Paon DP

Paon DP Co., Ltd.

Company type	Private
Industry	Video games
Predecessors	Paon Corporation, Ltd. DP Co., Ltd.
Founded	August 3, 2004; 20 years ago (2004-08-03) [1]
Headquarters	Kita, Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Kaishun Kihara (president and CEO) Ken Yamamoto (vice-president) Nobuo Iwata Rikiya Nakagawa Tatsuya Watanabe (former presidents of Paon) Iwao Horita (former vice-president of Paon)
Number of employees	44 (as of 2023)[1]
Website	paon-dp.com

Paon DP Co., Ltd. (株式会社パオン・ディーピー) is a Japanese video game developer. The company was founded in August 2004 as DP Inc. and merged with Paon Corporation, Ltd. in March 2015 to form Paon DP.^[1]

Paon Corporation was founded on January 20, 1999.^[2] Through a partnership with Nintendo, Paon developed DK: King of Swing, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and DK: Jungle Climber. Paon was also involved in development of 2000 SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color fighting game titles, SNK Gals' Fighters as composer and sound work team, as well as composer to some other Neo Geo Pocket Color titles.

When the company Data East went bankrupt, Paon Corporation bought the rights to some of their games, including Karnov,^[3] Chelnov,^[3] and Windjammers^[4] as well as the Glory of Heracles^[5][6] and Kuuga series,^[7] all of which are now owned by Paon DP.^[1] Paon developed Glory of Heracles in 2008, the sixth title of the Glory of Heracles series, which was published by Nintendo. The rights to that game are split between Paon and Nintendo^[8] with the latter owning the trademark as well.^[9][10]

In 2010, the company entered into the business of mobile game development.

Paon merged with DP Co., Ltd. on March 1, 2015 to form Paon DP. An associate company of pachislot maker Daito Giken, (since the company's chairman is the same as Daito Giken).

As a result of the merger, DP became the surviving entity while Paon Corporation was dissolved. The new company now develops mobile games only to Japan, as well as often licensing their owned properties, in 2017, Paon DP moved its headquarters to Kita, Tokyo.

A large amount of developers who were previously at Paon ended up at another Japanese video game developer called Picola Co., Ltd. ^[11], which was formed at the same time as the Paon/DP merger in February 2015 and later co-developed the game Little Dragons Café, a cafe-management and dragon-raising simulator that was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in 2018. ^[12]

Games developed, co-developed, licensed, published or co-published by Paon DP

• Puzzle Link 2 (1999, SNK, Neo Geo Pocket Color)
• Nightmare in the Dark (2000, Eleven, Gavaking (JP)/SNK (US), Arcade)
• SNK Gals' Fighters (2000, SNK, Neo Geo Pocket Color)
• Dino Crisis (2000, Virgin Interactive, Dreamcast, PlayStation)
• Big Bang Pro Wrestling (2001, SNK, Neo Geo Pocket Color)
• Lowrider (2002, Pacific Century Cyber Works (JP)/Jaleco (US), PS2)
• Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (2003, FromSoftware (JP)/Activision (US), PS2)
• Fire ProWresting Z (2003, Spike, PS2)
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (2003, Bandai (JP)/Atari (WW), PlayStation 2, GameCube)
• The Wild Rings (2003, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox)
• Blood Will Tell (2004, Sega, PS2)
• Tenchu: Return from Darkness (2004, FromSoftware (JP)/Activision (US), Xbox)
• Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special (2004, Square Enix, PS2)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Yoshimune (2004, Daito Giken, Inc., PS2)
• DK: King of Swing (2005, Nintendo, Game Boy Advance)
• Saint Seiya: The Sanctuary (2005, Bandai, PS2)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Ossu! Banchō (2005, Daito Giken, Inc., PS2, PlayStation Portable)
• Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 (2005, Koei, PS2)
• Haunting Ground (2005, Capcom, PS2)
• Trapt (2005, Tecmo, PS2)
• Saint Seiya: The Hades (2006, Namco Bandai Games, PS2)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Hihōden (2006, Daito Giken, Inc., PS2)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Hihōden - Ossu! Banchō - Yoshimune DS (2007, Nintendo DS)
• Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (2007, Nintendo, Wii)
• Chelnov: Atomic Runner (2007, Wii)
• Herakles no Eikō 3: Kamigami no Chinmoku (2007, Wii)
• DK: Jungle Climber (2007, Nintendo, Nintendo DS)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Shake II (2007, PS2)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Nintendo, Wii)
• Herakles no Eikō 4: Kamigami no Okurimono (2008, Wii)
• Glory of Heracles (2008, Nintendo, Nintendo DS)
• New Horizon English Course 1 (2008, Nintendo DS)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Shin Yoshimune (2008, PS2)
• New Horizon English Course 2 (2008, Nintendo DS)
• Herakles no Eikō III: Kamigami no Chinmoku (2008, J2ME, BREW, Doja)
• New Horizon English Course 3 (2008, Nintendo DS)
• Daito Giken Koushiki Pachislot Simulator: 24-Twenty-Four (2008, PS2)
• Klonoa (2008, Namco (JP)/Namco Bandai Games (US), Wii)
• Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3: Kowareyuku Machi to Kanojo no Uta (2009, Irem, PlayStation Portable)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Ossu! Misao - Maguro Densetsu Portable (2010, PlayStation Portable)
• AquaSpace (2010, Nintendo, WiiWare)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Ossu! Misao - Maguro Densetsu Portable (2010, PlayStation Portable)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Hana to Ikimono Rittai Zukan (2011, Nintendo 3DS)
• Herakles no Eikō: Ugokidashita Kamigami (2011, Nintendo 3DS)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Hihōden - Fūjirareta Megami Portable (2012, PlayStation Portable)
• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013, Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS)
• Daito Giken Kōshiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: Hihōden - Taiyō o Motomeru Monotachi (2013, PlayStation 3)
• Natural Doctrine (2014, Kadokawa Games (JP)/NIS America (US), PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4)
• Scratch Pirates (2014, iOS, Android)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC Evolution (2015, Kadokawa Games, Vita)
• Bamon Kingdom Ω (2015, iOS, Android)
• Dribato! -Dream Card Battle- (2015, Android)
• Wonder Oracle (2016, iOS, Android)
• World of Summoners (2016, iOS, Android)
• Prone Position (2017, iOS)
• Alien Egg (2017, iOS, Android)
• Nyanko on the Island of Hoshino (2018, iOS, Android)
• Gotsuan Legend (2019, iOS)
• There is a Strain (2020, iOS)
• Daito Yoshisume City (2021, iOS, Android)
• Windjammers 2 (2022, Dotemu, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, Switch, Stadia)

See also

• Suzak
• 8ing
• NDcube
• Dimps
• TOSE
• Good-Feel

References

1. "Company Overview". PAON DP Inc. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
2. "プログラム・ゲームの企画・制作・デザインの株式会社パオン - 会社概要". October 26, 2008. Archived from the original on October 26, 2008.
3. "データイースト レトロゲームミュージック コレクション2".
4. "ネオジオ バーチャルコンソール ラインナップ / NEOGEO Virtual Console Lineup". Archived from the original on 2011-07-17.
5. "VC ヘラクレスの栄光III 神々の贈り物" (in Japanese). Nintendo. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
6. "VC ヘラクレスの栄光IV 神々の贈り物" (in Japanese). Nintendo. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
7. "データイースト レトロゲームミュージック コレクション". TEAM Entertainment. Inc.
8. ヘラクレスの栄光 ～魂の証明～ (in Japanese). Nintendo. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
9. "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval".
10. "Trademark Status & Document Retrieval".
11. "Picola Inc. -MobyGames".
12. "Little Dragons Café (2018) - MobyGames".

External links

• Official website