Nihon Falcom was founded by Masayuki Kato in 1981. They are credited with laying the foundations for the
action role-playing and
Japanese role-playing game genres. The word
Falcom comes from the
Millennium Falcon; the "n" was changed to an "m" to fit the naming trends of the time. The word
Nihon, one of the native names of Japan, was added to make the name sound complete. Falcom's first role-playing game (RPG) was
Panorama Toh, released for the
PC-8801 in 1983 and created by Yoshio Kiya, who would go on to create the
Dragon Slayer and
Brandish franchises. While its RPG elements were limited, lacking traditional statistical or
leveling systems, the game featured
real-time combat with a gun, bringing it close to the action RPG formula that Falcom would later be known for. Set on a desert island, the game's
overworld was presented as a
hex grid and featured a day-night cycle. There were also indigenous
non-player characters (NPCs) whom the player could attack, talk with, or give money for items, though NPCs could choose to run away with the money. To survive on the island, the player needed to find and consume rations, as every normal action consumed
hit points. The island also had traps, which required calling NPCs for help. The player could also be bit by snakes that poison and paralyze the player, requiring medicine to heal or calling for help from NPCs. Falcom later went on to create its flagship franchises, including the
Dragon Slayer,
The Legend of Heroes and
Ys series. The original
Dragon Slayer set the template for the
action role-playing genre.
Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu (1985) sold more than 400,000 copies, making it the best-selling
PC game up until that time. While most of Falcom's games have been ported to various
video game consoles of all generations, they have developed few non-PC
video games themselves. The company's decision to develop mainly for PCs set it apart from its main rivals,
Enix and
Square, but limited its popularity in the
Western world and its growth potential in the 1990s. By the early 2010s, the
Ys series was second only to the
Final Fantasy series as the largest Japanese role-playing game franchise in terms of the overall number of game releases. In 1991, Falcom co-founded a joint-venture with
Sega named of which Sega owned 55% and Falcom 45%. Its initial purpose was to develop CD-based games for Sega's consoles to help Sega recover its share of the 16-bit console market. A series of news sections regarding Sega Falcom titled ran in
Beep! MegaDrive from its November 1991 issue to its February 1994 issue. Games developed by the company include
Popful Mail for the
Mega-CD as well as
Lord Monarch: Tokoton Sentou Densetsu,
Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, and
Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II for the
Mega Drive. In 2007, Toshihiro Kondo became president of the company, succeeding founder Masayuki Kato. Falcom was also a pioneer in
video game music, with its early soundtracks mostly composed by
chiptune musicians
Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa. ==References==