Sega AM1

Sega AM1
Founded: 1984
Defunct: 2000-04-21
Merged into: Sega AM3 (1990), WOW Entertainment (2000)
Headquarters: Japan

Sega Amusement Machine Research and Development Department #1, (Sega AM R&D Dept. #1) was a division within Sega Enterprises. It was formed in primarily to create arcade (or "amusement") games. In May 1999 it became Sega Software R&D Dept. 1, and later WOW Entertainment in 2000.

AM1 is supposed to be the oldest development division within Sega. Koichi Izumi who then was at the sister arcade division Sega AM3, counted numeruos titles developed in AM1, claiming so many were developed that he could not list them all. This page compiles the games mentioned, as well as common credits among titles. And then titles from the WOW Entertainment production history website..

The most popular titles and well known titles from AM1 during the eighties were action or beat' em' up titles, with creators Makoto Uchida on the forefront with Altered Beast andd Golden Axe and Alien Storm. Also noteworthy are the very first Shinobi title by Yutaka Sugano or Shadow Dancer by Yoshiki Ooka.

1991, Sega AM1 had a major shake up, especially with the formation of Sega AM3 which had former Sega AM1 members. Previously involved with Phantasy Star III, Kazunari Tsukamoto went on to work on OutRunners, Harley Davidson & L.A. Riders and The Ocean Hunter with AM1.

Overall the most known titles during the nineties were The House of the Dead and Die Hard Arcade. AM1 also made strides with the big eleborate cabinets of Airline Pilots or Sega Bass Fishing, bringing back the "taikan" (body sensation) concept of arcades, previously introduced by Yu Suzuki and Sega AM2. Another speciality of Sega AM1 were games for the Sega Titan Video arcade board which had an identical architecture to the Sega Saturn, making ports easy, such as with the AM1 developed Virtua Fighter Remix.

Members

• Akira Watanabe
• Eiro Nagata
• Hirosama Kaneko
• Kazunari Tsukamoto
• Kazuo Wakihara
• Makoto Uchida
• Rikiya Nakagawa
• Takashi Oda
• Taku Makino

Former members

• Hisao Oguchi
• Junichi Tsuchiya
• Shuichi Katagi
• Yoshiki Ooka
• Yutaka Sugano

Softography (arcade)

Sega Zaxxon hardware

• Future Spy (1984)

Sega System 1

• Flicky (1984)
• Sindbad Mystery (1984)
• Spatter (1984)
• Choplifter (1985)
• Ninja Princess (1985)

Sega System E

• Hang-On Jr. (1985)

Sega System 2

• Heavy Metal (1985)
• Shooting Master (1985)

Sega Space Harrier

• Enduro Racer (1985)

Y Board

• Galaxy Force (1988)
• Galaxy Force II (1988)
• Last Survivor (1988)

X Board

• Thunder Blade (1987)
• Line of Fire (1990)
• Super Monaco GP (1989)

System 16

• Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars (1990)
• Shinobi (1986)
• Alien Syndrome (1987)
• Body Slam (1987)
• Bullet (1987)
• Dunk Shot (1987)
• Fantasy Zone (1987)
• Heavyweight Champ (1987)
• Quartet (1987)
• Quartet 2 (1987)
• SDI (1987)
• Sonic Boom (1987)
• Time Scanner (1987)
• Altered Beast (1988)
• Tetris (1988)
• E-SWAT (1989)
• Flash Point (1989)
• Golden Axe (1989)
• Touryuumon (1994)

System 18

• Bloxeed (1989)
• Shadow Dancer (1989)
• Alien Storm (1990)
• Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (1990)
• Desert Breaker (1993)

System C

• Columns (1988)
• Columns II (1990)
• Puyo Puyo (1992) (with Compile)
• Puzzle & Action: Ichidant-R (1994)
• Puzzle & Action: Tant-R (1992)
• Stack Columns (1994)

System C-2

• Borench (1988)
• Soreike! Anpanman no Popcorn (1993)
• Doraemon No Dokodemodoa (1993)
• SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol (1993)
• Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car (1993)
• SegaSonic Popcorn Shop (1993)
• Zunzunkyou no Yabou (1993) (with Minato Giken)
• Waku Waku Tama & Friends (1994)

System 24

• Gain Ground (1988)
• Hot Rod (1988)
• Crack Down (1988)
• Bonanza Bros. (1990)
• Rough Racer (1990)
• Quiz Syukudai wo Wasuremashita‏‎ (1991)
• Tokoro San no MahMahjan (1992)
• Quiz Mekurumeku Story (1993)
• Quiz Ghost Hunter (1994)
• Tokoro San no MahMahjan 2 (1994)
• Quiz Magical Brain (1996)
• Quiz Rouka ni Tattenasai! (1996)

Sega H1 Board

• Cool Riders (1994)

System 32

• Rad Mobile (1990)
• Air Rescue (1992)
• Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (1992)
• Holosseum (1992)
• Stadium Cross (1992)
• OutRunners (1992)
• Alien 3: The Gun (1993)
• Super Visual Soccer (1994)

Sega Titan Video

• Golden Axe: The Duel (1994)
• Puzzle & Action: Treasure Hunt (1995)
• Super Major League (ST-V) (1995)
• Ejihon Tantei Jimusho (1995)
• Critter Crusher (1996)
• Die Hard Arcade (1996)
• Virtua Fighter Remix (1996)
• Aroma Club (1997)
• Columns '97 (1997)
• Maru-chan de Goo! (1997)
• Stress Busters (1998)
• Taisen Tanto-R Sasissu! (1998)
• Waku Waku Shinkansen (1998)

Sega Model 1

• Wing War (1994)

Sega Model 2A CRX

• Sky Target (1995)
• Motor Raid (1997)
• Dynamite Cop (1998)

Sega Model 2B CRX

• Indy 500 (1995)
• Dynamite Baseball (1996)
• Dynamite Baseball 97 (1997)

Sega Model 2C CRX

• Sega Ski Super G (1996)
• Wave Runner (1996)
• Sega Water Ski (1996)
• The House of the Dead (1997)

Sega Model 3 Step 1.0

• Sega Bass Fishing (1998)

Sega Model 3 Step 2.0

• Harley-Davidson & L.A. Riders (1997)
• Ski Champ (1998)

Sega Model 3 Step 2.1

• The Ocean Hunter (1998)
• Emergency Call Ambulance (1999)

NAOMI

• The House of the Dead 2 (1998)
• Airline Pilots (1999)
• Dynamite Baseball '99 (1999)
• Giant Gram All Japan Pro Wrestling 2 (1999)
• Ring Out 4x4 (1999)
• Sega Marine Fishing (1999)
• Super Major League '99 (1999)
• The Typing of the Dead (1999) (with Smilebit)
• Zombie Revenge (1999)
• Giant Gram 2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling 3: Brave Men of Glory (2000)
• Sega Strike Fighter (2000)

Hikaru

• Brave FireFighters (1999)

Unique/Unknown

• World Bingo (1985)
• Starlight Fortune (1993)
• Teso Uranai Chotto Misete (1993)
• FuwaFuwa Puren (1994)
• Majikaru Zuno Pawa (1996)

Softography (consumer)

Saturn

• Virtua Fighter Remix (1995)
• Die Hard Arcade (1996) (with Sega Technical Institute)
• Sky Target (1997) (with Tantalus Interactive)
• The House of the Dead (1998) (with Tantalus Interactive)

Dreamcast

• Dynamite Cop (1998)
• Giant Gram 2: All Japan Pro Wrestling In Nippon Budokan (1999) (with Scarab)
• The House of the Dead 2 (1999)
• Giant Gram 2000: All Japan Pro Wrestling 3 (2000) (with Scarab)

External links

• Sega AM1's production history in the WOW Entertainment website (Internet Archive)