Pokemon Ultra Beasts are "a manifestation of my own resentment," Game Freak artist says after his designs were rejected by art director: "This doesn't mean that I hate Mr. Sugimori or anything like that"

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Pokemon Ultra Beasts are "a manifestation of my own resentment," Game Freak artist says after his designs were rejected by art director: "This doesn't mean that I hate Mr. Sugimori or anything like that" News By Ashley Bardhan published 4 February 2026

No, nothing like that…

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It isn't the Ultra Beasts' fault that they're so abnormal. Understandably, it seems that Pokemon become unpredictable when they're festering with human grudges, artist Yusuke Ohmura reveals.

He dumped all of his disappointment about Game Freak art director Ken Sugimori rejecting his designs originally intended for garden-variety Pokémon into Ultra Beasts, he reveals on Twitter, in posts translated by Automaton. You have to admit, if you were only brought into existence to represent one guy's wrath, you'd probably turn out as freaky as a Guzzlord, too.

Ohmura says he made the extradimensional Ultra Beasts "by recalling some of the designs I made which were rejected by Mr. Sugimori, and I decided to deliberately use the very reasons for why they were rejected and base the artistic direction of the designs on them."

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So the Beasts have been controversial since their 2016 introduction, especially because of how truly alien they look compared to their more cuddly Pokemon relatives. There are about one million Reddit threads debating their visuals, their lore; if they're hated, if they're loved. Ultra Beasts are the pineapple pizza of the Pokemon world. They're Pokemon pizza.

But sowing a few pineapple seeds of discord was Ohmura's intention, he informs fans. He continues to say, "In some way, they're like a manifestation of my own resentment."

"Pretty scary," Ohmura adds. "Of course, this doesn't mean that I hate Mr. Sugimori or anything like that." Sure, nothing like that.

These are the best Pokemon games, ranked from worst to best.

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. TOPICS Game Freak CATEGORIES Mobile Gaming Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch Platforms Nintendo Ashley BardhanSenior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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