was a Japanese manufacturer of

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 ...

. The company was founded in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Chiyoda-ku , known as Chiyoda City in English,
." ''City of Chiyoda''. Retrieved on December 28, 2008. is a S ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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 ...

as , but changed to its current name sometime in 1984. It is currently owned by Hitoshi Hamada. One of their earliest arcade hits was the

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

rail shooter Rail shooter, also known as on-rails shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video game. Beginning with arcade games such as the 1985 '' Space Harrier'', the gameplay locks the player character into a set path, only allowing for limited or no di ...

Dynamite Duke is a 1989 action arcade game developed by Seibu Kaihatsu. It was later ported to the Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, and X68000. Being a ''Cabal''-based shooter, it can be considered a follow-up to Seibu's '' Empire City: 1931'' and ''Dead A ...

'', one of the first to combine close combat with long-range shooting. A year later, Seibu Kaihatsu became best known for their

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

vertical-scrolling

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

arcade game '' Raiden'', which was successful enough to earn several sequels and spin-offs in its series of titles. In

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, a development department known as was spun off from Seibu Kaihatsu. During the late '80s,

Fabtek Fabtek Inc. was a thriving video kit company founded in Bellevue, Washington, United States and started its operations there in 1987. Fabtek's name was derived from the initials of its founder Frank Ballouz (F.A.B.-tek), a former Atari and Nint ...

bought the rights to internationally distribute Seibu Kaihatsu's arcade titles outside Japan. This partnership started with

Dead Angle ''Dead Angle'', also known as ''Lead Angle'' (リードアングル) and ''Gang Hunter'', is a 1988 arcade shooter game developed by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is the follow-up to the company's mobster-themed '' Empire City: 1931''. In ''Dead Angle'', p ...

, which was Fabtek's first game to be released, and ended with

Raiden Fighters Jet is a 1998 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is a sequel to '' Raiden Fighters 2'', released one year later. ''Raiden Fighters Jet'' retains the same game mechanics as its predecessors, w ...

, which was both Fabtek's and Seibu Kaihatsu's last game to be released. In

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, its arcade division vanished and its official website shut down. It was also rumored that they filed for bankruptcy; in fact, Seibu Kaihatsu temporarily disbanded itself. Therefore, Fabtek's international distribution rights expired while closing its business. During the same year, they established , right before the dissolution of their relationship with adult video game developers h.m.p. and Mink to develop adult

mahjong Mahjong (English pronunciation: ; also transliterated as mah jongg, mah-jongg, and mahjongg) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played ...

video arcade games. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, the development staff left Seibu Kaihatsu to apply at

MOSS Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

, then bought the development rights to the ''Raiden'' franchise from Seibu Kaihatsu to develop ''

Raiden III is a scrolling shooter video game developed by MOSS for arcades. It is the fourth game in Seibu Kaihatsu's ''Raiden'' series; it is the first installment in the series to be developed by MOSS as it consists of former Seibu Kaihatsu employees ...

'' and ''

Raiden IV is a 2007 vertical scrolling shooting video game developed by MOSS. It was first released in the arcades in Japan. A home conversion was produced for Xbox 360 in 2008. An updated arcade version was later released for Taito's NESiCAxLive digita ...

'' in order to keep the franchise's fanbase hyped with Seibu Kaihatsu assisting them.

Games by Seibu Kaihatsu

Stinger A stinger (or sting) is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal. An insect sting is complicated by its introduction of ve ...

(1983) (released as Seibu Denshi) * Scion (1984) (released as Seibu Denshi) * Kung-Fu Taikun (1984) * Knuckle Joe (licensed to Taito) (1985) * Shot Rider (1985) * Wiz (1985) * Empire City: 1931 / Street Fight (licensed to Taito) (1986) * Panic Road (1986) (co-developed with

Visco Corporation is a software company located in Japan. It was founded in 1982 by and later became corporate on August 8, 1983, while revealing itself as "Visco" in Japan. They originally developed video games for several platforms from the Arcade game, arca ...

and licensed to Taito) * Air Raid / Cross Shooter (licensed to Taito) (1987) * Pop'n Run The Videogame (1987) * Mustache Boy (licensed to March) (1987) * ''

'' (1988) *

/ The Double Dynamites (licensed to Fabtek) (1989) * '' Raiden'' (1990) * Seibu Cup Soccer (1991) * Olympic Soccer '92 (1992) * ''

Raiden II is a 1993 vertical scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is the second game in the '' Raiden'' series of vertical scrolling shooter arcade games that started with '' Raiden''. ''Raiden II'' was ported to Win ...

'' (1993) * Zero Team (1993) * ''

Raiden DX is a 1993 in video gaming, 1993 vertical Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters, scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is the second game in the ''Raiden (series), Raiden'' series of vertical scrolling shooter arcad ...

'' (1994) * '' Senkyu / Battle Balls'' (1995) * ''

Viper Phase 1 is a 1995 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is a spin-off in the '' Raiden'' series set in space. Gameplay The game is set in outer space. Players pilot their space fighter through eight st ...

'' (1995) * E-Jan High School (1996) * ''

Raiden Fighters is a 1996 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Seibu Kaihatsu. It is followed by the sequel, ''Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive''. This game introduced new game mechanics that separate it from the original '' ...

'' (licensed to Fabtek) (1996) * '' Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive'' (licensed to Tuning / Fabtek) (1997) * ''

'' (licensed to Tuning / Fabtek) (1998)

External links

Official website

MobyGames ProfileGiant Bomb Profile
Amusement companies of Japan Video game companies of Japan {{Japan-videogame-company-stub

Games by Seibu Kaihatsu

See also

External links