, formerly AKI Corporation and The Man Breeze, is an independent

video game development studio 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 ...

located in Kichijōji,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan, founded on June 19, 1995. The company is best known for its popular

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

games in the late 1990s and early-mid-2000s, starting with the release of '' Virtual Pro-Wrestling'' in 1996. The title was the first entry in the ''

Virtual Pro Wrestling is a professional wrestling video game series developed by AKI Corporation and published by Asmik Ace exclusively in Japan. The series started in 1996 with the release of the first ''Virtual Pro Wrestling'' for the PlayStation. It was localized i ...

'' series. The company's take on

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

proved successful in the late 1990s with the release of several games, culminating in '' WCW/nWo Revenge'' 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 ...

. As a result, the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

ended their twelve-year relationship with

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide ...

and partnered with THQ/AKI in 1999. The relationship would continue AKI's reputation for quality wrestling games, which ended with the release of '' WWF No Mercy''.McLaughlin, Ru
IGN Presents the History of Wrestling Games

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

(November 12, 2008). Retrieved on 2-03-11.

History

The company went public in 1998 and on April 1, 2007 was renamed syn Sophia, Inc.syn Sophia Inc
The first game developed under that name was '' Ganbaru Watashi no Kakei Diary'' for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

in 2007. However, they used their previous name in some of their future titles until 2008 with the release of '' Style Savvy'' for the Nintendo DS. '' Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution'' would be developed under the name AKI Corporation USA.

Games

Developed under The Man Breeze

Developed under AKI Corporation

Developed under syn Sophia, Inc.

Unreleased games

A version of ''WWF No Mercy'' for the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

was in the works and planned for release alongside the Nintendo 64 version. The game was originally planned to utilize the Nintendo 64

Transfer Pak The Transfer Pak is a removable accessory for the Nintendo 64 controller that fits into its expansion port. When connected, it allows for the transfer of data between supported Nintendo 64 (N64) games and Game Boy or Game Boy Color (GBC) games. B ...

accessory to unlock special content in each version of the game. This feature was later scrapped, however, with the extra content in each version instead being unlocked via gameplay. After further developmental woes, the game was shifted to Natsume, developers of the previous WWF game for Game Boy Color, before finally being canceled in late December 2000. Screenshots of this game at one point existed, but the websites which had them up were forced to remove them following the game's cancellation. A sequel to ''WWF No Mercy'' was in the early stages of development when it was shelved in early 2001 as

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 ...

began to phase out the Nintendo 64 console. However, Sanders Keel mentioned in a podcast with Pro Wrestling X producer Dave Wishnowski that the AKI-THQ relationship had deteriorated when AKI requested to no longer develop for the Nintendo systems following the release of the Nintendo 64, proving the No Mercy sequel as a rumor. A sequel to

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

' ''

WCW Mayhem Mayhem was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the month of November in 1999 and 2000. It replaced the promotion's November PPV event World War 3 which was held from 1995 to 1998 a ...

'' titled ''WCW 2000'' and later, ''WCW Mayhem 2'' was going to be developed by AKI and was planned for a PlayStation 2 release. There were even some screenshots in Issue #33 (May 2000) of the '' Official PlayStation Magazine''. However, it was also shelved in 2001 after the

bought

. The engine of this game would later be recycled for ''Def Jam Vendetta''. A

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. H ...

spinoff of the Dreamcast game ''Animastar'', titled ''Animastar Puzzle'', was announced in early 2000 but was later cancelled, presumably due to the sudden demise of the Dreamcast console. ''Mikke!'' was an

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

announced for the Nintendo DS console in early 2008. It was later cancelled for unknown reasons.

References

External links

* * (Website Currently Unavailable.) (AKI Corporation USA) {{Authority control Amusement companies of Japan Software companies based in Tokyo Video game companies established in 1995 Japanese companies established in 1995 Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies