The coming age of the soul - In the 90's, Namco opened the theme parks Namco Wonder Eggs and Namco Namja Town. As we welcome the 21st century, Namco looks forward to evolving with a global perspective and fashioning even more dynamic dreams.

1955 : Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd. founded in Tokyo and began operations by installing two rocking-horse rides on the rooftop of a department store in Yokohama. (Capital:300,000 Yen)

1959 : Company reorganized to form Nakamura Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Capital:5,000,000 Yen)

1963 : Installed Roadway Ride on the rooftop of Mitsukoshi Department Store's main store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo.

1966 : Established main production facility in Ota-ku, Tokyo. Expanded activities of Development and Production departments and began production of rocking-horse type rides. Concluded contract with The Walt Disney Company for characters to be used in production of rides.

1970 : Born of the arcade "Racer".

1971 : Use of Namco brand name begins.

1974 : Entered coin-operated videogame market through acquisition of Atari (Japan) Corp. from Atari Corp. of the U.S.

1977 : Changed company name to Namco Ltd. Established Namco Enterprises Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong.

1978 : Established Namco America Inc. in California. Introduced first "Gee-Bee" arcade videogame.

1979 : Introduced Galaxian arcade videogame.

1980 : Introduced Pac-Man arcade videogame.

1982 : Introduced Pole Position arcade driving simulation videogame.

1983 : Introduced Xevious, arcade videogame using computer graphics.

1984 : Commenced production and sale of game software for use in Nintendo's Family Computer. The first title is Galaxian.

1985 : New Corporate Headquarters' building and Sales and Operations Division building completed in Tokyo's Ota-ku.

1986 : Acquired Italian Tomato restaurant chain. Introduced professional baseball game software, Family Stadium, for Nintendo's Family Computer. Established New Technology Foundation with the objective of fostering development of science and technology.

1987 : Introduced Final Lap racing simulation videogame, featuring competition among several players, an industry-first.

1988 : Company stock registered on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (Capital:5,550 million Yen) Opened Yokohama Mirai-Kenkyusho in Yokohama's Tsuzuki-ku. Presented originally produced video, Mirai Ninja, at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival, concurrent to which, its coin-op game was released.

1989 : Introduced Winning Run, the first racing simulation videogame to feature computer graphics. Developed Eunos Roadstar Driving Simulator in cooperation with Mazda Motor Corp.

1990 : Developed a simulator for traffic safety education in cooperation with Mitsubishi Precision Co., Ltd. Operated Galaxian 3 and The Tower of Druaga, large-scale amusement attractions based on Namco's hyper-entertainment concept, at the International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka. Established Namco Taiwan Co., Ltd. Namco America Inc. began direct sales of coin-operated games in the U.S. and acquired Atari Operations Inc. to commence amusement arcade operations in the U.S. Established Namco Hometek Inc. as a U.S. distribution base for home videogame software.

1991 : Established Namco Europe Ltd. in London. Company stock elevated to the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (Capital:6,984 million Yen) Opened Sennichimae Plabo in Osaka, a new concept large-scale amusement arcade.

1992 : Began theme park operation by opening Namco Wonder Eggs, an urban theme park, in Futakotamagawa district of Tokyo. Established Brent Leisure Ltd. in London as European manufacturing base and as U.K. distributor of Namco products.

1993 : Acquired Aladdin's Castle, Inc., making Namco the largest arcade operator in the United States. Established Shanghai Namco Ltd. in China, a joint venture with Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture, to produce and sell amusement machines and to operate amusement arcades. Established Namco Operations Europe Ltd. in London and began amusement arcade operations in Europe. Opened Namco Wonder Park Sagamihara, Namco's first indoor amusement park. Opened Namco Wonder City, a comprehensive entertainment facility in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama with Namco acting both as developer and tenant. Released Ridge Racer, a driving simulation coin-operated game using System 22, a real-time, three-dimensional computer graphics system board.

1994 : Established Namco Cybertainment Inc. through consolidation of Namco Operations Inc. and Aladdin's Castle, Inc. Opened Empire of Eggs, adjacent to Namco Wonder Eggs.
Introduced Ridge Racer for Sony's PlayStation. Introduced Tekken, a polygon martial arts game using System 11, a three-dimensional graphics system board developed in cooperation with Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

1995 : Announced Tekken for Sony's PlayStation. Opened Namco-ya Sohonpo, an entertainment merchandise store. Established Namco Holding Corp. in the U.S.

1996 : Opened Namco NamjaTown, a theme park of dreams and nostalgia, in Tokyo's Ikebukuro area. Redeveloped Namco Wonder Eggs and Empire of Eggs as Namco Wonder Eggs 2. Established subsidiaries in Spain, France, Germany and Israel and began amusement arcade operations in those countries. Opened Namco Wondertower in Kyoto.

1997 : Increased investment in Nikkatsu Corporation by 3 billion yen, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. Opened Namco Wonder City Minami-Kumamoto. Three computer graphics awarded prizes by SIGGRAPH. Opened Namco Station at the County Hall in London. Three computer graphics awarded prizes at Multi Media Grand Prix '97, organized by the Multi Media Foundation. Released Fami-sta 64 for Nintendo 64. Opened the Inti Shibuya entertainment complex.

1998 : Release of Tekken 3 on Sony PlayStation. With its high popularity, it becomes the best-seller of Namco with 6 millions of games sold around the world. Won grand prize in Non-interactive Category at Media Arts Festival, organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Opened Namco Kansai Headquarters building in Suita City, Osaka. Released Gateball Stick, marking full entry into the seniors entertainment market. Opened the Namco Wonder Park Kohoku. Established Namco Trading Ltd. to enter the vending machine business.

1999 : Opened Namco Wonder Park Hakata.
Created barrier-free entertainment designs. Entered nursing care business, combining the themes of "play" and "welfare." Established Monolith Software Inc.
Created Namco Station for NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service; expanded and improved contents. Released Pac-Man 20th Anniversary edition for PlayStation, commemorating the Pac-Man character. Began supplying LCD units for pachinko machines.

2000 : Released Ridge Racer V for PlayStation2.
Opened Star Adventure, a music attraction, and Doremi Store, a character shop, at Mediage in Daiba, Tokyo.
Founded the Namco Digital Hollywood Game Lab game school jointly with Digital Hollywood Co., Ltd.
Established Musicplayground Inc. in the U.S.
Released Ryori no Tatsujin.
Opened Namco Wonder Park Hawks Town.
Established Namco Ecolotec Limited.
Released Mr. Driller for three different home consoles.
Four computer graphics awarded prizes by SIGGRAPH.
One computer graphic awarded prize by Ars Electronica in Europe.
Merged with Nal Ltd.
Gained license to distribute Pac-Man for the Zaurus PDA made by Sharp Corp.
Opened Namco Entertainment World Tokyo Pitan City at Decks Tokyo Beach's Island Mall in Daiba, Tokyo.
Opened the Chi-Kou-Raku Internet facility in Nayabashi, Nagoya.
Opened Kid's Stadium inside Namco Wonder Park Kohoku. Commenced development of facility for preschool children.
Closed Namco Wonder Eggs 3 on New Year's Eve. Terminated urban theme park management business in Futakotamagawa.

2001 : Started Team Namja collaborative project with Tanseisha Co., Ltd., Nikkatsu Corporation and other companies. Team Namja provides visual
presentation advice to commercial establishments.
Opened Yokohama Curry Museum (operated by Matahari Co., Ltd), the first project for Team Namja, in Isezaki-cho, Yokohama.
Teamed up with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Sega Corp. on application of PlayStation2 technology to network business.
Released Mr. Driller 2 for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.
Began cooperating with Sega Corp. on logistics work.
Formed alliance with Enix Corp. and Square Co., Ltd.

May 2005 : Announcement of management integration between NAMCO and BANDAI

September 2005 : NAMCO BANDAI Holdings Inc. established, the 3rd largest video game entity in Japan.

January 2006 : NAMCO BANDAI Holdings (USA) Inc., US regional holding company, established, and affiliated operating companies reorganized. Called Namco Networks America Inc. it handles mobile games in North America. Working with the new 'next-gen' platform, Namco is able to port many of their time-tested arcade games to cell phones.

March 2006 : The facility operation business was given to a re-merged NAMCO. NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. established through the integration of BANDAI's home game operations and NAMCO's home game, arcade game, and mobile game operations.
Namco Networks also opened an e-commerce operation, www.clubNAMCO.com offering official merchandise based on Namco games.

June 2006 : NAMCO BANDAI Holdings made Banpresto a wholly owned subsidiary.

July 2006 : Anime Channel was established through a joint investment by Bandai Visual and Bandai Channel.

September 2006 : NAMCO opened Namco Wonder Park Hero's Base, a large-scale facility combining amusement and character merchandising, in Kawasaki City,Kanagawa Prefecture.

January 2007 : In Europe, NAMCO Holdings UK Ltd. was established as a regional holding company and the operating companies were reorganized.

March 2007 : NAMCO BANDAI Holdings entered a capital and business alliance with Toei Corporation, Toei Animation Co., Ltd., and Kadokawa Group Holdings Inc.

May 2007 : NAMCO BANDAI Holdings signed an agreement for BANDAI NAMCO Forest in Nagano Prefecture with the aim of promoting forest management and usage activities.

February 2008 : BANDAI SOUTH ASIA PTE.,LTD.was established.

April 2008 : Banpresto Co.,Ltd software for home video game consoles and arcade game machine operations were transferved to and integrated with the operations of NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. BANDAI (SHENZHEN)CO.,LTD. was established

July 2008 : Visual and Music Coutent business in North America was consolidated into BANDAI ENTERTAINMENT INC.