Namco Limited (often stylized as NAMCO) was a Japanese multinational video game and amusement company who was one of the leaders of the arcade industry during the Golden Age of Arcade Games, and remained a prolific console and arcade game maker during the console generations. Facing financial difficulties in the early 2000s, Namco merged with Japanese toy and anime company Bandai in 2005 to form Namco Bandai Holdings (later known as Bandai Namco Holdings), and no longer exists as an independent company in the current day.
Namco was founded by Masaya Nakamura in 1955 as Nakamura Seisakusho, then an operator of coin-operated amusement machines. The company's first forays into arcade gaming came in the form of electro-mechanical games like Periscope.
Nakamura's arcade business greatly expanded in the 1970s when the company partnered with Atari Japan to distribute Atari arcade games in Japan, and Nakamura later acquired Atari Japan due to the latter's mismanagement. In 1977, Nakamura's company was formally renamed to Namco (a company brand name used since 1971), and began developing and manufacturing its own arcade games to great success, with hits like Galaxian, Galaga and Pac-Man.
Through the console era from 1980s to 1990s, Namco found successes with expanding both into console gaming and internationally. For some time in the 1990s, they also operated a theme park named Wonder Eggs focused on their video games. In 2005, amidst financial difficulties due to the post-1990s Japanese recession, Namco conducted a merger (really a takeover by the latter) with Japanese toy company Bandai, forming Namco Bandai Holdings. By the following year, Namco's video game and amusement business divisions were merged with Bandai's to form Namco Bandai Games (later known as Bandai Namco Entertainment) effectively dissolving the company.
Today, Bandai Namco Entertainment retains the core video game development studios of Namco, and continues to make games on former Namco IPs. Namco as a brand today is only used in Bandai Namco arcades in Japan, operated by Bandai Namco Amusement, the successor to Namco's amusement/arcade businesses, which previously traded under the Namco name from 2006 to 2018, when it was renamed to match with the rest of the Bandai Namco group after gaining oversight of BNEI's amusement machine development division.
Games
- Ace Combat series (1995-2006)
- Ace Combat 2
- Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
- Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies
- Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
- Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War (original Japanese version, international versions were published post-merger by Namco Bandai Games)
- Baraduke
- Battle City
- Bosconian
- Bravoman
- Breakdown
- Crisis Zone (1999) (PS2 version developed by TOSE)
- Dead to Rights
- Dig Dug
- Flash of the Blade
- Galaga
- Galaxian
- Genpei Tōma Den
- Great Greed
- Katamari Damacy series (2004-2006)
- King & Balloon
- kill.switch
- Klonoa
- Knuckle Heads
- Kosodate Quiz My Angel
- The Legend of Valkyrie
- Libble Rabble
- Lucky & Wild
- Mappy
- Mario Kart Arcade GP series (2005 game only)
- Marvel Land
- Metal Marines
- Mirai Ninja
- Namco Museum series (1995-1996; series includes games only published by Namco)
- Ninja Assault (with Now Production)
- Numan Athletics
- The Outfoxies
- Pac-Man series (1980-2006; series includes games only published by Namco)
- Phozon
- Point Blank (1994)
- Pole Position
- Prop Cycle
- Rally-X
- Ridge Racer series (1993-2006; series includes games only published by Namco)
- Rolling Thunder
- Sky Kid
- Soulcalibur series (1995-2005)
- Splatterhouse (1988 game only)
- Starblade
- Star Luster
- Star Wars (Namco)
- Steel Gunner
- Taiko no Tatsujin series (2001-2005)
- Tales Series (2003-2006; developed by subsidiary Namco Tales Studio)
- Tales of Symphonia
- Tales of Rebirth
- Tales of Legendia
- Tales of the Abyss (the North American and Nintendo 3DS versions were published post-merger by Namco Bandai Games)
- Tekken series (1994-2005)
- Time Crisis series (1995-1997; series includes games only published by Namco)
- The Tower of Babel
- The Tower of Druaga
- Urban Reign
- Valis: The Fantasm Soldier (for mobile phones in Japan)
- Wangan Midnight (2001-2005)
- Wonder Momo
- Xevious
- Yumeria
Developed by Namco subsidiary Monolith Soft (1999-2006)
- Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (with tri-Crescendo)
- Namco × Capcom
- Xenosaga (Xenosaga Episode III published by Namco Bandai Games)
The games' actual developers are indicated in brackets suffixed after the game titles.
- Dragon Valor (Now Production)
- Ehrgeiz (arcades; developed by Dream Factory)
- Fighting Layer (Arika)
- Final Fantasy (developed by TOSE for mobile phones, under license from Square Enix)
- Final Fantasy II (developed by TOSE for mobile phones, under license from Square Enix)
- Ghoul Panic (8ing/Raizing)
- Ghosthunter (developed by Guerrilla Cambridge, formerly known as SCE Studio Cambridge)
- Golgo 13 (light gun games made from 1999-2001; developed by 8ing/Raizing)
- The iDOLM@STER (Metro, the Xbox 360 port and later games in the series were developed and/or published by Bandai Namco Entertainment)
- I-Ninja (Argonaut Games)
- Megami Tensei (Atlus)
- Megami Tensei II (Atlus)
- Pac-Man Fever (Mass Media)
- Pac-Man Vs. (Nintendo)
- Sigma Star Saga (WayForward Technologies)
- Spawn: Armageddon (Point of View)
- Tales Series (1995-2003 only; developed by Wolf Team)
- The Quest of Ki (Game Studio)
- Vampire Night (Wow Entertainment)
- Weaponlord (Visual Concepts)
- We Cheer (Machatin + Land Ho)
- Zero Wing (Toaplan)
- Donkey Konga (published by Nintendo)
- Mario Superstar Baseball (published by Nintendo)
- Star Fox: Assault (published by Nintendo)
