James Turner is a British person and a former Game Freak employee. His largest contributions to the Pokémon franchise have been his creation of a few species of Pokémon, being the first non-Japanese person to do so officially.
Biography[]
James Turner helped produce Pokémon games since 2002,[1] when he worked at Genius Sonority. The first Pokémon game that involved him was Pokémon Colosseum.[2] James Turner was first employed by Game Freak in 2009,[1] but quit the company in 2022 to form his own studio, All Possible Futures.
The first Pokémon, or at least an alternate form of one, that James Turner had designed is Shadow Lugia for Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness,[2] during his tenure at Genius Sonority, as well as the cover artwork.[2] James Turner also directed every cutscene in the game.[3] James Turner designed every major character for Pokémon Trozei!, including Lucy Fleetfoot, Professor P, Baron Phobos, and the latter's four generals.
While at Game Freak, James Turner designed seven species of Pokémon for Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version and two each for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon. James Turner was also the art director for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.[4] James Turner even designed a few cards of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, specifically the cards for Duskull and its two evolutions, Dusclops and Dusknoir in the Shrouded Fable expansion each.
Although James Turner is no longer a Game Freak employee, he still designed the two Pokémon Professors of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet: Professor Sada and Professor Turo.[5]
Credits[]
These are the Pokémon games that James Turner, as well as his role with each:
| Game | Year released | Platform | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon Colosseum | 2003 | Nintendo GameCube | Cutscene animator |
| Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness | 2005 | Nintendo GameCube | Art director, Shadow Lugia designer |
| Pokémon Trozei! | 2005 | Nintendo DS | Art director and character designer |
| Pokémon Battle Revolution | 2006 | Wii | Art director and character designer |
| Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version | 2010 | Nintendo DS | Pokémon and graphic designer, cutscene animator |
| Pokémon Black Version 2 and Pokémon White Version 2 | 2012 | Nintendo DS | Pokémon and graphic designer, cutscene animator |
| Pokémon X and Pokémon Y | 2013 | Nintendo 3DS | Pokémon designer, cutscene animation director |
| Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon | 2016 | Nintendo 3DS | Pokémon designer, cutscene animation director |
| Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon | 2017 | Nintendo 3DS | Pokémon designer, cutscene animation director |
| Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield | 2019 | Nintendo Switch | Art director, Pokémon designer |
| Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet | 2022 | Nintendo Switch | Pokémon and character design |
Additionally, James Turner directed the entirety of HarmoKnight, a Nintendo 3DS game by Game Freak that includes several Pokémon elements.
List of Pokémon designed[]
Below is a list of Pokémon that have been confirmed to have been designed or partially designed by James Turner.
James Turner also designed the Shiny variants for Gigantamax Gengar, Galarian Zigzagoon, Galarian Linoone, Poipole, Naganadel, Sinistea, Polteageist, and Obstagoon.
Bruxish had a different designer, but James Turner drew Bruxish's reference sheet and finalized its design.
References[]
- ^ a b Turner, James (2019, June 1). 2002 on Pokémon, 2009 in Game Freak. A looong time!. X. Archived from the original on January 4, 2025.
- ^ a b c Turner, James (2017, August 2). Thank you!! Yeah Colosseum was the 1st game I worked on in Japan, XD 2nd. I designed Dark Lugia and made the cover art for XD. It was fun!. X. Archived from the original on January 4, 2025.
- ^ Turner, James (2019, November 2). Ah nice...yeah I directed all the cutscenes in that game...there are a couple more featuring Dark Lugia from what I can remember. X. Archived from the original on January 4, 2025.
- ^ Pokémon — James Turner. Squarespace.
- ^ Turner, James (2022, December 1). Sada and Turo. I designed these professors for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.. X. Archived from the original on January 4, 2025.