Bandai Namco
| Bandai Namco Entertainment | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| File:Namco Bandai Logo.png | |||
| Type | Subsidiary | ||
| Founded | June 1, 1955 (Namco) March 2006 (merger of Bandai and Namco) | ||
| Headquarters |  Minato, Tokyo
| ||
| Industry | Video Games | ||
| Products | Various Video Games | ||
| Employees | 710 (April 2018) Bandai Namco Studios 1,066 (April 2018) | ||
| Parent | Bandai Namco Holdings | ||
| Website | http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/english/ | ||
Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. (株式会社バンダイナムコエンターテインメント, Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.), formerly named Bandai Namco Games Inc., stylized as "BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc.", is an arcade, mobile and home video game developer and publisher based in Japan. It is a merge between the video game divisions of Bandai and Namco.
The company is well known for developing RPG games like the Digimon, Dark Souls and Tales series, as well as other fighting games such as the Tekken and Soul series. To many, however, Namco is best known as one of the most prolific publishers of the Golden Age of Video Games, producing arcade hits such as Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga, Mappy, Rally-X, and The Tower of Druaga.
Bandai Namco is the head developer for Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, along with Sora Ltd.. Several items and characters from some of Namco's games, such as Galaga and Rally-X, appear in SSB4 and Ultimate.[1] A full list of Namco properties represented in Smash can be found here.
Outside of Super Smash Bros, Bandai Namco has made several games in collaboration with Nintendo: various Mario Baseball games, Donkey Konga games, Star Fox Assault, the Mario Kart arcade games (in addition to assisting with 8 and Tour), New Pokémon Snap, and Pokkén Tournament, a Tekken-like fighting game featuring playable Pokémon as fighters.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Though no content from Namco original properties is present in this game, content from Star Fox: Assault, a Namco developed game, first appears in this game.
The Donkey Konga series, also developed by Namco, receives representation through Donkey Kong's Final Smash, Konga Beat, as well as three stickers: Dixie Kong from Donkey Konga 2, and Funky Kong and Cranky Kong from Donkey Konga 3 (referred to in-game as Donkey Konga 3 JP).
Mario Superstar Baseball, another Namco developed game, also received content via several stickers.
In Super Smash Bros. 4
Bandai Namco's mascot, Pac-Man, appears as a playable character. Pac-Man can also make characters and items from other Namco series appear by using his up taunt, Namco Roulette, and his neutral special, Bonus Fruit. The 3DS version features the stage Pac-Maze, which essentially simulates a game of Pac-Man, allowing each player to collect Pac-Dots and Power Pellets, run from and chase Ghosts. It even saves their high score and displays it at the top of the screen. In the Wii U version, the stage Pac-Land appears, based on the arcade game of the same name, and the Ghosts appear as an Assist Trophy rather than a stage hazard. Boss Galagas, a type of enemy in Namco's Galaga series, as well the Special Flag, a collectible from numerous Namco games, also appear in Super Smash Bros. 4 as items. Mii Fighter costumes based on Heihachi Mishima of the Tekken series, Lloyd Irving of the Tales series, and Gil from The Tower of Druaga are available as downloadable content.
Very early in the conceptual phase for SSB4, Sakurai briefly contemplated the inclusion of other Namco characters, though made the decision to go with Pac-Man only almost immediately. In particular, he named Tekken's Heihachi as a character who came to mind, but wrote him off as his complex moveset would have been too difficult to effectively translate to Smash Bros.[2]
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Pac-Man returns from the previous game as a playable fighter. Pac-Land returns from the Wii U version, while the Boss Galaga and Special flag items return, along with the Ghost Assist Trophy. New music tracks include medleys from Galaga and Mappy, as well as the Area 1 music from Dragon Spirit.
Smash Development History
2014
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
- Lead Developer (with Sora Ltd..)
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Wii U
- Lead Developer (with Sora Ltd..)
2018
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Lead Developer (with Sora Ltd..)
Gallery
Bandai's logo before the company merged with Namco.
Namco's logo before the company merged with Bandai.
Trivia
- As of Ultimate, Bandai Namco has been the head developer more games in the Super Smash Bros. series than any other single developer, being the primary studio behind 3DS, Wii U and Ultimate, one more than HAL Laboratory who developed both the original Nintendo 64 game and Melee.
- Bandai Namco is currently the only returning third-party publisher to not introduce a new fighter in Ultimate.
- Bandai Namco and Konami are the only two third-party companies not to have representatives who debuted in Smash as part of DLC.
References
- ^ Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – tons of screenshots Nintendo Everything
- ^ "My First Conception is My Landmark," Sakurai’s Famitsu column vol. 456 Source Gaming
| Companies involved in the Super Smash Bros. series | |
|---|---|
| First- and second-party | Nintendo (Monolith Soft · Retro Studios) · HAL Laboratory · Game Freak · Creatures · Intelligent Systems · Rare Ltd. · Sora Ltd. |
| Third-party | Konami · Sega (Atlus) · PlatinumGames · Capcom · Bandai Namco · Square Enix · Microsoft (Rare Ltd. · Mojang Studios) · SNK · Disney |
| Other related | Game Arts · Hatena · Havok · Paon DP · Tri-Crescendo · List of companies with minor representation |
