AlphaDream Corporation, Ltd.[a] was a Japanese video game development company founded in 2000 by Tetsuo Mizuno and Chihiro Fujioka in Tokyo, Japan. In partnership with Nintendo, it produced software for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch, including the Mario & Luigi series. The company's staff included former developers from Square, such as Yoshihiko Maekawa. On October 1, 2019, AlphaDream was shut down after filing for bankruptcy, and on February 28, 2020, AlphaDream ceased to exist as a company.
 | |
Native name | 株式会社アルファドリーム |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Kabushiki gaisha ArufaDorīmu |
| Formerly | AlphaStar |
| Company type | Kabushiki gaisha |
| Industry | Video games |
| Genre | Video game development |
| Founded | January 12, 2000 in Tokyo, Japan |
| Defunct | October 1, 2019 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Headquarters | Wako Miyamasuzaka Building, 2-19-8, Shibuya, Tokyo , Japan |
Number of locations | 1 studio (2019) |
Key people | Tetsuo Mizuno (president) |
| Products | Games |
| Brands | Mario & Luigi series |
Number of employees | 38 (2011) |
| Website | alphadream.co.jp at the Wayback Machine (archived September 30, 2019) |
| Footnotes / references [1][2][3] | |
History edit
AlphaDream is a spinoff company from AlphaStar,[b] a staffing agency that dealt in construction work also known as Mente Tomo and Ai.[c] Chihiro Fujioka joined AlphaStar in 1999 to head up a video game production division.[4] He and Tetsuo Mizuno spun the company off as AlphaStar Software on January 12, 2000, before renaming it to AlphaDream in July of that year.[4][5][6] Several members of their staff had previously worked at Square, including Mizuno, Square's second president, and Fujioka and Yoshihiko Maekawa, who were game directors at Square.[4] The name AlphaDream, meaning the 'first dream', is a play on Final Fantasy, Square's most notable series.[4]
The company was known for their role-playing games, most notably the Mario & Luigi series for the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo 3DS. Their first game, Koto Battle, was a Pokémon-style role-playing game, wherein the player battles three of their twenty character cards against AI opponents. It was released in March 2001 for the Game Boy Color. While it remains a Japan-only game, it was later re-released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.
AlphaDream's next game was Tomato Adventure, released in January 2002. The player, as DeMille, a tomato-hater in the Ketchup Kingdom, fights his way from his outcast village to rescue his girlfriend. The in-game weapons are toy-like and the battles against opponents involve minigames.
Tomato Adventure was co-developed with Graphic Research and directed by Chihiro Fujioka of Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy Legend III. It was expected for release on the Game Boy Color as Gimmick Land, but was pushed to the new Game Boy Advance and renamed for better marketing. Tomato Adventure has not been released outside Japan.[7]
AlphaDream became the developer of the Mario & Luigi series of games shortly after, with the first entry in the series, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, releasing in 2003.
On October 1, 2019, AlphaDream declared bankruptcy, citing sluggish revenues and high development costs, and being unable to keep up with growing debt (which as of March 2018 was over ¥465 million).[8]
Games edit
| Year | Title | Publisher | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Koto Battle: Tengai no Moribito | AlphaDream | Game Boy Color |
| 2002 | Tomato Adventure | Nintendo | Game Boy Advance |
| 2003 | Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue | ||
| Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga | |||
| 2004 | Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Games | ||
| 2005 | Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time | Nintendo DS | |
| Tottoko Hamtaro Nazo Nazo Q Kumonoue no ? Jou | |||
| 2007 | Hi Hamtaro! Ham-Ham Training | Marvelous Interactive | |
| 2009 | Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story | Nintendo | |
| PostPet DS | Marvelous Entertainment | ||
| 2013 | Mario & Luigi: Dream Team | Nintendo | Nintendo 3DS |
| 2015 | Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam | ||
| 2017 | Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions | ||
| 2019 | Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey | ||
| Kedama no Gonjiro: Fit & Run | ForwardWorks Corporation | Android | |
| iOS | |||
| Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 | Sega | Nintendo Switch |
Notes edit
References edit
- ^ "会社概要 -Profile- | 株式会社アルファドリーム ALPHADREAM CORPORATION". alphadream.co.jp. 2018-06-24. Archived from the original on June 24, 2018. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
- ^ "A New Mario & Luigi Trademark Has Been Filed By Nintendo After AlphaDream's Bankruptcy". ScreenRant. 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ "Mario & Luigi RPG Developer AlphaDream Has Gone Bankrupt". Kotaku. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ^ a b c d "【Developer Profile】第8回 株式会社アルファドリーム".
- ^ "『マリオ＆ルイージRPG』など開発 アルファドリームが破産開始（帝国データバンク） - Yahoo!ニュース". headlines.yahoo.co.jp. Archived from the original on 3 October 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "『マリオ＆ルイージRPG』シリーズなどの開発会社アルファドリームの破産手続き開始が決定 直近では『けだまのゴンじろー フィットエンドラン』の開発も | gamebiz".
- ^ "History of AlphaDream: Ketchup and Plumbers - Feature".
- ^ 帝国データバンク (2 October 2019). "『マリオ＆ルイージRPG』など開発 アルファドリームが破産開始". Yahoo! News Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
External links edit
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived September 30, 2019) (in Japanese)
