As bizarre as it may seem, it’s almost impossible to put into words how much of an impact Sonic the Hedgehog has had on my life. Perhaps the most significant thing Sonic ever did for me was to teach me how to put stupid prejudices aside, grow the hell up and learn to appreciate games as a wide and varied media – rather than just ammunition for pathetic factional sabre-rattling...

Today, the Pokémon franchise is the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. With dozens of incredibly successful video games, over a thousand episodes of its iconic animated series, and an even greater number of collectable Trading Cards and characters more recognisable than Disney’s Mickey Mouse.

After more than 25 years of Pokémania, it’s almost impossible to remember a time from before Pikachu. For many of us, Pokémon’s just always been there as a part of the pop culture landscape. For others, especially those of us who grew up with the very beginning of the franchise, it can even be life-defining.

But, if you’re really looking for someone whose life is incontrovertibly intertwined with every single strand of the franchise’s DNA, look no further than the man behind the entire thing to begin with: Satoshi Tajiri...

Satoshi Tajiri – Pokémon’s creator – was a man for whom passion became an obsession. His childhood exploring the woods near his home in Machida, Tokyo, earned him the nickname “Dr Bug”. His later fixation on video games eventually grew into poring over them and writing detailed guides for other players. Not to mention threatening his future by nearly causing him to drop out of school.

However, we wouldn’t be here, talking about him, today were it not for his obsessive traits. His love of video games developed into the frustration that, surely, they could be even better? As all great obsessives are won’t to do, Tajiri set about solving this problem quite directly. If the games he was playing weren’t that great, he’d just make his own, better games...