Atlus
is a Japanese video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Tokyo, founded on April 7, 1986 and a subsidiary of Sega since 2013. While not necessarily having the name-recognition of some larger companies, they have a huge number of quality products, both as a developer and a publisher, and often both at once. The Japanese HQ portion of the company is both a publisher (since 1989) and developer, the North American branch serves as a publisher and localization company that publishes more games than just what its parent company Index Corporation develops and publishes; in the list of games below said games are listed with Atlus being the North American publisher. Atlus is probably most notable for developing and publishing the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games.
Many of their internally developed 21st-century games are really freaking HARD.note Though good design means they usually avoid Fake Difficulty. Their American branch is also famous for the translation of their games: Woolseyism and Superlative Dubbing abound in games they publish. Atlus is also famous for first exposing North America to Nippon Ichi Software, having published Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure back in the PlayStation 1 era, and later Disgaea: Hour of Darkness game for PlayStation 2. This led to NIS eventually branching out on their own, and to this day the companies share many staff amongst their translation and dubbing teams, as well as an amicable business relationship. In fact, NIS America is responsible for publishing Persona -trinity soul-, the anime based on the Atlus game.
Currently holds the dubious title of "That One Company", due to their joy at making gamers suffer. And we like it, dammit. Funnily enough, even some games they merely published and not developed can be Nintendo Hard, like Demon's Souls and the Disgaea games.
Also note the number of Widget Series below.
Atlus Japan is co-creator (with Sega) of "Print Club".
In June 2013, Atlus' parent company Index Corporation was convicted of corporate fraud, leading to them declaring bankruptcy. Sega Sammy eventually stepped in and purchased Atlus for 14 billion yen (approximately $141 million US).
Quite a few Atlus alumni became major players in the game industry after their tenures at the company ended. Kazuya Niinō, Kouji Okada and Range Murata began their gaming careers at the studio.
Its North American rival, Sierra, was known for developing very difficult games and was defunct for years before being revived by its parent company, Activision.
Following the success of the Sonic movies, Sega has expressed an interest in adapting Atlus’ IP to live action film and television. Time will tell if they follow through. Worth mentioning the rather surreal TV drama adaptation of Devil Summoner.
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)
- 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
- 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)
- 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
- 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)
- 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)
- 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
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.
-
That One Boss: Has their own page for it.
