It's pretty widely known at this point that Game Freak, the developer behind the Pokémon franchise, used to work on print magazines before it started on video game development.
What's not quite so well known is exactly what these magazines consist of. Well, we now have a bit of a stronger idea thanks to Twitter user Picto who has uploaded the entirety of one of Game Freak's magazines over on Internet Archive.
The magazine itself is a full walkthrough guide for The Fairyland Story, a platform arcade game launched in 1985 by Taito. The game stars Ptolemy, a witch who will need to clear each single-screen stage of all of its enemies before moving onto the next one. Using projectile magic, Ptolemy is able to zap her enemies and turn them into cakes - yummy. The Fairyland Story was later re-released on the Nintendo Switch as part of the Arcade Archives range.
The guide itself is, as expected, entirely in the Japanese language, but it's nevertheless fascinating to see how Satoshi Tajiri (founder and president of Game Freak) and Ken Sugimori (character designer for Pokémon) spent their days before creating one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history. Big things come from small beginnings!
Have you seen any other magazines from the early days of Game Freak? What do you make of its guide for The Fairyland Story? Let us know!
[source archive.org, via twitter.com]
Comments 6
I hadn't realized GF was so grassroots. That's really cool.
Good year 😜! Also a pretty good game. I enjoy those old 1 screen Bubble Bobble like games.
They also worked on Mendel's Palace with Hunson Soft 1989,1990 'NES' and Pulseman on their own game for 'Genesis' 1994. So they wen as far back as Nintendo's first Video Game System and even cross platform to SEGA, Two years before Pokemon they have a rich history on and off the front lines as game developers.
@NESlover85 Yeah, I was planning to say the same. Fairyland Story surprised me with how fun it was on the old Taito Legends 2(I think it was 2). I've since recommended many times that people give it a look.
@Ryu_Niiyama It's even more grassroots than this article implies. The first few issues were hand drawn, photocopied, and sold in local doujinshi shops. Game Freak was a pen name that Tajiri used before it became the video game company.
@sdelfin another good one in a similar vein is Don Doko Don.
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