Since their debut in Pokémon Sun and Moon in 2016, the Ultra Beasts have sparked plenty of debate with their odd, sometimes unsettling appearances. It turns out this extreme uniqueness was a deliberate decision by the design team.
Ultra Beasts are creatures from a different dimension called Ultra Space. From the start, longtime fans questioned why they looked so unlike traditional Pokémon. After years of speculation, the answer has finally come straight from the source.
A sweet revenge from rejected designs
Yusuke Omura, the lead character designer for the seventh generation, recently shared some fascinating insights on X (formerly Twitter) about the origins of the Ultra Beasts. He admitted their “alien” looks were based on ideas that had been rejected in the past.
Specifically, Omura dug up old designs that were turned down by Ken Sugimori, Pokémon’s legendary art director. “I intentionally used the exact reasons why Sugimori rejected those designs as the foundation for Ultra Beast’s artistic direction,” Omura revealed.
He even joked that these creatures embody the “resentment” of being rejected, though he clarified this was just a playful way to describe the creative process, with no personal conflicts involved.
The ultimate goal: to create discomfort
Omura’s revelation came just as a fan theory from the Japanese community went viral online. The core concept behind these monsters is based on a counterintuitive approach. By combining unreal elements and stripping away traditional Pokémon traits, the design aims to evoke an eerie sense of unease.
Game Freak’s original idea was to make players feel the instant alienation of an Ultra Beast. These creatures don’t belong to this world and don’t follow the biological rules of regular Pokémon. The uneasy, “off” feeling fans get when looking at them is proof of the design team’s success.
Omura’s confirmation of this theory completely changes how we view the Ultra Beasts. They aren’t “ugly” or “flawed” but masterpieces of asymmetry and strangeness, created to break the old rules of this nearly 30-year-old franchise.