Compile (company)
Compile Corporation was a Japanese video game developer, most notable for having developed the Puyo Puyo series, a franchise derived from the Madō Monogatari series. On November 6, 2003, the company shut down amid bankruptcy. As a result, key staff moved to Compile Heart, the company's spiritual successor, whereas shoot-'em-up staff moved to MileStone Inc.
The Compile trademark is being used as a brand label by Compile Heart to promote merchandise and games based on Compile properties. As of 2010, Compile Heart entered into a licensing deal with D4 Enterprise to create new video games based on franchises from Compile properties. This agreement does not affect the rights to the Puyo Puyo series as Sega retains ownership of the property.
In April 2016, Niitani started a new successor company to Compile, Compile Maru. The company launched the game Nyoki Nyoki: Tabidachi Hen for Nintendo 3DS on the Nintendo eShop with a follow-up scheduled for Nintendo Switch.
''Puyo Puyo''
Compile debuted their most successful title, Puyo Puyo, on the MSX computer in 1991. Puyo Puyo is a falling-block puzzle game similar to Tetris. The object of the game is to create groups of four or more "Puyos" of the same color as they fall from the top of the screen. This simple yet addictive concept was expanded on in a series of sequels over the course of two decades.Puyo Puyo reached North America and the PAL region in graphically altered form under the title of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, as well as on the Super NES. However, the series' unaltered appearance was Puyo Pop, a title used for games that were released on the PC Engine, Neo Geo Pocket Color and Game Boy Advance.
As part of Compile's restructuring in 1998, the rights to Puyo Puyo were sold to Sega, but Compile's franchise right would remain until their bankruptcy in 2002, thus allowing Sega to publish Puyo Puyo~n and Puyo Puyo Box. Later Puyo Puyo games were developed by Sonic Team, who created Puyo Pop Fever.
''Guru Logi Champ''
Guru Logi Champ is a puzzle game by the Japanese developer released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance. "Guru Logi" is an abbreviation of "Guruguru Logic", "guruguru" being a Japanese onomatopoeia for a rotating motion. Players control two small yellow birds solving logic puzzles involving placing and removing blocks on the board to create an image. The puzzles have immovable areas that require the player constantly construct and deconstruct their own barriers. The board itself may be rotated so that the player can construct the solution from all four sides. An additional Battle Mode exists in which two players must race to finish puzzles in the fastest time. Battle mode requires a Game Link Cable and only one game pak cartridge. A reworking of the game concept was released by D4 Enterprise for DSiWare under the name Guruguru Logic, known as Snapdots outside Japan. It was released on December 2, 2009 in Japan and October 18, 2010 in North America. New to Snapdots is the presence of a human-like alien character named Dotty, who acts as player's guide during the tutorial and provides commentary on each puzzle that the players solve. In addition, the game now displays the number of moves it took players to solve each puzzle along with the time, and it also features a Time Attack mode in which players are tasked with solving as many puzzles as they can, chosen randomly, in a specific time frame. The basic rules and gameplay mechanics remain unchanged from Guru Logi Champ, and many of the puzzles in Snapdots were identical to puzzles found in the previous game.Shoot 'em ups
Until 1993, Compile focused much of their development efforts on the shoot 'em up genre. In the 1990s, a few Compile personnel left the company to work for another video game development company, 8ing/Raizing. There they contributed to such games as Mahou Daisakusen and Battle Garegga.Some employees who stayed with Compile until its end reincorporated as MileStone Inc. in April 2003, and continued to develop new shooters.
Some of Compile's shoot-'em-up games include: