A History of Gaming - Data East - Part 1.

When you think of video game companies that have an extensive History and library of titles, what comes to mind? EA Games, Capcom, Square? Sure, those guys have existed for 30 years or more, but way back in the late 80's and early 90's, there were a shit-ton of video game publishers. Some giving us wonderful memories, others piling up extreme amounts of shovelware. Similar to what's happening on a certain modern day console right now. *COUGHWIICOUGH*

One company that was lost to time but remembered for it's blatant clone of a popular fighting game - something that eventually brought them in front of a judge - was Data East.

Formed in 1976 in Tokyo, Japan. Data East began has a developer of an interchangeable cassettes for Arcade Machines. Competing with other Arcade giants at the time such as Taito, Sega and Konami. Data East's DECO Cassette system allowed you to easily switch up games in a single Arcade machine, making the system affordable and popular with Arcade owners.

While several early Data East titles are considered to be Arcade classics among Retro enthusiasts - Especially the much-beloved Burgertime - Many of their later games are considered to be blatant rip-offs of popular games and are often ridiculed. The most infamous series of games developed by Data East is Fighter's History, which is Street Fighter II, only with slightly different characters.

Data East eventually filed for Bankruptcy in 2003. The company had died with a reputation tarnished with unoriginality and inferiority. But compared to a majority of companies out there, they're not that bad. So everyday this week, we're going to show you the good, the bad and the ugly that Data East has wrought onto this world. Tomorrow we're going to talk about Data East's bizarre choice for a mascot and his self-titled adventure! Good times for all to be had! So Stay tuned!

Who is this? You'll have to wait and see!

- Kyle K.