Banpresto

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Banpresto Co., Ltd 株式会社バンプレスト

Type	Public (Subsidiary Namco Bandai)
Founded	1977
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan (JP / World) Santa Clara, California (U.S.)
Industry	Software and programming
Website	http://www.banpresto.co.jp/

Banpresto Co., Ltd. (株式会社バンプレスト, Kabushiki-gaisha Banpuresuto^?) (TYO: 7854) is a Japanese game development firm. It was founded April 1977 as Hoei Sangyo, Co. Ltd. The company was renamed Coreland in 1982, and during the 1980s it worked mainly as a subcontractor for Sega and its arcade division.^[1] It has been partially owned by Bandai since 1989, when it gained its current name.^[2] It was purchased by and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings, Inc. in March 2006.

Banpresto has created a variety of Japan-only video games, most notably the Super Robot Wars series and Summon Night series, both of which gained such a fanbase that part of both series were translated and released to the US market. Other projects include anime tie-in games such as the Tenchi Muyo! RPG, Panzer Bandit and several Sailor Moon games of differing genres. Banpresto also makes several varieties of mechanical prize-winning games.

Banpresto's video game operations were absorbed into Namco Bandai Games on April 1, 2008. As part of the merger, two of Banpresto's subsidiaries, Pleasure Cast Co. Ltd and Hanayashiki Co. Ltd, became Namco subsidiaries. Banpresto itself now focuses on its prize machines business.^[3]