(stylised as ''ω-Force'') is a Japanese

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

and a division of

Koei Tecmo is a Japanese video game, amusement and anime holding company created in 2009 by the merger of Koei and Tecmo. Koei Tecmo Holdings owns several companies, the biggest one of those being its flagship game developer and publisher Koei Tecmo Game ...

, founded in 1996 by Akihiro Suzuki and Kenichi Ogasawara, and is best known for the ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' video games.

History

Omega Force was founded in 1996 as the fourth Business Division of

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...

, with the intention of widening the appeal of Koei's portfolio outside of their strategy and simulation games, such as ''

Romance of Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...

'' and ''

Nobunaga's Ambition is a series of turn-based grand strategy role-playing simulation video games. The original game was one of the first in its genre, being released in March 1983 by the Japanese video game developer Koei. ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' takes place during ...

''. The studio was originally going to be named after the letter ''Z'', however this idea never came to fruition, as the letter ''Z'' can have different meanings outside of

Japanese culture The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Historical overview The ance ...

. Wanting to keep the last letter of the alphabet, they settled for ''Omega'' from the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as we ...

. However, because of copyright concerns with the clock manufacturing company

Omega SA Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ' ...

, ''Force'' was added – a Japanese

homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...

for "fourth" – representing that they are the fourth business division. ''

WinBack ''WinBack'' (known as ''WinBack: Covert Operations'' in North America and ''Operation: WinBack'' in Australia and Europe) is a third-person shooter video game developed by Omega Force (a division of Koei) and published for the Nintendo 64 in 199 ...

'', released in 1999 for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...

, pioneered the cover-based

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

, inspiring games such as ''

Kill Switch A kill switch, also known as an emergency stop (E-stop), emergency off (EMO) and as an emergency power off (EPO), is a safety mechanism used to shut off machinery in an emergency, when it cannot be shut down in the usual manner. Unlike a normal ...

'', ''

Gears of War ''Gears of War'' is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise is best known for its third-person shooter vide ...

'', and '' Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty''. It also featured an early rendition of the laser sight mechanic, which would later be seen in games such as ''

Resident Evil 4 ''Resident Evil 4'' is a 2005 survival horror third-person shooter game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and published by Capcom. It was originally released for the GameCube on January 11, 2005. Players control U.S. government special ...

''. The cover system has since become a staple of the third-person shooter genre. In 2018 Omega Force released the next entry in their key franchise ''

'', dubbed ''

Dynasty Warriors 9 ''Dynasty Warriors 9'' is a hack and slash video game developed by Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo. It was released in February 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. It received mixed reviews from critics. A strategy-fo ...

'', moving the franchise from its arena-based combat to an open-world. Producers Masaki Furusawa and Akihiro Suzuki planned to overhaul the franchise's often criticized combat system.

Games

''Dynasty Warriors''

''Dynasty Warriors'', known in Japan as , is the first and the largest ''Warriors'' sub-series. In Japanese, all games after ''Dynasty Warriors 2'' carry the title, but English localizations continue to use ''Dynasty Warriors'', putting all international releases a number ahead of their Japanese counterparts. Koei Tecmo Holdings logo 20090401

Numbered games

Non-numbered games

''Samurai Warriors''

''Samurai Warriors'', known as is the series based loosely around the

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various s ...

("Warring States") period of Japanese history.

''Warriors Orochi''

''Warriors Orochi'', known as in Japan, is a series developed by

and Omega Force. It is a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

of ''Dynasty Warriors'' and ''Samurai Warriors''.

''Dynasty Warriors: Gundam''

''Dynasty Warriors: Gundam'', originally released in Japan as , is a series which based on the ''

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series. Games were developed by Omega Force and published by

Bandai Namco Games is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are resp ...

''Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage''

''Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage'', released in Japan as , is a series developed by Omega Force and published by

Tecmo Koei is a Japanese video game, amusement and anime holding company created in 2009 in video gaming, 2009 by the merger of Koei and Tecmo. Koei Tecmo Holdings owns several companies, the biggest one of those being its flagship game developer and publi ...

. It is based on the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

franchise ''

Fist of the North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. It was serialized in Shueisha's Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 245 issues published from 1983 to 1988 and initially colle ...

'' by

Buronson , known by the pen names and , is a Japanese manga writer. Making his debut in 1972, he first found success with the hardboiled detective manga series ''Doberman Deka'' (1975–1979) alongside illustrator Shinji Hiramatsu. He is best-known for ...

and

Tetsuo Hara is a Japanese manga artist. He is best-known for creating the post-apocalyptic martial arts series ''Fist of the North Star'' (1983–1988) with writer Buronson, which is one of the best-selling manga in history with over 100 million copies i ...

''One Piece: Pirate Warriors''

''One Piece: Pirate Warriors'', also known in Japan as , is a series developed by Omega Force and published by

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in ...

. It is based on the ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

'' manga and anime franchise by

Eiichiro Oda is a Japanese manga artist and the creator of the series ''One Piece'' (1997–present). With more than 516.5 million ''tankōbon'' copies in circulation worldwide, ''One Piece'' is both the best-selling manga in history and the best-se ...

''Hyrule Warriors''

''Hyrule Warriors'' also known in Japan as is a series based on ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

'', developed by Omega Force and published by

in Japan and by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

in overseas.

''Fire Emblem Warriors''

''Fire Emblem Warriors'' also known in Japan as is a series based on the ''

Fire Emblem is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Famicom in 1990, the series currently consists of sixteen core entries and five spinoffs. Game ...

'' series, developed by Omega Force and published by

in Japan and by

overseas.

One-off ''Warriors'' games

Other

Release timeline

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Japanese companies established in 1996 Koei Tecmo Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Video game companies established in 1996