https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/creator-profile-the-creators-of-pikachu/Sugimori: “Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle were all designed by Ms. Nishida.”
Nishida: “I created the designs for Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle by working backward from their final forms. I wanted people to be surprised when it evolved into Charizard, so I designed the original Charmander in such a way that Charizard would be unimaginable.”
This interview is a cute read by the way. Their love for Pikachu comes through clearly.
>>36349937 This too seems to be incorrect, it seems that she definitely created Bulbasaur.
>>36350040On the Bulbapedia page I think they try and pigeonhole her as only designing cute mons.
>During the development of the first Pokémon games, she helped design key characters and several Pokémon, notably the cuter ones as opposed to the tougher ones. You know, famous cutemons like Charizard and Beedrill...? I don't know why Bulbapedia editors are like this.
Nishida Atsuko's tumblr:
http://coloatsu.tumblr.com/ 
