Aruze, formerly Universal Sales Co. LTD, is a Japanese pachinko and slot machine manufacturer. They are best known in the USA for their subsidiary, Universal USA Inc., an arcade game company that operated throughout the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Early History

As Universal, their greatest hit was the game Mr. Do! in 1982, which spawned four sequels. Lady Bug was also a successful game. Cashing-in on the success of laserdisc video games, Universal released Super Don Quix-ote in 1984, on a new standardized laserdisc video game system they called the Universal System 1. A new game was planned every six months for the Universal System 1, including a laserdisc adventure game based on Mr. Do!, but the company stopped producing arcade games in 1985, and Super Don Quix-ote ended up being the only game released for the system.

Universal Sales Co. LTD sold off their video game manufacturing arms in the 1990's to Capcom.

Relationship with SNK

In 2000, the company bought out the video game company SNK, maker of the popular Neo-Geo. In exchange for the use of SNK's popular characters on their pachinko and slot machines, and a few sub-par games for the Neo-Geo, Aruze held on to SNK's IPs until SNK reformed as Playmore and bought them back in 2001. Eikichi Kawasaki, the SNK founder and current owner, would shortly successfully sue Aruze which they were ordered to awarded the newly renamed SNK Playmore 5.64 billion yen, most of the original amount Kawasaki originally sued them for.

Apparently, Aruze enjoyed their short stint as a video game manufacturer, since they have announced in August of 2004 the production of the AP-3 arcade system; their modern, Linux-based equivalent to SNK's recently-retired Neo-Geo MVS arcade system.

Future

Aruze is developing a line of flat screen JAMMA arcade cabinets called SlimStreet, that are only 480mm deep. Whether or not dedicated AP-3 machines will exclusively use SlimStreet cabinets remains to be seen.

External links

• Official website
• Japanese official website
• Company History
• List of games by Universal on the Killer List of Videogames

Companies of Japan | Computer and video game companies | Amusement companies of Japan | Gaming companies

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