History of Bandai consoles
Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor founded by World War II veteran Naoharu Yamashina as Bandai-Ya on July 5, 1950, as the corporate spin-off of a textile wholesaler. The company began as a distributor of metallic toys and rubber swimming rings, before moving to metal cars and aircraft models. It was renamed Bandai Co., Ltd. in 1961 and achieved considerable success with its action figures based on the anime Astro Boy.
Bandai became one of the first third-party developers for the Nintendo Family Computer in 1985.
Bandai also produced the Family Trainer Pad, released outside Japan as the Power Pad, which also performed well commercially. A series of games was released both in the US and in Japan, including Athletic World and Stadium Events for the NES.
In January 1997, Bandai announced it would merge its operations with Japanese video game developer Sega.
Founder: Naoharu Yamashina
Headquarters: 
Tokio
Founded: 1950
