, formerly is a Japanese film production and distribution company. In the past, the company has distributed video games. It was formed in 1997 through a merger between the Asmik Corporation and Ace Entertainment, both of

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 n ...

. The name Asmik comes from its three founding companies: Ask (formerly ASK-Kodansha),

Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Mas ...

and Kodansha. The company is headquartered on the third floor of the Lapiross Roppongi building in

Minato Minato (港 or 湊) is Japanese for 'harbor', and may refer to: Places * Minato, Tokyo or Minato City, a special ward in Tokyo, Japan * Minato-ku, Nagoya, a ward of Nagoya, Japan * Minato-ku, Osaka, a ward of Osaka, Japan * Minato (湊), a neig ...

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 37.46 ...

, and is a wholly owned division of Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM). Asmik Corporation was founded in 1985 as a subsidiary to the

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide ''sogo shosha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchanges ...

of Japan. Its focus was in the area of

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

s for the video game console market, specifically the NES. It quickly moved on to distribute motion pictures in Japan, and won several awards for doing so. It once had a North American subsidiary, Asmik Corporation of America. Ace Pictures Inc. was founded in 1981 as a division of Nippon Herald Films to produce

ese films and distribute foreign

art film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

s. Several of its pictures earned awards and hold positions as some of the highest-grossing films in Japan. Asmik Ace Entertainment has produced games for the Dreamcast, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PC Engine,

Mega Drive/Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, Super NES, Nintendo 64, and

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the ...

, and distributes high quality films for the Japanese movie market. Asmik Ace Entertainment also distributed a number of DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation films to Japanese cinemas.

Video games

:''See also :Asmik Ace Entertainment games'' Asmik had a mascot named Boomer (Asmik-kun in Japanese), a pink dinosaur, which was featured in several video games. *'' Air Diver'' ( Sega Genesis) *''

Altered Beast ''Altered Beast'' is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade video game developed and manufactured by Sega. The game is set in Ancient Greece and follows a player character chosen by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena from the demonic ruler of the underwo ...

'' ( Famicom) *'' Asmik-kun Land'' (Famicom) *'' Asmik-kun World 2'' (

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

) *''Astro Troop Vanark'' ( PlayStation) *'' Battle Zeque Den'' ( Super Famicom) *''

Bogey Dead 6 ''Bogey Dead 6'' (released in Japan as ''Sidewinder'' and in Europe as ''Raging Skies'') is a 1996 flight simulation video game developed by Pegasus Japan and Bit Town, and published by Asmik in Japan and Sony in other regions. The game featur ...

'' (PlayStation) *'' Boomer's Adventure in ASMIK World'' (''Asmik-Kun World'') (Game Boy) *'' Catrap'' (''Power Paws'' in Europe; ''Pitman'' in Japan) (Game Boy) *''

Civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). ...

'' (Super Famicom, PlayStation, Saturn) *''

Conquest of the Crystal Palace ''Conquest of the Crystal Palace'', known in Japan as is a 1990 Nintendo Entertainment System platform game developed by Quest and published by Asmik Corporation of America (subsidiary of J:COM). Story Years prior to the events of the game, th ...

'' ( NES) *''Cosmic Epsilon'' (Famicom) *''

Cutie Suzuki no Ringside Angel is a 1990 Japan-exclusive Sega Mega Drive video game about female professional wrestling. It features the famous female Japanese wrestler Cutie Suzuki. As the first video game based on women's professional wrestling for the Sega Mega Drive, it ...

'' (

Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as ...

) *'' Deep Dungeon IV'' (Famicom) *''

D-Force ''D-Force'', known in Japan as , is a 1991 vertical scrolling shooter video game developed and published in Japan by Asmik for the Super Famicom and later localized and published in North America by Asmik Corporation of America for the Super NES ...

'' (known in Japan as ''Dimension Force'') ( Super NES) *'' Dokapon DX'' (

& PlayStation 2) *'' F-15 Super Strike Eagle'' (Super Famicom) *''Gambler Jiko Chuushinha''(Super Famicom) *''Gambler Jiko Chuushinha 2'' (Super Famicom) *''Hunter Lime Special Collection Vol 2'' (PlayStation) *'' Jumpin' Kid: Jack to Mame no Ki Monogatari'' (Japan only – planned US release as ''Jack and the Beanstalk'') (Famicom) *''Jūōki'' (port of arcade game known outside Japan as ''

'') (Famicom) *''

Koutetsu no Kishi is a Japan-exclusive video game created by General Support which was originally released for the NEC PC-9801, and later ported for the Super Famicom. The Super Famicom version of the game would become the prequel to '' Koutetsu no Kishi 2: Sa ...

'' (Super Famicom) *'' Koutetsu no Kishi 2: Sabaku no Rommel Shougun'' (Super Famicom) *'' Koutetsu no Kishi 3: Gekitotsu Europe Sensen'' (Super Famicom) *'' Lennus II'' (Super Famicom) *''Lethal Skies II'' (PlayStation 2) *''Lethal Skies Team SW: Elite Pilot'' (PlayStation 2) *'' LSD: Dream Emulator'' (PlayStation) *'' Lupin III: Umi ni Kieta Hihou'' (GameCube) *''Meimon! Tako Nishiouendan'' *'' Mysterium'' *''Nemuru Mayu: Sleeping Cocoon'' (Playstation) *''Nippon Ichi no Nakantoku'' *''Oh No!'' (PlayStation) *'' Paladin's Quest'' (Super NES) *'' Power Drift'' ( PC Engine) *''Rhythm N Face'' (PlayStation) *'' Shinobi'' (PC Engine) *'' Sidewinder'' (PlayStation) *''Sidewinder 2'' (PlayStation) *''Sidewinder F'' (PlayStation 2) *''Sidewinder Max'' (Japan only - Planned western release as Iron Eagle Max) (PlayStation 2) *''Sidewinder V'' (Western title: Lethal Skies II) (PlayStation 2) *'' Super Air Diver'' (Super NES) *'' Super Air Diver 2'' (Super NES) *'' Super Boy Allan'' ( Famicom Disk System) (published by Sunsoft) *'' Super Hydlide'' ( Sega Genesis) *'' The Ring: Terror's Realm'' ( Dreamcast) *''

Tokyo Wakusei Planetokio , formerly is a Japanese film production and distribution company. In the past, the company has distributed video games. It was formed in 1997 through a merger between the Asmik Corporation and Ace Entertainment, both of Japan. The name Asmik ...

'' (PlayStation) *'' Verytex'' (Sega Mega Drive) *''

Virtual Pro Wrestling 64 ''Virtual Pro Wrestling 64'' is a professional wrestling video game released in 1997 on the Nintendo 64 game console and the second game in the '' Virtual Pro Wrestling'' series. The game is a sequel to the original '' Virtual Pro Wrestling'' rel ...

'' ( Nintendo 64) *'' Virtual Pro Wrestling 2'' (Nintendo 64) *''

WCW vs. the World ''WCW vs. the World'' is a professional wrestling video game for the PlayStation video game console. It was the first game developed by The Man Breeze to be released outside Japan, and is an American localization of their Japanese game , the fir ...

'' (PlayStation) *'' Xardion'' (Super Famicom)

References

External links

Asmik Ace Entertainment
{{Authority control Mitsui Video game companies established in 1985 Entertainment companies established in 1985 Mass media companies established in 1985 Video game companies of Japan Japanese film studios Mass media companies based in Tokyo Former Kadokawa Corporation subsidiaries Japanese companies established in 1985