Satoshi Tajiri was born in 1965 in Machida, a suburb of Tokyo, and as a child he loved catching insects and small creatures in the ponds and fields around his town. Japan's economic boom expanded the city and destroyed much of that nature, a loss that became central to the game's idea. He discovered video games at an arcade opened in his neighbourhood, and while studying electrical engineering he published a fanzine called Game Freak, named after the 1932 film Freaks. He self-published the first issue in 1983, when Japan had no dedicated video game magazines. Tajiri later formed a development team with the illustrator Ken Sugimori and the composer Junichi Masuda, and the group released the puzzle game Quinty in 1989. The concept of collecting and training creatures grew from that childhood hobby.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.