Romstar Inc. was a video game distribution company based in

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

that started operations in 1984. They originally started as the first American distribution arm for

SNK 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 ...

(before SNK of America was founded in 1987). They were known for licensing arcade games from major makers for distribution. Among Romstar's clients include

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

, SNK,

Toaplan was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. It was best known for its catalogue of scrolling shooters and other arcade video games. The company was founded in 1979 but its gaming division was established in 1984 by former Orca and Crux ...

, and

Seta In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae, ...

. They also made games for the

Nintendo Entertainment System 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 ...

, the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System 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 ...

, and

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

. The ultimate fate of the company is not known. Games continued to be released using the Romstar name until at least 1994 (Goofy Hoops). It is also partnered with Capcom in 1993 to form Game Star (a.k.a. GameStar Inc.), an electromechanical factory in

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County Illinois, United States. A northwestern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

that Romstar had a 30% stake in. In 1995, Capcom would later fully take over Game Star to form Capcom Coin-Op, a pinball manufacturer. The key personnel of Romstar, Takahito Yasuki, Ron Czerny, and Darryl Williams, later founded Atrativa Games and Playphone, both cellular phone entertainment companies. Playphone was acquired by

GungHo Online Entertainment is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. They are primarily known for hosting the Japanese server of '' Ragnarok Online'' (developed by its listed Korean subsidiary Gravity), as well as their development of '' Ragnarok DS'' for the N ...

in October 2014.

List of Games Distributed by Romstar

Licensed from Taito

* '' Tiger Heli'' (developed by Toaplan) * ''

Arkanoid is a 1986 Block kuzushi, block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blo ...

'' * ''

Bubble Bobble is a platform game series originally developed and published by Taito. The first entry in the series, '' Bubble Bobble'', was released in 1986 as an arcade cabinet. In most entries in the series, players control two dragons named Bub and Bob. Th ...

'' * '' Arkanoid: Revenge of DOH'' * ''

Twin Cobra ''Twin Cobra'', known as in Japan, is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Toaplan and released for Arcade game, arcades in 1987 by Taito in Japan and Europe, then in North America by Romstar. It is a sequel to the 1985 arcade game ''T ...

'' (developed by Toaplan) * '' Sky Shark'' (developed by Toaplan) * '' Empire City: 1931'' (developed by

Seibu Kaihatsu was a Japanese manufacturer of arcade games. The company was founded in 1982 in video gaming, 1982 at Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan as , but changed to its current name sometime in 1984. It is currently owned by Hitoshi Hamada. One ...

) * '' Aqua Jack'' * '' Twin Eagle'' (developed by Seta, NES version) * '' Battle Lane Vol. 5'' (developed by Technos) * '' Final Blow'' * '' Rally Bike'' (developed by Toaplan, NES) * '' Top Speed'' * ''Kageki'' (developed by Kaneko) * ''

Tokio Tokio may refer to: * , the capital of Japan, used primarily in non-English-speaking countries may also refer to: Music * Tokio (band), a Japanese pop/rock band ** ''Tokio'' (album), their debut album * Tokio Hotel, a German rock band * Tok ...

'' * ''China Gate'' (developed by Technos) * '' Thundercade'' (developed by Seta) * ''Super Qix'' (developed by Kaneko) * '' The Ninja Warriors'' * ''Kickstart'' * '' Great Swordsman'' (developed by Allumer) * ''Tournament Arkanoid''

Licensed from Capcom

* ''

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'' (also distributed by Williams) * '' Ghosts 'n Goblins'' (also distributed by Taito) * '' Side Arms: Hyper Dyne'' * ''

Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * '' Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 18 ...

'' * '' Black Tiger'' * '' Gun.Smoke'' * '' Tiger Road'' * '' F-1 Dream'' * '' The King of Dragons'' * '' Varth: Operation Thunderstorm'' * '' SonSon''

Licensed from SNK

* '' Baseball Stars 2'' (NES version) * '' Time Soldiers'' (developed by

Alpha Denshi , formerly known as , was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1980. ADK began as a developer of arcade games and is best known for their library of SNK Neo Geo (system), Neo Geo titles, including for its home consoles, produced in partner ...

) * '' Sky Soldiers'' (developed by Alpha Denshi) * ''Gold Medalist'' (developed by Alpha Denshi) *

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 ...

(One-slot conversion kit version)

Licensed from Seta

* '' Castle of Dragon'' (developed by

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

) * ''DownTown'' * '' Caliber .50'' * '' Thunder & Lightning'' (developed by Visco, NES) * ''Meta Fox'' (developed by Jorudan) * '' Nolan Ryan's Baseball'' (SNES)

Licensed from Toaplan

* '' Out Zone'' * '' Snow Bros.'' * '' Fire Shark''

Others

* '' Double Dragon II: The Revenge'' (developed by Technos) * '' Bloody Wolf'' (developed by

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 ...

) * '' Flashgal'' (developed by Kyugo, published by

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 ...

) * ''Skeet Shot'' (developed by Dynamo, top new video game on ''RePlay'' arcade charts in December 1991) * ''Popshot'' (prototype, developed by Dynamo) * '' World Bowling'' (developed by

, Game Boy) * '' Championship Bowling'' (Arcade/NES) * ''Cowboy Kid'' (developed by Visco Games, NES) * ''Magic Darts'' (NES) * ''Mr. Chin's Gourmet Paradise'' (Game Boy) * ''Torpedo Range'' (developed by Seta, Game Boy) * ''Goofy Hoops'' (redemption, partially based on same hardware as Capcom pinballs)

References

{{Authority control Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1984