Hironobu Yoshida

Hironobu Yoshida (Japanese: 吉田宏信) is a graphic designer who has been involved with several aspects of the Pokémon franchise for many years. Since Pokémon Yellow in 1997, Yoshida has had a hand in the development of the majority of main series Pokémon games, both as a graphic and Pokémon designer.

Hironobu Yoshida (left) with Junichi Masuda

He is credited in several of the Pokémon movies within the character design department and has illustrated a handful of cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. He also designed the main art for the World Championships since 2007. Pokémon he is known to have designed include Wobbuffet, Dunsparce, and several Legendary and Mythical Pokémon such as Celebi, Rayquaza, Deoxys, and Darkrai.[1]

Additionally, he created an array of unique characters and lent his voice to some of them for the Game Boy Advance game Drill Dozer, another Game Freak title directed by fellow Pokémon designer Ken Sugimori in 2005.

He has also branched into other media, performing a live-action version of the Poké Dude Show (an in-game tutorial featured in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen), dressing up as Primo, the Poké Dude, and giving advice on how to do various things in the Pokémon games. He reprises this role in the song Teach Me, Poké Dude!, in which he engages a group of children in the same manner as the in-game character and provides the main vocals.

Pokémon

The following is a list of Pokémon designed by Hironobu Yoshida.

Works

Games
Title Platform Date Position
Pokémon Yellow VersionGame Boy1998Pokémon Design
Pokémon Gold and Silver VersionsGame Boy Color1999Pokémon Design
Pokémon Crystal VersionGame Boy Color2000Pokémon Design/Pokémon Animation/Graphics Design
Pokémon Stadium 2Nintendo 642000Original Character Design
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire VersionsGame Boy Advance2002Main Graphic Designer/Pokémon & Graphic Designer
Pokémon Box Ruby & SapphireNintendo GameCube2003Designer
Pokémon ChannelNintendo GameCube2003Conceptual Character Design
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen VersionsGame Boy Advance2004Graphic Designer/Pokémon Designer
Pokémon Emerald VersionGame Boy Advance2004Graphic Designer/Pokémon Designer
Pokémon XD: Gale of DarknessNintendo GameCube2005Pokémon Character Design
Drill DozerGame Boy Advance2005Character Design/Graphic Design/Additional Voices
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl VersionsNintendo DS2006Graphic Design/Pokémon Design
Pokémon Platinum VersionNintendo DS2008Graphic Design/Pokémon Design
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver VersionsNintendo DS2009Pokémon Design
Pokémon Black and White VersionsNintendo DS2010Pokémon Design/2-D Graphic Design (lead)/Battle Graphic Design
Pokémon Black and White Versions 2Nintendo DS2012Pokémon Character Design/2-D Dot Graphics (lead)/Battle Graphics Design
Pokémon X and YNintendo 3DS2013Pokémon Characters Design/Pokémon Design Coordination/UI Graphic Design (lead)
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha SapphireNintendo 3DS2014Pokémon Characters Design/UI Graphic Design (lead)
Pokémon Sun and MoonNintendo 3DS2016Pokémon Characters Design/UI Graphic Design (Director)
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra MoonNintendo 3DS2017Pokémon Characters Design
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!Nintendo Switch2018Pokémon Characters Design
Pokémon Sword and ShieldNintendo Switch2019Concept Design Planning Pokémon & Character Design

Animation
Title Date Position
Pikachu & Pichu2001Conceptual Character Artist
Spell of the Unown: Entei 2001Animation Producer
Pikachu's PikaBoo2001Conceptual Character Artist
Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias2002Conceptual Character Artist
Jirachi: Wish Maker2003Conceptual Character Artist
Destiny Deoxys2004Conceptual Character Artist
The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon2006Conceptual Character Artist
The Rise of Darkrai2007Original Character Design
Giratina and the Sky Warrior2008Original Character Design
Arceus and the Jewel of Life 2009 Conceptual Character Artist

Music
Title Album Date Label
Teach Me! Older Brother Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection 2004 Msi Music, Super D

TCG illustration

Yoshida's art style has changed noticeably since his first illustrations. Originally, his style was very similar to that of Ken Sugimori, using light shades of color. He was still experimenting during this time, as his Wobbuffet from Neo Discovery and Murkrow from Neo Revelation are noticeably different, having much more defined outlines and solid areas of color. By Expedition Base Set, Yoshida had changed to giving his illustrations more tone definition and using much heavier outlines. He has continued to use this style in the few illustrations he has done since then. For a list of cards he has illustrated, go here.

He also appeared in a photograph on the card Poké Dude, dressed as the Poké Dude.

References
  1. 2014 Pokémon World Championships VIPs | Pokemon.com
  2. Drill Dozer interview by Gpara (Japanese)
  3. Go-Pokemon.com - Pokémon Creators, Artists at the World Championships
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