Pikachu redesign with ‘large chest’ reportedly pitched for US market after original was deemed ‘too cute’

Nintendo allegedly considered giving Pikachu ‘large breasts’ in US localisation plans

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Japanese pop culture exports were frequently altered for overseas markets — and Pokémon was no exception.

A resurfaced interview suggests that in the early stages of bringing the franchise to the United States (US), Nintendo of America once floated the idea of redesigning Pikachu to have “large breasts”.

Source: Nintendo via Den of Geek

Bizarre claim resurfaces on Reddit

On 28 July, a Reddit thread discussing the rumour went viral, prompting debate over whether the claim was genuine or the result of mistranslation.

The original poster (OP) noted that the Japanese word “mune” can mean both “chest” and “breasts”, and suggested the redesign may have depicted a muscular, tiger-like Pikachu rather than a sexualised one.

Source: r/todayilearned on Reddit

Prompted by the discussion, Japanese gaming news site GameSpark looked into the claim.

Their investigation led to an old interview between Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and Tsunekazu Ishihara, now CEO of The Pokémon Company, which they believe to be the origin of the rumour.

The interview was published around the time of the ‘Pokémon Gold and Silver’ release in 1999 and originally appeared on Nintendo’s official website.

According to Mr Ishihara, when Pikachu’s design was first shown to the American team, their reaction was that it was “too cute”.

US team proposes Pikachu redesign with large breasts

In response, the American team proposed their own redesign, which Mr Ishihara described as “something like a tiger-striped cat, with a large chest”.

He called it “an illustration [he’d] never show anyone for the rest of [his] life”, likening it to a character from the stage musical ‘Cats’.

Source: WireImage via Racked

While some speculated the term “chest” could have referred to a muscular build, the follow-up exchange in the interview clarified the intent.

“It’s like the girls cosplaying as Pikachu at Comiket,” the interviewer joked.

Mr Ishihara agreed with the comparison and reflected on the outlandish proposal.

“If we had changed Pikachu then, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now,” he said.