Then & Now: These Japanese Gaming Companies Have Redefined Entertainment Since the 60’s
The Japanese gaming industry has been one of the biggest industries in the world within this particular field, to not say the best. The whole thing started in 1966, when Sega launched an electro-mechanical game called Periscope – a submarine simulator, which instantly received a lot of success in Japan, Europe, and North America. Sega then produced gun games based on moving animations on a screen, namely ‘Duck Hunt’ in 1969, and ‘Missile’ in the same year, and old online casino recommended games’ players would certainly remember these ones.
The 1970s
In the early 1970s, Atari was introduced, and with it came arcade games like ‘Pong,’ and then Japanese companies such as Taito and Namco adopted these arcade games, and started developing their own games. In the later years of the 1970s, Nintendo joined the party as well, and started focusing more on the arcade game market by developing their own games. To list a few, there were ‘Speed Race,’ ‘Gun Fight,’ and ‘Lupin III,’ made by Taito, ‘Heavyweight Champ’ and ‘005’ by Sega, as well as Manbiki Shounen, and Manbiki Shoujo.
Japan’s first home video game console was Epoch’s TV Tennis Electrotennis, and then came Nintendo’s Color TV Game in 1977, which was made in partnership with Mitsubishi Electronics. And in 1978, ‘Space Invaders’ was released, and was considered as the first major mainstream breakthrough for video games in Japan.
From the 1980s till the 2000s
From the 1980s until the early 2000s, this period was marked by some new innovations from Nintendo, mainly the handheld electronic games called ‘Game & Watch.’ Also, Konami released ‘Scramble’ in 1981, and Namco released ‘Xevious’ in 1982. With the appearance of the first personal computers for gaming, ‘The Wizardry’ series became very popular in Japan, and ‘The Tower of Druaga’ was released in 1984.
In the mid-1980s, games like ‘Rambo: First Blood Part II’ that included action were spread, and fans of these games increased. Then came ‘Dragon Quest IV,’ ‘Final Fantasy IV,’ and Nintendo released the ‘Super Famicom’ in 1990, their new console. During the 1990s, racing games expanded and games like ‘Virtua Racing,’ ‘Ridge Racer,’ and ‘Daytona USA.’
Afterwards, the fifth-generation home consoles were produced. They included Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. These consoles began offering true 3D graphics and had many new and entertaining games on them such as ‘Gran Turismo,’ ‘Jumping Flash!,’ ‘Ridge Racer,’ ‘Final Fantasy VII,’ ‘Crash Bandicoot,’ ‘Metal Gear Solid,’ ‘Tekken,’ ‘Tomb Raider,’ and more, before releasing PlayStation 2 in 1999.
The 2000s
In the 2000s, Nintendo DS and Wii were released in 2004 and 2006 respectively, prior to the release of another successful console in 2006, which was the PlayStation 3. In addition, the Xbox 360 was introduced by Microsoft in 2005. These consoles included more high-quality games in all genres. The most loved ones were the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ game series, ‘Call of Duty’ games, ‘Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,’ ‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition,’ ‘Uncharted 2,’ ‘FIFA 08,’ and the newer versions of the game series ‘Pro Evolution Soccer,’ as well as numerous other impressive games.
From 2010 until the present
Since 2010, several other innovative consoles were produced among the eighth generation of video game consoles such as Nintendo 3DS in 2011, Wii U in 2012, PlayStation Vita in 2012, PlayStation 4 in 2013, Nintendo 2DS in 2013, Xbox One in 2013, Nintendo Switch in 2017, and lately, PlayStation 5.
In 2017, Japanese video games gained further commercial success thanks to the likes of ‘Pokémon Go’ and ‘Final Fantasy XV,’ and many other games brought gains for the Japanese gaming industry such as ‘Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past,’ ‘Bravely Second,’ ‘Fire Emblem Fates,’ ‘Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse,’ ‘World of Final Fantasy,’ ‘Dragon Quest Builders,’ ‘Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky,’ and ‘I Am Setsuna.’ Additional ones included as well were ‘FIFA 17,’ ‘FIFA 18,’ ‘FIFA 19,’ ‘FIFA 20,’ and ‘Pro Evolution Soccer’ from the 2017 edition, until the latest edition.
Sony has recently released PlayStation 5, and this new console has also brought further success with its beautiful exterior and its fancy look. A combined total of 118,082 PlayStation 5 consoles were sold in Japan during its launch week, making it the best-selling console in the country during that week. It included games like ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,’ ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War,’ ‘Ghost of Tsushima,’ ‘God of War,’ ‘Hitman 3,’ ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales,’ ‘FIFA 21,’ ‘Demon’s Souls,’ ‘NBA 2K21,’ and the list is endless.
