Namco Limited was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, and Shanghai Namco in mainland China.
Operation Wolf is a light gun shooter arcade game developed by Taito and released in 1987. It was ported to many home systems.
Wild Gunman is a light gun shooter game developed and published by Nintendo. Originally created as an electro-mechanical arcade game in 1974 by Gunpei Yokoi, it was adapted to a video game format for the Famicom console in 1984. It was released in 1985 as a launch game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with the Zapper light gun.
Chōzetsurin Jin Bravoman is a 1988 beat'em up arcade video game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Described as a "comical action game", the player controls the titular character, a bionic superhero with telescopic limbs, as he must defeat the villainous Dr. Bomb before he takes over the world. Bravoman can use his arms, legs and head to defeat enemies, and can also crouch and jump over them. The game ran on the Namco System 1 arcade board.
Point Blank, known as Gun Bullet, or Gunvari in Japan, is a series of light gun shooter games developed by Namco for the arcade, PlayStation and Nintendo DS; the trilogy was first released in arcade in 1994 and was later ported onto the PlayStation. Point Blank DS was released in 2006 for the Nintendo DS featuring 40 challenges from the original series.
Wonder Momo is a 1987 beat 'em up arcade game that was developed and published by Namco exclusively in Japan. It was ported to the PC-Engine in 1989, with both versions of the game later ported to the Wii Virtual Console, and ported to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of Arcade Archives. The game was also included in Namco Museum Encore for the PlayStation. Wonder Momo inspired a webcomic series in 2012, an anime miniseries in 2014, and a sequel game by WayForward Technologies in May 2014.
Sky Kid is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game released by Namco in 1985. It runs on Namco Pac-Land hardware but with a video system like that used in Dragon Buster. It is also the first game from Namco to allow two players to play simultaneously. The game was later released on the Famicom, and both this version for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U and the original arcade version for the Wii were later released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service, and for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives line of digital releases. The NES version was also ported to arcades for the Nintendo VS. System as VS. Super Sky Kid, but promotional materials and the cabinet for this version just use the name VS. Sky Kid.
Dragon Spirit is a 1987 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was distributed by Atari Games. Controlling the dragon Amur, the player must complete each of the game's nine areas to rescue the princess Alicia from the demon Zawell. Similar to Namco's own Xevious, Amur has a projectile weapon for destroying air-based enemies and a bomb for destroying ground enemies. It ran on the Namco System 1 arcade board.
Gee Bee is a block breaker/video pinball hybrid arcade game developed and published by Namco in 1978. The player controls a set of paddles with a rotary knob, with the objective being to score as many points as possible by deflecting a ball against bricks, pop bumpers and other objects in the playfield. It was developed by Toru Iwatani, known as the creator of Pac-Man and Pole Position. Outside Japan, it was published by Gremlin Industries.
Steel Gunner is a 1990 first-person shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco. Players take control of Garcia and Cliff, a duo of police officers that are part of the Neo Arc police force, as they must use their powerful Gargoyle mecha suits to destroy the STURM terrorist organization, who have taken captive scientists Dr. Ryan and Dr. Ellis to create a world-ending superweapon. Gameplay revolves around using a crosshair to shoot down enemies and avoid harming civilians. It runs on the Namco System 2 Plus arcade hardware.
Fighter & Attacker is a 1992 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco.
Sea Wolf is an arcade video game designed by Dave Nutting and released by Midway in 1976. It is a video game update of an electro-mechanical Midway game, Sea Devil, itself based on Sega's 1966 electro-mechanical arcade submarine simulator Periscope. The game was released in Japan by Taito. In Sea Wolf, the player, piloting an unseen submarine, launches torpedoes vertically in an attempt to sink ships moving horizontally across the screen before time runs out. The screen is viewed through a faux periscope mounted on the cabinet.
F-1 is a 1976 electro-mechanical arcade racing game developed and published by Nakamura Manufacturing Company (Namco), and distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player uses a steering wheel to control a Formula One racer, which must avoid collision with other vehicles. The game uses a miniature diorama with small, plastic cars to represent the player's car and opponents on a physical, rotating track, while also featuring a projector system and lighting tricks to create the illusion of racing.
Light-gun shooter, also called light-gun game or simply gun game, is a shooter video game genre in which the primary design element is to simulate a shooting gallery by having the player aiming and discharging a gun-shaped controller at a screen. Light-gun shooters revolve around the protagonist shooting virtual targets, either antagonists or inanimate objects, and generally feature action or horror themes and some may employ a humorous, parodic treatment of these conventions. These games typically feature "on-rails" movement, which gives the player control only over aiming; the protagonist's other movements are determined by the game. Games featuring this device are sometimes termed "rail shooters", though this term is also applied to games of other genres in which "on-rails" movement is a feature. Some, particularly later, games give the player greater control over movement and in still others the protagonist does not move at all. On home computer conversions of light-gun shooters, mouse has been often an optional or non-optional replacement for a light gun.
Electro-mechanical games are types of arcade games that operate on a combination of some electronic circuitry and mechanical actions from the player to move items contained within the game's cabinet. Some of these were early light gun games using light-sensitive sensors on targets to register hits, while others were simulation games such as driving games, combat flight simulators and sports games. EM games were popular in amusement arcades from the late 1940s up until the 1970s, serving as alternatives to pinball machines, which had been stigmatized as games of chance during that period. EM games lost popularity in the 1970s, as arcade video games had emerged to replace them in addition to newer pinball machines designed as games of skill.
Shoot Away is a 1977 electro-mechanical (EM) light gun shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco. Players use the shotgun-shaped light guns to fire at clay pigeons, represented as flying white dots on a projector screen. There are two that must be shot down in each round, and players only get two bullets to hit them. Bonus points are awarded for shooting the pigeons as soon as they appear, or by destroying both of them with a single bullet. The game was a critical and commercial success, maintaining a presence in arcades into the 1980s.
Ghoul Panic is a 1999 light gun shooter arcade game developed by Raizing and published by Namco. A version for the PlayStation was released in 2000. Players used lightguns to complete a series of minigames, done by firing at on-screen targets. In these minigames there is an objective that must be fulfilled before the time runs out to progress such as shooting a certain amount of enemies or protecting small, yellow cats from projectiles. It ran on the Namco System 12 arcade hardware.
Sweet Licks, known as Okashi Daisakusen in Japan and Choco-Kid in Europe, is a 1981 coin-operated redemption mole-buster arcade game developed and published by Namco. Players use a foam-covered mallet to whack the eight "Pyokotan" cake monsters that emerge from the colored holes placed on the machine. Points are awarded for hitting them, and the speed of the game increases until the time limit runs out. Hitting 40 Pyokotan will increase the timer by 15 seconds.
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers.
