Kaneko
Encyclopedia
, also referred to as , was a Japanese
video game publisher
founded in Suginami, Tokyo
, Japan
by Hiroshi Kaneko. It published a number of games both under its brand and other companies, such as Air Buster
, Nexzr, Shogun Warriors
, DJ Boy
, Guts'n, and the Gals Panic
series. Although most of the games that Kaneko produced were standard arcade
fare, they also earned a degree of notoriety for both DJ Boy (for its reputedly racist
plot and negative stereotyping) and the Gals Panic series (the games often bordering on softcore pornography
).
The last game released by the company was Gals Panic S3 for the arcade
in 2002.
In 1982, it began its video game business as a developer of Taito Corporation
's video games.
In 1990, Kaneko began to make its own video game under the KANEKO brand.
In 2000-04-?, Kaneko went through financial restructuring, and exited video game business except for maintenance department. The company was moved to Shibuya, Tokyo
.
In 2001-07-25, Kaneko filed a lawsuit against Hitachi Software Engineering over the Kaneko Super NOVA System arcade board, and demanded 1.52 billion yen for damages.
On 2004-08-12, Kaneko filed for bankruptcy
. However, the company's founder, Hiroshi Kaneko vowed to continue.
In 2006 a civil
lawsuit
threatened to officially close the company. The fate of the company is currently unknown, though assumed no longer existent.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
video game publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
founded in Suginami, Tokyo
Suginami, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. In English, it calls itself Suginami City.As of April 1, 2011, the ward has an estimated population of 538,703, with 301,277 households, and a density of 15,834.39 persons per km². The total area is 34.02 km².-Geography:Suginami occupies the...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by Hiroshi Kaneko. It published a number of games both under its brand and other companies, such as Air Buster
Air Buster
Air Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit a.k.a Aero Blasters: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released by Kaneko in 1990, licensed to Namco. The player controls a fighter jet also designed for space travel and shoots enemies, collects power-ups, and...
, Nexzr, Shogun Warriors
Shogun Warriors (arcade game)
Shogun Warriors, known in Japan as , is a 1992 fighting arcade game developed by Atop and Kaneko and published in Japan by Sammy Corporation and published in North America and Europe by Kaneko. It was the first modern-fighting game based on ancient Japanese mythology, and was created during the...
, DJ Boy
DJ Boy
DJ Boy is a 1989 beat 'em up arcade game developed by Kaneko. It was published in Japan by Kaneko and in North America by Sammy.DJ Boy was designed as a standard side-scrolling beat'em up game partially based on the hip-hop culture of the U.S. cities...
, Guts'n, and the Gals Panic
Gals Panic
The Gals Panic games are variants of the classic puzzle game Qix. The objective is to uncover the silhouette portion of background with a marker until at least 80% of the silhouette is uncovered...
series. Although most of the games that Kaneko produced were standard arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
fare, they also earned a degree of notoriety for both DJ Boy (for its reputedly racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
plot and negative stereotyping) and the Gals Panic series (the games often bordering on softcore pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
).
The last game released by the company was Gals Panic S3 for the arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
in 2002.
History
The company began business as developer, manufacturer, vendor, trader of electronic machines, and manufacturing medical equipment.In 1982, it began its video game business as a developer of Taito Corporation
Taito Corporation
The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....
's video games.
In 1990, Kaneko began to make its own video game under the KANEKO brand.
In 2000-04-?, Kaneko went through financial restructuring, and exited video game business except for maintenance department. The company was moved to Shibuya, Tokyo
Shibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
.
In 2001-07-25, Kaneko filed a lawsuit against Hitachi Software Engineering over the Kaneko Super NOVA System arcade board, and demanded 1.52 billion yen for damages.
On 2004-08-12, Kaneko filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. However, the company's founder, Hiroshi Kaneko vowed to continue.
In 2006 a civil
Civil law (common law)
Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
threatened to officially close the company. The fate of the company is currently unknown, though assumed no longer existent.
Taito games
- Flying Roller
- Samurai Nipponichi
- Kageki
- Dr. Topple
- Gals PanicGals PanicThe Gals Panic games are variants of the classic puzzle game Qix. The objective is to uncover the silhouette portion of background with a marker until at least 80% of the silhouette is uncovered...
(Japan)
Kaneko games
- Air BusterAir BusterAir Buster: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit a.k.a Aero Blasters: Trouble Specialty Raid Unit is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released by Kaneko in 1990, licensed to Namco. The player controls a fighter jet also designed for space travel and shoots enemies, collects power-ups, and...
- B Rap Boys
- Bakuretsu Breaker
- Blood WarriorBlood WarriorBlood Warrior, known in Japan as , is a 1994 fighting arcade game developed by Atop and published by Kaneko. It is the successor to the 1992 fighting arcade game, Shogun Warriors, also developed by Atop and published by Kaneko...
- Bonk's AdventureBonk's AdventureBonk's Adventure is a 2D platform video game developed by Red Company and Atlus and released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16. In Japan it was released as PC Genjin in 1989, a play on the Japanese name for the system, 'PC Engine'. The game was re-released for the TurboGrafx-16 in the U.S. in 1992 on...
(arcade version) - Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to FoolChester Cheetah: Too Cool to FoolChester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool was a 1992 video game that starred Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah, only released in North America.The instruction manual contains a popular Engrish that is recognized by many gamers, "As is Chester Cheetah way, is one-person play." The Engrish spawned due to bad...
- Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild QuestChester Cheetah: Wild Wild QuestChester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest is a 1990s video game that starred Cheetos mascot Chester Cheetah. It is the sequel to Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool. The game is designed much like Super Mario World in which the player navigates through levels in a map, and the game is also a platformer....
- Cyvern: The Dragon WeaponsCyvern: The Dragon WeaponsCyvern: The Dragon Weapons is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up released in 1998 by Japanese company Kaneko.-External links:* at Arcade History...
- DJ BoyDJ BoyDJ Boy is a 1989 beat 'em up arcade game developed by Kaneko. It was published in Japan by Kaneko and in North America by Sammy.DJ Boy was designed as a standard side-scrolling beat'em up game partially based on the hip-hop culture of the U.S. cities...
- Fly Boy
- Gals PanicGals PanicThe Gals Panic games are variants of the classic puzzle game Qix. The objective is to uncover the silhouette portion of background with a marker until at least 80% of the silhouette is uncovered...
(overseas) - Gals Panic II
- Gals Panic 3
- Gals Panic 4
- Gals Panic S Extra Edition
- Gals Panic S2
- Gals Panic S3
- Great 1000 Miles Rally
- Heavy UnitHeavy Unitis a side scrolling shoot-em-up arcade game developed by Kaneko and published by Taito in 1988. It was ported to the PC Engine and Sega Mega Drive by Taito and was released on December 22, 1989. There was also a Mega Drive port by Toho entitled "Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special" released on December...
- Kabuki Z
- The Kung-Fu Master Jackie ChanThe Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chanis a 1995 fighting arcade game developed and published by Kaneko. It features the Hong Kong celebrity, Jackie Chan, who was also the producer of it, while it also features other actors from some of Jackie Chan's films...
- Magical Crystal
- Nexzr
- Panic Street (Game Boy version of the MSX game by Nippon Columbia)
- Saru Kani Hamu Zou
- Shogun WarriorsShogun Warriors (arcade game)Shogun Warriors, known in Japan as , is a 1992 fighting arcade game developed by Atop and Kaneko and published in Japan by Sammy Corporation and published in North America and Europe by Kaneko. It was the first modern-fighting game based on ancient Japanese mythology, and was created during the...
Developed home games
- Super Star SoldierSuper Star SoldierSuper Star Soldier is a scrolling shooter video game released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16 system. It is the sequel to Star Soldier, and part of a vertical-scrolling shooter series by Hudson Soft. According to the company, many people believed Super Star Soldiers graphics were the best of any...
- Star ParodierStar ParodierStar Parodier is a shoot 'em up developed by Hudson Soft for the PC Engine CD-ROM. It is a parody of the Star Soldier series, similar to Konami's Parodius series, and was originally only released in Japan, though it was also intended to be released in North America under the name Fantasy Star...
- Heavy UnitHeavy Unitis a side scrolling shoot-em-up arcade game developed by Kaneko and published by Taito in 1988. It was ported to the PC Engine and Sega Mega Drive by Taito and was released on December 22, 1989. There was also a Mega Drive port by Toho entitled "Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special" released on December...
(PC Engine) - Berlin WallBerlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
- Power AthletePower Moves, known outside of Japan for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis as Deadly Moves or for the Super NES as Power Moves, is a fighting video game developed and published by Kaneko. It was first released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in North America on August 14, 1992, and in Japan on November 20, 1992...
(known outside of Japan as Power Moves for the Super NESSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
and Deadly Moves for the Sega Genesis/Mega DriveSega Mega DriveThe Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
.) - Zen-Nippon GT Senshuken
- Silhouette Stories
- Kitty on your lap