Visco

Japan Founded 1982 Website

Visco Corporation (株式会社ビスコ) is a software company located in Japan. It was founded in 1982 by Tetsuo Akiyama (秋山哲雄, Akiyama Tetsuo) and later became corporate on August 8, 1983 while revealing itself as "Visco" in Japan. They originally developed video games for several platforms from the arcades and NES, to the Nintendo 64 and Neo Geo in the past. When Visco was one of the companies under the Taito umbrella, some of its titles back then were labeled "Taito". They also teamed up with Seta and Sammy in developing arcade games powered by the SSV (Sammy, Seta and Visco) arcade system board until Sammy fully acquired noted game company Sega under a new company titled Sega Sammy Holdings in 2004, while Seta's parent company Aruze announced in December 2008 that Seta decided to close their doors after 23 years of existence. Therefore, the SSV board was no longer being produced. From 2008, Visco began manufacturing slot machines for casinos mostly in southeast Asian regions.

Visco at a Glance

If you are browsing PlayPile looking for Japanese arcade history, you will find Visco. Founded in 1982 and incorporated as a corporation in 1983, this company spent most of its active years between 1989 and 2001. Their catalog on PlayPile contains 21 titles. They acted as the publisher for 17 games and developed 18. The bulk of their work appeared in the 1990s with 15 releases, while they published only one game in the 1980s and three in the 2000s. Visco focused heavily on the arcade market, where 14 of their games landed. They also released eight titles for the Neo Geo AES and another eight for the Neo Geo MVS. Other platforms like the PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Dreamcast, and Neo Geo CD saw smaller numbers of releases. Their genre portfolio leans toward action. Arcade shooters make up seven games, while arcade action titles account for nine. They also made two card games, two strategy games, two visual novels, two sports games, two racing games, one fighting game, one simulator, and one puzzle game. The quality ratings for Visco on PlayPile show a consistent pattern. The average score across the two rated titles is 69.5 out of 100. Both entries fall into the good category between 60 and 79 points. There are no great or poor ratings in their current data set. Andro Dunos released in 1992 holds a score of 70.2, and Breakers Revenge from 1998 sits at 68.8. Recent releases like Vasara 2 in May 2001 and Vasara in August 2000 appear near the end of their arcade run before they shifted focus. Historical data notes that Visco once operated under the Taito umbrella, which led to some titles bearing the Taito name. They also collaborated with Seta and Sammy on arcade hardware known as the SSV board until industry changes halted production in the early 2000s. After their game development era ended around 2001, the company pivoted in 2008 to manufacture slot machines for casinos in Southeast Asia. Their output during the peak years was steady but did not reach high acclaim levels based on current ratings.

Total Games

69.5

Avg Rating

1989

First Release

2001

Latest Release