Westone Bit Entertainment

Westone Bit Entertainment Inc.
Japanese name
Native name
Kanji	株式会社ウエストン·ビット·エンタテインメント

Formerly	Escape Westone
Founded	May 1986; 38 years ago (1986-05)
Founders	Ryuichi Nishizawa Michishito Ishizuka
Defunct	October 1, 2014 (2014-10-01)
Fate	Bankruptcy liquidation
Successor	LAT Corporation
Headquarters	Sumida, Tokyo , Japan
Website	westone.co.jp

Westone Bit Entertainment Inc. (株式会社ウエストン·ビット·エンタテインメント, Kabushiki-gaisha Uesuton Bitto Entateinmento) was a video game developer founded in May 1986, based in Mukoujima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo. They were most famous for the Wonder Boy/Monster World series. Originally called Escape (エスケープ, Esukēpu), the company was renamed to Westone as the word Escape made them sound unreliable.^[1] The company's name was changed yet again to Westone Bit Entertainment in April 2000.^[2] The chief publisher was Ryuichi Nishizawa. The company went bankrupt and entered the liquidation process on October 1, 2014.^[3] Currently, the intellectual property rights to Westone Bit Entertainment's games are owned by LAT Corporation.

The Westone name is derived from the first characters of the names of company founders, Ryuuichi Nishizawa (Nishi = West) and Michishito Ishizuka (Ishi = Stone).^[1]

Games

Wonder Boy (1986)
Jaws (1987)
Wonder Boy in Monster Land (1987)
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (1988)
Appare! Gateball (1988)
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (1989)
Mashin Eiyuden Wataru Gaiden (1990)
Aoi Blink (1990)
Aurail (1990)
Wonder Boy in Monster World (1991)
Power Eleven (1991)
Riot City (1991)
Riot Zone (1992)
Monster World IV (1994)
Blood Gear (1994)
Mega Bomberman (1994)
Dungeon Explorer (1995)
Kekkon (1995)
Dark Half (1996)^[4]
Wolkenkratzer: Shinpan no Tou (1996)
Willy Wombat (1997)
Soukou Kihei Votoms Gaiden: Ao no Kishi Berserga Monogatari (1997)
Sotsugyou Album (1998)
Sotsugyou III: Wedding Bell (1998)
Sotsugyou M: Male Graduation - Seitokaichou no Kareinaru Inbou (1998)
Wachenröder (1998)
Milano no Arbeit Collection (1999)
Cyber Team in Akihabara: PataPies! (1999)
Di Gi Charat Fantasy (2001)
Reel Fishing: Wild (2001)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ayanami Raising Project (2001)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ayanami Raising Project with Asuka Supplementing Project (2003)
Relaxuma: Ojama Shitemasu 2 Shuukan (2005)
Secret of Evangelion (2006)
Clockwork Aquario (2021)^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b "Monster World Complete Collection manual extracts".
^ "Developer Table" (in Japanese).
^ "ゲーム開発の（株）ウエストンビットエンタテインメントほか1社が破産開始決定".
^ Lopes, Gonçalo (2 February 2016). "Dark Half Review (SNES)". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
^ "Clockwork Aquario, cancelled Westone Bit Entertainment arcade game from 1992, coming to PS4 and Switch in 2020". Gematsu. 4 June 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.