Romstar Inc. was a video game distribution company based in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

that started operations in 1984. They originally started as the first American distribution arm for

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

(before SNK of America was founded in 1987). They were known for licensing arcade games from major makers for distribution. Among Romstar's clients include

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 ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

, SNK,

Toaplan was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo responsible for the creation of a wide array of Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters, scrolling shooters and other arcade games. The company was founded in 1979 but its gaming division was establis ...

, and

Seta In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...

. They also made games for the

Nintendo Entertainment System 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 America ...

, the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System 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 Eur ...

, and

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 ...

. The ultimate fate of the company is not known. Games continued to be released using the Romstar name until at least 1994 (Goofy Hoops). It is also partnered with Capcom in 1993 to form Game Star (a.k.a. GameStar Inc.), an electromechanical factory in

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a municipality in Cook County with a small portion in Lake County in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 77,676. Per the ...

that Romstar had a 30% stake in. In 1995, Capcom would later fully take over Game Star to form

Capcom Coin-Op Capcom Coin-Op was a pinball manufacturer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Capcom USA, which was founded in June 1995 and closed in December 1996. It developed and sold pinball and arcade game machines and converted games for the US market. Based in ...

, a pinball manufacturer. The key personnel of Romstar, Takahito Yasuki, Ron Czerny, and Darryl Williams, later founded Atrativa Games and Playphone, both cellular phone entertainment companies. Playphone was acquired by

GungHo Online Entertainment is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. They are primarily known for hosting the Japanese server of ''Ragnarok Online'' (developed by its listed Korean subsidiary Gravity), as well as their development of ''Ragnarok DS'' for the Ninten ...

in October 2014.

List of Games Distributed by Romstar

Licensed from Taito

* ''

Tiger Heli is a vertically scrolling shooter game developed by Toaplan and released for arcades in 1985. It was published in Japan by Taito and in North America by Romstar. Controlling the titular attack helicopter, the player must fight endless waves of ...

'' (developed by Toaplan) * ''

Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by deflect ...

'' * ''

Bubble Bobble is a 1986 platform video game, platform arcade game developed and published by Taito. It was distributed in the United States by Romstar, and in Europe by Electrocoin. Players control Bub and Bob, two dragons that set out to save their girlfrien ...

'' * '' Arkanoid: Revenge of DOH'' * ''

Twin Cobra ''Twin Cobra'', known as in Japan, is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Toaplan and released for Arcade game, arcades in 1987 by Taito in Japan and Europe, then in North America by Romstar. It is a sequel to the 1985 arcade game ''Ti ...

'' (developed by Toaplan) * ''

Sky Shark ''Flying Shark'', known as ''Sky Shark'' in North America, is a 1987 in video gaming, 1987 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan and published by Taito in Japan, Romstar in North America and Electrocoin ...

'' (developed by Toaplan) * '' Empire City: 1931'' (developed by

Seibu Kaihatsu was a Japanese manufacturer of arcade games. The company was founded in 1982 at Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan as , but changed to its current name sometime in 1984. It is currently owned by Hitoshi Hamada. One of their earliest arcade hits was ...

) * '' Aqua Jack'' * '' Twin Eagle'' (developed by Seta, NES version) * ''

Battle Lane Vol. 5 A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

'' (developed by Technos) * ''

Final Blow ''Final Blow'' is a boxing arcade video game released in 1988 by Taito. The name remained the same for all ported platforms, except for the Sega Genesis versions, which Sega released outside Japan as ''James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing'' fea ...

'' * '' Rally Bike'' (developed by Toaplan, NES) * '' Top Speed'' * ''Kageki'' (developed by Kaneko) * '' Tokio'' * ''China Gate'' (developed by Technos) * ''

Thundercade ''Thundercade'', also known as ''Twin Formation'' and ", is a Scrolling shooter, vertically scrolling shooter developed by SETA Corporation, SETA and released as an arcade game in 1987. A version for the Nintendo Entertainment System from Sammy Co ...

'' (developed by Seta) * ''Super Qix'' (developed by Kaneko) * '' The Ninja Warriors'' * ''Kickstart'' * '' Great Swordsman'' (developed by

Allumer , was a video game production company, established in February 1978 and headquartered in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. The company suspended business in October 5, 1999. In February 2023, Japanese video game publisher Hamster Corporation acquired the righ ...

) * ''Tournament Arkanoid''

Licensed from Capcom

* ''

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

'' (also distributed by Williams) * ''

Ghosts 'n Goblins ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', known in Japan as , is a run-and-gun platform video game series created by Tokuro Fujiwara and developed by Capcom. The first entry in the series was '' Ghosts 'n Goblins'', released in arcades on July 7, 1985. The seri ...

'' (also distributed by Taito) * '' Side Arms: Hyper Dyne'' * ''

Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

'' * ''

Black Tiger A black tiger is a rare colour variant of the tiger, and is not a distinct species or geographic subspecies. Description There are reports and one painting (now lost) of pure black non-striped tigers (true melanistic tigers). Most black mammal ...

'' * ''

Gun.Smoke is a 1985 vertical scrolling run-and-gun shooter arcade game produced by Capcom and designed by Yoshiki Okamoto. A Western-themed game, ''Gun.Smoke'' centers on a character named Billy Bob, a bounty hunter going after the criminals of the Wi ...

'' * '' Tiger Road'' * '' F-1 Dream'' * ''

The King of Dragons is a 1991 beat-'em-up video game by Capcom that follows players as they control characters through the kingdom of Malus to defeat monsters led by the dragon Gildiss. It features a level advancement system, allowing character attributes to be up ...

'' * '' Varth: Operation Thunderstorm'' * ''

SonSon is an arcade video game by Capcom released in July 1984. It is loosely based on the Chinese novel '' Journey to the West''. The player assumes the role of a monkey boy (who is patterned after Sun Wukong from the story) and fights their way from ...

Licensed from SNK

* ''

Baseball Stars 2 is a 2-player baseball sports arcade game released by SNK in 1992 for the Neo-Geo console. A less detailed console version was released for the NES by Romstar the same year. Neo Geo version The player can select from one of 18 teams across ...

'' (NES version) * '' Time Soldiers'' (developed by

Alpha Denshi , formerly known as , was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1980. ADK began as a developer of arcade games and is best known for their library of SNK Neo Geo titles, including for its home consoles, produced in partnership with SNK. ...

) * ''

Sky Soldiers ''Sky Soldiers'' is a vertical scrolling shoot em’ up developed by Alpha Denshi and released to arcades in 1988 by Romstar in North America and SNK in the rest of the world. The game features a time travel theme as well as an organized weapon se ...

'' (developed by Alpha Denshi) * ''Gold Medalist'' (developed by Alpha Denshi) *

Neo Geo Neo Geo is a family of video game hardware developed by SNK. On the market from 1990 to 2004, the brand originated with the release of an arcade system, the Neo Geo MVS and its home console counterpart, the Neo Geo AES. The Neo Geo MVS was su ...

(One-slot conversion kit version)

Licensed from Seta

* ''

Castle of Dragon was a Japanese video game developer, founded in July 1987. Due to the difficulties of recovering financially in the games market, in 2013, the Tokyo Court decided to start the company's bankruptcy process. Games *'' Biometal'' (Super NES, 1993 ...

'' (developed by

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

) * ''DownTown'' * '' Caliber .50'' * '' Thunder & Lightning'' (developed by Visco, NES) * ''Meta Fox'' (developed by Jorudan) * ''

Nolan Ryan's Baseball ''Nolan Ryan's Baseball'' (known in Japan as )Japanese-English translation of title
at superfamico ...

'' (SNES)

Licensed from Toaplan

* '' Out Zone'' * ''

Snow Bros is a 1990 in video gaming, 1990 Platform game, platform arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan first published in Japan, then in North America by Romstar and later in Europe. Starring the eponymous snowmen twins Nick and Tom, players ...

.'' * ''

Fire Shark ''Fire Shark'' is a 1989 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Toaplan in Japan and Europe, and by Romstar in North America. It is the sequel to ''Flying Shark'', a game released in 1987 on multiple platforms. ...

Others

* '' Double Dragon II: The Revenge'' (developed by Technos) * ''

Bloody Wolf , released in Europe as ''Battle Rangers'', is a run and gun arcade game released by Data East in 1988. Two commandos take on an entire army with many weapons, and defeat bosses to advance levels. Plot Snake and Eagle, two commandos of the Blo ...

'' (developed by

Data East , also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game, pinball and electronic engineering company. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, and released 150 video game titles. Its main headquarters were located in Suginami, Tokyo. The Am ...

) * '' Flashgal'' (developed by Kyugo, published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

) * ''Skeet Shot'' (developed by Dynamo, top new video game on ''RePlay'' arcade charts in December 1991) * ''Popshot'' (prototype, developed by Dynamo) * ''

World Bowling International Bowling Federation (IBF), known as the Fédération Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) from 1952 to April 2014) and as World Bowling (WB) from April 2014 to November 2020, is the world governing body of nine-pin and ten-pin bowling ...

'' (developed by

, Game Boy) * '' Championship Bowling'' (Arcade/NES) * ''Cowboy Kid'' (developed by Visco Games, NES) * ''Magic Darts'' (NES) * ''Mr. Chin's Gourmet Paradise'' (Game Boy) * ''Torpedo Range'' (developed by Seta, Game Boy) * ''Goofy Hoops'' (redemption, partially based on same hardware as Capcom pinballs)

References

{{Authority control Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1984