Originally 190 Pokémon in Gen I

So at the worlds this year I decided to ask Shigeki Morimoto, the guy who made Mew, about it. Since I asked him at the autograph table, where he would have his translator, I didn't have long so I can pretty much outline the exchange as this:

Me: "So in Red and Green, were there originally exactly 190 Pokémon?"

*Translator relays to Morimoto; he sort of jumps in his chair enthusiastically (lol) and seems very happy, grinning at me*

Translator: "Yes; we decided to save the rest of the designs for later"

Me: "So for example Ho-Oh was made for Red and Green first? Since it was in the first episode of the anime?"

*he hears Ho-Oh and looks confused, then then when the translator says the rest to him he remains the same*

Translator: "No, not Ho-Oh. He wasn't made earlier."

And then I say domo arigato and get rushed out by the queue building behind me, heheh. However what he said about Ho-Oh just doesn't make sense so I'm guessing that was an error in the translation. Since Ho-Oh is #49 in the list and appears in anime episode 1 it obviously had been made by that time so he probably tried to say Ho-Oh wasn't made for Red and Green, and was just in there with no real intention of keeping it in.