Fresh light has been shone on an interview that claims Nintendo once suggested Pokémon’s beloved mascot Pikachu should have breasts.
The interview, with The Pokémon Company’s veteran CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, dates back around 25 years, and is in Japanese — something that has prompted debate over the exact translation of what Ishihara originally said.
Now, however, Japanese site Game*Spark (via Automaton) has examined the original interview in detail to uncover as firm an interpretation as possible — and yes, it really does seem to be what it sounds like.
Firstly, let’s examine what Ishihara says, before further discussing the specific issue over the word “breasts.” For context, Ishihara is discussing an early conversation he had with Nintendo of America employees regarding the localisation of the Pokémon franchise — before it launched in the West and became the global phenomenon it is today.
“When I first showed Pokémon to them, they told me it was too cute,” Ishihara recalled. “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.
“So, for example, Pikachu was changed into a character shaped like a kind of a tabby cat with huge breasts.”
As Automaton notes, there is some debate here about the exact Japanese word used to describe “breasts,” which could also mean pronounced masculine pecs. However, there’s added context in what is said next.
When Ishihara is asked whether he means breasts “like those girls who do Pikachu cosplays at anime conventions,” the CEO replies in the affirmative.
“Yes, exactly,” Ishihara states, “they presented that kind of design to us for real. I thought it was interesting, in a sense of appreciating such cultural differences. However, I didn’t want to compete in the [overseas] market with that kind of thing.”
One final wrinkle in the matter is a subsequent anecdote from the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who in 2008 recalled early localisation conversations that featured a westernised Pikachu concept with big muscles, in an attempt to make the mascot “stronger and scarier.”
But, as Game*Spark notes, this could simply refer to an additional concept also being discussed in the same meetings, as Nintendo suggested a range of alterations. And, if anything, it’s yet more proof that Nintendo once had some eye-opening ideas to change the design of some Pokémon for the franchise’s rollout outside of Japan.
Judging by the popularity of Pokémon today, and the failure of Cats’ movie adaptation, that’s probably for the best.
Image credit: Universal.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
