Japan is well-known for creating great games in every genre, whether꧃ it's the early platformers of Nintendo or the JRPG wave that came out of Square Enix. It's not controversial to say that they're one of the biggest powerhouses in gaming anywhere, probably tied with the US on both output and the ability to create quality content. But who in Japan is putting out the best games?
There must be some absolute titans of the medium or some smaller studi♛os to watch. And there are. This list is going to take most major Japaneܫse game studios and see how they stack up compared to each other, based on the handy Metacritic ranking algorithm.
10 Koei Tecmo - Score 69 🃏
Tecmo went out of business back in 2010, but its sister company𝔉 Koei survived. Its new form was announced as Koei Tecmo.
While you may not think you're incredibly familiar with Koei Tecmo, they've put out such classics as Dead Or Alive, Dynasty Warriors, Ninja Gaiden, Fatal Frame, and Nioh.
9 Bandai Namco - Score 70෴
Bandai Namco is actually the third-largest Japanese video game company by revenue and the seventh-largest in the world. It only makes sense when we realize that they own such hits as Pac-Man, Galaxian, Tekken, Gundam, and Soul Calibur.
They have video game licensing rights to Naruto, One Piece and Dragon Ball. They also technically distributed the Dark Souls franchise, which may come as a surprise to some readers, but with the remaster having been released recently, there's no argument that they know what fa🅠ns♎ want.
8 Atlus - Score 70 ﷺ
Atlus was founded in 1986, and since then is most notable for releasing the Megami Tensei series, in addition to its spin-off series Persona.
It's actually a subsidiary of Sega, which is also on this list earlier. Atlus also didn't have a way to publish games in the PAL region for a little while, so they partnered with Square Enix, Ghostlight, NIS America, and Deep Silver. They also localized a cult-classic that hadn't been moved over to the U.S yet, Disgaea: Hour Of Darkness.
7 Sega - Score 71 ✃
SEGAAAAAA! Anyone familiar with the Sonic The Hedgehog fra🐭nchise is well-aware of Sega💫, but while Sonic is their flagship character, they're known for helping with a couple of other franchises too.
Their Yakuza and Total War franchises have been critically acclaimed for year꧅s, with one entry in the series getting a little more popular thanks to the free games one receives when using Playstation Plus.
While Sega has had to endure turbulent times after ෴it's console sales struggled against Nintendo they've been doing pretty well recently. There move 🎶to software proved to be a smart one and they have more games that promise to meet the expectations of gamers next year.
6 ▨ 𝔉 From Software - Score 73
From Software is famous for Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro. They also put out the sleeper-hit Armored Core. The first game they ever put out was King's Field in 1994 which was a title on launch for the Playstation. They also put out a large array of RPGs before releasing the Souls ga🃏mes, a lot of which ꦇhave garnered positive reviews despite being lesser-known.
The Souls games themselves have been unanimously critically acclaimed, with some critics touting them as some of the best games of all time. Their release Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was also extreme🐬ly well-received, and it's been announced that they're work🍎ing on their next game with author George R. R. Martin.
5 🃏 Sony - Score 73
Sony entered the video game field pretty late actually, not releasing the Playstation until Nintendo had already put out the Nintendo 64. That being said, the Playstation was massively successful with games like Crash Bandicoot, Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, and Resident Evil.
They're known for putting games out with a harder edge in comparison to Nintendo, who strives to keep a family-friendly aura around their games. Older people who had grown up with the NES saw this to be more fitting fꦗor their age range and were easy converts.
Recently though, God Of War was a ♏smash-hit and the Playstation 5 is garnering so much hype that they most likely aren't go✤ing anywhere either.
4 Capcom - Score 𝔍74
Capcom is most famous for Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Mega Man, Dead Rising, and Monster Hunter. While they've enjoyed loads of success over these franchises, there h🅷ave been ♉certain disappointments.
The release of Street Fighter V was delayed and then released with a little amount of single-player content, and then had to be patched because of a glitch where people were pulled out of games while mid-match. That's not to say they didn't do something to make up for it though, with the release of Monster Hunter World which has received nearly universal acclaim.
3 Square Enix -💛 Score 74
Square Enix is actually a merging of 2 earlier studios, those being self-explanatorily Square and Enix. Even though Square Enix might be most well-known for Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, they put out Deus Ex, Hitman, and Tomb Raider after the acquisition of Eidos Interactive.
They also put out the successful but not quite as well known franchise Dragon Quest. Recently, they've put out Final Fantasy XV, which has done a▨n incredible job at keeping them towards the top of the l🌠adder.
2 Nintendo - Score 76 ꦏ
Nintendo was founded much earlier in the 20th-century than one might think, as a playing card compa꧙ny. The company got into game development in the 19𒁃80s and haven't looked back since thanks to the success of their early games and the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Since then, they've done great with the Mario franchise, The Legend Of Zelda, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and pretty much every cute video game series you can think of. Recently, they've done great with their console the Nintendo Switch and tons of successful hits, such as the recent Pokemon: Sword & Shield. Nintendo has been at the top for a long time, and most likely won꧑'t be going anywhere any time soon.
1 ༺ Kairosoft - Score 78 ꦓ
Kairosoft is a small mobile game developer from Japan, with only 9 employees. They started out with simulators for W🦋indows, but moved onto cell phone development later.
They're responsible for games like Mega Mall Story, Hot Springs Story, and Dungeon Village.