Banpresto

Banpresto at a Glance

Banpresto operated as a significant force in the Japanese gaming market from 1983 until 2014. Although the company started as a toy manufacturer, it published 213 games and developed 65 titles during its active years. You will find their work across many platforms, with a heavy concentration on older systems like the Super Famicom, which holds 43 of their releases, followed by the PlayStation with 40 titles. They also made a mark on Arcade cabinets, the Game Boy series, and various PlayStation models. The company's output changed drastically over time. Their first two games appeared in the 1980s, but they released 136 titles during the 1990s alone. This momentum slowed in the 2000s with 75 games and dropped further to just 18 releases in the 2010s before they stopped making new software. Their catalog spans many genres, including Strategy with 54 entries and Role-playing games with 53 entries. Adventure and Fighting games also make up large portions of their library. Quality varies across their portfolio. The average rating on IGDB sits at 68.5 out of 100 based on 17 rated titles. Most reviews fall into the good or great range, with four titles scoring above 80 and nine scoring between 60 and 79. Their highest-rated game is Summon Night: Swordcraft Story from 2003, which earned an 84.1 score. Other top entries include Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2 and Eternal Poison, both rated at 80 or higher. However, the data also shows three mixed reviews and one poor rating, indicating that not every release met high standards. Recent releases from their final years include Super Heroine Chronicle in 2014 and various Super Robot Taisen titles leading up to 2013. These later games did not match the critical success of their earlier Strategy and RPG hits. If you are looking for a publisher with deep roots in Japanese console history, Banpresto fits that profile, but their later years saw a clear decline in both volume and variety compared to their dominant 1990s period.

Release Timeline

Rating Distribution