UEP Systems was a 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...

-based video game developer

Video game developer

A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...

 founded in 1985. They were best known for their PlayStation-era snowboarding games, though they also released titles for PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

, Dreamcast, Neo Geo Pocket

Neo Geo Pocket

The Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's first hand held video game system, released in Japan in late 1998; however, lower than expected sales resulted in its discontinuation in 1999, and was immediately succeeded by the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The system only had a retail release within the Japan and Hong Kong...

, and arcades

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...

. UEP Systems' most critically acclaimed title is 1997's Cool Boarders 2

Cool Boarders 2

Cool Boarders 2 is a snowboarding video game developed by UEP Systems for the PlayStation. The game builds upon its predecessor's features with the addition of trick competitions and computer-controlled competitors....

for the PlayStation, an early pioneering title of the "action sports" video game genre, two years before it would explode with the release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

-Reception:The game was very well-received by most critics, scoring an outstanding 92 on Metacritic based on 18 reviews for the PS1 version. IGN gave the N64 version of the game a 9.1 out of 10 praising the gameplay for "genius control, combo system and design" despite little criticism with sound...

. The studio's biggest creative deperature was the quirky 3D action/adventure title Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman

Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman

Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman is an action-adventure game developed by UEP Systems and published by Agetec for the PlayStation in 1999. The story is notable for its mix of both eastern and western idiosyncrasy, most notably in the protagonist Zan , who has traits of both a Japanese samurai and a...

, one of the studios' only non-sports games, which received subpar reviews but gained a small amount of cult appeal among gamers at the time. Despite the success of their early snowboarding titles, UEP struggled financially in the years that followed with a series of commercially unsuccessful games. After the release of Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder

Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder

Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder is a PlayStation 2 game with a similar feel to the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, published by Activision 02. The game features many famous snowboarders including Shaun Palmer and Shaun White...

 - another poor seller - for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

in 2001, the studio disbanded.