User:Namcokid47/Jaleco
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Native name | 株式会社ジャレコ |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Kabushiki gaisha Jareko |
| Formerly |
|
| Company type | Public |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | October 3, 1974 |
| Founders | Yoshiaki Kanazawa |
| Defunct | May 21, 2014 |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Parent | Game Yarō |
| Subsidiaries | Jaleco Entertainment Jaleco Europe JAQNO |
Jaleco Ltd.[a] was a Japanese multinational video game developer and publisher, based out of Tokyo, Japan. Its international branches, Jaleco Entertainment and Jaleco Europe, were respectively headquartered in Buffalo, New York and London. Jaleco was a subsidiary of Jaleco Holding, which in turn was a part of Hyperlink Investments Group. Jaleco also had a subsidiary named JAQNO that produced water filters and other equipment for aquariums, which was closed in the late-1990's.
Jaleco was founded as the Japan Leisure Company by Yoshiaki Kanazawa on October 3, 1974. Originally a producer of equipment for amusement parks, it entered the coin-operated video game business in 1982 and changed its name to Jaleco in 1983. Jaleco was one of the first third-party developers for the Nintendo Family Computer, granting them exclusive privileges such as the ability to manufacture their own cartridges and release as many games as they wanted. A North American office, Jaleco USA, opened in 1986 and was a publisher of games for system such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy, releasing games such as Maniac Mansion and R-Type III overseas.
Jaleco was struggling financially by the early 1990's, and by 2000 had closed their arcade game division due to low income. The company was sold to Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited (PCCW) and became their Japanese video game publishing arm, renamed to PCCW Japan. PCCW purchased the VR-1 Group, the holder of North American MMO developer VR-1 Entertainment, and merged Jaleco USA and VR-1 Entertainment into Jaleco Entertainment. PCCW Japan was renamed back to Jaleco in 2004. Jaleco was sold off in 2005 to Hyperlink Investments Group, who renamed the company to Jaleco Holding and spun-off its game development operations into a new company also called Jaleco. The new Jaleco company was sold in 2009 to mobile game developer Game Yarō. Jaleco contained to produce video games until 2014, when Game Yarō declared bankruptcy and was dissolved.
Jaleco is best known for its video games, including City Connection, Exerion, the Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai franchise, and the Ninja JaJaMaru-kun series. In the past, the company had produced UFO catcher machines, arcade cabinets, amusement park equipment, and video arcades in Japan. Jaleco is remembered in Japan for its recognizable library of games, while in the West they have been criticized for its average to poor-quality output of titles. Jaleco's video games are owned by City Connection, an indie development studio that continues to use the company's franchises for games and licensing deals.