TIME: A lot of people blame violence in video games for violent things young people do, especially in the U.S. Do you feel guilty about that?
Tajiri: In Japan, violence in games is pretty much self-regulated. In the 1980s, there was a game called Bullfighter where the matador stabbed the bull and red blood squirted out. The day after it was released, they changed the blood to green. There's more violence in games in the U.S., in things like Mortal Kombat, where they rip out hearts and cut off heads. Japanese people wouldn't come up with ideas of blood splattering all over. Japanese focus more on the intricacies of the actions, the motion.
TIME: The TV people in the U.S. were worried about violence in Pok�mon. Can you believe that?
Tajiri: I'm very careful about violence in games. I'm not interested in creating violent effects.
TIME: It seems like role-playing games are more popular in Japan than the U.S. Why's that?
Tajiri: Well, one reason is that back when we had arcade games only, they cost 100 yen for one game. I think in the U.S. it was always [much cheaper at] 25 cents. So 20 years ago we thought it was very expensive, but when role-playing games were introduced in Japan, it was revolutionary because once you bought the software, no matter how many times you played, it was free.
TIME: So Japanese game designers aren't making violent games?
Tajiri: No, they make them. But only to sell in the U.S.
TIME: Still, American kids like Pok�mon, even without the blood.
Tajiri: I was really careful in making monsters faint rather than die. I think that young people playing games have an abnormal concept about dying. They start to lose and say, "I'm dying." It's not right for kids to think about a concept of death that way. They need to treat death with more respect.
