Studios
The companies that made the games here — who they were, and what else they made.
Hudson Soft1973–2012 · 3 gamesSapporo company of the brothers Yuji and Hiroshi Kudo, and Nintendo’s first third-party software maker for the Famicom: Nuts & Milk and Lode Runner (1984) are named as the first third-party games on a Nintendo console. It ran the Hudson Caravan game tournaments. Konami took it over in 2011 and merged it into Konami Digital Entertainment in 2012.
Konamisince 1969 · 3 gamesFounded in Osaka by Kagemasa Kōzuki and others as a jukebox rental and repair business. From arcades and the MSX it came to the Famicom in 1985; Gradius, Castlevania, Contra and TwinBee grew up there and in the arcades. Its sound staff went by Konami Kukeiha Club (“square wave club”) from about 1987 — later than the games here. Circus Charlie’s Famicom version was made for it by Soft Pro.
ASCII1977–2008 · 2 gamesTokyo computer publisher founded by Kazuhiko Nishi, Akio Gunji and Keiichiro Tsukamoto; it began as Microsoft’s sales office in Japan. In the 1980s it made software and peripherals for consoles, the Famicom among them. Castle Excellent (1986) is its Famicom version of its own MSX game, released in America as Castlequest. Kadokawa took it over, and in 2008 it became part of ASCII Media Works.
Nintendosince 1889 · 2 gamesFounded in Kyoto by Fusajiro Yamauchi to make hanafuda playing cards. It released the Famicom in Japan in July 1983 and the NES in North America in 1985. Ice Climber (1985) is one of its first-party games of the Famicom’s early years.
- Tosesince 1979 · 2 gamesFounded in Kyoto in November 1979 by Shigeru Saito, it makes games for other publishers and is virtually never credited in them — a “ghost developer”, by Wikipedia the largest non-publishing game developer in the world. Its NES and Famicom work for Bandai, Jaleco, Namco and Nintendo includes Chubby Cherub, the US version of Obake no Q-Tarou: Wanwan Panic. It is still active and publicly traded.
dB-SOFT1980–2001 · 1 gameSapporo developer of home-computer games and programming tools such as dB-BASIC, founded as Computer Land Hokkaido and renamed in 1984. Its best-known game, Flappy, first appeared on Japanese computers in 1983 and came out in more than twenty versions; the Famicom one (1985) was its first game for Nintendo’s console. It merged into NetFarm Communications in 2001.
- Jaleco1974–2014 · 1 gameFounded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa as Japan Leisure Co., a maker of amusement park and arcade equipment, it took the name Jaleco — the first two letters of each word — in 1983, made arcade games from 1982 and then Famicom games; Jaleco USA published in America. PCCW bought it in 2000; after more sales its last owner, Game Yarou, went bankrupt in 2014, and its games went to a company named City Connection.
Namco1955–2006 · 1 gameArcade company founded by Masaya Nakamura as Nakamura Seisakusho, and one of the first third-party makers for the Famicom: its 1984 port of Galaxian led Nintendo to set up its licensing programme. Its Famicom games came out under the Namcot label. It merged with Bandai in 2005 and was dissolved in 2006.
Probe Software1984–2000 · 1 gameBritish studio of Fergus McGovern, best known for conversions and licensed games such as Out Run, Mortal Kombat and FIFA. It developed Alien 3 for the NES, published by LJN in 1993; by VGMPF, all of Probe’s NES music is Jeroen Tel’s, written on his own sound driver. Acclaim bought it in 1995 and later renamed it Acclaim Studios London.
- Raresince 1985 · 1 gameFounded in Twycross by Tim and Chris Stamper, who had run Ultimate Play the Game. Rare reverse-engineered the Famicom and made some sixty games in five years, forty-seven of them for the NES; David Wise composed its NES soundtracks, Wizards & Warriors among them. Microsoft bought it in 2002.Battletoads
- Toei Animationsince 1948 · 1 gameJapanese animation studio founded as Nihon Dōga by Kenzō Masaoka and Sanae Yamamoto. In the Famicom years it also published games, starting with Baltron (1986). It published the Famicom Shikinjou, a port of a PC-88 game; who developed the port is not settled in the sources.
