TOKYO – Browsing through Tokyo’s game stores is fun even if you don’t plan on buying a single thing, just because you can come face-to-face with amazing pieces of history. Like these.
The showcase outside Mandarake Galaxy in Nakano is currently home to these issues of Game Freak, a photocopied fanzine created in the 80’s by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori. That’s Sugimori’s artwork on the covers. The pair would eventually turn the fanzine into a game production company of the same name, producing games like Mendel Palace and Pulseman before pitching Nintendo on a crazy idea of Tajiri’s called Pokémon.
Kevin Gifford has a little bit more information on what’s inside these, since he actually bought an issue once.
Still waiting for the value of the fanzines I made as a teenager to hit $75 a pop. Will probably be waiting a long time.
Photo: Chris Kohler/Wired.com