1.
PlayStation Portable
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The PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console developed by Sony. Development of the handheld was announced during E32003, and it was unveiled on May 11,2004, the system was released in Japan on December 12,2004, in North America on March 24,2005, and in the PAL region on September 1,2005. It primarily competed with the Nintendo DS, as part of the generation of video games. The PlayStation Portable became the most powerful system when launched. It was the first real competitor to Nintendos handheld domination, where many challengers, such as SNKs Neo Geo Pocket and Nokias N-Gage and it also features connectivity with the PlayStation 3, other PSPs and the Internet. It is the handheld console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc. The original PSP model was replaced by a model with design changes in 2007. Another remodeling followed in 2008, PSP-3000, which included a new screen, a complete redesign, PSP Go, came in 2009, followed by a budget model, PSP-E1000, in 2011. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita, released in December 2011 in Japan, the PlayStation Vita features backward compatibility with many PlayStation Portable games digitally released on the PlayStation Network, via PlayStation Store. Shipments of the PlayStation Portable ended throughout 2014 worldwide, having sold 80 million units in its 10-year lifetime, Sony first announced development of the PlayStation Portable at a press conference before E32004. Although mock-ups of the system were not present at the conference or E3. Then-CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Jose Villeta called the device the Walkman of the 21st Century in a reference to the multimedia capabilities. Several gaming websites were impressed by the handhelds computing capabilities and looked forward to the potential as a gaming platform. Nintendo had been dominating the market since launching its Game Boy in 1989, with the only close competitor being Segas Game Gear. Later offerings from both SNK and Nokia also failed to cut into Nintendos share, the PSP was called the first legitimate competitor to Nintendo’s dominance in the handheld market by an IDC analyst in 2004. The first concept images of the PSP appeared in November 2002 at the Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting and showed a PSP with flat buttons and no analog stick. Although some expressed concern over the lack of an analog joystick, in addition to announcing more details about the system and its accessories, Sony also released a list of 99 developer companies that had pledged support for the new handheld. Several PSP game demos, such as Konamis Metal Gear Acid and SCE Studio Liverpools Wipeout Pure were also shown at the conference
2.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
3.
Android (operating system)
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Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition to devices, Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars. Variants of Android are also used on notebooks, game consoles, digital cameras, beginning with the first commercial Android device in September 2008, the operating system has gone through multiple major releases, with the current version being 7.0 Nougat, released in August 2016. Android applications can be downloaded from the Google Play store, which features over 2.7 million apps as of February 2017, Android has been the best-selling OS on tablets since 2013, and runs on the vast majority of smartphones. In September 2015, Android had 1.4 billion monthly active users, Android is popular with technology companies that require a ready-made, low-cost and customizable operating system for high-tech devices. The success of Android has made it a target for patent, Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. Rubin described the Android project as tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are aware of its owners location. The early intentions of the company were to develop an operating system for digital cameras. Despite the past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly and that same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope. In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for at least $50 million and its key employees, including Rubin, Miner and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition. Not much was known about Android at the time, with Rubin having only stated that they were making software for mobile phones, at Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradeable system, Google had lined up a series of hardware components and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation. Speculation about Googles intention to enter the communications market continued to build through December 2006. In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony, the first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on September 23,2008. Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have improved the operating system, adding new features. Each major release is named in order after a dessert or sugary treat, with the first few Android versions being called Cupcake, Donut, Eclair. In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices, a lineup in which Google partnered with different device manufacturers to produce new devices and introduce new Android versions
4.
.hack//Sign
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. hack//Sign is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the. hack franchise. Twenty six original episodes aired in 2002 on TV and three additional episodes were released on DVD as original video animations. The series features character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, known for his work on Evangelion, and screenplay by Kazunori Itō, the series focuses on a Wavemaster named Tsukasa, a player character of a virtual-reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game called The World. Tsukasa wakes up to himself in a dungeon in The World. The situation gets worse when he discovers he is unable to log out and is trapped in the game, from then on, along with other players Tsukasa embarks on a quest to figure out the truth behind his abnormal situation. The show premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 4,2002 and September 25,2002 and it was distributed across North America by Bandai Entertainment. It relies on character development and has few action scenes, most of the character interaction is presented in the form of dialogue. The results are described as catastrophic, traffic lights shut down, planes collide in midair, as a consequence, cyberspace is subjected to severe restrictions. The virus affects all operating systems except for one, Altimit OS, two years later free access to the networks recovers, bringing with it the release of The World, the first online game since Plutos Kiss, developed for Altimit OS. At the center of each server is a Root Town, which contain shops, a point. Harald Hoerwick is introduced as the creator of The World and he secretly designed the game as a virtual womb in order to create the ultimate artificial intelligence, by receiving emotional and psychological data from the players. His motivation is revealed to be the death of Emma Wielant, a German poet whom he was in love with, the AI, who was named Aura, would serve as the daughter they never had. Harald left the gathering of the data for Auras development at the care of the core system of The World itself. Despite being a fantasy quest type adventure, it does not rely on action sequences, instead, the show is driven by mystery, slowly revealing its secrets to the viewer while paying much attention to the individual characters. Questions like what happened to Tsukasa in the world, who he really is. Soon after the beginning of the series Tsukasa is led to a hidden area, there he meets Morganna, depicted as a voice without physical appearance, and Aura, who appears as a young girl clad entirely in white, floating asleep above a bed. The storyline introduces Morganna as an ally, but her intentions are unknown at this point. As the story progresses many characters are introduced, some who want to help, then more questions arise as to what is happening in the game itself, who are these various characters, what are their true goals and what will happen to Tsukasa
5.
Bandai
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Bandai Co. Ltd. is a Japanese toy maker and former video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It was the worlds fourth-largest producer of toys, some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs. Its headquarters is located in Taitō, Tokyo, after its merger with game developer and amusement facility operator Namco, Bandai Company is now under the management of Bandai Namco Holdings and a member of Bandai Namco Group. After group reorganisation in 2006, Bandai heads the groups Toys, in the 1960s Bandai expanded to include export sales. Bandais racing car set, which first appeared in 1962, became a huge success, the 1970s continued to see Bandai expand, with Bandai Models being established in 1971. Although not their most profitable range, Bandais 1/48 scale AFV models dominated that segment of the kit market. Bandai America Inc. was established as local US sales/marketing operation in 1978, spacewarp, a line of build-it-yourself toy rolling ball roller coasters was introduced by Bandai in the 1980s. Before the formation of Bandai Namco Holdings, Bandai had many subsidiaries, after group reorganization in 2006, they are managed under several strategic business units of the group. Further detail, In 1971, Bandai founded its subsidiary company Popy which helped to launch such as Chogokin. It was merged into its parent company in 1983, Bandai USA is the American distribution arm of Bandai that makes toy products for the U. S. market and manufactures Power Rangers, Big Hero 6, Digimon, and Ben 10 toys. Other past products include Alienators, Evolution Continues Astro Boy Beetleborgs Ben 10 Big Hero 6 Cardcaptor Sakura Cyclonians Dick Tracy D. I. C. E, jelly Jamm Bandai Visual Co. Ltd. produces and distributes many popular anime and tokusatsu titles. These titles include Cowboy Bebop, Big O, Outlaw Star, escaflowne, and the popular Gundam, Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and Super Sentai series. Their subsidiaries include the Emotion Music Company Limited, in which the logo is the Moai and they now head the Visual and Music Contents SBU. Their North American division, Bandai Visual USA was absorbed into Bandai Entertainment on July 1,2008 and their headquarters in the United States were located in Cypress, California. They had a European subsidiary named Beez Entertainment who handled European licensing & distribution rights to their library, the first part of Beez Entertainments name stood for Bandai Entertainment European Zone, as Bandai Entertainment had operations in Europe. Beez Entertainment was based in France, in addition, Bandai Visual also took over Beez Entertainment as their entry into the European market, and Beez Entertainment also continued to be part of Bandai as well. However, Bandai Entertainment is no longer acquiring licenses to new anime, also, Beez Entertainment is no longer releasing new anime in Europe. Carddass is the Bandai subsidiary responsible for releasing trading card based on popular Bandai franchises
6.
.hack//G.U.
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. hack//G. U. is a series of single-player action role-playing games for the PlayStation 2, developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai Namco Games. Simulates a massively multiplayer online role-playing game as the controls a character who starts playing it. The story focuses on a player named Haseo who hunts a player nicknamed Tri-Edge who defeated his friend Shino, Haseo comes into contact with other players who know of Tri-Edge and wish to stop him. The reason for Shino and several other players falling into a coma is connected with AIDA, during the release of the games in Japan, Bee Train produced an anime titled. hack//Roots that tells Haseos first days in The World. The series has also adapted into a manga, a light novel. The first game got higher scores, critics praised the addition of new features while parts from the story have been labeled as fillers. hack//G. U. Simulates a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, players assume the role of a participant in a game called The World. While in The World, the controls the on-screen player character, Haseo. The player may control the camera using the controllers right analog stick. Within the fictional game, players explore monster-infested fields and dungeons as well as Root Towns that are free of combat. They also can log-off from the game and return to a desktop interface which includes in-game e-mail, news. In Reminisce, a card game called Crimson VS becomes available. The player may save the game to a memory card both from the desktop and within The World at a Save Shop. After the player completes the game, a Data Flag appears on the save file and this can also be applied to previous games if the player first finished the Reminisce or Redemption. Players can attack monsters in real time, however, the action pauses whenever the menu is opened in order to select magic to cast, items to use, or skills to perform. The player only directly controls Haseo, while the characters are controlled by artificial intelligence. The player may either provide guidelines or issue commands to the computer-controlled characters. Monsters roam the environments freely or guard treasure chests, once combat is initiated, via a surprise attack or the player being spotted, a wall erects around the combat area to prevent escape
7.
Role-playing game
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A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. There are several forms of RPG, the original form, sometimes called the tabletop RPG, is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing games players physically perform their characters actions. In both of these forms, an arranger called a game master usually decides on the rules and setting to be used, acting as referee, while each of the other players plays the role of a single character. Several varieties of RPG also exist in media, such as multi-player text-based MUDs and their graphics-based successors. These games often share settings and rules with tabletop RPGs, despite this variety of forms, some game forms such as trading card games and wargames that are related to role-playing games may not be included. Role-playing activity may sometimes be present in games, but it is not the primary focus. The term is sometimes used to describe roleplay simulation games and exercises used in teaching, training. Both authors and major publishers of tabletop role-playing games consider them to be a form of interactive and collaborative storytelling, events, characters, and narrative structure give a sense of a narrative experience, and the game need not have a strongly-defined storyline. Interactivity is the difference between role-playing games and traditional fiction. Whereas a viewer of a show is a passive observer. Such role-playing games extend an older tradition of storytelling games where a party of friends collaborate to create a story. Participants in a game will generate specific characters and an ongoing plot. A consistent system of rules and a more or less realistic campaign setting in games aids suspension of disbelief, the level of realism in games ranges from just enough internal consistency to set up a believable story or credible challenge up to full-blown simulations of real-world processes. There is also a variety of systems of rules and game settings. Games that emphasize plot and character interaction over game mechanics and combat sometimes prefer the name storytelling game and these types of games tend to minimize or altogether eliminate the use of dice or other randomizing elements. Some games are played with characters created before the game by the GM and this type of game is typically played at gaming conventions, or in standalone games that do not form part of a campaign. Tabletop and pen-and-paper RPGs are conducted through discussion in a social gathering
8.
Tokyopop
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Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx Entertainment, is an American distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, Tokyopops defunct US publishing division previously published works in English and Japanese. Tokyopop had its US headquarters in the Variety Building in Los Angeles, California, Tokyopop was founded in 1997 by Stuart J. Levy. In the late 1990s, the headquarters were located in Los Angeles. While the company was known as Mixx Entertainment, it sold MixxZine, mixxzine later became Tokyopop before it was discontinued. Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn praised Stu Levy for opening up a market for cartoons with the publication of Sailor Moon. Before Sailor Moon, the belief among entertainment executives was that girls dont watch cartoons, due to Sailor Moon’s immense popularity, Tokyopop discontinued the serial from its magazines, and released it separately as its first manga graphic novel. Also, together with Diamond, Tokyopop offered retailers free spinner rack displays for Tokyopop manga, Tokyopop also licensed and distributed Japanese anime. ”The film was directed and scripted by Shoji Kawamori, who created Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and The Vision of Escaflowne. Taste of Cinema ranked “Spring and Chaos” thirteenth in its list of Top “25 Weird Animated Movies That Are Worth Your Time. In 2002, Tokyopop launched its line of 100% Authentic Manga, unfortunately, this often compromised the integrity of the titles original artwork. Tokyopop volumes hit the shelves monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly versus the six months or longer typical of competitors. It also allowed Tokyopop to sell books for a price point of $9.99 per book. Tokyopop was the first U. S. publisher to adopt such a sweeping policy, an authentic manga how-to guide was included in each graphic novel to keep readers from accidentally reading the final page first, and the authentic manga also featured special packaging. Tokyopop launched their Global Manga publishing program in 2003 via the introduction of its Rising Stars of Manga talent competition, the competition called for American manga artists to submit 15-25 page English-language stories of any genre. The top 10 entries, as judged by Tokyopop editors, received prizes and were published in an anthology of the winning works. The grand prize winners were given the chance to pitch full-length manga projects to Tokyopop for a chance to become professional manga-ka. The 5th Rising Stars of Manga competition added the People’s Choice award, “We are really pleased to open up the Rising Stars judging to the fans, commented Tokyopop editor Rob Valois. Since so many people have been vocal on the boards and at industry conventions
9.
.hack (video game series)
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. hack /dɒt hæk/ is a series of single-player action role-playing video games developed for the PlayStation 2 console by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai. Players may transfer their characters and data between games in the series, each game comes with an extra DVD containing an episode of. hack//Liminality, the accompanying original video animation series which details fictional events that occur concurrently with the games. The games are part of a franchise called Project. hack which explores the mysterious origins of The World. Set after the events of the anime series. hack//Sign, the focus on a player named Kite. The search evolves into an investigation of The World and its effects on the stability of the Internet. Critics gave the mixed reviews. It was praised for its setting and its commitment to preserve suspension of disbelief. However, it was criticized for uneven pacing and a lack of improvement between games, the commercial success of the franchise led to the production of. hack//frägment—a remake of the series with online capabilities—and. hack//G. U. Another video game trilogy. hack simulates an MMORPG, players assume the role of a participant in a game called The World. The player controls the player character Kite from a third-person perspective. The player manually controls the viewing perspective using the game controller, within the fictional game, players explore monster-infested fields and dungeons, and Root Towns that are free of combat. They can also log off from The World and return to a desktop interface which includes in-game e-mail, news, message boards. The player may save the game to a memory card both from the desktop and within The World at a Save Shop. A Data Flag appears on the file after the player completes the game, allowing the transfer of all aspects of the player character. The series is typical of action role-playing games, in which attack enemies in real time. The games action pauses whenever the menu is opened to select magic to cast, items to use, the player directly controls Kite and the other characters are controlled by artificial intelligence. The player may provide the computer-controlled characters with guidelines or issue direct commands. Most hostile creatures are contained within magic portals and combat will not begin until the character approaches the portal
10.
Video game music
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Video game music is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was limited to simple melodies of early sound synthesizer technology. With advances in technology, video game music has now grown to include the same breadth and complexity associated with television and film scores, while simple synthesizer pieces are still common, game music now includes full orchestral pieces and popular music. Music in video games can be heard over a title screen, options menu. Today’s soundtracks can also change depending on a player’s actions or situation, Video game music can be one of two options, original or licensed. In order to create or collect this music, teams of composers, music directors, today, original composition has included the work of film composers Harry Gregson-Williams, Trent Reznor, Hans Zimmer, Josh Mancell, Steve Jablonsky, and Michael Giacchino. The popularity of game music has expanded education and job opportunities, generated awards. At the time video games had emerged as a form of entertainment in the late 1970s, music was stored on physical medium in analog waveforms such as compact cassettes. Such components were expensive and prone to breakage under heavy use making them less ideal for use in an arcade cabinet, though in rare cases. Sound effects for the games were also generated in this fashion, an early example of such an approach to video game music was the opening chiptune in Tomohiro Nishikados Gun Fight. The first game to use a background soundtrack was Tomohiro Nishikados Space Invaders. It had four descending chromatic bass notes repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, the first video game to feature continuous, melodic background music was Rally-X, released by Namco in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during gameplay. The decision to any music into a video game meant that at some point it would have to be transcribed into computer code by a programmer, whether or not the programmer had musical experience. Some music was original, some was public domain music such as folk songs, Sound capabilities were limited, the popular Atari 2600 home system, for example, was capable of generating only two tones, or notes, at a time. As advances were made in technology and costs fell, a definitively new generation of arcade machines. This was further improved upon by Namcos 1982 arcade game Dig Dug, Dig Dug was composed by Yuriko Keino, who also composed the music for other Namco games such as Xevious and Phozon. Home console systems also had an upgrade in sound ability beginning with the ColecoVision in 1982 capable of four channels. However, more notable was the Japanese release of the Famicom in 1983 which was released in the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985
11.
Kadokawa Shoten
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Kadokawa Shoten, formerly Kadokawa Shoten Co. Ltd. is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Corporation based in Tokyo, Japan. It became a division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1,2013. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine, since its founding, Kadokawa has expanded into the multimedia sector, namely in video games and movies. Kadokawa Shoten was established on November 10,1945 by Genyoshi Kadokawa, the companys first publication imprint, Kadokawa Bunko, was published in 1949. The company went public on April 2,1954, in 1975, Haruki Kadokawa became the president of Kadokawa Shoten, following Genyoshi Kadokawas death. On April 1,2003, Kadokawa Shoten was renamed to Kadokawa Holdings, on July 1,2006, the parent company was renamed to Kadokawa Group Holdings, and inherited the management and integration businesses within Kadokawa Shoten. In January 2007, Kadokawa Group Holdings inherited the management and integration businesses within Kadokawa Shoten, the magazine businesses was transferred to the Kadokawa Magazine Group. The video game divisions of Kadokawa Shoten, ASCII Media Works, Kadokawa Shoten ceased being a kabushiki gaisha on October 1,2013 when it was merged with eight other companies to become a brand company of Kadokawa Corporation. Kadokawa Haruki Corporation, Founded in 1976 Haruki Kadokawa as a production company. The company was merged into Kadokawa Shoten. When Haruki Kadokawa was still on bail following his 1993 arrest, Fujimi Shobo, In 1991, Fujimi Shobo was merged into Kadokawa Shoten, but continued operations as a division of Kadokawa Shoten. The Television), In 1993, it was merged into Kadokawa Shoten, Kadokawa Media Office, In 1993, it was merged into Kadokawa Shoten. Kadokawa J-com media Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan Publishing, Formerly Hichō Kikaku, in 2007, Kadokawas stake of Asmik Ace was transferred to Kadokawa Group Holdings. In 2010, Sumitomo purchased the remaining 20% stake from Kadokawa Group Holdings, cinema Paradise Taiwan Animate Chara Ani. hack//G. U. Bio Booster Armor Guyver Black Rock Shooter Brain Powerd Cardfight, frog Shangri-La Shibuya Fifteen Shirahime-Syo, Snow Goddess Tales Slayers Sora no Otoshimono Steel Angel Kurumi Strider Hiryu Super Lovers Tenchi Muyo
12.
Action role-playing game
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These games often use action game combat systems similar to hack and slash or shooter games. Action role-playing games may also include action-adventure games that include a system and RPG mechanics. Early dungeon-crawl video games used turn-based movement, meaning if the player did not move. In Bokosuka Wars, each soldier was able to gain experience, also in 1983, Nihon Falcom released Panorama Toh for the PC-88. It was developed by Yoshio Kiya, who would go on to create the Dragon Slayer and this brand combined the role-playing genre with arcade-style action and action-adventure elements. This trend of combining role-playing elements with arcade-style action mechanics was popularized by The Tower of Druaga and it was conceived as a fantasy Pac-Man with combat, puzzle-solving, and very subtle RPG elements. A rivalry developed between the three games, with Dragon Slayer and Hydlide continuing their rivalry through subsequent sequels. The Tower of Druaga, Dragon Slayer and Hydlide were influential in Japan, Dragon Slayer was created by Yoshio Kiya, who built on the action role-playing elements of his previous game Panorama Toh, as well as The Tower of Druaga. The original Dragon Slayer, originally released for the PC-8801 computer in September 1984, is considered to be the first true action-RPG. Dragon Slayers overhead action role-playing formula was used in later games. Another early action role-playing game was Courageous Perseus, released by Cosmos Computers for Japanese computers in the month as Dragon Slayer. It was technically advanced than both Dragon Slayer and Hydlide in some ways. It featured more advanced graphics, exploration on a desert island, raft transport for sea travel to smaller isles. However, it was not as well-received, with its implementation of grinding, as well as a health-draining mechanic. T&E Softs Hydlide, released in December 1984, was created by Tokihiro Naito, Hydlide was an early open-world game, rewarding exploration in an open-world environment. The game was popular in Japan, where it sold 2 million copies across all platforms. Another early action role-playing game was Namcos 1984 arcade release Dragon Buster and it also introduced side-scrolling platform elements and a world view map similar to Super Mario Bros. released the following year. Dragon Slayer II, Xanadu, released in 1985, was a fully-fledged action role-playing game including many character stats and it also incorporated a side-scrolling view during exploration and an overhead view during battle, though some rooms were also explored using an overhead view
