System Sacom
Established on December 2, 1981, System Sacom Corp. (株式会社システムサコム) was a computer hardware and software company in Tokyo. [1] It withdrew from the game industry in 1998 [2] and focused on its hardware business.1
Sacom was responsible for the "Novel Ware" series of adventure games that influenced the sound novel and visual novel genres. Outside of Japan, the company is remembered for its interactive movie games such as Mansion of Hidden Souls and Lunacy. It was also involved with the research and development of artificial intelligence and knowledge information processing systems [3], and operated Sacom Multimedia Studio in Shin-Yokohama [4] [5], which provided motion capture, movie conversion/digitizing, and audio recording services. [6]
In 2019, D4 Enterprise, the company behind the Project EGG retro game service, announced it had acquired System Sacom's back catalog of game titles, along with the back catalogs of several other companies. [7]
In the 1980s, Sacom was a member of various groups of Japanese computer game companies including STAC (Software Technology & Communication), which tried to fight software rental and piracy. It was also a member of SST (Super Software Team), a group of Tokyo-based software companies within STAC,2 and DOG (Disk Original Group), a group of seven companies formed at the suggestion of Square to develop games for the Famicom Disk System. [8] It was also involved with Scap Trust, a joint venture with seven other software companies (companies that were also part of STAC and/or DOG). [9]
Yukio Horimoto, creator of Märchen Veil, started Infinity in 1986. In 1990, Sacom's business software division was spun off into a subsidiary called System Sacom Business, which did some game development and later became SSB. Rokumendo and Ivy-Arts were started by former Sacom staff in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Umihara Kawase creator Kiyoshi Sakai and character designer Toshinobu Kondo were former Sacom employees.
Footnotes:
1. System Sacom Corp. later became or spun off System Sacom Sales Corp. (株式会社システムサコム販売), which was renamed System Sacom Industry Corp. (システムサコム工業株式会社) in 2010 [10] and is still an active company. It's not clear if System Sacom and System Sacom Sales/Industry are the same corporate entity as System Sacom Sales/Industry never seems to mention when it was established.
2. BPS founder Henk Rogers explained what STAC and SST were in his interview in the book The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 3. STAC members also jointly advertised in magazines and had get-togethers every month. In addition to SST, there was also Trinity, a group of companies in the Kansai region.
Research Methods: Actual mentions, online resources, shared staff
3DO
- Virtual Quest: Pharaoh no Fuuin / Seal of the Pharaoh (JP Publisher: Ask Kodansha; US Publisher: Panasonic)
- Yamada Kamachi Bijutsukan (JP Publisher: TV Asahi)
Dreamcast
- Blue Stinger (some 3D animation design) (JP Publisher: Sega; US/EU Publisher: Activision)
Famicom Disk System
- Fire Rock (JP Publisher: Use)
- Märchen Veil (JP Publisher: Sunsoft)
- Moon Ball Magic (JP Publisher: DOG)
FM Towns
- 38000 Kilo no Kokuu (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Evolution (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Shijou Saikyou no Video Bible (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Solid 89 (unreleased) (System Sacom) [11]
- Yami no Ketsuzoku Special (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
FM-7
- Dome (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
Macintosh
- Darlun no Kimamana Tabi (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
Mega CD/Sega CD
- Yumemi Yakata no Monogatari / Mansion of Hidden Souls / Yumemi Mystery Mansion (JP/EU Publisher: Sega; US Publisher: Vic Tokai)
Mega Drive/Genesis
- Grand Slam / Jennifer Capriati Tennis / Grandslam: The Tennis Tournament (JP Publisher: Telenet; US Publisher: Renovation; EU Publisher: Sega)
MSX
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
MSX2
- Dome (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Yuurei-kun (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
MZ-2500
- Dome (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
PC-88
- Chátty (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Dome (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
- Providence (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Valna (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
PC-8801 mk II SR
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
PC-98
- 38000 Kilo no Kokuu (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Brown's Run (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
- Dome (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Highway Star (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
- Märchen Veil II (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
- Michiyo Dreamy: The Quiz Master (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Moon Ball (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
- Power Singer: Ellance Saga #1 (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Soft de Hard na Monogatari (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Soft de Hard na Monogatari 2 (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Valiant (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
- Woom (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
- Xenon 2: Megablast (JP Publisher: Epic)
- Zone (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
PC Engine CD/TurboGrafx-CD
- Yami no Ketsuzoku: Harukanaru Kioku (scenario, music) (JP Publisher: Naxat)
Pippin
- Hitotsuya Futatsu: Itsutsuya Kaidan (unreleased) (System Sacom)
- ?: Group TAC
PlayStation
- Are! mo Kore? mo Momotarou: Nihon Tararebanashi Tour (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- ?: Group TAC
- Astronōka (programming, sound) (JP Publisher: Enix)
- Main Programming: System Sacom Business
- Eurasia Express Satsujin Jiken (JP Publisher: Enix)
- Gaball Screen (programming, graphics) (JP Publisher: Antinos Records) [12] [13]
- Hitotsuya Futatsu: Itsutsuya Kaidan (unreleased) (System Sacom)
- ?: Group TAC
- Iblard: Laputa no Kaeru Machi (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Jikuu Tantei DD: Maboroshi no Lorelei (JP Publisher: ASCII)
- Jikuu Tantei DD 2: Hangyaku no Apsalar (JP Publisher: ASCII)
- Some Program, Some Graphics: Highwaystar; Sound: Reeb
- Kuro no Juusan (JP Publisher: Tonkin House)
- R?MJ: The Mystery Hospital (programming) (JP Publisher: Bandai)
- CG: VSL; Sound: Light Link Music
- Running High (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Thoroughbred Breeder II Plus (JP Publisher: Hect)
PlayStation (Super Famicom/Super NES CD-ROM)
- Fortezza (unreleased) (Epic)
Saturn
- Deep Fear (JP/EU Publisher: Sega) [14]
- Fake Down (unreleased)
- Gale Racer (JP Publisher: Sega)
- Gekka Mugentan Torico / Lunacy / Torico (JP/EU Publisher: Sega; US Publisher: Atlus)
- Jikuu Tantei DD: Maboroshi no Lorelei (JP Publisher: ASCII)
- Lulu (direction, programming, some graphics) (JP Publisher: Sega)
- R?MJ: The Mystery Hospital (programming) (JP Publisher: Bandai)
- CG: VSL; Sound: Light Link Music
- Rampo (JP Publisher: Sega) [15]
- Shinsetsu Yumemiyakata: Tobira no Oku ni Dare ka ga... / The Mansion of Hidden Souls (JP/US/EU Publisher: Sega)
Sharp X1
- Dome (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Euphory (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Märchen Veil I (JP Publisher: System Sacom) /ALU
Super Famicom/Super NES
- Gekitotsu Dangan Jidousha Kessen: Battle Mobile (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Sound Driver: Smash?
- Jerry Boy / SmartBall (co-developed with Game Freak) (JP Publisher: Epic; US Publisher: Sony Imagesoft)
- Wondrous Magic (JP Publisher: ASCII)
- Main Programming, Sound Programming: Smash?; Some Graphics: Ocarina System; ?: Zen Corporation
- Started out as a PlayStation (Super Famicom/Super NES CD-ROM) game
Windows
- Darlun no Kimamana Tabi (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
X68000
- 38-man Kilo no Kokuu (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- 38-man Kilo no Kokuu: CM-64-ban (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Atomic Robo Kid (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Dome (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Gemini Wing (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Soft de Hard na Monogatari (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Soft de Hard na Monogatari 2 (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Xenon 2: Megablast (JP Publisher: Epic)
- Yami no Ketsuzoku (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
- Yami no Ketsuzoku: Kanketsu-hen (JP Publisher: System Sacom)
Links
- Official website (Japanese)
- Gpara.com interview with Mark Flint (formerly of Sacom) (Japanese)
- Gpara.com interview with Masaharu Inoue (formerly of Sacom) (Japanese)
- Developer Table entry (Internet Archive Wayback Machine) (Japanese)
- E-book written by former employee Hiroshi Ogino about his time at the company (Japanese)
