Mitchell Corporation (株式会社ミッチェル) was a Japanese video game developer based in the Suginami ward of Tokyo. Roy Ozaki served as president, and Koichi Niida served as vice-president. Some employees were former Capcom and TAD Corporation employees.
Mitchell Corporation developed titles for home consoles, handhelds, Japanese mobile phones, the arcade and interactive kiosks located in restaurants and other places. Mitchell also distributed printed circuit boards for the arcade/coin-op market. The company also developed video games for other publishers. Starting in 2004, they started developing games only for Nintendo hardware.
History The company was originally established on February 1, 1960, as an import/export business by the father of Roy Ozaki. Ozaki and Niida took over the company and began acting as exclusive overseas agents for such video game companies as Visco, Video System, Seta, Metro, Home Data, and other small video game manufacturers in the 1980s.
Mitchell Corporation is best known as the game developer of Puzz Loop. Copyright and trademark registration of Puzz Loop was established in December 1999, the same year it was released to the international coin-op arcade market. Prior to this, it developed the Buster Bros. series of games. Puzz Loop was first released in North America, as well as Europe, under the title Ballistic for the original PlayStation console and Game Boy Color handheld. Infogrames published the PlayStation and Game Boy Color versions in North America in late 1999, while THQ published these same versions for European territories. Capcom published both versions for the Japanese market under the original Puzz Loop title in 2000.
Nintendo of America released Puzz Loop for the Nintendo DS under the title Magnetica on June 5, 2006. A four-player version, titled Magnetica Twist was released two years later on the WiiWare service. Tokyo Crash Mobs is the latest instalment of the Puzz Loop series.
Company activity was suspended on 20 November 2012.
Post suspension In 2014 a book, The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Volume 1, was published containing an interview with Mitchell Corp CEO Roy Ozaki who mentioned that many of their IPs were available for licensing.
In 2016 a new game using the Pang license was released, only outside Japan, by DotEmu on modern platforms, citing a 2016 copyright date for Mitchell Corporation.
In 2023 an emulated version of the arcade game Cannon Dancer (Osman) was released by ININ Games for modern platforms, citing a 2022 copyright date for Mitchell Corporation.
Games
Game Release date Genre(s) Platform Gyoretsu Nageloop (Tokyo Crash Mobs) 2012-08-08 Puzzle (Toss) Nintendo 3DS eShop Wii Remote Plus Variety (Wii Play: Motion) [Treasure Twirl and Unicycle mini-games] 2011-07-07 Action Nintendo Wii Pang: Magical Michael 2010-09-17Pang: Magical Michael Platform, Puzzle, Shooter (Gallery) Nintendo DS Chotto Sūjin Taisen (Number Battle, Sujin Taisen: Number Battles) 2009-01-28 Tabletop, Puzzle, Strategy Nintendo DSiWare Kakonde Keshite Wakugumi no Jikan (Wakugumi: Monochrome Puzzle) 2009-04-01 Puzzle (Match) Nintendo DSiWare Minna de Puzzloop (Actionloop Twist, Magnetica Twist) 2008-04-22 Puzzle (Toss) Nintendo WiiWare Sūjin Taisen (Number Battle, Sujin Taisen: Number Battles) 2007-06-07 Tabletop, Puzzle, Strategy Nintendo DS Shunkan Puzzloop (Actionloop, Magnetica) 2006-03-02 Puzzle (Toss) Nintendo DS Tsuukin Hitofude (Polarium Advance) 2005-10-13 Puzzle Game Boy Advance Chokkan Hitofude (Polarium) 2004-12-02 Puzzle Nintendo DS Kono e-Tako (This Good Octopus) 2003-11-19 Puzzle (Match) Arcade Gamshara (Daredevil) 2002-08 Shooter (Gallery) Arcade Janpai Puzzle Choukou (Yangtze River Mahjong Tile Puzzle) 2001-11 Tabletop, Puzzle (Match), Mature Arcade Puzz Loop 2 2001-02 Puzzle (Toss) Arcade Mighty! Pang 2000-11 Platform, Puzzle, Shooter (Gallery) Arcade Ballistic 2000-10-12 Puzzle (Toss) Game Boy Color Ballistic 2000-03-16 Puzzle (Toss) PlayStation Ballistic 2000 (unreleased) Puzzle (Toss) NeoGeo Pocket Color Ballistic 2000 Puzzle (Toss) Nuon Puzz Loop 1998-12 Puzzle (Toss) Arcade Buster Bros. Collection 1997-03-14 Platform, Puzzle, Shooter (Gallery) PlayStation Sankokushi (Three Engraved Intentions) 1996-08 Tabletop, Puzzle, Match, Mature Arcade Osman (Cannon Dancer) 1996-02 Platform, Fighting (Scrolling) Arcade Sotsugyo Shousho (Diploma) 1995-11 Mini-Games Arcade Pang! 3 1995-06 Platform, Puzzle, Shooter (Gallery) Arcade Ganbare! Gonta!! 2 (Party Time: Gonta the Diver II) 1995-05 Puzzle, Mature Arcade Charlie Ninja 1995 Platform, Shooter (Scrolling) Arcade Mirage Youjuu Mahjongden (Demon Mirage Mahjong) 1994-05 Tabletop, Mahjong, Mature Arcade Super-X [developed by Dooyong (Korea); published by NTC and Mitchell] 1994 Shooter (Flying Vertical) Arcade Double Wings 1993–12 Shooter (Flying Vertical) Arcade Moeyo Gonta!! (Lady Killer) [published by Yanyaka] 1993-12 Puzzle, Mature Arcade Chatan Yarakuu Shanku (The Karate Tournament) 1992-12 Fighting (Versus) Arcade Funky Jet [published by Data East] 1992-07 Platform, Fighting Arcade Pang Pom's [published by Metro] 1992 Platform, Puzzle Arcade Super Buster Bros. 1992-08 Super Buster Bros Platform, Puzzle, Shooter (Gallery) Super NES Mahjong Ikaga Desu ka (Mahjong How Are You) 1991? Tabletop, Mahjong, Mature Arcade Super Buster Bros. 1990-11 Platform, Puzzle, Shooter (Gallery) Arcade Buster Bros. 1989-11 Platform, Puzzle, Shooter (Gallery) Arcade Mad Motor 1989 Fighting (2.5D) Arcade Poker Ladies 1989 Casino, Mature Arcade
References
External links (Archives) Interview with Mitchell's Roy Ozaki Archive.org: Puzz Loop history from Mitchell Corporation (in Japanese & English) Iwata Asks: Wii Play Motion (Nintendo developer roundtable interview) cubed3 Sujin Taisen Interview (Developer interview)