Banpresto was a Japanese toy and video game company famous for its anime-based games and action figures, mostly the Super Robot Wars video game series and the SD Gundam toys.
The company was founded in 1977 under the name of Hoei Sangyo Co. Ltd. to later change its name as Coreland in 1982 and being third party for SEGA. It became partially owned by Bandai in 1989, when it gained its current name. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings in March 2006.
Finally, the company ended during The New '10s: the video games section was merged in 2008 with BECnote into B.B. Studios, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Games (but still publishing as Banpresto until 2017). In the other part, the toys section were recently absorbed by Bandai Spirits (Bandai Namco's toy subsidiary) in February 2019.
Games developed and/or published by Banpresto
- 4-D Warriors1 (published by SEGA)
- Air Gallet (developed by Gazelle)
- Another Century's Episode series (developed by FromSoftware)
- Ar tonelico series (developed by Gust)
- Bang Bang Ball
- Batsugun (Sega Saturn port, developed by Toaplan)
- Compati Hero Series
- Denjin Makai (developed by WindySoft)
- Draglade (developed by Dimps)
- Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure (Japan publisher)
- Dragon Ball Z Arcade series
- Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors
- Eternal Poison (developed by Flight-Plan, Japan publisher)
- Farland Story (SNES games, developed by TGL)
- Genei Tougi Shadow Struggle (developed by Racdym)
- Gundhara
- I'm Sorry1
- Jump Bug2
- Kyousogiga (anime co-produced with Toei Animation)
- Lode Runner for WonderSwan
- Magna Carta (developed by Softmax)
- Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata
- Mayday2
- Metamoqester
- Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie (Game Gear port, developed by SIMS)
- Panzer Bandit (developed by Fill-in Café)
- Pengo1 (published by SEGA)
- Project X Zone (co-developed with Monolith Soft)
- Puyo Puyo (SNES and Game Boy ports)
- Super Nazo Puyo: Rulue no Roux (developed by Compile)
- Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos and Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos (developed by TOSE)
- Sailor Moon Arcade series (developed by Gazelle)
- Seishun Scandal1
- Sengoku Ace (developed by Psikyo)
- Super Heroine Chronicle
- Summon Night series (developed by Flight-Plan)
- Summon Night
- Summon Night 2
- Summon Night 3
- Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
- Summon Night Ex-These: Yoake no Tsubasa (Japan only)
- Summon Night X
- Summon Night 4
- Super Hero Operations series (Tokusatsu version of SRW)
- Super Robot Wars seriesnote
- Super Robot Wars
- Super Robot Wars 2
- Super Robot Wars 3
- Super Robot Wars EX
- Super Robot Wars 4
- Super Robot Wars Gaiden
- Endless Frontier (co-developed with Monolith Soft)
- Shin Super Robot Wars
- Super Robot Wars 64
- Super Robot Wars Alpha series
- Super Robot Wars Compact
- Super Robot Wars Compact 2
- Super Robot Wars Compact 3
- Super Robot Wars Advance
- Super Robot Wars MX
- Super Robot Wars GC
- Super Robot Wars Z series
- Super Robot Wars Reversal
- Super Robot Wars: Original Generation
- Super Robot Wars Destiny
- Super Robot Wars Judgment
- Super Robot Wars W
- Super Robot Wars K
- Supa Robo Gakuen
- Super Robot Wars NEO
- Super Robot Wars L
- Super Robot Wars UX
- Super Robot Wars BX
- Super Robot Wars OE
- Super Robot Wars X-Ω
- Zeiram series (Hyper Iria and Zeiram Zone)
1 - made under the name of Coreland
2 - made under the name of Hoei
Some franchises with games made by Banpresto
- 3×3 Eyes
- Ah! My Goddess
- Akira Toriyama
- Dragon Ball
- Dr. Slump
- Go! Go! Ackman
- Anpanman
- Bakemonogatari
- Battle Angel Alita
- Case Closed
- Chibi Maruko-chan
- Cowboy Bebop
- Crayon Shin-chan
- Galaxy Express 999
- Ghost Sweeper Mikami
- Gundam
- Haganai
- Haruhi Suzumiya
- Kokoro Connect
- Lupin III
- Macross
- Mazinger Z
- Metal Armor Dragonar
- One Piece
- Oreimo
- Patlabor
- Pokémon
- Ranma ½
- Rurouni Kenshin
- Sailor Moon
- Slam Dunk
- Slayers
- Super Mario Bros.
- Tenchi Muyo!
- Tetsuwan Atom
- Time Bokan
- Ultra Series
- WEC Le Mans 24
- Yaiba
- YuYu Hakusho
Banpresto, its games and the company itself, provided examples of:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Since the company is known for its video games and toys, it's strange to know Banpresto actually made an anime instead of licensing it for games and toys, which is the case of Kyousogiga, co-produced with Toei Animation.
- Beat 'em Up: They made few games in this genre, but they're very famous, like the Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Arcade Game and the Denjin Makai series.
- Coca-Pepsi, Inc.: Banpresto was partially owned by Bandai at the end of The '80s, but eventually was absorbed when Bandai Namco Entertainment entered the scene during the Turn of the Millennium, being completely merged and made defunct during The New '10s.
- Iconic Logo: The red letters with the black mask are recognizable everywhere.
- I Have Many Names: First as Hoei, later as Coreland and finally as Banpresto.
- The Kiddie Ride: Banpresto made various kiddie rides for series like Doraemon, Dr. Slump, Gundam, Super Mario Bros., Godzilla, Ultra Series and even Thomas & Friends.
- Licensed Game: Most of the games from this company were adaptations from famous anime series, most of them are RPG and Visual Novels, but also made diverse type of game genres like Shoot 'em Up (Super Dimension Fortress Macross), Basketball Games (Slam Dunk) and Fighting Games (Dragon Ball Z Arcade series and YuYu Hakusho Forever).
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: The Super Robot Wars series is probably the most known case of this, but also has other games as this like Compati Hero series (a Super-Deformed Crossover between Gundam, Ultra Series and Kamen Rider), and Heroes Phantasia.
- Merchandise-Driven:
- The SD Gundam, which became more famous by the toys than the video games, especially in The '80s and The '90s.
- Apart of all the franchises they already got from anime, also made figures for a lot more of them, and even foreign franchises as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Harry Potter and Despicable Me.
- Mascot: Elite Banana
was its mascot, a normal banana with a human face◊ who got his own line of toys, plushes and personal massagers. - No Celebrities Were Harmed: One of its first games as Coreland was I'm Sorry. This action game stars a caricature of a former Prime Minister of Japan, Kakuei Tanaka. The game satirizes Tanaka's greed by making the goal of the game acquiring gold bars. And if that wasn't enough, some of the enemies of every level are Michael Jackson, Madonna, American track and field athlete Carl Lewis, Japanese comedian Tamori and Japanese wrestler Shohei "Giant" Baba.
- Original Generation: The Trope Maker. Almost as an implicit rule in its games, there should be original characters in their games, especially in the licenced ones, mostly seen in the Super Robot Wars series, which have original characters since the second game and they get enough to make their own games in the franchise.
- Prequel: The two games made for Zeiram count as prequels of The Movie just as the OVA Iria: Zeiram the Animation (also seen as Spin-Off of the anime).
- Super-Deformed: Banpresto is known for making games and toys as this, but it's thanks to them that SD Gundam became a success during The '80s with its toys.
- Visual Novel: Since the 2000s, Banpresto started with this genre adapting famous Light Novels made into anime like Haruhi Suzumiya, Bakemonogatari, Oreimo and Haganai, mostly made for the PlayStation Portable.
