What was the name of Satoshi Tajiri’s video-game fanzine?

Satoshi Tajiri’s video-game fanzine was called Game Freak. He wrote and edited the publication from 1981 to 1986, focusing on arcade games, strategies, and hidden details.

The fanzine began as a handwritten and stapled magazine rather than a commercial video-game company. Ken Sugimori later saw it at a dōjinshi shop and joined as its illustrator. Tajiri and Sugimori eventually transformed the publication’s name into Game Freak, the development company that created Pokémon.

This history explains why Game Freak is both a historical magazine name and the studio credited with Pokémon. The company’s first published game was Quinty, released by Namco, before Game Freak began work on Pokémon for Nintendo.

The name is sometimes confused with Nintendo Power or Famitsu, established gaming magazines from different organizations. Game Freak’s connection to Pokémon began before the franchise existed, through Tajiri’s interest in games and Sugimori’s artwork.