pikachu’s design that he purposefully made Pikachu harder to find in-game
– Pikachu’s rarity only made it more popular amongst players
– Pikachu’s name came from “Pika-Pika,” which is a Japanese onomatopoeia for glittering and shining
– the “chu” part comes from the sound of a mouse squeak
– Sugimori attributes Pikachu’s biggest break in popularity to the anime
– it was a very deliberate decision to have Pikachu as Ash’s partner Pokémon
– the team thinks Pikachu’s simplistic and appealing design is what makes it a fan favorite