Philko Corporation was an arcade game developer, founded on July 30, 1985 and headquartered at Jongro-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Little is known about them.
Overview[]
The company mainly created arcade games using preexisting hardware from games such as Capcom's Hyper Dyne Side Arms and Sega's Flash Point. Some of their games would also be released internationally by companies such as Sharp Image Electronics and Pacific Games.
Philko's chips would even be found on bootlegs of games such as R-Type. As a result, in 1989, Philko and it's representative, Yi Bonghak, were indicted and fined 10,000,000 Won each by Korean courts for their bootlegging of video game boards.[1]
Philko also founded the Korean Computer Graphics Research Association, a partnership of six companies for joint computer graphics technology research.[2] The company would also create multiple video game scenario competitions over the span of a year with prizes up to 3,000,000 Won.[3]
At the time of the company's closure, it had ceased developing games in 1991 and switched to construction industry under the name of On-Gok.
Games[]
| Name | Console | Released | Description | Distributed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atomic Point | Sega System 16B(modified) | 1990 | Hack of Flash Point | Korea (Philko) |
| Dyger | Hyper Dyne Side Arms | 1989 | Shooting game running on Hyper Dyne Side Arms hardware. | Korea (Philko), United States (Sharp Image) |
| Lock On | Sega System 16B(modified) | 1991 | Bootleg of Carrier Air Wing | Korea (Philko) |
| Sauro | Original | 1990 | A shoot-em-up released by Tecfri. Korean release only. | Korea (Philko) |
| Snapper | Sega System 16B(modified) | 1990 | Snake clone | Korea (Philko) |
| The Destroyer from Jail | Sega System 16B(modified) | 1991 | Side-scrolling game simillar to Jail Break | Korea (Philko) |
| Turtle Ship | Hyper Dyne Side Arms | 1988 | Advanced hack of Hyper Dyne Side Arms. | Korea (Philko), Sharp Image (United States) Pacific Games (Japan) |
| Whizz | Hyper Dyne Side Arms | 1989 | Released in North America as Twin Falcons. Runs on Hyper Dyne Side Arms hardware. | Korea (Philko), Poara Enterprises (United States) |
| Xyonix | Sega System 2 (modified) | 1989 | Tetris clone based on Atari Tetris. Runs on modified Sega System 2 Hardware | Korea (Philko) |
Unknown/Unreleased Games[]
According to a 1989 newspaper article,[4] Philko had released 7 arcade games in 1988 and had planned to released 20 more games by early 1989. This would imply that very few of their games are known. The Korea Copyright Commission also has records of copyrights filed for Red Wolf, Turtle Ship II, Z-Ski, Baby Punch, and 88 Tetris.
Trivia[]
- In a interview with Daou Infosys artist, Ha Sangyeon, he stated that he worked on Destroyer (The Destroyer From Jail) and was trained by a planner from Tecmo.[5] [6]
- In 1989, a rumor published in the November 1989 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly claims that Philko was the first Korean company to program games for the NES, although it is not known if they were licensed by Nintendo to do so or not.
References[]
- ↑ Philko on Hardcore Gaming 101's A History of Korean Gaming
- ↑ http://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.nhn?articleId=1987080600099208011
- ↑ Computer Study 8/1987, 11/1987 and 4/1988
- ↑ http://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.nhn?articleId=1989021700099207009
- ↑ Gamepia 2/1997, page 217
- ↑ Game Champ 2/1993, page 125