Talk:Arc System Works

Is the list of games in the 25th Anniversary book meant to be exhaustive? Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger on the Pico is very similar to their tokusatsu titles for Pico (see Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, for example), which makes me wonder if it's meant to be with those other games on the list. Marklincadet (talk) 13:02, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

It's a pretty thorough list, but it's not complete. There are even mistakes. CRV (talk) 02:43, 18 April 2022 (UTC)

On the topic of Pico games: I noticed that Aki Hata listed an Arc-developed Pico title on her website, along with two others. Would her involvement on those two Pico titles indicate Arc developed those as well? She also worked with them on Sailor Moon for the Mega Drive/Genesis. Marklincadet (talk) 11:05, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

What's that about a Famicom simulation game? [1] CRV (talk) 15:42, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

(moved to interview translation at bottom of page)

--Dimitri (talk) 20:34, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

wizforest talks about working at Arc, on an arcade wrestling game and Kuni-chan no Game Tengoku. [2] CRV (talk) 04:38, 12 April 2018 (UTC)

I would say it's totally possible Access did Ys III and V for Arc because they also worked on Sengoku Basara X and Super Dodgeball Brawlers. CRV (talk) 23:02, 16 February 2018 (UTC)

I suspect Scramble Spirits and Vigilante also refer to the SMS versions rather than the arcade ones; it's already established that whoever put together that official list didn't always get the platforms right. To back up said claim, I ran compares between Moonwalker, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and Battle Out Run, and all the SMS games listed here came up, along with both Vigilante and Scramble Spirits. Most of the Game Gear games also did, with the only false-positive outliers being a few Minato Giken titles and Asterix and the Secret Mission. I'll dig more into this over the next few days to be certain, though... --Dimitri (talk) 05:17, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

There's an "M.K" in Vigilante's high score initials, but you're probably right. (BTW, I think they also put down the wrong Naruto game for GBA.) I suspected Asterix and the Secret Mission because Katsuhiro Hayashi worked on it, but one of the programmers turns up on 16t for the Mega Drive. CRV (talk) 05:32, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

Removing Queens Road for now. Did Kazuya Yukino and Nobuyuki Ohara work for TNS? CRV (talk) 22:59, 6 February 2018 (UTC)

There's a works list of some kind in their 25th anniversary book. [3] CRV (talk) 16:37, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

I've ordered a copy of the book (it's the sort of thing I collect anyway) so we'll see just what it says in a few weeks. --Dimitri (talk) 04:16, 4 February 2018 (UTC)

I hope you enjoy the book because someone posted the list on 2ch. [4] CRV (talk) 16:07, 4 February 2018 (UTC)

Wouldn't have ordered it if I didn't want it for its own sake! I notice that list is missing a few confirmed titles, and there's titles in there that were definitely only support or localization work. Still very interesting, though, and nice to have Zork confirmed. I'll definitely be checking the interviews to see if anyone talks about the company's early years in there. --Dimitri (talk) 21:03, 4 February 2018 (UTC)

There's some interview stuff later in the 2ch thread. I wonder if Arc was also involved with NES Times of Lore since Katsuhiro Hayashi worked on it and it may use the same sound driver as Shufflepuck Cafe. CRV (talk) 23:31, 4 February 2018 (UTC)

Is there anything from Virtual Open Tennis in the book? CRV (talk) 19:19, 29 July 2019 (UTC)

Not that I can see. It isn't included in the comprehensive works list (which we know has multiple errors), there's nothing in the main art sections (which appears to be only titles they published and own the rights to), and the six-page interview only briefly touches on the company's pre-Guilty Gear history on the first page. It doesn't really go into any specific titles there, just more general business and operational stuff. It does mention that the name "Arc" was chosen simply so they'd be at the top of alphabetical company listings.

If you're interested, I could translate the rest of the pre-GG interview questions as it's only about one page. --Dimitri (talk) 02:06, 30 July 2019 (UTC)

If you feel like it/if there's something interesting in there. (Odd that Virtual Open Tennis is listed here.) CRV (talk) 16:13, 30 July 2019 (UTC)

I noticed Minoru Kidooka is credited as a programmer on SS Momotarou Douchuuki but I don't see anyone else from Arc on there -- it's pretty much all Hudson, SIMS, or Sega staff. I wonder what the deal is there? --Dimitri (talk) 21:02, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

He's also credited on Message Navi Vol. 2. CRV (talk) 22:52, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

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Regarding SS/PS1 Zork: credits suggest this is by the group that left Arcsys to start Starlight Marry... but it was released after Wizard's Harmony and before Eternal Melody. Starlight Marry's old website doesn't list a founding date but most sources say 1996, which even in January wouldn't leave enough time for development and a March release. As such, it was probably done at Arcsys just before the team left the company. Entirely speculation, though... --Dimitri (talk) 09:14, 1 October 2016 (CEST)

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etc

• Sanou (Kokumei)'s Home Page.
• OKAMOTO Lynn's Profile. It was a part-time job staff of the Arc System Works. "セーラームーンばかり作っていた" .
• 2ch Post No 67.
• A part of BGM of "Mappy Kids" looks like BGM of "Fushigi no Yume no Alice" very much. It might be the one by the same sound staff.
• The following games share a font with SD Sengoku Bujutsu Retsuden and Battle Commander: Dokuganryuu Masamune (FC) --Ita 12:23, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

This album credits a Mappy Kids track to Nobuyuki Ohnogi. CRV 12:56, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

It is "Mappy (AC)". VGMdb is wrong. List of another homepage, listen online 5:37~ -Ita 11:33, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Mappy Kids' ROM says 'by PIRO'. Also, I'm pretty sure Junya Kozakai was involved with the music for Final Lap because some of the tracks are similar to Cyber Spin SNES. The Fujioka Qualify music in Cyber Spin sounds identical to the first race theme and a little of the main menu in Final Lap. Though Atsuko Iwanaga may have worked on a bit of the music. Doommaster1994 05:20, 25 October 2012 (PST)

Not seeing the Piro thing. CRV (talk) 08:55, 25 October 2012 (CDT)

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Translation of early-history portion of the interview in the 25th Anniversary Character Book. Interviewees: Minoru Kidooka, Daisuke Ishiwatari, Toshimichi Mori --Dimitri (talk) 01:37, 1 August 2019 (UTC)

- "First of all, tell us how Arc System Works came to be."

Kidooka: "Originally, I was working at Sega Enterprises as a programmer, but I left with around 7 or 8 other people. This was during the Famicom Boom. This group wanted to go make arcade games, and I left to go work with them."

- "Arcade games were very popular at that time, too."

Kidooka: "However, that company suddenly fell apart after about a year and a half. Right up to that point, we were taking big jobs, and it was a lot of work, but thanks to those months of crunch we also got paid well. We used the money from working on a certain Famicom simulation game to form a new company with people from the first company, which is what became Arc."

- "Back then, it was common to start new businesses as limited companies (yuugen gaisha), as they were simpler to create, then transition into stock companies (kabushiki gaisha) once the business was established. However, Arc was initially established as a stock company, wasn't it?"

Kidooka: "Really, we just didn't think it was a good look as a limited company, they weren't cool or fashionable."

- "So why then was the name 'Arc' chosen?"

Ishiwatari: "'ARC' is an initialism of the the slogan 'Action', 'Revolution', 'Challenge', isn't it?"

Kidooka: "Actually... that was added later on, it was originally just so the name would stand out in the phone book. Starting with an 'A', the name would be at or near the top of alphabetical lists in either English or Japanese."

Ishiwatari: "Oh, so that was a later addition? (laughs)"

Kidooka: "Actually, with the long vowel, it's read as 'a-a-ku' so even now it appears at the top of lists. Sorry that it's not a very interesting reason. (laughs)"

Mori: "How about we talk about something that puts the company in a better light instead? (laughs)"

Kidooka: "Ah, well, it is a true story."

- "President Kidooka was originally a programmer. When the company was first established, you participated in those early titles as a programmer, didn't you?"

Kidooka: "Yeah. For about the first three years, if I wasn't at home or at the office, then I was meeting with various other companies. At the time, it took about two or three months to develop a game. Though we produced some titles in as little as three weeks."

Mori: "Three weeks is a very short amount of time, so I feel like you could only make something simple like an adventure game."

Kidooka: "Actually, we mostly made action games for the Famicom and PC Engine. We even made a game that played like a real-time strategy game, which which was rare for the time."

Ishiwatari: "Recently, I looked at the list of Famicom-era titles that Arc System Works contributed to development of, and was really surprised. To think our company worked on those games I played so long ago."

- "Is there anything in particular that stands out in your memory of developing games back then?"

Kidooka: "There were many fun memories, but it's the unfortunate ones that leave more of an impression. Like a fight that broke out between a programmer and a designer for some reason... (laughs)"

- "A real fight between staff members!?"

Kidooka: "I don't remember what led to it, but it was about 2 in the morning and a fight just suddenly broke out. It was like being back in prehistoric times. (laughs)"

Mori: "There's still fierce competition in development today, just like back then, but I can't say I've ever seen a fight break out. (laughs)"

- "To begin with, Arc System Works was primarily a development subcontractor, but starting with the PlayStation, began to publish its own titles. What was the impetus to become more independent?"

Kidooka: "Before making 'Exector', titles we'd been making as a contractor wound up being hits, so the company was flush with cash at that time. Additionally, with the Sony having just released their new hardware in the PlayStation, there was a relatively low barrier to entry. We decided as a company that we wanted to try making and selling a game of our own."

- "It seems like a lot of companies entered that market during the PlayStation era."

Kidooka: "There were a lot of factors that made it appealing. Development hardware was relatively easy to obtain, and the change from ROM cartridges to CDs means that manufacturing costs were lower, so it was easy for small and mid-size companies to break into the market. We'd also been making PC Engine and Mega CD software, so we were already used to development for CD-ROM hardware, which I recall being a useful asset."

- "And so all this led to the release of 'Exector' and 'Wizard's Harmony'."

Ishiwatari: "'Exector' was Sadamori-san's design, right?"

Kidooka: "That was right when you joined the company, Ishiwatari-kun, so you contributed to that title too, didn't you?"

Ishiwatari: "My contribution was the illustrations for the web novella. Before the game launched, we published some 'Exector' stories on PC network services. I remember it being part of some kind of multimedia push. Thinking about it now, we were trying to do some things with that game that were ahead of their time, huh?"

Mori: "An online multimedia push in the network services age sounds like exactly the sort of thing that our company would have attempted. (laughs)"