Tecmo, Ltd. was a Japanese video game developer, known primarily for Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games. Before 1986, it was known as Tehkan Ltd—mainly because its name when it was founded in 1967 was Teikoku Kanzai (lit. Imperial Management) and was originally a property management company that expanded to video game arcades. Several games during its 8, 16, and 32-bit eras had a habit of including their company name within the title.
In 2010, following significant financial difficulties and several lawsuits (chief among which is a lawsuit filed by ex-Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki), Tecmo considered a takeover by Square Enix before choosing to instead merge with Koei, founding Tecmo Koei Holdings (later Koei Tecmo). Tecmo as a whole was dissolved and merged into Koei Tecmo by 2011. The standalone "Tecmo" branding would continue to be used on Koei Tecmo products until 2016.
Tecmo organized two internal development divisions between the 1990s and 2000s:
- Team Ninja: Founded by 1995, the team was led by the famous game designer Tomonobu Itagaki, and developed the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden video games. After the Koei Tecmo merger, Team Ninja became one of the major Koei Tecmo development studios.
- Team Tachyon: Founded in 2007, the team developed some high-profile Tecmo titles like Undead Knights and Quantum Theory. After the Koei Tecmo merger, most of Team Tachyon was merged into Team Ninja in 2016.
Not to be confused with Technos Japan Corp., the now defunct developers of the Double Dragon and Kunio-kun games.
Games developed
Published by Tecmo
- Bomb Jack
- Captain Tsubasa series (some game entries developed by Tecmo)
- Deception series (1996-2005)
- Fatal Frame series (2001-2008; series includes games not published by Tecmo)
- Flame Gunner (developed with GAPS Inc.)
- Legionnaire (developed with TAD Corporation)
- Monster Rancher series (series includes games not developed by Tecmo)
- Ninja Gaiden series (series includes games developed by Team Ninja, and games not developed by Tecmo)
- Radia Senki Reimeihen
- Rygar
- Secret of the Stars
- Solomon's Key
- Star Force
- Tecmo Bowl
- Tecmo Knight
Published by Others
- Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (published by Nintendo on the Wii; non-Wii versions published post-merger by Koei Tecmo)
Published by Tecmo
- Dead or Alive series (1996-2010; series includes games not developed by Team Ninja)
- Ninja Gaiden series (2004 game, Dragon Sword, and II only)
Published by Others
- Metroid: Other M (developed with Nintendo SPD; published by Nintendo)
Published by Tecmo
