Namco

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Namco Ltd. (株式会社ナムコ Kabushiki Kaisha Namuko?) is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of video arcades and amusement parks. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo.

Namco was a front-runner during the Golden age of video arcade games. Pac-Man, its most famous title, went on to become the best-selling arcade game in history and an international popular culture icon.


History

Masaya Nakamura founded the company as Nakamura Manufacturing in 1955. Based in Tokyo, the company started out by running children's rides on the roof of a department store in Yokohama. The business eventually expanded throughout the Tokyo area. Nakamura Manufacturing was reorganized in 1958 and underwent a slight name change to Nakamura Manufacturing Co., which would later be used to form the acronym Namco. In 1970 the company produced a coin-operated mechanical driving simulator called "Racer".

By 1989, games for the Nintendo Entertainment System accounted for forty percent of Namco's sales. As Nintendo's first licensee, Namco had previously been given privileged terms, such as the right to manufacture their own cartridges. However, upon renewal of the license, these special terms were revoked, prompting Nakamura to publicly criticize Nintendo for monopolistic behavior. In addition, Nakamura announced that Namco would support Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis console.

Later expanding into the amusement park business, Sennichimae Plabo was opened in Osaka, featuring a new concept of large-scale arcade amusement, and Namco Wonder Eggs, a theme park, was opened in Tokyo. Additional amusement parks were opened, including Namco Wonder Park Sagamihara and Namco Wonder City.

In September 2005, Namco merged with Bandai to become "Namco Bandai Holdings", the 3rd largest video game entity in Japan. On March 31, 2006, Namco's game development operations absorbed that of Bandai's. From then on, the part of the company that was most closely associated with the Namco label would become Namco Bandai Games. The Namco Ltd. name was retained by its Japanese arcade management division, and now operates as part of Namco Bandai's Amusement Facility SBU.

PCSX2 Compatibility

<PCSX2 compatibility seems to be sporadic with Namco games (for example, the game Katamari Damacy (and its sequel) seem to work, while Time Crisis will apparently not boot (as of r4600)). If anyone has any experience with any Namco games, please leave your experience here and delete this note.>

List of Namco Games

[WIP] Table is work in progress

Namco PSX/PS2 games

Title Console Release date
Cyber Sled PlayStation January 27, 1995
Ridge Racer PlayStation December 3, 1994
Point Blank PlayStation August 7, 1997
Time Crisis PlayStation June 27, 1997
Time Crisis II PlayStation 2 October 1, 2001
Crisis Zone PlayStation 2 September 17, 2004


This article has been almost entirely taken from Wikipedia