Something that humanity loves to do, even if we shouldn’t, is feel that certain “momentous things” had “epic origins that showcased what was to come!” Oftentimes, it’s far more tame. Take, for example, the Pokemon franchise. If you dive deep enough into its origins, you’ll see it had a VERY rocky road before it became the phenomenon that has almost sold 500 million software units in less than three decades. That “rocky road” wasn’t just about the original Japanese games needing to be rebuilt from the ground up, but also finding a logo that would be suitable for its localization in the West.
Enter Chris Maple, who recently chatted with IGN about how he created the logo you see above. He didn’t work for Nintendo at the time, instead having his own media company. He was contacted by The Big N to help with a logo for what was just called “Pocket Monsters,” via its Japanese title, and needed to be converted to something in the West. Oh, and he had to do it in less than a month and on a small budget because Nintendo had reached out to others to do it, and they failed horribly. It was...
