Mari Shimazaki, a character designer for Bayonetta, has revealed on her X (Twitter) account that she was the artist for Fidough in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. She also designed Dachsbun, Miriam, and Raifort.
The Tweet acknowledges that she’s very late with this reveal, as the games have been out for quite some time now. But she just cleared it yesterday thanks to all the detours she took. As well, she said it was a lot of fun filling in the map, and it was a very “healing” experience. The picture she drew shows Raifort and Miriam surrounded by multiple Fidoughs while a Dachsbun is at their feet. Aside from working as an artist for Bayonetta and her designs in Pokemon, Shimazaki also designed outfits for Soul Calibur V and characters in Okami.
Fidough and Dachsbun are the Scarlet and Violet games’ versions of the cute canine Pokemon that appear rather early in the game. Other Pokemon from previous generations that fill this niche include Yamper, Rockruff, and Lillipup. Due to Fidough’s cute design, it’s appeared in multiple marketing campaigns and goods in the past. As for Raifort and Miriam, they’re teachers at the academy the protagonist attends.
Since Pokemon Scarlet and Violet came out, multiple designers revealed their involvement with the game on their personal X (Twitter) accounts. For example, Yusuke Kozaki (who’d worked on character designers for Fire Emblem: Fates and No More Heroes), was the one who designed Cetoddle and Varoom. James Turner, who is a Game Freak artist, designed Tatsugiri and Dondozo.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are readily available on the Nintendo Switch.