When it comes to talking about old games, I think everyone often thinks of the names of famous major manufacturers. However, the history of games is not made by the main characters alone. If you change your perspective slightly, there are companies that make you feel, ”Wasn't this actually the company that was supporting that era?” One of them is Nichibutsu, Nihon Bussan Co., Ltd. Even if you tilt your head for a moment upon hearing the name, some people might remember it if they hear ”the horned owl mark.” It was not the type to step forward flashily, yet for some reason, it remains somewhere in the memory. It was a company with such a unique atmosphere.

Looking at the history of companies, you sometimes encounter interesting starting points. Nichibutsu was one of them. Although it is known as a game production company today, it did not aim solely for games from the beginning. Founded in 1970 by Sueharu Torii at the age of 23, and subsequently moving forward with business through incorporation, the first thing it handled was a jukebox rental business. Furthermore, it has a history of having sold yacht models in the past. Looking back like this, I cannot help but imagine that people around them might have been thinking, ”What will they start next?” However, thinking about it conversely, the fact that they did not confine themselves to a fixed framework might have led to their later challenges.

Nichibutsu had the catchphrase ”Frontier Spirit of Amusement” or ”Frontier Spirit in the Amusement.” Looking at these words, I feel that the company's attitude is expressed very well. ”Frontier,” meaning pioneer spirit. There is an atmosphere of not just chasing what is currently popular, but continuing to search for new places. In the era when they entered the arcade game market in 1975, games themselves were not yet as giant an industry as they are today. It was not a world where roads were completed like now, but an era where nobody knew where they should head. Plunging in under such circumstances must have required a considerably large amount of courage in itself.

In 1980, Nichibutsu sent works such as ”Moon Cresta” and ”Crazy Climber” out into the world. If you are someone who knows the era when game centers were enveloped in excitement, you might feel nostalgic just by hearing these names. Especially with ”Crazy Climber,” the unique operational feel that was not just simply moving a character was impressive. Precisely because it was an era when games were still repeating many experiments, it had the power to surprise people, making them think, ”Is there this kind of way to play too?” Ideas that have become natural today were once formed by someone for the first time back then. I believe that the accumulation of that trial and error connects to the current game culture.

As you investigate the history of Nichibutsu, interesting parts also come into view. In the corporate profile pamphlets published at the time, cloned game works such as ”Table Attacker” and ”Moon Base” were sometimes listed as the company's own original works. Looking at it with today's sensibilities, some people might be surprised, but it makes one feel that it was an era when the game industry itself was still searching for its form. The current rules were not completely established, and the atmosphere of an era where various trials and errors were mixed together exists there. I feel that history is interesting not only for its clean successes but also for including slightly complex parts.

Currently, the rights to Nichibutsu's game titles have been taken over by Hamster. Although the history of the company itself has reached a milestone, the works have not completely disappeared. While old games often become unplayable when eras change, because they are inherited like this, the current generation can also touch the atmosphere of that era. Thinking about it, it is a strange story. Since works that were played in a corner of a game center reach people's hands again decades later.

The company called Nichibutsu is slightly different from the impression of a giant corporation that stood at the center of gaming history. However, as is the case in movies and stories, the ones that remain intensely in memory are not necessarily the main characters. Precisely because it was an existence that possessed a unique individuality and continued to challenge within the era, its name probably continues to be spoken of even now. Looking back, I feel as if the words ”pioneer spirit” certainly remain here and there in its footsteps.