View Full Version : Developer Obscura Vol. 2: Aicom
If you've heard of Aicom, chances are it was because of the Neo-Geo shooter, "Pulstar." But their works list is a little more extensive than that.
History
According to http://review-site.net/developer/xe.html#エイコム:
"You establish in 1990 as subsidiary company Japanese thornback COM of [sami] industry.
Because in 1992 with the Japan software technology it is absorbed is combined in [sami] itself,
'at the time of view point' release of 1992 November it means [sami] industry.
After that, it became independent, received the investment of SNK and [takara] and modified the company name to the dream atelier."
In 1990, Sammy established a subsidiary called Nippon Eicom. In 1992, they were absorbed into Sammy. After that, they became independent. They received investment from SNK and Takara and became Yumekobo (I will not be talking about Yumekobo here). But as you will see, Aicom obviously predates 1990.
Games
Moero!! Junior Basket: Two on Two/Hoops by Jaleco (FC/NES, 1988)
As proof, I submit the first screenshot. "Aicom" is written on the wall.
http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/29.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=29.png) http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/34.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=34.png)
P-47: The Freedom Fighter & Tenseiryu Saint Dragon by Aicom (PCE, 1989)
Aicom published these ports of Jaleco arcade games, but I'm not so sure if they developed them (credits don't match other Aicom games).
Ultimate Basketball/Taito Basketball by Sammy/Taito (NES/FC, 1990/1991)
http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/32.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=32.png)
Gun-Dec/Vice: Project Doom by Sammy (FC/NES, 1991)
http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/30.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=30.png) http://xs203.xs.to/xs203/06275/31.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs203&d=06275&f=31.png)
Golgo 13: Dai 2 Shou: Riddle of Icarus/Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy by VIC Tokai (FC/NES, 1990)
I compared the credits to Ultimate Basketball, Hoops, and Vice: Project Doom and it checks out. Now I'm starting to wonder if maybe Aicom did other VIC games.
http://xs203.xs.to/xs203/06275/33.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs203&d=06275&f=33.png)
Zenbei!! Pro Basket/All-Pro Basketball by VIC Tokai by (FC/NES, 1989)
And upon closer inspection, it does look like Aicom did this VIC game (yes, I'm investigating WHILE typing up this post). It really does resemble Aicom's other NES basketball games.
http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/35.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=35.png)
Takin' It to the Hoop by NEC (TG-16, 1990)
Yet another Aicom basketball game.
Viewpoint by Sammy (Neo-Geo, 1992)
Aicom's other (and first) Neo-Geo shooter. Ported by Nexus Interact to the Gen/MD. Released in NGCD form in 1995. Given a graphical "upgrade" on the PS1.
http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/Viewpoint_title.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=Viewpoint_title.png)
Janshin Densetsu by SNK (Neo-Geo CD, 1995)
Pulstar by SNK (NG/NGCD, 1995)
http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/pulstar003.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=pulstar003.png)
Fuuun Gokuu Ninjin by Aicom (PS1)
Why Does It Say Aicom?
Bomber King: Scenario 2/Blaster Master Boy by Sunsoft (GB, 1990)
http://xs303.xs.to/xs303/06275/Blaster_Master_Boy.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs303&d=06275&f=Blaster_Master_Boy.png)
The title screen says the original game was by Aicom. But neither the NES or MSX versions of the first Bomber King seem to be by Aicom (though there is one Aicom programmer on the NES version, but everyone else seems firmly entrenched with Hudson). So what's the original game?
Megumi Rescue by Sega (MKIII, 1988)
Aicom has the copyright on the original game, but again, what is the original game? It looks like Aicom might have done Flying Hero on the FC, but that came the next year.
Ed Oscuro
07-06-2006, 08:01 PM
Great writeup! So we see that simply "Sammy" is too basic. Would be nice to find out what the folks behind Vice and Viewpoint are doing today, but in the meantime this provides the answers to a few important questions :)
NeoZeedeater
07-07-2006, 11:49 PM
I don't have any useful info to add but I must say I have been curious about the Megumi Rescue/Flying Hero relationship for a while. It does seem like a Kid Kool/Psycho Fox type scenario.
Speculation: I think Amagon and Flying Hero are by Aicom. Compare for yourself.
The credits for the Japanese version of Amagon have been uncovered (for some reason, they were cut out of the US version) and I can now confirm that it was by Aicom. With that, my suspicions have increased that FC Flying Hero is an Aicom game.
idrougge
08-23-2006, 10:33 PM
What do you think of the credits overlap between Amagon and Robowarrior?
What do you think of the credits overlap between Amagon and Robowarrior?
Don't ask. There's all kinds of overlapping. I give up...for tonight, anyway.
------------
Amagon (NES)
============
PRODUCE
Akio Inoue
DESIGN
Tokuhiro Yakemori (Tokuhiro Takemori?)*
Hiroshi Kazama*
GRAPHIC
Mackey Ueno
SOUND COMPOSER
Kiyoshi Yokoyama
Dota Ando
PROGRAM
Hiroyuki Okada*
SPECIAL THANKS
Hiroshi Ohta*
---------------------
Dynamic Stadium (SFC)
=====================
VISUAL DESIGN
Isao Suwa
BG DESIGN
Yuri Tomura*
Hitoshi Suzuki
SPRITE DESIGN
Ken Katoku*
MAIN PROGRAM
Morikazu Aoki
SUB PROGRAM
Mitsuo Akaike
DATA INPUT
Kazuhiro Miyahara
SOUND COMPOSE
Sizlla
Junichi Saitoh
DIRECTION
Sugar
Yag
CO OPERATE
Nihon Puro Yakyu Kikou
SPECIAL THANKS
Tetsuro Kitagawa
Hajime Kusano
and Sammy All Staff
--------------------
Football Fury (SNES)
====================
PROGRAMMER
Hiroyuki Okada*
PROGRAM ARRANGER
Shingo Terui
PLANNING DIRECTORS
Kanmei Asakura
Yasuhisa Kimura
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Kohisa
Matajiu
Yoshimi Takasugi*
Keiz Marky
Nomura Sunflower
Ken Katoku*
Junichiro Kobayashi
SOUND COMPOSER
Megumi Maz-ura
SOUND DIRECTOR
Sizlla Gainsbourg
SOUND ENGINEER
Magical DJ Masap
SAMPLING NARRATERS
Michael
Matthew
Christopher
SPECIAL THANKS
QB.Yamaguchi
LB.Kawauso
Ga!Ga!Ga!
Ginga-Oh
...and You!
PLANNING SUPERVISOR
Showhey Sugar
-----------
Hoops (NES)
===========
GAME DESIGN
Kenji Nakajima
Hiroshi Kazama*
GRAPHIC ARTS
Tsutomu Nakazawa*
Yoshimi Takasugi*
THANKS
Tomoko
and Mika
MUSIC
Kiyoshi Yokoyama
Dota Ando
Maasaki Nagakura
PROGRAM
Hiroyuki Okada*
--------------------------
Mafat Conspiracy, The (NES)
==========================
GAME DESIGN
Kunito Ikeda*
ASSISTANT GAME DESIGN
Tomoko Morii*
ART WORK
Tsutomu Nakazawa*
ART WORK
Miyuki Yakushiji*
Yoshimi Takasugi*
PROGRAM
Rizaemon Morimoto
MUSIC COMPOSE
Seriinu
SOUND ASSISTANT
Warikashi Yokatta
Ojamamusi
Shouko Nakano
TEST PLAY
Tokuhiro Takemori*
SPECIAL THANKS FOR
Mr. Shijou
and You
SOUND EFFECT
Toshiko Tasaki
------------
Pulstar (AC)
============
Nenko*
M. Yoshida
T. Nagakubo
Naomi
Daikiti
Ken Katoku (K. Katoku)*
K. Urahama
K. Okabe
Toshio. I
Yamadasan
Shion
F. Ryuze
-------------------------
Ultimate Basketball (NES)
=========================
GAME DESIGN
Kunito Ikeda*
ART WORK
Tsutomu Nakazawa*
Miyuki Yakushiji*
Sadao Watanabe
Yoshimi Takasugi*
GAME PROGRAMMER
Hiroyuki Okada*
MUSIC COMPOSER
Dota Ando
SOUND EFFECT
Masaaki Nagakura
Tomoko Morii*
------------------------
Vice: Project Doom (NES)
========================
STAFF CREDITS
Hiroyuki Okada*
Kiyoshi Yokoyama
Tsutomu Nakazawa*
Miyuki Yakushiji*
Hiroshi Takeuchi*
Michio Sato
Nenko*
--------------
Viewpoint (NG)
==============
GAME DESIGNERS
Nenko*
Tomoko Morii (Morii)*
Terasaka
Mokichi
Akahoushi
Run
PROGRAMMERS
S. Kinjo
M. Tani
SOUND
Sizla
Masaki Kase
Megumi M.
POLYGONIZER
N. Yamaguchi
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Ashin
Hiroshi Takeuchi (H. Takeuchi)
Yuri Tomura*
Maxma
Miyaki
Ken Katoku*
Chirico
BG DESIGNERS
Hiroppi T.
K. Nishithuka
"""""Are These By Aicom?"""""
---------------
Angel Kids (AC)
===============
From highscore table: Akio Inoue? (INOUE), (HAMADA), Hiroshi Ohta* (OHTA), (II3UKA), (SATOH), Tomoko Sugoh (SUGOH), Yoshimi Takasugi* (TAKASUGI), (HIRANO)
------------------
Astyanax, The (AC)
==================
Produced and directed by : Tokuhiro Takemori*
Game designers : Tokuhiro Takemori*, Nenko*
Graphic designers : Nenko*, Ns Naochan, Kan-Chan, Tomoko Sugoh
Programmed by : Satoru K
Music composed by : Kiyoshi Yokoyama
--------------------------
Legendary Axe, The (TG-16)
==========================
GAME DESIGNERS
Tokuhiro Takemori
Abu
PROGRAMMERS
Tsurumoku
P-Okabe
Jun Yasuda
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Abu
Shigenori Hashimoto
Tomoko Sugou
SOUND COMPOSERS
Atsushi Chikuma
Toshiaki Takimoto
TEST PLAYERS
Jun Yasuda
P-Okabe
SPECIAL THANKS
Mr. Aoyama
Ono-chan
-------------------------
Riddle of Pythagoras (AC)
=========================
Original story by : Teruo Ohhira
Produced by Exa Planning.
Producer : Mr. Large Coin
Game designers : Hiroshi Ohta*, Tokuhiro Takemori*
Development adviser : Kenji Nakajima
Character designers : Buta-Kun, Tomoko Sugoh, Tetsushi Nakamura, Keisuke Abe
System supervisor : Akimichi Oda
Sound composers : Jiroh Itaya, Victory Ozawa
Programmers : Mamoru Shiratani, Yuuki <3 Miku
------------------
RoboWarrior (NES)
==================
ORIGINAL STORY
Hiroshi Ohta*
PRODUCED BY
M9 Team
DIRECTOR
Hiroshi Ohta*
GAME DESIGNER
Tokuhiro Takemori*
PROGRAMMER
Toshiyuki Sasagawa
Hiroyuki Okada*
CHARACTER DESIGNER
Tsuguyuki Yamamoto
Kouji Matsuura
Tomomi Wajima
Mio Kuwabara
MUSIC COMPOSER
Uhei Inoh
Kinoko Kunimoto
SOUND DESIGNER
Toshiaki Takimoto
DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR
Kenji Nakashima
Toshiaru Ura
SPECIAL THANKS FOR
Motchi
Kinnoji
Lu Iwabuchi
Happy Matsunaga
Super Bonk (SFC)
http://bonk.classicgaming.gamespy.com/credits-cg.shtml
Speculation: I think Amagon and Flying Hero are by Aicom. Compare for yourself.
Aicom was established in 1990. According to the database here, Amagon and Flying Hero both came out before 1990. Therefore it could have just been future Aicom staff members as opposed to Aicom itself. Do you have any proof other than just names in credits?
So basically, you've concluded that a bunch of Sammy/Vic Tokai/Jaleco games were really done by Aicom?
Aicom was established in 1990. According to the database here, Amagon and Flying Hero both came out before 1990. Therefore it could have just been future Aicom staff members as opposed to Aicom itself. Do you have any proof other than just names in credits?
There's very little history on Aicom prior to 1990, but looking at these screenshots, it's obvious they were around. 1990 is the year Aicom became a subsidiary of Sammy.
Hoops (NES) (1989)
Note "Aicom" is written on the wall
http://xs105.xs.to/xs105/06345/29_ai.png.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs105&d=06345&f=29_ai.png)
Megumi Rescue (SMS) (1988)
http://xs105.xs.to/xs105/06345/MegumiRescue000.jpg.xs.jpg (http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs105&d=06345&f=MegumiRescue000.jpg)
So basically, you've concluded that a bunch of Sammy/Vic Tokai/Jaleco games were really done by Aicom?
Yes
Kid Fenris
08-24-2006, 10:19 PM
As a fan of both Vice: Project Doom and Pulstar, I'm very intrigued by this discovery. I remember that some people thought Aicom was just a re-formed Irem back when Pulstar came out, largely because of the game's R-Type atmosphere. I guess they were wrong.
The Vic Tokai connection is especially interesting. Do you think any Aicom staffers worked on the Trouble Shooter games?
Dimitri
08-25-2006, 12:42 AM
The Vic Tokai connection is especially interesting. Do you think any Aicom staffers worked on the Trouble Shooter games?
IIRC, the Trouble Shooter games (as well as Socket/Time Dominator) were done by the same team that did Psycho Fox, Decap Attack, Whip Rush, etc...you'll notice that the item carrier in Trouble Shooter/Battle Mania is the ship from Whip Rush, and Socket makes a cameo in Battle Mania Daiginjou. This particular team is believed to be Vic Tokai's internal development staff. The name "Studio Uchuu Tetsujin" ("Studio Space Iron Men") is given in the TS games, but I read somewhere that it was just a staff club at Vic Tokai.
AFAIK there's no connection to Aicom for these particular games. CRV could probably refute this if he wanted, though.
Also, the sound in both TS games and Socket were done by another company called Graphic Research.
Kid Fenris
10-01-2006, 04:27 PM
This particular team is believed to be Vic Tokai's internal development staff. The name "Studio Uchuu Tetsujin" ("Studio Space Iron Men") is given in the TS games, but I read somewhere that it was just a staff club at Vic Tokai.
That's probably true; it'd fit the anime-parody style of the Trouble Shooter games.
Vic Tokai's game history is really interesting to me. I'd like to start another thread to discuss such important matters as which team made Clash at Demonhead and The Krion Conquest, what AIMO (http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7110) was, and whether or not the people behind the first Golgo 13 game also made WURM.
idrougge
10-08-2006, 09:12 PM
The end credits for Totally Rad (NES) says "PRESENTED BY AICOM". It was published by Jaleco both in America and Japan (Magic John).
B - Mark
10-09-2006, 10:59 AM
Nice article about Aicom.
The games listed i played only this games:
- Gun Dec / Vice Project Doom ( Famicom / NES )
- Megumi Rescue ( Sega Mark III / Master System )
I played Gun Dec / Vice Project Doom in my counsinīs home and i like this game. His plot is a union between police movies with sci-fi movies.
I played Megumi Rescue in emulator. In my opinion this game is strange for me beacuse for his genre is uncommon for me.
I interested in play this games by Aicom:
- Viewpoint ( Neo Geo )
- Jashin Densetsu ( Neo Geo and Neo Geo CD )
- Pulstar (Neo Geo and Neo Geo CD )
- Fuun Goku Ninjin ( Playstation 1 )
I had a question:
- What the genres of Jashin Densetsu for Neo Geo and Neo Geo CD and Fuun Goku Ninjin for Playstation 1?
RevQuixo
10-09-2006, 01:54 PM
I had a question:
- What the genres of Jashin Densetsu for Neo Geo and Neo Geo CD and Fuun Goku Ninjin for Playstation 1?
Jashin Densetsu is a Mahjong game. Not sure about the other one.
The end credits for Totally Rad (NES) says "PRESENTED BY AICOM". It was published by Jaleco both in America and Japan (Magic John).
Thanks for pointing that out. The credits don't look familiar, though.
Dimitri looked at the sound code from Amagon and it also appears in Chuugoku Senseijutsu, Seiryaku Simulation: Inbou no Wakusei: Shancara, and Wurm. In my opinion, these very well could be Aicom games.
Kid Fenris
11-01-2006, 12:01 PM
Dimitri looked at the sound code from Amagon and it also appears in Chuugoku Senseijutsu, Seiryaku Simulation: Inbou no Wakusei: Shancara, and Wurm. In my opinion, these very well could be Aicom games.
I don't know about its sound coding, but Wurm was designed and directed by Shouichi Yoshikawa, who also helmed the first Golgo 13 NES game. He worked on some other Vic Tokai games, according to the "game history" on his site (http://www.interq.or.jp/mars/lucky3/_English/subhtm/work/vzr/), but his only connection to Aicom seems to be some preliminary work he did on the second Golgo 13 title.
Kid Fenris
12-03-2006, 05:52 PM
I'm bumping this with a little more info on Wurm. According to the credits (http://www.interq.or.jp/mars/lucky3/_English/subhtm/work/vzr/scenario/vzr_staffroll.htm) on Yoshikawa's site, one of the game's lead planners was Hiroshi Kazama, who appears to have been an Aicom regular. The music (which is really the only good thing about Wurm) was written by Dota Ando, who worked on the soundtracks for several Aicom titles, including Amagon. That'd explain the similarity in the sound code.
Sorry to spam, but...
I don't plan on updating this thread again, so in case someone finds it, I would like to point them in the right direction (to Game Developer Research Institute, where the research rolls along).
For the latest on Aicom, go here (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Aicom).
I don't have any useful info to add but I must say I have been curious about the Megumi Rescue/Flying Hero relationship for a while. It does seem like a Kid Kool/Psycho Fox type scenario.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Megumi Rescue arcade game (unreleased).
The board turned up in an eBay auction (http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNKOWN-SEGA-MEGUMI-RESCUE-ORIGINAL-GAME-BOARD-100x-/160646411194) and was sold in September to someone in Japan. It appears to have been a Sega System E game.
The ROM labels appear to have a "SEGA/EXA" copyright.