Jaleco

Jaleco Ltd is a video gamepublisher and developer established in 2006.

The original Jaleco Ltd (now called Emcom Holdings) was founded in 1974. In 2006, it decided to become a pure holding company by renaming itself Jaleco Holding and splitting its video game operations into a newly created subsdiary that took its former name of Jaleco Ltd. In 2009, Jaleco Holding sold Jaleco Ltd to Game Yarou and subsequently changed its own name to Emcom Holdings.

As a wholly-owned subsdiary of Game Yarou, Jaleco Ltd operates independently and continues to trade under the Jaleco name. Emcom Holdings is no longer involved at all in the video game business, having branched out to other markets.

History
Jaleco was founded as Japan Leisure Corporation on October 3, 1974 as a manufactuer of amusement equipment. In 1982, the company started developing and manufacturing arcade video games; as a result Japan Leisure Corporation shortened its brand name to Jaleco in 1982 and formally changed its name to Jaleco Ltd in 1983.

Jaleco was a video game company whose focus lay in arcade titles, as well as titles for the NES and other popular computer and video game consoles of the 1980s and 1990s, most notably the Bases Loaded series and Carrier. The U.S. arm of Jaleco was Jaleco USA based near Chicago in the town of Wheeling, Illinois.

This logo was first used by US division Jaleco Entertainment. When PCCW Japan changed its name back to Jaleco, it adopted the logo.By the year 2000, Jaleco, still active in the development of arcade and console video games, hadn't produced any hit title in years and was in a struggling state. Its American division Jaleco USA had already left the arcade industry in 1993. On November 1, 2000, Jaleco was acquired by Hong-Kong company PCCW. Jaleco, renamed PCCW Japan, gave the PCCW Group a foothold in Japan. PCCW heavily restructured the company, shutting down Jaleco's arcade division and other non-profitable departments in order to focus on video games for consoles of the sixth generation era. PCCW Japan itself acquired on April 2001 the VR-1 Group which included VR-1 Entertainment, a U.S. developer of massively multiplayer online role playing games, in order to bring a more global focus to its current and future software endeavors. On October 2002, PCCW Japan merged Jaleco USA and VR-1 Entertainment to form Jaleco Entertainment, its new U.S. division that would be based in Buffalo, New York instead of Wheeling, Illinois. PCCW Japan reverted its name back to Jaleco in 2004.

The rechristened Jaleco continued to serve as the official Japanese subsidiary of the PCCW Group throughout 2004 and most of 2005; engaging itself in video gaming, music, web application and mobile phone content. However on August 2005, PCCW sold Hyperlink Investments Group (PCCW's subsdiary that owned Jaleco) to Sandringham Fund SPC.

On May 31, 2006, Jaleco's board of directors opted for a change of name from Jaleco Ltd to Jaleco Holding Ltd and, in the process, spun off the video game division into a separate company that would take the name of Jaleco Ltd. As such, Jaleco Holding is now the name of the company that has existed since 1974, while Jaleco Ltd is the new company that was established on July 3, 2006, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Jaleco Holding. The decision for the reorganization was based out on the fact that the original company had expanded in many activities beyond video gaming.

On October 2007, Hyperlink Investments Group sold its stock in Jaleco Holding to Game Yarou (an online game company) and to two different Korean companies: STIC Pioneer Fund and A2i Co Ltd. But in early 2008, Game Yarou divested itself from its interests in Jaleco Holding to pay off some of its own debts.

In 2008, Jaleco Holding dissolved two subsdiaries: FFBC Investment and J CONSULTING.

On January 15, 2009, Jaleco Holding sold Jaleco Ltd to Game Yarou,, for ¥1 (US$0.01). However, Game Yarou assumed ¥700,000,000 ($7.736 million) of Jaleco Holding's ¥16,000,000,000 ($17.68 million) loan. Jaleco Holding spokepersons stated "an increasing competition in recent years in the videogame market" as the reason for their retirement from the video game industry, and that risk factors for their profitability will be removed after their withdrawal

On April 2009, Jaleco Holding changed again its name this time to Emcom Holdings, presumably to avoid confusion with Jaleco Ltd and to dissociate itself from a trademark that has long been associated to the video game industry. The Emcom group had been Jaleco Holding's most important division since 2008 which could explain this choice of name for the renaming.

Current ventures
Emcom Holdings now focuses on real estate, securities, technology and finance business. For the first time in 35 years, the company is not involved in the video game or amusement industry.

Jaleco Holding's former subsdiary Jaleco Ltd is still in operation under Game Yarou's ownership. Because Jaleco Ltd was created in 2006 as a legal company rather than a division, the right to use the Jaleco name was not affected by the selling of the company to Game Yarou. Jaleco Ltd produces mobile phone video games as well as online games for the Internet. On March 2, 2009, Jaleco Ltd revealed on its website that Kizuna, a video game for the Wii, will be released in May 29, 2009.

North America's division Jaleco Entertainment appears to have gone out of business in 2007, or maybe even before. In 2005, the content of Jaleco Entertainement's website was replaced by a frontpage reading as "Home of Jaleco Entertainement" with no hyperlinks or other webpages. The frontpage had the Jaleco Entertainment logo above the "Home of Jaleco Entertainment"; implying that Jaleco Entertainement was still in business at the time and was simply going through a hiatus period. Sometime in 2006, the website was briefly replaced by a message saying that the domain expired, but it was renewed a month later with again the "Home of Jaleco Entertainement" frontpage. However since 2007, the url belongs to an online video game website with no connection to Jaleco.

Developed

 * 64th Street: A Detective Story 
 * Aeroboto (also known as Formation Z)
 * The Astyanax(Originally The Lord of King)
 * Bases Loaded(arcade version)
 * Bases Loaded '96: Double Header 
 * Big Run(also known as Jaleco Rally)
 * Banishing Racer 
 * Brawl Brothers(Rushing Beat Ran in Japan)
 * Butasan
 * Carrier
 * Cisco Heat 
 * City Connection(arcade version)
 * Desert War
 * Dragonseeds
 * Earth Defense Force
 * Exerion
 * F1 Super Battle
 * Field Combat 
 * Fighter Ace
 * Game Tengoku /Game Paradise 
 * Ginga Ninkyoden 
 * Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde 
 * Hammerlock Wrestling 
 * The Ignition Factor(Fire Fighting in Japan)
 * Legend of Makai, The 
 * Maru's Mission
 * Monty no DokiDoki Daissasou(Disk System version of Monty on the Run)
 * Momoko 120% (arcade version)
 * Nightcaster II: Equinox 
 * Ninja Jajamaru-kun 
 * Operation Logic Bomb 
 * Peace Keepers(Rushing Beat Shura in Japan)
 * Peek-A-Boo! (Arcade erotic game)
 * P-47: The Phantom Fighter 
 * Pinball Quest
 * Plus Alpha 
 * Psychic 5 
 * Racket Attack 
 * Rival Turf(Rushing Beat in Japan)
 * Rodland
 * Saint Dragon 
 * Super Strong Warriors
 * Saiyuki World/Whomp 'Em
 * Stepping Stage(arcade version)
 * Tetris Plus 2 
 * Totally Rad(Magic John in Japan)
 * Trailer Park Tycoon 
 * Tuff E Nuff(Dead Dance in Japan)
 * Urusei Yatsura: Lum no Wedding Bell(NES version)
 * Wild Pilot 
 * The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles(FDS/NES version)

Published only

 * Avenging Spirit(developed by Toku and team)
 * Bases Loaded(NES version developed by TOSE)
 * Bases Loaded 2 (developed by TOSE)
 * Bases Loaded 3 (developed by TOSE)
 * Bases Loaded 4(developed by TOSE)
 * Big Striker(developed by Toku and team)
 * City Connection(NES developed by Hect)
 * Fushigina Blobby: Blobania no Kiki(developed by Imagineering)
 * Goal! (developed by TOSE)
 * Goal!2 (developed by TOSE)
 * Illbleed (developed by Climax Graphics)
 * Jurassic Park(Japanese SNES Version published by Jaleco. Developed by Ocean)
 * Juggernaut (developed by Will)
 * King Arthur's World(developed by Argonaut Games)
 * Jazz Jackrabbit Advance (developed by Game Titan)
 * Maniac Mansion(NES version. Developed by Realtime Associates)
 * Metal Mech(developed by Sculptured Software)
 * Pinball Quest (developed by TOSE)
 * Pizza Pop! (developed by Arc)
 * Robowarrior(developed by Hudson Soft)
 * R-Type III (North American release. Developed by Irem)
 * Shatterhand(developed by Natsume)
 * Speed Racer(Developed by Graphic Research)
 * Sterling Sharpe: End 2 End(developed by TOSE)
 * Super Bases Loaded(developed by TOSE)
 * Super Bases Loaded 2 (developed by TOSE)
 * Super Bases Loaded 3 (developed by TOSE)
 * Super Bubble Pop(developed by Runecraft)
 * Super Goal! 2 (developed by TOSE)
 * Tetris Plus(developed by Natsume)
 * Utopia(SNES version. Developed by Gremlin interactive)
 * Uo Poko(developed by Cave)
 * Urusei Yatsura: Lum no Wedding Bell(NES version developed by TOSE)
 * Vampire Hunter D (developed by Victor Interactive Software)
 * World Championship Pool 2004(developed by Blade Interactive)

In development

 * Kizuna