Nichibutsu

Nihon Bussan Co., Ltd.日本物産株式会社
Logo.
Origin	Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan
Years	1970-2015
Consoles	Arcade games
First game	Table Attacker (hack of Breakout, unlicensed)
Last game	Koisuru Cosplay Akihabara
Aliases	SPHINX
Games published by	Hamster Corporation (2014-current)
Related companies	WOOD PLACE, MAKE SOFTWARE, T-System YUBIS, TAITO SHOJI, MIKI SHOJI

Nichibutsu Building (1979)

Nichibutsu (日物), also known as Nihon Bussan Co., Ltd.(日本物産株式会社), was a Japanese developer and publisher video games, some of them copies of existing titles.

In 1978, Nichibutsu released their first video game titles, Table Attacker, a clone of Breakout, and Moon Base, a clone of Space Invaders. Nichibutsu also produced Moon Alien originally under an agreement with Namco, but the game was subject of a litigation over Nichibutsu allegedly producing more boards than what Namco had permitted in the agreement. The company switched to original titles afterwards (and even was granted licenses to develop console titles), but their arcade division focused exclusively on strip mahjong games after 1989, some of them "parodying" intellectual properties of other companies.

Nichibutsu was a sponsor of the Team Lotus Formula One team from 1991 to 1993 when the company released the F1 Circus series of racing games, but did not obtain an official FIA Formula One World Championship license until late 1992; games prior to Super F1 Circus Limited and F1 Circus '92, while licensed by console makers, were unlicensed by the FIA/FOCA, although some of them do feature Team Lotus as the sole licensed team.

Games

Moon Base (1978)

Moon Alien (1979)

Panic Stadium (1990)

Paddle games

• 1978 Table Attacker (copy of Breakout)
• 1978 Table Attacker Guard (copy of Breakout)
• 1978 Table Attacker Special (copy of Breakout)
• 1978 Table Attacker Black (copy of Breakout)
• 1978 Table Bonpa (copy of Circus)
• 1979 Attacker Ace (copy of Breakout)
• 1979 Bonpa (copy of Circus)

Shooter

• 1978 Moon Base (copy of Space Invaders)
• 1978 Moon Base Spector (copy of Space Invaders Color version)
• 1978 Moon Base Zeta
• 1979 Super Moon Base
• 1980 Moon Alien (copy of Galaxian)
• 1980 Moon Alien 2
• 1980 Moon Cresta
• 1980 Moon Alpha
• 1980 Moon Raker
• 1980 Moon Quasar
• 1981 Moon Shuttle
• 1984 Seicross
• 1984 Tube Panic
• 1985 MagMax
• 1985 Terra Cresta
• 1986 UFO Robo Dangar
• 1986 Soldier Girl Amazon (Also known as Sei Senshi Amatelass)
• 1986 Ninja Emaki (Also known as Youma Ninpou Cho)
• 1987 Sky Fox (Also known as Exerizer. U.S distribution only)
• 1987 Terra Force
• 1987 Legion
• 1988 Formation Armed F
• 1989 Sky Robo (a.k.a. Tatakae! Big Fighter)
• 1992 Terra Cresta 2
• 1997 Terra Cresta 3D

Action

• 1980 Crazy Climber
• 1981 Frisky Tom
• 1982 Wiping (also known as Rug Rats)
• 1983 Dacholer (Kick Boy)
• 1983 Skelagon (SF-X)
• 1984 Roller Jammer
• 1984 Dynamic Ski
• 1985 Cop01
• 1985 Galivan (also known as Cosmo Police Galivan)
• 1986 Mighty Guy
• 1987 Booby Kids (also known as Kid no Hore Hore Dai Sakusen)
• 1987 Samurai Assassin (also known as Kozure Ōkami)
• 1988 Crazy Climber 2
• 1990 Die Hard (PC Engine version developed for Pack-In-Video Co. Ltd.)
• 1993 Galivan 2 (also known as Cosmo Police Galivan 2: Arrow of Justice)
• 1996 Expert

Quiz

• 1987 Hihoo!
• 1987 Hihoo!2
• 1991 Quiz DE Date
• 1991 Miracle Q
• 1991 Kotaemon Kachi
• 1991 TECHNO・DOOL

Puzzle

• 1988 Oh! Pyepee
• 1988 Tougenkyou
• 1989 Pairs
• 1995 Puzzle'n Desu!

Sports

• F1 Circus

Action role-playing

• Artelius

Casino

• Kouryaku Casino Bar

Mahjong

• 1983 Jangō Lady
• 1984 Night Gal
• 1986 Second Love
• 1990 Mahjong Triple Wars
• 1991 Mahjong Vanilla Syndrome
• 1994 Sailor Wars

Gallery

President and CEO. Sueharu Torii He founded a company at the age of 23.

Nichibutsu producing unauthorized Space Invaders units.

Nichibutsu's official Amusement arcade, which uses Taito's Space Invaders characters in the signboard advertisement of the store without permission.

Moon Base copies Taito's Space Invaders, and the poster design uses Star Wars' Darth Vader without permission.

Moon Alien copies Namco's Galaxian, and the poster design uses William Roger Dean' design MOTOWN CHARTBUSTERS VOL.6 without permission.

Moon Trek has Star Trek appear in the game content and posters without permission.

THE LADY HUNTER has Batman appear in the game content and posters without permission.

Cosmo Police Galivan has in-game the Japanese tokusatsu shows Space Sheriff Gavan and Space Sheriff Sharivan without permission.

UFO Robo Dangar has in-game the Japanese Animation UFO Robo Grendizer without permission.

Mahjong Shikaku uses many Japanese anime characters without permission, such as Nausicaa from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Sailor Wars uses Sailor Moon characters without permission.

External link

• Official Japanese website (Wayback Machine)
• Tits and Tiles: The NSFW History of Strip Mahjong (superjumpmagazine.com) - There is a company commentary on Nichibutsu

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