Which company developed the original Pokémon role-playing games?

Game Freak developed the original Pokémon role-playing games.

The Japanese studio created Pokémon Red and Green for Nintendo’s Game Boy, with Satoshi Tajiri serving as the series creator and director of the first games. Ken Sugimori, one of Game Freak’s founders, provided the distinctive character and Pokémon artwork associated with the early releases.

Nintendo published the games and played a major role in their distribution, so Nintendo is often named when people discuss Pokémon’s origins. The Pokémon Company did not exist as the franchise-management company people know today when the first games launched. Creatures also became an important Pokémon partner, especially in areas such as the trading card game.

Game Freak had existed before Pokémon. Tajiri began Game Freak as a video-game magazine in 1983, and he and Sugimori established the development company in 1989. Pokémon became its most famous creation and remains closely linked with the studio’s history.