is the name of two video game publishers, Natsume-Atari and Natsume Inc., that were once the same company but are now completely separated. Natsume Co., Ltd. was founded in Japan on October 20, 1987. It established an American division called Natsume Inc. in 1988. In 1995, Natsume Inc. split from Natsume Co., Ltd. to become an independent company. The name "Natsume" was retained by both companies in their respective countries. In 2013, Natsume Co., Ltd. renamed itself Natsume-Atari following a merger with its subsidiary Atari that year. Also in 2013, Natsume Inc. (the American company) inaugurated a Japanese division called Natsume Inc. Japan with no connection to its former parent company. Natsume-Atari is based in

Shinjuku, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and is known for developing licensed titles and mobile games. Natsume Inc. is located in

Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its numerous eucalyp ...

and is best known for publishing unique, family-oriented niche games, such as ''

Harvest Moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...

'' and ''Reel Fishing''.

Products

During the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

and

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

era, Natsume Co Ltd developed numerous titles, often licensed, such as Power Rangers. Natsume Inc published a wide range of titles, including those developed by Natsume Co. Ltd., such as '' S.C.A.T.'', ''

Wild Guns ''Wild Guns'' is a 1994 space Western shooting gallery video game developed by Natsume for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Set in the Wild West with steampunk and sci-fi influences, the story follows Annie and her bounty hunter Cl ...

'' and ''

Shadow of the Ninja ''Shadow of the Ninja'', originally released in Japan as and later released in Europe and Australia as ''Blue Shadow'', is a side-scrolling action game developed by Natsume for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1990. The game revolves ...

''. Natsume also released the SNES game '' Pocky & Rocky'' as well as '' Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals''. Natsume Co., Ltd. had also developed the

Medarot ''Medabots'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the '' ...

games up until the end of the GBA era, and Natsume Inc. published some of them outside of Japan. A sizeable amount of Natsume Co., Ltd.'s products were video games it developed for other publishers. Some of its biggest clients over the years included Imagineer,

Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

and

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

. Most of Natsume Co., Ltd.'s video games, as a sub-contractor, were original titles, but it occasionally developed some

ports 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 Ham ...

as well. Taito, in particular, outsourced the development of three of its

Sega Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

ports to Natsume Co., Ltd.: ''

Sagaia is a 1989 arcade video game developed by Taito. It is the direct sequel to the 1987 '' Darius''. It was later released as in Japan in 1991 for the Game Boy as well as non-Japanese ports. A remake was released for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² as ...

'', ''

Renegade Renegade or The Renegade may refer to: Aircraft *Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design *Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design *Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design Games *'' Comman ...

'' and ''

Special Criminal Investigation ''Special Criminal Investigation'', also known as ''S.C.I.'' for short or as ''Chase HQ II: Special Criminal Investigation'' in some home versions, is a 1989 vehicular combat racing game published by Taito for arcade game, arcades. It is the seque ...

''. From the end of the Super NES era up until late 2014, Natsume Inc. was known for publishing a series of ''

Story of Seasons ''Story of Seasons'', known in Japan as and formerly known as ''Harvest Moon'', is an agricultural simulation role-playing video game series created by Yasuhiro Wada and developed by Victor Interactive Software (acquired by Marvelous Entert ...

'' games in North America. The last game in the series it published was '' Harvest Moon: A New Beginning'' for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

. In 2015 the developer of the series,

Marvelous AQL is a Japanese video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher, and anime producer. The company was formed in October 2011 by the merger of the original Marvelous Entertainment, AQ Interactive, and Marvelous Entertainment#Marvelous Livew ...

, brought the next game in the series, ''

'', to North America with its own US branch,

Xseed Games Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related mat ...

, ending the relationship it had with Natsume. Since then, Natsume has released its own games under the ''Harvest Moon'' name, starting with '' Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley'', continuing with '' Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories'' and '' Harvest Moon: Skytree Village''. Natsume has also operated an

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

shop, selling copies of older games sealed in their original packaging, collected from storage at its offices. At auction, the company sold a sealed copy of '' Pocky & Rocky'' for over $1,600.

Corporate divisions

Natsume Co., Ltd. was previously the parent company of Natsume Inc., founded in May 1988. Natsume Inc. started publishing video games in 1990. By 1995, Natsume Inc. had broken away into its own company and is separately owned and operated. In October 2002, Natsume Co., Ltd. founded the

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...

company Atari Inc. (not to be confused with the American game company) in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, which specialized in developing slot and pinball machines. On May 6, 2005, Natsume Solution began operation in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

. This division specializes on web site development, providing mobile solutions/services and developing web systems. On March 1, 2006, Natsume Solution was merged with Evolve. Meanwhile, Natsume Inc. opened up a development studio of its own, named Natsume Inc. Japan. Natsume Co., Ltd. changed its name to Natsume-Atari in October 2013, and it is not directly connected to Natsume Inc. or its subsidiary Natsume Inc. Japan. Despite their corporate split off, Natsume-Atari and Natsume Inc. have continued to collaborate on a number of occasions.http://www.natsume.com/news/news_pdffiles/pid_204_May122016_WGReloaded_Announced.pdf

Works

Pre-split Natsume

These are games produced while Natsume Inc., was still operating as a subsidiary of Natsume Co., Ltd. Natsume Inc. would publish only Natsume Co., Ltd.'s games until becoming independent in the mid-90s.

Nintendo Entertainment System

MSX

Game Boy

Super NES

Sega Master System

Natsume-Atari / Natsume Co., Ltd.

Natsume-Atari, formerly Natsume Co., Ltd, has mostly acted as a developer since splitting from Natsume Inc. - although it has also published some games, notably in the

series.

Super NES

Game Boy

Game Boy Color

Game Boy Advance

GameCube

Nintendo DS

Xbox 360

Natsume Inc.

These are games published by Natsume Inc. and/or developed by its subsidiary in Japan after becoming independent from Natsume Co., Ltd. Most of these games were only published by Natsume in North America, although some reached Europe under the Natsume name through distribution deals with European companies, and some digital releases were self-published by Natsume in Europe.

Super NES

Sega Saturn

Nintendo 64

PlayStation

PlayStation 2

Game Boy

Game Boy Color

Game Boy Advance

GameCube

Nintendo DS

iPhone and iPod Touch

PlayStation Portable

Wii

PlayStation 3

Nintendo 3DS

PlayStation 4

Nintendo Switch

References

{{Reflist

External links

Natsume-Atari homepage
(Japanese)
Natsume Co., Ltd. homepage
(Japanese, old)
Official Natsume Inc. websiteNatsume Solution/evolve co., ltd. homepage
(Japanese) Companies based in Burlingame, California Video game companies established in 1987 Video game companies established in 1988 Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Video game publishers Japanese companies established in 1987 American companies established in 1988