Atlus
is a Japanese video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Tokyo, currently a subsidiary of Sega. Best known for developing and publishing the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games, the company has a reputation on This Very Wiki for their super-hard games and bosses, to the point where they have a dedicated That One Boss subpage.
An active computer and arcade game developer and publisher since its founding in 1986, Atlus was acquired by toy company Takara in 2003, and was sold to mobile giant Index Holdings in 2006. From 2010-2013, Atlus was merged into Index, existing only as a publishing brand name.
In 2013, Index went bankrupt and was acquired by Sega. The following year, Sega would split Index's non-gaming businesses and rename Index's gaming division back into Atlus, effectively reestablishing the company as a Sega subsidiary. In 2015, Sega would sell the rest of Index to Sawada Holdings (now known as Excite Japan) and the company is now known as IXIT Corporation.
The international branch of Atlus, Atlus West (formerly Atlus USA and Index Digital Media), is notable for being a publisher and localizer for both Atlus games and non-Atlus third-party games; they have localized and/or published in North America games from smaller Japanese studios like Nippon Ichi (whose US subsidiary NIS America had a strong relationship with Atlus USA) or Spike Chunsoft.
Outside of arcade and computer games, Atlus Japan is also notable for being the co-creator (with Sega) of "Print Club", one of the most popular photo booth machines in Japan. It's a staple of Japanese arcades and a driving force behind the mainstream kawaii and selfie culture.
Some of their titles (including externally developed games localized by Atlus USA) include:
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Publisher)
- Bonk (Co-developer, with Red Co.)
- Catherine (Publisher/Developer)
- Cannon Dancer (Publisher for Japan only)
- Crimson Gem Saga
- Dept. Heaven series (Publisher)2
- Dungeon Explorer (1989)
- DonPachi (Publisher)3
- DoDonPachi (Publisher)3
- Dragon's Crown (Publisher)
- ESP Ra.De. (Publisher)3
- Eternal Poison (Publisher)4
- Etrian Odyssey (Publisher/Developer)
- Etrian Odyssey
- Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard
- Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
- Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan
- Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl (Remake of the first game)
- Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight (Remake of the second game)
- Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth
- Etrian Odyssey Nexus
- Go! Go! Hypergrind (Publisher)
- Growlanser (Publisher; acquired original developer Career Soft)
- Gunbird (Publisher; Dreamcast port)8
- Hell Night or Dark Messiah in Japan. (Publisher in Japan/Developer, Konami published it in Europe)
- Hexyz Force (Publisher)2
- Kartia: The Word of Fate
- Maken X
- Metal Slug XX (Publisher for PSP in North America)
- Major League Baseball (NES) (Developer)7
- Metaphor: ReFantazio (Publisher)
- Ogre Battle (Publisher, PlayStation version)
- Odin Sphere (Publisher)
- Power Instinct (Publisher and developer for most games; Matrimelee was published by SNK Playmore)
- Princess Crown (Publisher/Developer, the team that created this game would later become Vanillaware)
- Radiant Historia (Publisher/Developer)
- River City Ransom EX (Publisher)
- Rockin Kats
- Rollers Of The Realm (Publisher)
- R-Type Command (Publisher)6
- Run Saber (Publisher)
- Samurai Western
- Shin Megami Tensei series (Publisher/Developer)
- Sengoku Blade (Publisher; Dreamcast port)8
- Snowboard Kids (Publisher)
- Sol Divide - Sword of Darkness (Publisher; Dreamcast port)8
- Spud's Adventure
- Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity (Publisher)
- Strikers 1945 (Publisher; Dreamcast port)8
- Super Dodge Ball Advance (Publisher)
- Thousand Arms (Publisher)
- Trap Gunner (Publisher for Japan (and Asia)/North America)
- Trauma Center series (Publisher/Developer)
- Unicorn Overlord (Publisher)
- Xexyz (developer; published by Hudson Soft in the U.S.)
Western Developed
- Abyss Odyssey (Publisher)
- Citizens of Earth (Publisher)
- Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure (Publisher)
Licensed Games
- The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (North American Publisher)
- The Karate Kid (Developer)7
- Friday the 13th (Developer)7
- My Disney Kitchen (Developer)9
- T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage (Developer)7
- Wacky Races (1991) (NES version)
- Widget the World Watcher
Published/Localized by Atlus USA
- 3D Dot Game Heroes (North American Publisher)1
- The Alliance Alive (North American Publisher)
- Aquapazza (North American Publisher)
- Arcana Heart (North American Publisher)
- Baroque (North American Publisher)2
- Choro Q HG 4 (Publisher)
- Choro Q Works (Publisher)
- Class of Heroes (North American Publisher)
- Code of Princess (North American Publisher)
- Conception 2: Children Of The Seven Stars (North American Publisher)
- Contact (North American Publisher)
- Crusader of Centy (North American Publisher)
- Cubivore (North American Publisher)
- The Dark Spire (North American Publisher)
- Demon's Souls (North American Publisher)1
- Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (Published the first game in North America before NIS America was formed)
- Dokapon (North American Publisher)2
- Dokapon Kingdom
- Dokapon Journey
- Drone Tactics (North American Publisher)
- Guilty Gear (North American Publisher)
- Hammerin' Hero (North American Publisher)
- Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (North American Publisher)
- Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
- The King of Fighters XIII (North American Publisher)5
- Lost Dimension (North American Publisher)
- Lufia and the Ruins of Lore (North American Publisher)
- Luminous Arc (North American Publisher)
- Luminous Arc 2 (North American Publisher)
- Magna Carta (North American Publisher)
- Master of the Monster Lair (North American Publisher)
- My World, My Way (North American Publisher)
- Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (For Playstation version)
- Operation Darkness (North American Publisher)
- Robopon (North American Publisher)10
- Rondo of Swords (North American Publisher)
- Rule of Rose (North American Publisher)
- Shiren the Wanderer 3 (North American Publisher, Nintendo Wii version)
- SkyGunner (North American Publisher)
- Steambot Chronicles (North American Publisher)6
- Stella Glow (North American Publisher)
- Summon Night series (Published Swordcraft Story 1, 2 and Twin Age in North America)4
- Super Robot Wars (Published Original Generation 1, 2, and Endless Frontier in North America)
- Super Valis IV (North American Publisher)
- Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (For Playstation version)
- Tail Concerto (North American Publisher)
- Touch Detective (Publisher, Nintendo DS version)
- Touch Detective 2 1/2
- Virtual Hydlide (North American Publisher)
- Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (North American Publisher)
1 - developed by FromSoftware
2 - developed by Sting Entertainment
3 - developed by Cave
4 - developed by Flight-Plan
5 - developed by SNK Playmore
6 - developed by Irem
7 - published by LJN Toys in the US
8 - developed by Psikyo
9 - published by BAM! Entertainment
10 - developed by Hudson Soft
Tropes in Atlus' works:
- International Coproduction: Go! Go! Hypergrind, a skateboarding game the company published for the Nintendo GameCube, was developed in collaboration with American animator John Kricfalusi and his Spumco studio. The character designs and environments are reminiscent of The Ren & Stimpy Show.
- Nintendo Hard: Atlus Japan-developed games tend to be quite difficult.
- No Budget: A few of their games in the late 2000s to early 2010s were produced with lower budgets than some of their other games and were even forced to re-use assets from previous games to help complete them. A major example is the original base release for Persona 4 which was released on the Playstation 2 in 2008 in Japan and 2009 in America instead of the Playstation 3 which was already out for two years and uses similar assets to Persona 3, the previous game with sprite data for the main characters of that game still existing in the code. This was mainly due to financial issues regarding Index Corporation, Atlus's parent company at the time, which eventually led to them being convicted of corporate fraud and declaring bankruptcy in June, 2013. Thankfully this issue stopped plaguing Atlus after they were acquired by Sega Sammy.
- That One Boss: Enough examples for its own page.
