#arsys

Arsys Software or later Cyberhead, was a video game software development studio. The company was located in Tokyo, Japan and it was founded on 11 November 1985. The company was active from 1985 to 2001. Originally, the company was founded as Arsys Software by Kotori Yoshimura and Osamu Nagano. Osamu and Kotori were both former employees at Technosoft. It was noted that they were mainly focused on PC game developing. In 1983 they developed a free-scrolling shooter game called Thunder Force. They were the originals creators of the game. In addition, they have also created another space racing game called Plazma Line. That game was developed back in 1984 and it was considered as the first computer game with 3D polygon graphics. These games were developed by the founders of Arsys Software back then when they were working at Technosoft.

The Start

After leaving Technosoft, Osamu Nagano and Kotori Yoshimura on 11 November 1985 founded Arsys Software. One year later, the company’s first game was the 3D role-playing shooter Wibarm. In 1987, Wibram was followed by Reviver: The Real-Time Adventure which was a free-roaming adventure game. Moreover, in 1988, they created Star Cruiser which is a first-person shooter role-playing game. When the game was officially released, Arsys Software only had 2 employees. Only 3 years later, in 1991, the number of employees grew to 12. Also, a fun fact is that when the company started working on Star Cruiser 2, by 2001, Arsys Software lowered the number of employees down to 3.

In addition to its own products, Arsys Software also ported games to computer platforms in Japan. The company ported several SystemSoft games and games like Prince of Persia. Arsys Software port for Prince of Persia for the NEC PC-98 came with improved visuals. For example, they introduced the Prince’s vest look and classic turban. In addition, that additional stuff that was added became the basis for Later Prince of Persia port games.  They were also included in the development for other games from different companies such as the racing simulator Gran Turismo for the PlayStation.

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Star Cruiser

Star Cruiser is one of the most ambitious computer games of the mid-80s. Developed by Arsys and largely helmed by Kotori Yoshimura, the founder of Technosoft, it’s a sprawling space opera that’s part dungeon crawler, part space simulator, and part role-playing game. In some ways, it’s similar to Western titles like Dynamix’s Stellar 7 and Acornsoft’s Elite, but takes portions of those games and and assembles them into something completely unique. It’s played entirely from a first person perspective, with both the ships and the game world rendered entirely in polygons, an impressive feat for the computers of the the mid-80s. Yoshimura was one of the most talented Japanese programmers of the era, and her 1983 racing game Plasma Line is believed to be one of the first 3D games developed in the country.