Noise (company)

Noise Inc.

Type	privately held
Industry	Computer and video game industry
Founded	September 2, 1996 (Japan) May 10, 2004 (United States)
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Kouji Kenjou, game designer
Products	Games for Nintendo video game consoles
Employees	21
Website	http://www.noise-games.com/

Noise Inc. (株式会社ノイズ^?) is a video game development company that works in partnership with Nintendo, developing games for the Custom Robo series.

History

Noise was founded with a staff of 10 people on September 2, 1996 for the original purpose of developing games for PCs. A short time after, Noise became a part of Marigul Management, Inc., a company created by Nintendo and the Japanese telecommunications company Recruit for the purpose of enlisting smaller developers to make original games for the Nintendo 64.

The company’s first commercially published game, Custom Robo for the Nintendo 64, was released in Japan on December 9, 1999 and became a commercial success in Japan, prompting Nintendo to formally enter a publishing agreement with Noise. In 2006, Custom Robo was released in China for the iQue Player, making it the only Custom Robo title ever to be released there.

Their second released title was Custom Robo V2, which was released on November 10, 2000 and was also met with commercial success in Japan. They also released their first portable video game for the Game Boy Advance, Custom Robo GX, on July 26, 2002.

Despite the impressive sales of the previous games in the Custom Robo franchise, the series’ first localized appearance in North America was with Custom Robo: Battle Revolution for the GameCube, released in the Spring of 2004. However, with the declining popularity of the GameCube in all regions and the mediocre reviews the game received, it became the lowest selling – and least popular - game in the franchise.

The most recent game they developed and released was their first online multiplayer game, Custom Robo Arena, for the Nintendo DS title. Noise seems to still be fully active as their latest game, Custom Robo Arena was released in 2006, three years after Marigul was closed down. In 2007, Custom Robo Arena was released in PAL regions, making it the first title of the series ever released in those regions, as well as being released in more regions than every other title of the series.

As said on the Noise blog, a new game called AcroKnights will be released on Nintendo DS and published by Namco Bandai.^{[citation needed]}

Games

Nintendo 64

• Custom Robo (Japan and China only)
• Custom Robo V2 (Japan only)

Game Boy Advance

• Custom Robo GX (Japan only)

GameCube

• Custom Robo Battle Revolution (Japan and North America only)

Nintendo DS

• Custom Robo Arena
• Go Go Cosmo Cops

References

External links

• Archive of the Official Marigul Website (Japanese)
• Official company website
• N-Sider's article containing info about Marigul Management, Inc.