is a Japanese

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

currently specializing in content delivery services like Project EGG, EGGY and PicoPico over the Internet. The company has also collaborated with

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

to re-release

Neo Geo The , stylized as NEO•GEO, is a video game platform released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was initially released in two ROM cartridge-based formats: an arcade system board (Multi Video System; MVS) and a home video gam ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

and

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

titles for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

, and

titles for the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

, as part of the

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

services on both consoles. Other products and services from D4 Enterprise include EGG Music, a digital music service, focused around soundtracks for older Japanese home computer games; AC-MALL, an online store selling reprints of older video games, soundtracks and other forms of merchandise; and 1chipMSX, a special updated model of the

home computer. D4 Enterprise also holds the copyright and trademarks to the game libraries of several defunct Japanese video game companies, including Compile,

T&E Soft T&E Soft is a brand used by two former video game development companies. The original incarnation, have made games with a wide variety of genres, they are primarily known for their action role-playing, List of golf video games, golf and puzzle ...

and

Xtalsoft was a Japanese software house established in 1982 to develop games for Japanese computers. Most of Xtalsoft's games are traditional role-playing games, with gameplay similar to that of '' Eye of the Beholder''. In July 1986, Xtalsoft was among ...

History

D4 Enterprise was founded on March 3, 2004, by former Bothtec Inc. employee, Naoto Suzuki. Suzuki had previously been involved with the creation and management of Project EGG - and D4 Enterprise was created in part due to declining interest in the running of that service on the part of Bothtec. D4 Enterprise and Bothtec then entered into an agreement to jointly manage and operate Project EGG, as well as Soft-City.com - the website that hosted Project EGG. Later on, in September 2004, D4E would start its own game distribution service and entertainment website called "Amusement Center" (often shortened to AC), as a separate entity from its collaboration with Bothtec on Soft-City.com and Project EGG, although Project EGG would later be mirrored on the AC website. As part of the Amusement Center, AC-MALL was also created as a digital storefront for game reprints, books and other merchandise. In November 2004, D4E would launch a sub-section of Amusement Center called the "iTa-Choco Shop". The iTa-Choco Shop was a store focused around games by iTa-Choco Systems - the personal company of Kōji Sumii (also known by the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

, Rasho), the creator of ''

Bokosuka Wars is a 1983 action-strategy role-playing video game developed by Kōji Sumii (住井浩司) and released by ASCII for the Sharp X1 computer, followed by ports to the MSX, FM-7, NEC PC-6001, NEC PC-8801 and NEC PC-9801 computer platforms, as well a ...

''. The iTa-Choco Shop was terminated on May 10, 2022. D4E would also launch another sub-section of Amusement Center called "Compile Station", dedicated to the works of former game publisher Compile. A selection of 40 free''Originally free to all AC members, this functionality was removed on June 30, 2022 - now only paying Project EGG members can access these titles (although they are not part of Project EGG itself, and technical support has been discontinued due to being designed for older, no longer supported versions of

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

)'' Compile games and a '' Madō Monogatari'' 4-koma

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

drawn by Compile illustrator "Ichi" are available via Compile Station. D4 Enterprise continued to jointly operate Soft-City.com, even after Bothtec divested their stake in the service to Gaiax Co. Ltd in early 2005. In August 2005, D4 Enterprise would establish EGG Music as a sub-service of Amusement Center, for the purpose of digitally distributing older video game soundtracks. EGG Music would go on to contain over 200 soundtracks, from over 100 different composers - including works by Ryu Umemoto and

Yuzo Koshiro is a Japanese composer and sound programmer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune and video game music, producing music in a number of genres including rock, jazz, symphonic, and various electronic genres s ...

. In early 2006, D4E would collaborate with Internet Revolution Co. Ltd (a joint venture between

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

and Internet Initiative Japan) to provide the emulation service "i-revo games"; 150 titles were released on the service, with games from the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

and

available. i-revo games was discontinued on March 31, 2011. In August 2006, D4 Enterprise would announce their involvement with creating and distributing the 1chipMSX - a special miniature recreation of the

MSX2 MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Cor ...

, first shown off in October 2004 and originally created as a collaboration between

ASCII Corporation was a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, becoming ASCII Media Works. The company published ' ...

and the MSX Association.''The Managing Director of the MSX Association, Hidekatsu Yokoi, was also a director at D4 Enterprise.'' The 1chipMSX would later be exhibited by D4E at Tokyo Game Show 2006, and pre-orders were opened on October 12, 2006. 1chipMSX finally released on December 11, 2006. Only 5000 units of the device were produced, with the last units being sold in a special campaign celebrating the 25th anniversary of the original MSX - in 2008. There were originally plans for Dutch manufacturer Bazix to distribute the 1chipMSX in

the West West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

, as the representative of the MSX Association outside of Japan; however licensing difficulties, disagreements between the involved parties and the transfer of the MSX trademark from MSX Association to MSX Licensing Corporation resulted in Bazix terminating their working relationship with MSX Association and 1chipMSX was never released outside of Japan. On December 29, 2006, another sub-section of the Amusement Center site was opened - Falcom Museum, a service for distributing older

Nihon Falcom is a Japanese video game developer, best known for their '' Ys'', '' The Legend of Heroes'', and '' Trails'' series. They are credited with pioneering the action role-playing and Japanese role-playing game genres, as well as popularizing the u ...

titles and for compiling information related to all Falcom titles at the time. These older Falcom titles also became available on Project EGG at the same time. In 2007, D4E would establish a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

called EGG Music Records, to distribute physical editions of EGG Music albums. To date, over 30 physical albums have been released under the EGG Music Records imprint. On September 18, 2007,

titles started to become available on the Wii's

service in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

- provided by D4 Enterprise, distributing titles under licence from

SNK Playmore is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...

. Neo Geo Virtual Console titles would later launch on October 5, 2007, in

PAL regions Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25& ...

and on October 8, 2007, in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Neo Geo games would not be added to the South Korean Virtual Console service. In 2008, D4 Enterprise brought the MSX versions of '' Aleste'' and ''Eggy'' to the Japanese Wii Virtual Console – although both would later be delisted in 2012. D4E would also distribute 13

MSX titles for Wii Virtual Console in late 2009 and early 2010. Later on in 2012, D4E would also bring the arcade versions of

Technōs Japan was a Japanese video game Video game developer, developer, best known for the ''Double Dragon'' and ''Kunio-kun (series), Kunio-kun'' Media franchise, franchises (the latter including ''Renegade (video game), Renegade'', ''Super Dodge Ball'' and ...

's ''Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun'' and

Sunsoft , is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, video game developer and publisher. They are known for their video games under the brand name Sunsoft. History In April 1971, Sun Electronics Corporation (alternatively called Sun Denshi) was founded i ...

's ''Ikki'' and ''Shanghai'' to

Virtual Console Arcade The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on past ...

on Wii – in Japan only. From 2013 onwards, D4E would also provide the MSX emulator for

- which was once again Japan-only. The Wii Virtual Console service was discontinued in all regions on January 30, 2019, and the Wii U Virtual Console was discontinued on March 27, 2023. D4E started releasing apps for iOS in December 2008, starting with ports of old MSX games (including '' Aleste'', '' Zanac'' and ''Nyanpi'') but eventually also including original titles such as ''Jellyfish ip'' and ''Hachiko Guru Logi Coupon'' - the latter of which also receiving an Android

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

in 2013. On December 2, 2009, ''Snapdots'' (a reimagining of the 2001

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

title '' Guru Logi Champ'' by Compile) was released for

DSiWare This is a list of games and applications, collectively known as DSiWare, for the Nintendo DSi handheld game console, available for download via the DSi Shop and unplayable on earlier DS models. An update released for the Nintendo 3DS in June 20 ...

. In 2017, D4E would announce and release EGGY, a special version of Project EGG for the

Yahoo! Games Yahoo! Games was a section of the Yahoo! website, launched on March 31, 1998, in which Yahoo! users could play games either with other users or by themselves. The majority of Yahoo! Games was closed down on March 31, 2014, and the balance was cl ...

Game Plus service. Yahoo! Games Game Plus and EGGY were both discontinued in 2020. PicoPico, another emulation service for mobile devices, was first announced by D4E in 2018, before releasing for iOS in 2020 and Android in 2021. The upcoming ''EGG Console'' service was announced for

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

on March 24, 2023, under the provisional name "''Project EGG for Nintendo Switch''". This service launched on September 28, 2023, with ''Relics'' being the first title.

IP Acquisition

D4 Enterprise has acquired the rights to the

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

(IP) of several Japanese games companies including from several that have gone out of business, with the intent to preserve their libraries and ensure that people can still enjoy their works. Their first acquisition came in November 2005, when it acquired the rights to Compile's game library from Aiky. D4E would later enter a licensing agreement with

Compile Heart is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 2, 2006 as a subsidiary of Idea Factory. The company was formerly managed by Compile (company), Compile's former executive Masamitsu "Moo" Niitani, most well known as the creator of the ''Madou ...

in 2010, allowing the latter company to use Compile's IP to create new titles. However, neither of these two agreements involved the ''

Puyo Puyo , previously known as ''Puyo Pop'' outside Japan, is a series of tile-matching video games created by Compile. Sega has owned the franchise since 1998, with games after 2001 being developed by Sonic Team. ''Puyo Puyo'' was created as a spin-of ...

'' franchise, as Compile had sold the rights for ''Puyo Puyo'' to

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

in 1998. In October 2006, D4 Enterprise announced that it had negotiated a transfer of rights from BBMF Group Inc. for the library of Bothtec, Inc - the company that originally started Project EGG, and where D4E CEO Naoto Suzuki worked before he founded D4E. In 2010, D4E acquired the rights to the 1988

Data East , also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game, pinball and electronic engineering company. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, and released 150 video game titles. At one time, the company had annual sales of 20 billion yen in ...

game ''RoboCop'' - based on the

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

of the same name. The IP rights to the library of

HummingBirdSoft was a Japanese video game developer. The company was established in 1982 as a real estate agent, but in 1983 began to develop video games. The company heavily participated in the Disk Original Group, a collective publishing house for Famicom D ...

(including '' Laplace no Ma'' and the ''

Deep Dungeon is a series of role-playing video games developed by HummingBirdSoft. The first two installments were released on the Family Computer Disk System by Square's label Disk Original Group (DOG); the third one was released on the regular Family Comput ...

'' series) were acquired by D4 Enterprise in March 2013. D4 Enterprise filed

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

applications for the logos of both

(creators of the '' Hydlide'' series) and

(makers of '' Kalin no Tsurugi'' and the ''Phantom Heart'' series) in 2018, and later acquired the rights to the entire game libraries of both companies on March 4, 2019. By this time, D4E had also acquired the rights to the libraries of Cosmos Computer,

System Sacom , also known as System Sacom Sales Corp., is a Japanese company which sells electronic devices. They are more notable for their past, in which they developed video games. In the 1980s, they mainly published games for computers, but they changed ...

, Carry Lab and

Winkysoft was a Japanese video game developing company. They have made video games for console systems primarily for the Japanese video game market, as well as a handful of arcade games. On December 1, 2015, Winkysoft filed for bankruptcy. Notable game ...

. On May 11, 2022, D4 Enterprise announced that it had signed an agreement with Laox to transfer the rights for the "Brain Media" brand name, and all video game IPs associated with the brand. However, D4E did not have access to the games and promotional materials to start distributing the titles on any of their services; so D4E also announced a

crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...

campaign to help preserve the game materials.

Games and products

Physical compilations and reprints

Project EGG

is an emulation-based games content delivery service for

operating systems, focused around titles originally released for older Japanese home computers - such as

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

PC-9801 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or simply , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit Personal computer, personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2003. While based on Intel processors, it uses an in-house architecture making it inc ...

or Fujitsu's

FM-7 The FM-7 ("Fujitsu Micro 7") is a home computer created by Fujitsu. It was first released in 1982 and was sold in Japan and Spain. It is a stripped-down version of Fujitsu's earlier FM-8 computer, and during development it was referred to as th ...

systems. Since 2010, the service has also included titles from home consoles (like the

Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

), as well as

arcade games An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade ...

. Users need to have an account registered with D4 Enterprise's "Amusement Center" website and pay a monthly fee to make use of the service - which is accessed via a desktop client called "EGG Launcher". New titles are added to the service every week, and paying subscribers automatically gain access to over 200 free titles, with more titles available for individual purchase. Some of the titles that have been re-released include: many of Compile's titles like the '' Zanac'' and '' Aleste'' games; SystemSoft games such as the '' Daisenryaku'' games; and

titles, including multiple entries in the ''Dragon Slayer'' and ''Ys'' series. In total, over 1000 titles are currently available to play through Project EGG - with an additional 109 titles that were formerly on the service that have since been delisted.''Delisted titles are still available to be re-downloaded and played by Project EGG subscribers who had purchased the titles before they were delisted.'' While the name EGG is an acronym for "Engrossing Game Gallery", it also alludes to the mascot of the service, Eggy - originally from the 1985 Bothtec game of the same name.

History

The impetus behind the creation of the service was a concern about future generations losing access to older and less popular titles (which Project EGG describes as "cultural heritage"), as the original platforms and media that these titles were played on continued to age and eventually stop working entirely. Naoto Suzuki, an employee at Bothtec, Inc. at the time, along with some of his co-workers felt that there should be legal routes to allow easy access to these older titles, without having to resort to

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

or complicated setting-up of

emulators In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use perip ...

. Therefore, Project EGG was designed to be "pick-up-and-play" and the subscription and client-based systems were implemented to assuage fears of the service promoting piracy. Suzuki approached the Japan Computer Game Association (JCGA) and asked the game companies that make up the organisation for permission to re-issue titles from their back catalogues. The permission was granted and work began on creating the service. The initial line-up of titles was chosen from the libraries of the members of the JCGA, and the platforms were chosen based on how functional the emulators were; with

PC-8801 The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the four major Japanes ...

having the most stable emulator and thus the most starting titles. Project EGG was first launched on November 24, 2001 by Bothtec as part of their Soft-City gaming website. Suzuki would leave Bothtec in 2004 to found D4 Enterprise, which then entered into an agreement to jointly operate Soft-City and Project EGG with Bothtec. Later that year, D4 Enterprise would start its own game website, Amusement Center (shortened to AC), and a similar service to Project EGG, called "AC PLUS" (or just PLUS) was also made available. AC PLUS handled titles that were more difficult to manage with Project EGG's system - like titles from certain publishers, or game with prices above ¥1000. AC users later gained the ability to use an AC account to register for Project EGG instead of needing a Soft-City account. In early 2005, Bothtec transferred its stake in Soft-City.com and Project EGG to Gaiax Co. Ltd. In August 2005, Project EGG expanded beyond only re-releasing games, with the introduction of EGG Music - a service for re-releasing game soundtracks for older Japanese video games. D4 Enterprise later became the sole operator of Soft-City.com and Project EGG, acquiring the rights from Gaiax on April 11, 2007; and soon thereafter combined Project EGG and AC PLUS - which at this point had been renamed to EGG Plus - into a single, unified subscription service. Soft-City and Amusement Center were also merged into one website later in the year, in September - with all Soft-City user accounts being migrated over to AC. On May 14, 2017, EGG: Music Direct was added to the service, which allowed Project EGG subscribers to use the EGG Launcher client to listen to the soundtracks of supported titles at any time, if the user had purchased said titles. For the first 8 years, Project EGG was focused almost exclusively on titles from older Japanese home computers.With one notable exception of ''Relics: Ankoku Yousai'' for

However in 2010, D4E announced that

console game A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connec ...

s and

would be joining the service - starting in March of that year. Since then, a dozen arcade titles have been released - and games from 7 different home consoles have been made available.''Two of these home console platforms -

and

SG-1000 The is a home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was Sega's first entry into the home video game hardware business. Developed in response to a downturn in arcades starting in 1982, the SG-1000 was created on the advice of Hayao Nak ...

- had their Project EGG libraries delisted later'' As part of Project EGG's extended 21st anniversary celebrations, multiple new initiatives have been announced. Guidelines on allowing the creation and monetization of secondary game content on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

(such as let's plays) were announced on November 24, 2022 - as part of a collaborative endeavour with

Kadokawa Corporation , formerly is a Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Created as a result of the merger of the original Kadokawa Corporation and Dwango (company), Dwango Co., Ltd. on October 1, 2014, the company has ...

. Announced on March 3, 2023, Project EGG Creators is a special service created to allow for the distribution of newly created games and homebrew titles for retro consoles and computers on Project EGG.

EGG Console

On March 24, 2023 - as part of Project EGG's aforementioned 21st anniversary celebrations - a special version of Project EGG for the

was announced - under the provisional name "''Project EGG for Nintendo Switch''". The name for this console version was later officially confirmed as ''EGG Console for Switch'' (''EGGCONSOLE'' in International markets), and features MSX, MSX2, PC-8801, PC-8801mkIISR and PC-9801 games, with ''Relics'' for the PC-88 being the first title released on September 28, 2023, in Japan only. While Project EGG on PC requires both a subscription and a standalone payment to allow access to paid titles, ''EGG Console'' utilizes entirely standalone purchases from the

Nintendo eShop The is a digital distribution service for the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2, and formerly available via the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo eShop served ...

. ''EGG Console'' was released in international markets starting on October 12, 2023, also featuring ''Relics'' as the label's debut title.

List of EGG Console releases

There are currently 58 titles released as part of the ''EGG Console'' lineup:

EGGY

EGGY was an emulation-based games distribution service for the

Game Plus platform - an initiative for promoting

HTML5 HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5) is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend ...

games and

Cloud gaming Cloud gaming, sometimes called gaming on demand or game streaming, is a type of Online game, online gaming that runs video games on remote Server (computing), servers and Streaming media, streams the game's output (video, sound, etc.) directly to ...

; which was compatible with

Web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

s, iOS and Android. EGGY had a wide range of

and

titles available, including HummingBirdSoft's ''

'' and Microcabin's '' Xak: The Art of Visual Stage''; and game save data could be transferred between different platforms freely. Like Project EGG, users needed to pay a monthly subscription fee to play these titles, but no further purchases were necessary for any individual titles afterwards. Also similarly to Project EGG, the service was named after the mascot "Eggy" from the Bothtec title of the same name. It was originally announced and launched alongside the Yahoo! Games Game Plus platform, on July 18, 2017, with a library of 20 MSX titles. The subscription fee would later be lowered in December 2017. Yahoo! Games Game Plus - along with all content hosted on it, including EGGY - was discontinued on September 23, 2020.

List of EGGY games

There were 49 games on EGGY, which all became unavailable upon the termination of the service in 2020:

PicoPico

PicoPico (sometimes stylised as pico2) is an emulation-based games distribution service for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

iPadOS iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple for its iPad line of tablet computers. It was given a name distinct from iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones to reflect the diverging features of the two product lines, suc ...

and Android

mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system used for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on the ...

s, released in 2020 and initially focused on

titles - with

Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth-generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily ...

and

titles added to the service later in 2021. A paid monthly subscription (called Pico Plan) is required to access the full content of the appThe price of the subscription differs between the

and Android versions. - although the app itself can be downloaded for free, and select titles are available without the subscription as part of the "Free Plan". Titles available include Data East's '' BurgerTime'', T&E Soft's '' Hydlide'' and several titles from the '' Madō Monogatari'' series. It also features title music composed by

. Originally announced in 2018 for a 2019 release, PicoPico started out as a collaboration between D4 Enterprise and

Dwango The Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation, better known by the acronym DWANGO, was an early online gaming service based in the United States. Launched in 1994, it was originally known for its compatibility with ''Doom'', for which it function ...

as part of Dwango's "experimental broadcast" functionality for its

video sharing An online video platform (OVP) enables users to upload, convert, store, and play back video content on the Internet, often via a private server structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally upload video content vi ...

and

livestreaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- liv ...

service

Niconico , known before 2012 as , is a Japanese video sharing service based in Tokyo, Japan. "Niconico" or "nikoniko" is the Japanese sound symbolism, Japanese ideophone for smiling. As of 2021, Niconico is the 34th most-visited website in Japan, accordi ...

. However, the release was delayed into 2020 and D4 Enterprise eventually acquired sole rights to the service in April 2020. In July 2020, D4 Enterprise entered into a partnership with canow Co. Ltd, to help assist with "live gameplay" on PicoPico. PicoPico was first launched on October 16, 2020, with a starting library of 30

titles, and was initially only available for iOS and iPadOS devices. Features available at launch included game manuals, quick save functionality, video recording, online

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

for supported titles,

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

controller support and an offline mode where paid subscribers can continue using the app for 24 hours even without being connected to the internet. Select

and

titles started being added to the service from February 15, 2021, onwards. An update on April 29, 2021, added the ability for free users to access all paid titles, by watching

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically us ...

in the app. The Android version of PicoPico was released on July 27, 2021 - with a slimmed down feature set compared to its

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

counterparts.''The Android version lacks support for video recording, live broadcast to

, offline mode, score attack/time attack and

online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

.'' Save data and video sharing functionality was added to all versions of the app via an update on November 2, 2021, with the ability view and search through other players shared save data and videos in-app added later in November.

Notes

References

External links

D4 Enterprise official website

Project EGG official website (in Japanese)

Project EGG official website (in English)

Project EGG official YouTube channel

Project EGG official Twitter account

PicoPico official website

PicoPico official Twitter account

Compile Station website

Falcom Museum website

D4 Enterprise 15th Anniversary IGCC interview with Naoto Suzuki (in Japanese)
{{Authority control Amusement companies of Japan Video game companies of Japan Video game publishers Video game companies established in 2004 Japanese companies established in 2004

History

IP Acquisition

Games and products

Physical compilations and reprints

Project EGG

History

EGG Console

List of EGG Console releases

EGGY

List of EGGY games

PicoPico

See also

Notes

References

External links