Mitchell (company)

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Mitchell
legal form Kabushiki kaisha (joint stock company)
founding February 1, 1960
Seat Suginami , Tokyo , JapanJapanJapan 
Branch Software development
Website www.mitchell.jp

The KK Mitchell ( Japanese 株式会社 ミ ッ チ ェ ル , Kabushiki kaisha Mitcheru , Engl. Mitchell Corporation ) is a Japanese computer game developer.

history

The company was founded on February 1, 1960 and initially operated in import and export. After the death of the company founder, his son Roy Ozaki took over the company together with Koichi Niida at the end of the 1980s and reorganized it to distribute arcade machines from smaller Japanese manufacturers such as Visco , Video Systems , Seta , Metro and Home Data in the west.

Mitchell became known from 1989 with her first self-developed arcade game Pang , which had several sequels and was ported to various home computers and consoles. The games Puzz Loop (1998, Arcade) and Polarium (2004, Nintendo DS) were also successful .

Developed games

Pang series

Balloons that fall randomly on the screen must be hit with a harpoon. They split into several small and tiny balloons until they finally disappear completely. Objects such as fruits falling out of the balloons earn extra points. Aids such as an hourglass, which slows down the movement of the balloons, a clock, which stops the movement for a while, protective coats or water pistols provide valuable support in coping. Hitting a small, flashing balloon, which is also used for ensures a standstill and allows you to hit as many balloons as possible during this time. There are four versions in total:

Pang!

The first variant of the game leads the player through all continents in different levels. A familiar area or a familiar building appears as the background.

Super pang!

A version that offers a panic mode for the game in addition to the well-known tour mode. With the latter, it is important to complete the task according to level. At the end of a level a balloon falls, which changes its function with each impact on earth. Either the movement of the balloons is stopped for a generous period of time, or all balloons on the screen are destroyed. An improvement is the real-time display, which appears whenever a flashing balloon is hit to inform the player of the remaining time of the stop.

Pang! 3

In addition to the two different game modes (Tour and Panic), which are also available, a total of four different characters with different skills can be selected here. Well-known paintings by well-known painters appear as the background. A further improvement is the introduction of bomb balloons in panic mode. Hitting such a bomb balloon makes all the balloons in the vicinity disappear. When several bomb balloons are present, a chain reaction can be triggered.

Mighty! Pang

The latest version has even faster graphics and various features that make the game more difficult. This is how transparent balloons appear that contain a leaf. If the balloon is hit, the leaf falls to the ground and a layer of grass grows out. This elevation reduces the size of the playing area and the more leaves you drop to the ground, the higher you climb. Mighty! Pang is produced by the manufacturer Taito .

Puzz loop

This game is better known under the name Zuma and is offered by various manufacturers as an online game or as a Java game for mobile phones. The playing figure in the middle can rotate 360 ​​° and hurl colored balls into a snake of different colored balls, which slowly spiral inwards from the outside. If there are three balls of the same color in line, they will disintegrate. This slows down the progression of the row or, if the game is skillful and practiced, completely avoided it. If the snake reaches the center of the spiral, the game is lost.

swell

Chaz Seydoux: Shokkingu Hitofude . January 16, 2006. Includes an interview with CEO Roy Ozaki.

Web links