Seibu Kaihatsu Inc. (有限会社 セイブ開発, yūgen kaisha seibu kaihatsu?) is a Japanese manufacturer of arcade games. The company was founded in 1982 at Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan as Seibu Denshi Inc. (有限会社セイブ電子?). They developed and published their first video arcade game Stinger in 1983. In 1984, they released their second video arcade game Kung-Fu Taiken, which also became the first with the "Seibu Kaihatsu" label. One of their earliest arcade hits was the 1989 rail shooter Dynamite Duke, one of the first to feature close combat with long-range shooting. A year later, Seibu Kaihatsu became best known for their 1990 shoot 'em up arcade game Raiden, which was successful enough to earn several sequels and spin-offs in its series of titles. In 1991, a development department known as Rise Corporation (株式会社ライズ?) was spun from Seibu Kaihatsu. Between the late '80s and early '90s, Fabtek bought the rights to internationally distribute Seibu Kaihatsu's arcade titles outside of Japan.
In 1999, its arcade division vanished and its official website shut down. It was also rumored that they filed for bankruptcy; in fact, Seibu Kaihatsu temporarily disbanded itself. Also, Fabtek's international distribution rights expired. During the same year, they established Mahjong Cats (開発部門 キャッツ?), right before the dissolution of their relationship with adult video game developers h.m.p. and Mink to develop adult mahjong video arcade games. In 2005, the development staff left Seibu Kaihatsu to apply at MOSS, then bought the development rights to the Raiden franchise from Seibu Kaihatsu to develop Raiden III and Raiden IV in order to keep the franchise's fanbase alive with Seibu Kaihatsu assisting them.
[edit] Games by Seibu Kaihatsu
- Stinger (1983) (released under the "Seibu Denshi" label)
- Kung-Fu Taikun (1984)
- Knuckle Joe (licensed to Taito) (1985)
- Shot Rider (1985)
- Wiz (1985)
- Empire City: 1931 / Street Fight (licensed to Taito) (1986)
- Panic Road (1986) (co-developed with Visco Corporation and licensed to Taito)
- Air Raid / Cross Shooter (licensed to Taito) (1987)
- Mustache Boy (licensed to March) (1987)
- Dead Angle (1988)
- Dynamite Duke / The Double Dynamites (licensed to Fabtek) (1989)
- Raiden (1990)
- Seibu Cup Soccer (1991)
- Olympic Soccer '92 (1992)
- Raiden II (1993)
- Zero Team (1993)
- Raiden DX (1994)
- Senkyu / Battle Balls (1995)
- Viper Phase 1 (1995)
- E-Jan High School (1996)
- Raiden Fighters (licensed to Fabtek) (1996)
- Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive (licensed to Tuning / Fabtek) (1997)
- Raiden Fighters Jet (licensed to Tuning / Fabtek) (1998)
- Raiden III (2005) developed by MOSS and licensed by Seibu Kaihatsu
- Raiden IV (2007) developed by MOSS and licensed by Seibu Kaihatsu
[edit] External links
