Artoon (original) (raw)

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Japanese video game developer

Artoon Co., Ltd. 株式会社アートゥーン

Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded August 27, 1999[1]
Defunct 2010
Fate Absorbed into AQ Interactive (parent company)
Headquarters Yokohama, Japan[2]
Key people Naoto Ohshima (founder)[1]
Owner AQ Interactive

Artoon Co., Ltd. (株式会社アートゥーン Kabushiki-Gaisha Ātūn) was a Japanese video game developer established in 1999. It became a subsidiary of AQ Interactive in May 2004 and became a wholly owned subsidiary in June 2005. The team was primarily affiliated in the United States with Microsoft Xbox and Xbox 360 projects, although they had also worked with Hudson Soft and Nintendo on other platforms.

Key Artoon personnel include Yoji Ishii, Manabu Kusunoki, Hidetoshi Takeshita, Yutaka Sugano, Masamichi Harada, Takuya Matsumoto and Naoto Ohshima. When the company formed, it drew personnel and talent from several of Sega's development teams, particularly those which worked on Sonic the Hedgehog (created by Ōshima), and Panzer Dragoon.[_citation needed_] The developer had approximately 85 employees. The company's focus was to create original game content for various consoles.[2] Artoon closed down when the parent company, AQ Interactive, filed for bankruptcy.

Artoon was situated in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. A secondary studio was maintained in Naha, Okinawa prefecture, Japan.

Artoon, along with Feelplus and Cavia, were all absorbed into parent company AQ Interactive.[3]

Year Title Publisher(s) Platform(s)
2001 Pinobee: Wings of Adventure Hudson Soft Game Boy Advance, PlayStation
2002 The King of Fighters EX: Neo-Blood Game Boy Advance
2002 Ghost Vibration Eidos Japan[4]Infogrames Europe[5] PlayStation 2
2002 Pinobee and Phoebee Hudson Soft Game Boy Advance
2002 Ghost Trap Eidos Interactive
2002 Blinx: The Time Sweeper Microsoft Game Studios Xbox
2004 Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space
2004 Yoshi Topsy-Turvy Nintendo Game Boy Advance
2005 Swords of Destiny Marvelous Entertainment PlayStation 2
2006 Blue Dragon Microsoft Game Studios Xbox 360
2007 Vampire Rain AQ Interactive Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2007 Yoshi's Island DS Nintendo Nintendo DS
2008 The World of Golden Eggs: Nori Nori Rhythm-kei AQ Interactive Wii
2008 Away: Shuffle Dungeon Nintendo DS
2009 The World of Golden Eggs: Nori Nori Uta Dekichatte Kei
2009 Echoshift Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation Portable
2010 Club Penguin: Game Day! Disney Interactive Studios Wii
2010 FlingSmash Nintendo
2011 The Last Story
  1. ^ a b Official Artoon Profile Page. Archived August 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on August 29, 2008 (in Japanese)
  2. ^ a b Official Artoon Profile Page. Archived June 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on August 29, 2008
  3. ^ "Artoon And Feelplus Also Absorbed Into AQ Interactive // Siliconera". www.siliconera.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2010.
  4. ^ "Ghost Vibration?". June 5, 2002.
  5. ^ "Atari UK". www.uk.atari.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2004. Retrieved October 4, 2022.