Irem

From WE Computers Museum
(Redirected from Irem Corporation)
Irem logo.png
Irem Sofware Engineering
Type Subsidiary of Eizo
Founded July 10, 1974 (as IPM Co., Ltd.)
1979 (as Irem Corporation)
April 15, 1997 (as Irem Software Engineering Inc.)
Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
Key people Kenzo Tsujimoto, founder and 1st president
Tetsushi Takashima, 2nd president
Masaki Ono, current president
Industry Video games
Products Video games
Number of people 259
Website http://www.irem.co.jp/

Irem Software Engineering Inc. (アイレムソフトウェアエンジニアリング株式会社) is a video game developer that is a subsidiary of Eizo.

Foundation

Irem was founded as IPM Co., Ltd (International Playing Machine) by Kenzo Tsujimoto, on July 10, 1974, after the success of Tsujimoto's first amusement machine manufacturing and installation business, which was founded in 1969.

On May 30, 1979, Tsjimoto formed another similarly named company, IRM Co., Ltd., which was intended to manufacture and sell game machines. Also in 1979, IPM Co., Ltd. was changed to Irem Corporation, after receiving a letter from IBM which stated that IPM was too easy to be confused with its company name.

Nanao takeover

1n 1980, Nanao became the majority shareholder of Irem Corporation. In 1982, after the declining sales of IPM Invader, Tsujimoto was replaced by Nanao president Tetsushi Takashima as president of Irem. In 1983, Tsujimoto left Irem to form Capcom, which merged with IRM in 1989.

In 1994, several Irem developers left the company to form Nazca Corporation.

Irem Software Engineering and Apies Corporation

On April 15, 1997, Nanao formed Irem Software Engineering Inc., which absorbed the development division of Irem. Irem Corporation, which held the hardware development division, was sold to Yubis Corporation in 1997. Irem Corporation was renamed Apies Corporation Ltd. in 1998, to avoid confusion with Irem Software Engineering. In April 1999, Yubis sold Apies to Atlus. In 2001, Atlus sold its shares in Apies for 1,000 yen, which made Apies an independent company.

In 1999, Irem's parent company Nanao Corporation merged with Eizo Corporation to become Eizo Nanao Corporation, which in turn was changed to Eizo Corporation in 2013.

Irem games owned by WEC Museum

Title Year System Notes
10-Yard Fight 1983 Arcade
Air Duel 1990 Arcade
Armed Police Unit Gallop 1991 Arcade
Battle Chopper 1987 Arcade
Blade Master 1991 Arcade
Dragon Breed 1989 Arcade
Hammerin' Harry 1990 Arcade
Holy Diver 1989 Famicom
Image Fight 1988 Arcade
In the Hunt 1983 Arcade
Ken-Go 1991 Arcade
Kickle Cubicle 1990 Arcade
Kid Niki: Radical Ninja 1986 Arcade
Legend of Hero Tonma 1989 Arcade
Lightning Swords 1991 Arcade
Major Title 1992 Arcade
Moon Patrol 1982 Arcade
Mr. Goemon 1982 Arcade
Mr. Heli's Great Adventure 1987 Arcade
Mystic Riders 1992 Arcade
Ninja Spirit 1988 Arcade
R-Type 1987 Arcade
R-Type II 1989 Arcade
Rocky Rodent 1993 SNES
Super R-Type 1991 SNES
Thunder Blaster 1991 Arcade
Vigilante 1988 Arcade
The Wonderful Yanchamaru 2: Karakuri Land 1991 Famicom
XMultiply 1989 Arcade
Zippy Race 1983 Arcade