Data East Corporation

Data East Corporation was founded on 20 April 1976. The company was well known as a software publisher and an electronics manufacturer. It released a variety of arcade machines, including one of the first cartridge-based arcade game systems, the Deco Cassette System, which made its debut in 1980.

On the software side, they are most famous for arcade games in mid-1980s and also commissioned PC ports of its most famous games, such as Double Dragon and Platoon. Most of these conversions were done by Quicksilver Software.

Other notable games are Bad Dudes, Karnov, the Metal Max series, the Fighter's History series and RoboCop. Its last known new release was Side Pocket for the WonderSwan in November 1999.

On 25 June 2003, the company declared bankruptcy and this was publicly announced on 8 July 2003. Paon Corporation bought the rights of some of their games, and gradually released them through the Wii's virtual console service.