Satoshi Tajiri published the first issue of his Game Freak magazine in March 1983. He was 17 years old and created the self-published Japanese magazine before founding the video-game company of the same name.
At the time, dedicated video-game magazines were not yet common in Japan. Game Freak filled that gap with coverage and commentary about arcade and electronic games. Tajiri later met illustrator Ken Sugimori through the magazine, beginning a creative partnership that became central to Pokémon’s development.
The magazine and the development studio share the name Game Freak, but they were not identical things. Tajiri’s early publishing project came first; in 1986, he and other enthusiasts formed an informal development team that grew into Game Freak the company. The studio later developed Pokémon for Nintendo.