Bandai Namco

Bandai Namco Entertainment
File:Namco Bandai Logo.png
Type	Subsidiary
Founded	2006 (merger of Bandai and Namco)
Industry	Video Games
Products	Various Video Games
Employees	900 (2013)
Parent	Bandai Namco Holdings
Website	http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/english/

Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. (株式会社バンダイナムコエンターテインメント, Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.), formerly named Bandai Namco Games Inc., stylized as "BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc.", is an arcade, mobile and home video game developer and publisher based in Japan. It is a merge between the video game divisions of Bandai and Namco.

The company is well known for developing RPG games like the Digimon, Dark Souls and Tales series, as well as other fighting games such as the Tekken and Soul series. To many, however, Namco is best known as one of the most prolific publishers of the Golden Age of Video Games, producing arcade hits such as Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga, Mappy, Rally-X, and The Tower of Druaga.

Bandai Namco is the head developer for Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, along with Sora Ltd.. Several items and characters from some of Namco's games, such as Galaga and Rally-X, appear in SSB4 and Ultimate. A full list of Namco properties represented in Smash can be found here.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

See also: List of Namco universes

Bandai Namco's mascot, Pac-Man, appears as a playable character. Pac-Man can also make characters and items from other Namco series appear by using his up taunt, Namco Roulette, and his neutral special, Bonus Fruit. The 3DS version features the stage Pac-Maze, which essentially simulates a game of Pac-Man, allowing each player to collect Pac-Dots and Power Pellets, run from and chase Ghosts. It even saves their high score and displays it at the top of the screen. In the Wii U version, the stage Pac-Land appears, based on the arcade game of the same name, and the Ghosts appear as an Assist Trophy rather than a stage hazard. Boss Galagas, a type of enemy in Namco's Galaga series, as well the Special Flag, a collectible from numerous Namco games, also appear in Super Smash Bros. 4 as items. Mii Fighter costumes based on Heihachi Mishima of the Tekken series, Lloyd Irving of the Tales series, and Gil from The Tower of Druaga are available as downloadable content.

Very early in the conceptual phase for SSB4, Sakurai briefly contemplated the inclusion of other Namco characters, though made the decision to go with Pac-Man only almost immediately. In particular, he named Tekken's Heihachi as a character who came to mind, but wrote him off as his complex moveset would have been too difficult to effectively translate to Smash Bros.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Pac-Man returns from the previous game as a playable fighter. Pac-Land returns from the Wii U version, while the Boss Galaga and Special flag items return, along with the Ghost Assist Trophy. New music tracks include medleys from Galaga and Mappy, as well as the Area 1 music from Dragon Spirit.

Smash Development History

2014

• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
  • Lead Developer (with Sora Ltd..)
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Wii U
  • Lead Developer (with Sora Ltd..)

2018

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
  • Lead Developer (with Sora Ltd..)

Gallery

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  Bandai's logo before the company merged with Namco.

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  Namco's logo before the company merged with Bandai.

Trivia

• As of Ultimate, Bandai Namco has been the head developer more games in the Super Smash Bros. series than any other single developer. Bandai Namco being the primary studio behind 3DS, Wii U and Ultimate, one more than HAL Laboratory who developed both the original Nintendo 64 game and Melee.