Yōichi Kotabe

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Yōichi Kotabe (born September 15, 1936) is a Japanese animator and character designer. He is known for work on classic 1960s–70s anime, as well as for designing characters for Nintendo's Super Mario games and the Pokémon series. He started at Toei Animation, worked on The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (where he met Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata), and later contributed to Panda! Go, Panda!, Heidi, and 3000 Leagues. In 1985 he joined Nintendo as a game development adviser, creating packaging art for Super Mario Bros. and helping design characters like Yoshi (inspired by a chameleon) and contributing to The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. His last Nintendo role as a character designer was on Kuru Kuru Kururin. He left Nintendo in 2007 and then worked as a freelancer, occasionally collaborating with Nintendo again. He was married to Reiko Okuyama from 1963 until her death in 2007.