Arika
File:Arika logo.gif | |
Company type | Kabushiki gaisha |
---|---|
Industry | Video game industry |
Founded | November 1, 1995 |
Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
Key people | Akira Nishitani (President) |
Number of employees | 50 |
Website | www.arika.co.jp |
Arika Co. Ltd. (アリカ) is a Japanese video game developer. It was formed in 1995 by former Capcom employees. Originally founded as ARMtech K.K but later named Arika. The name of the company itself is the reverse of the name of the company's founder, Akira Nishitani (Nin Nin), who (along with Akiman) created Street Fighter II. Arika's first arcade game was Street Fighter EX. It was successful and was followed up with two updates (Street Fighter EX + and EX + α for the PlayStation), and then two sequels on the arcade and PlayStation 2. Now it is currently working on a game as by now called Fighting EX Layer, which will be released by 2018. The characters revealed so by now are Kairi, Garuda, Skullomania, Darun Mister, Shirase (Hokuto), Allen Snider, Doctrine Dark & Blair Dame. It is going to be playable on PlayStation 4.
Arika is well known for the Tetris: The Grand Master series and Cardcaptor Sakura series. A recent notable game by the developer is Endless Ocean, a scuba diving game for the Wii.
Games developed
Street Fighter EX series
- Street Fighter EX (1996, arcade)
- Street Fighter EX Plus (1997, arcade)
- Street Fighter EX Plus α (1997, PlayStation)
- Street Fighter EX2 (1998, arcade)
- Street Fighter EX2 Plus (early 1999, arcade and December 24, 1999, PlayStation)
- Street Fighter EX3 (2000, PlayStation 2)
Nintendo-published Games and Classic Games
- Endless Ocean (2007, Wii)
- Dr. Mario Online Rx (2008, Wii through WiiWare)
- Dr. Mario Express (2008, Nintendo DSi through DSiWare)
- Endless Ocean 2: Adventures of the Deep (2009/2010, Wii)
- AR Games (2011, Nintendo 3DS bundled with console)
- Dr. Luigi (2013, Wii U through Nintendo eShop)
- Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure (2015, Nintendo 3DS through Nintendo eShop)
- Teddy Together (2016, Nintendo 3DS. Bandai-Namco published in Japan as Kuma-Tomo in 2013.)
3D Classics
- 3D Classics Excitebike (2011, Nintendo 3DS through Nintendo 3DS eShop)
- 3D Classics Xevious (2011, Nintendo 3DS through Nintendo 3DS eShop)
- 3D Classics Urban Champion (2011, Nintendo 3DS through Nintendo 3DS eShop)
- 3D Classics Twinbee (2011, Nintendo 3DS through Nintendo 3DS eShop)
- 3D Classics Kirby's Adventure (2011, Nintendo 3DS through Nintendo 3DS eShop)
- 3D Classics Kid Icarus (2012, Nintendo 3DS through Nintendo 3DS eShop)
Other games developed
- Tetris: The Grand Master (1998, arcade)
- Fighting Layer (1998, arcade)
- Tetris: The Grand Master 2 - The Absolute (2000, arcade)
- Tetris with Cardcaptor Sakura Eternal Heart (2000, PlayStation 1)
- Everblue (2001, PlayStation 2)
- Technictix (テクニクティクス) (2001, PlayStation 2)
- Technic Beat (2002, arcade)
- Everblue 2 (2002, PlayStation 2)
- DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou (2003, PlayStation 2)
- Mega Man Network Transmission (2003, GameCube)
- The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon (2004, PlayStation 2, collaborated with Chunsoft)
- Tetris: The Grand Master 3 - Terror Instinct (2005, arcade)
- Super Dragon Ball Z (2005, arcade & PS2, collaborated with Crafts & Meister)
- Tetris: The Grand Master Ace (2005, Xbox 360)
- Tsubasa Chronicle (2005, Nintendo DS)
- Jewelry Master (2006–2007, Windows)
- Ketsui Death Label (2008, Nintendo DS)
- Aa Mujou Setsuna/Metal Torrent (2009/2010, Nintendo DSi through DSiWare)
- Jewelry Master Twinkle (2009, Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Indie Games)
- Jewelry Master Twinkle Light (2010, Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Indie Games)
- Bust-A-Move Universe (2011, Nintendo 3DS)
- Tekken 3D: Prime Edition (2012, Nintendo 3DS)
- Fighting EX Layer (2018, PlayStation 4)
Under development
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2016) |
In July 2011, a video from an Arika 3DS test project, currently called Fighting Sample, was released, featuring Hokuto and Kairi from the Street Fighter EX series.[1] Further screenshots show Blair, Doctrine Dark and Shadow Geist. Unfortunately, the project was cancelled.[2] Later in May 2016 another video showcasing Nanase, Allen, Darun and Skullomania was released as just a sample test video with no plans for a future release.[3] However in April 2017 Fighting EX Layer which seems to be the "evolution" of Fighting Sample was announced as a video for April Fools, later confirmed to be actually a game in development. Fighting EX Layer will be a spiritual successor to both Street Fighter EX series and Fighting Layer an arcade-only released fighting game from Arika.
Tetris: The Grand Master 4: Masters of Round has been shown to be in development multiple times since as early as 2009. However, it was cancelled later on due to various reasons, including copyright infringements with regards to emulation and various fan-developed clones of TGM, most notably Texmaster2009.[4] TGM4 has been uncancelled again recently; The Grand Master 2015 was announced and playtested in both Japan and the United States in June 2015. This playtest was not officially licensed by The Tetris Company, and it is unclear whether we will ever see a TGM4.
Not long after completion, a Tetris the Absolute: The Grand Master 2 PLUS port to the PlayStation 2 was shown to be in development. Due to unknown reasons, the port wasn't licensed and was never released.[5]
References
- ^ "First Video of Arika's Fighting Sample (Featuring SFEX Characters) « Shoryuken". Shoryuken.com. 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
- ^ "Street Fighter EX Characters Resurface in Arika's 3DS Fighting Sample « Shoryuken". Shoryuken.com. 2011-06-30. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
- ^ Fighting Sample video 2
- ^ "Mihara's sub Layer %7c なぜ今更言い出したのか?". Ichiro Mihara. 2010-09-19. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
- ^ "三原さん。@ARIKA on Twitter: "@BBQTurkeyzZ 平たく言うとライセンスが得られなかったということです。"". Ichiro Mihara. 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2016-01-29.