Character design changes can be controversial at the best of times. Sometimes, a redesign is for the best (just check out these original Disney character concepts), but fans can react badly when much-loved characters are given a new look, as we saw most recently with Donkey Kong.
The Pokémon have become a global cultural phenomenon that's lasted longer than many would have predicted. For many, Pikachu remains the most recognisable of the more than 1,000 pocket monsters, but it turns out that Nintendo thought the original design for the species wasn't cut out for the US market and needed a more adult design to succeed. How wrong it was!
Kept wondering what the Cats-esque “tiger with breasts” Pikachu might look like. pic.twitter.com/epgRDU8IMxJuly 14, 2020
For at least five years, there’s been a rumour doing the rounds that Nintendo of America asked the game developer Game Freak to give the famous Pokémon mascot human-like breasts.
There had been some debate about whether something may have got lost in translation since the Japanese word 'mune' could also refer to male pecs, but Japan's Game*Spark has tracked down the original interview with The Pokémon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara from 25 years ago. It seems conclusive.
"When I first showed Pokémon to them, they told me it was too cute," Tsunekazu said. "The staff at Nintendo of America then suggested their own designs for the characters – I won't show those illustrations to anyone as long as I live, but they kind of looked like the characters from the Cats musical."
He said that Nintendo's Pikachu redesign resembled “a tabby cat with huge breasts". When the interviewer sought clarification by asking if this design was “like those girls who do Pikachu cosplays at anime conventions,” Tsunekazu said, “Yes, exactly.”
"They presented that kind of design to us for real," he added "I thought it was interesting, in a sense of appreciating such cultural differences. However, I didn't want to compete in the market with that kind of thing."
I'm imagining something like Renamon from Digimon, and I think developers were right to veto the proposal – not because of inappropriateness, but it simply wouldn't have made sense. Pikachu is not a Digimon. Sure there have been some humanoid forms, like Machop and Ralts, but the appeal of Pokémon is that they're cute and clearly non-human.
Also remember that the Pokémon weren't originally of a specific gender. If Pikachu was given female breasts, I wonder how they would have adapted the design to the addition of male and female Pokémon in Gen IV. Would the species no longer have needed the sexual dimorphism in the tail design?
For more character design news, see the controversy over Miary Zo in Tekken 8.
Working on your own characters? See our roundup of character design tips.
