Game Freak

is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, and as one of the co-owners of the Pokémon series. History Predating the video game company, Game Freak was a self-published video game magazine created by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori in the 1980s. The first issue was published in 1983 by Tajiri. Sugimori would join the magazine at a later date as an illustrator after finding the magazine in a shop and liking it. Tajiri also used "Game Freak" as his pen name when he wrote as a freelance writer to publications such as Family Computer Magazine and Famicom Tsūshin. On April 26, 1989, Tajiri, Sugimori and Junichi Masuda started a video game development company with the same name. One of Game Freak's first games was the Nintendo Entertainment System action and puzzle game Quinty, which was released in North America as Mendel Palace. Its most popular series, Pokémon—the romanized portmanteau of the Japanese brand —is published and distributed respectively by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo worldwide.