Description
Data East was founded by Tetsuo Fukudaon April 20, 1976 as an electronic engineering company which focused on integrating interchangeable tapes inside arcade game devices, allowing video games operators to replace a game from a machine without having to replace the cabinet itself. Realizing the money that could be made within the interactive content, Data East began developing arcade video games in 1978 starting with their first arcade game, Super Break, while they established a U.S division in 1979, after most of their chief competitors like Sega and Taito had already established a market presence.
During that same year, Data East produced and released their first original video arcade game Astro Fighter, a shoot 'em up later distributed overseas by Sega / Gremlin. In 1981, three staff members of Data East founded Technos Japan, who then supported Data East for a while before becoming completely independent. While making games, Data East released a series of interchangeable systems compatible with their arcade games, notably the DECO Cassette System and the Multi Conversion Kit, but these products soon became infamous among their users due to their numerous technical problems. By 1985 Data East had shifted away from interchangeability to concentrate themselves on video games only.
Data East proved to be one of the more successful and long-lasting companies in the business, surviving the video game crash of 1983 in reasonably good shape and going on to release dozens of games for both arcade and home console systems over the next two decades. Some of their most famous coin-op arcade games from their 1980s heyday included Karate Champ, Heavy Barrel, BurgerTime, Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja, Sly Spy, RoboCop, Bump 'n' Jump, Trio The Punch – Never Forget Me..., Karnov and Atomic Runner Chelnov.
Karate Champ was the first successful fighting game, due to being one of the most influential to modern fighting game standards. It was also the subject of the litigation Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc., in which Data East alleged that Epyx's International Karate infringed the copyright in Karate Champ.
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| WebSite: | http://www.dataeast.com/en/ |