Japanese Home Gaming (Gillian)

In my article about Game Centres I said that Japan as a nation has contributed significantly to the world of video games. Video games started in game centres in the 1970s. While game centres have continued to be popular in Japan, gaming has become more of a stay-at-home pastime all over the world. With the development of computers and home consoles, and updates in game design technology, video games have become another form of media, like books, movies or television shows. Unfortunately, as a relatively new form of media, video games have yet to earn the respect that books and movies have earned, but practitioners in the world of video games are working hard to bring video games to the forefront of respectable media. Among these practitioners are a staggering number of Japanese companies, a number of which have become well-recognised names in the world of gaming today. Without these companies gaming as a media would not have developed nearly as much as it has in recent years. In this article I would like to acknowledge some of the major players in this team.

Nintendo

Nintendo is probably the singular most well-known and successful company in video gaming history. Considering Nintendo’s history, this is no small wonder. Starting off in 1889 as a playing card company based in Kyoto, Nintendo started branching into the business of electronic devices in the 1970s after other failed attempts to branch out the company. This started off with their gaining distributing rights to the Magnavox Odyssey, one of the first home consoles to have ever been created. Eventually Nintendo began to create their own devices.

In 1980 Nintendo launched Game & Watch; a series of hand-held video games similar to handheld video game devices now, except that these had only one game programmed into it. Game & Watch was met with worldwide success, and Nintendo’s success stories continued on from there. The next year, 1981, Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong, which was immensely successful and something of a revolution in arcade games. Then, in 1983, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Family Computer (Famicom; the Japanese name for it) in Japan, and then two years later released the same system in the US along with Super Mario Bros, which is currently one of the best-selling video games of all time. At its 25^th anniversary in October 2010, the Mario franchise is still arguably the most popular video game franchise in gaming.

Above is a screen shot from the original arcade game Donkey Kong. If you look at the photo, you can see Mario walking up the screen. This was Mario’s first appearance. Below is a screen shot from Super Mario Bros, Mario’s first full-bodied game.

Today Nintendo has five home consoles (the NES, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, and the current generation console, the Wii) and three primary handheld console systems (The Gameboy, the Gameboy Advance and the current system, the Dual Screen (DS)) under its belt, as well as a staggering library of video games for each of these consoles. Without Nintendo, video gaming would look drastically different to how it looks these days. There is no doubt that people who enjoy video gaming currently have a lot to thank Nintendo for, and my personal prediction is that Nintendo’s successes shall continue in the future.

Sega

An abbreviation of the title “SErvice GAmes of Japan”, Sega as a company has certainly done a lot to serve the video game industry. Interestingly enough, Sega was actually founded in Hawai’i in 1940, and its headquarters moved to Tokyo in 1951. Sega remained an American company until 1984, when it was bought by the multibillion dollar Japanese conglomerate CSK. Two years later shares in Sega started to be traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nowadays Sega is seen by most as a Japanese company.

Sega started contributing massively to the world of video gaming from 1989, with the release of the Mega Drive/Genesis. This system and Nintendo’s SNES were the leading systems in the “console war” of the 1990s. In 1991 Sega released their chief mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, who was marketed as being cooler than Nintendo’s Mario, and as a result Sega had gleaned 65% of the market in North America for a brief period of time. Sonic is still one of video gaming’s most recognised mascots. Sega and Nintendo continued to battle for over ten years, with Sony coming into the race in the mid 90s with the release of the Playstation. In 1998 Sega released the Dreamcast, a console that saw enormous initial success in the US, selling over 500,000 units in its first week. The Dreamcast introduced a number of now-popular video game conventions that had not been seen before, such as a modem, which allowed players to engage in online multiplayer gaming on consoles for the first time, the first console-based Mass Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), and the first game that allowed online voice chat, Alien Front Online. Unfortunately, the Dreamcast’s success was short-lived, and the console was discontinued in 2001. It is the last home console that Sega have made to date.

Above is a swanky picture of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic has been Sega’s mascot since 1991. Below is a Dreamcast; Sega’s final, and possibly most revolutionary, console.

Nowadays Sega focuses more on software, arcade games, and pachinko machines in Japan. Many of the virtual fighting and racing arcade games I mentioned in my Game Centres article were created by Sega, and Sonic the Hedgehog games are still successful. Ironically, a lot of these games are made for the Nintendo Wii; a development that Sega would probably not have thought would ever have happened fifteen years ago. As a company, Sega has had a rather eclectic history, but nobody can deny that it is one of the most well-known and successful video game companies to date.

Capcom

Capcom is one of the biggest video game developers in current generation gaming. Founded in 1983, the name “Capcom” is an abbreviation of “Capsule Computer”, a term coined by the company to refer to the arcade games they developed in their early years. Capcom is based in Osaka, and has a number of branches all over the world.

Capcom started to make games for home consoles in the mid 1980s for the NES. A few years later it became clear that console gaming was where they were going to be most successful as a company, and so they switched their main business focus to console gaming and have since then not looked back.

To date, Capcom are the proud owners of 15 multi-million-selling game franchises, the most popular of which are Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Devil May Cry. As well as these franchises, Capcom develop a multitude of games for pretty much every kind of video game outlet (home consoles, computers, online games, iPhone games, etc) imaginable. In addition to games, Capcom also publish strategy guides, own and run game centres, and licence their franchises for other, non-interactive media. To the modern gamer, not having Capcom as a company would be a great shame, for they have produced some of the most successful franchises in modern times.

Above is a screen shot from the original Megaman; one of Capcom’s first successful franchises. Below is a promotional shot from the Wii version of Resident Evil 4; possibly Capcom’s most highly acclaimed game to date.

Konami

Konami is a hugely successful Tokyo-based developer and publisher of popular and well-selling toys. In the video game world Konami is widely known for creating some of the most popular game series’ in recent history, both in console gaming and in the arcades.

Konami was founded in 1969 by three Japanese men whose last names form the conjunction that is the company’s name. Konami started off in Osaka as a jukebox repair and rental business, and didn’t start releasing games until almost ten years later. They gained their first successes with arcade games that are still well-known today, the most significant of which being Frogger.

Like with many other still-successful video game companies, Konami started developing its popular and most successful franchises when the NES was launched. Konami was indeed the company that developed some of the NES/Famicom’s best-selling games, such as Gradius, the Castlevania series, and Metal Gear. As new consoles have entered the market, Konami’s repertoire of successful games has continued to grow, with such franchises as Silent Hill, Castlevania, Contra and Metal Gear still producing successful games to this day.

Above is a screen shot from the original Castlevania game, which was released on the NES/Famicom in 1986. Castlevania is considered one of the most successful franchises of all time, coming behind only franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Final Fantasy. Below is a screen shot from Silent Hill 2, a game that was something of a stepping stone for the Horror genre in gaming.

Funnily enough, one of Konami’s biggest successes, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), is an arcade game (although there are several console versions of it). This game series is significant in that it revolutionised the now very popular dance and rhythm game genre. DDR was released in 1998, and since then it has achieved something of a cult status in the video gaming world. DDR tournaments are held worldwide, and in many schools DDR is used as physical education activity. DDR is also arguably responsible for a slight resurgence in popularity that video arcades experienced in the early 2000s. The beauty of DDR as a game is that it appeals to a far wider audience than most other arcade games, because the dance aspect of it appeals more to women, while the competitive nature of it appeals to men.

Above is a screen shot from a standard DDR game. The player follows the arrows on the screen, and hit the corresponding button, normally by stepping on a button on a platform or a mat. Below is a DDR machine as they are seen in video arcades.

So Konami is another of the Japan-based companies that has done its part to revolutionise gaming as a pastime. If Konami were not in existence, gaming, particularly the dance and rhythm genre of gaming, would not be nearly as advanced as it is today. Hopefully Konami, along with these other fantastic Japan-based gaming companies, will continue to help the game industry to grow.

I have only just barely scratched the surface of Japan’s contribution to gaming as a whole. In terms of modern-day console gaming, it is obvious that Japan is a powerhouse for new, fresh, innovative ideas. As a game enthusiast, I am excited about the turn that gaming is taking as a new, fresh medium. As people’s respect for video games grows, video games will continue to develop, eventually making that sought-after transition from being a form of entertainment, to being an art form. Japan’s significant contribution to this budding art form is definitely one of the many things that makes Japan cool.