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| Today is Tuesday May 21, 2024
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Happy Anniversary, Game Freak!
- Game Freak, Inc. (Japanese: 株式会社ゲームフリーク Kabushiki gaisha Game Freak) is a Japanese game development company founded on April 26, 1989 by Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori, and Junichi Masuda, and the main company responsible for the Pokémon games, most especially the main series versions.
- Originally independent, since the release of Pokémon Red and Green in 1996, Game Freak has been a second-party developer for Nintendo, developing games exclusively for their hardware while remaining a separate company. The company currently employs a staff of 71 as of April 2011, while Satoshi Tajiri serves as its current CEO. Its headquarters are on the 22nd floor of the Carrot Tower in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan.
- Game Freak, at the time unincorporated, originated as a video game magazine in the early 1980's. Run chiefly by Tajiri, with art made by Sugimori, the magazines typically were released at a length of around 28 pages and at a price of ¥300 (roughly US$3). Initially, the magazine was handwritten, but Tajiri later outsourced this to a professional printing company.
- Though the idea for what would become the Pokémon games had existed in Tajiri's mind for a while, actual development of the Pokémon idea began as Capsule Monsters in 1990. Tajiri pitched this idea to Nintendo, however, it was rejected, and issues copyrighting the name led Tajiri to change it, first shortening it to CapuMon, then changing it to Pocket Monsters.
- Though Game Freak has mainly developed the Pokémon series since its 1996 debut, it is responsible for two games released since then that were not Pokémon-related. Click + Medic, a Japan-only medical simulation game for the PlayStation, plays similarly to Pokémon, though instead of monsters, features a doctor using various vaccines and antibodies to fight against viruses and other maladies inside of a patient's body.
- Game Freak employees appear in each of the main series games, with their headquarters on the third floor of the Celadon Condominiums. In the games in which Kanto is not visitable, they appear on vacation, with a group in Lilycove City, staying in the Cove Lily Motel, and a single member staying at the Hotel Grand Lake in Valor Lakefront. The main reason to visit them is to obtain a diploma, awarded after the completion of the Pokédex.
- Game Freak has its own building in Castelia City in Pokémon Black and White, where a character representing Shigeki Morimoto can be battled after stopping Team Plasma. Game Freak is found on 22F, just like in their real-world office in Carrot Tower.
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