On what date was Game Freak incorporated, before developing Pokémon?

Game Freak was incorporated on April 26, 1989, before developing Pokémon.

Game Freak began as a Japanese video game fanzine created by Satoshi Tajiri. Tajiri later worked with illustrator Ken Sugimori to turn the magazine into a game-development company. The company’s early game was Quinty, which was published by Namco in 1989.

The future Pokémon concept emerged soon afterward. Tajiri was inspired by the Game Boy Link Cable and imagined players exchanging collectible creatures. Game Freak pitched the project to Nintendo, and development of the first Pokémon games eventually took about six years.

Game Freak’s corporate history is sometimes confused with the Pokémon franchise’s launch date. The company existed years before Pokémon Red and Green reached Japanese stores on February 27, 1996. Game Freak continued to develop the mainline Pokémon role-playing games, while Nintendo published them and Creatures became involved in the broader franchise. The company’s founding helps explain why Game Freak is central to Pokémon’s development story.