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Enix was a Japanese video game publishing company founded in September 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima. Initially a tabloid publisher named Eidansha Boshu Service Center, in 1982 it ventured into video game publishing for Japanese home computers such as the PC-8800 series, the X1 series, and the FM-7. Fukushima had no programming knowledge and did not employ internal programmers or game designers. Instead, he held a contest for programming hobbyists in order to pool talents and publish selected games, with a ¥1 million award for the top prize (US$5,000). Few entries were received in the first month, but after a marketing campaign on television and in appliance stores, hobby clubs, computer and manga magazines, three hundred entries were received by the end of the "First Game Hobby Program Contest".

This contest allowed Enix to release numerous games with a wide variety of genres early on, as thirteen winning entries were polished and chosen for release in February 1983. Among these were Morita no Battle Field by Kazurou Morita; Door Door by Koichi Nakamura; and Love Match Tennis by Yuji Horii, a young columnist for Weekly Shōnen Jump. In addition to two more contests, Enix began recruiting developers on a project basis. For each project, Enix outsourced development and handled production and promotion duties, which made cost control more efficient. Unlike software houses of the time, Fukushima tried to instill a commercial mindset in his developers, as he thought games should be treated as books or movies in terms of copyright. He employed a royalty payment system between the company and the developers so that the latter would be compensated proportionally to the direct sales of their games. Each of Enix's home computer release featured a photo and resume of the developer on the back cover of the package.

Enix's home computer games were commercially successful; on their release, the first batch of February 1983 ranked first, second, third, fifth and seventh in the top ten Japanese best-selling games, leading to other game releases and a profit of ¥300 million (US$1.5 million) by the end of the year. Enix moved into traditional game publishing in 1985, beginning by porting its most successful home computer games to the Famicom console: Door Door, which sold 200,000 copies, and The Portopia Serial Murder Case, which sold 700,000. Enix soon focused primarily on publishing titles for consoles, though it continued to sell home computer games through to 1993. With the exception of the character designer Akira Toriyama, the development team of Enix's future flagship series Dragon Quest was recruited, thanks to the company's programming contests: Horii and Nakamura had won the first contest, and Koichi Sugiyama was contacted after sending in a questionnaire postcard for Morita Kazurou no Shogi.

List by year

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1993

References

• "Enix Game History" (in Japanese). Enix. August 10, 1998. Archived from the original on March 1, 2000. Retrieved July 26, 2010.

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4. Back cover of Morita no Battle Field Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). Enix. February 1983.
5. ^ ドアドア (in Japanese). Square Enix. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
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8. Back cover of Cosmic Soldier Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). Enix. February 1983.
9. Toshiyuki Asanuma (February 1983). Title screen of Seiko's Adventure Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). Enix.
10. Back cover of Underground Monster Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (NEC PC-8801 version) (in Japanese). Enix. February 1983.
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16. ^ ポートピア連続殺人事件 (in Japanese). Square Enix. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
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18. Hiroaki Shimada (June 1983). Title screen of Raita no Growing Up Archived 2012-10-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). Enix.
19. Back cover of Gekisen! Minamitaiheiyō Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (NEC PC-8801 version) (in Japanese). Enix. June 1983.
20. Back cover of Joshiryō Panic Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine (FM-7 version) (in Japanese). Enix. June 1983.
21. Back cover of Light Flipper Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (NEC PC-8801 version) (in Japanese). Enix. June 1983.
22. Back cover of Fan Fun Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (NEC PC-8001 version) (in Japanese). Enix. October 1983.
23. Takanari Suzuki (October 1983). Title screen of Game Kyōjin no Uchū Ryokō (NEC PC-8001mkII version) (in Japanese). Enix.
24. Takashi Goto (October 1983). Title screen of Dokuron no Yakata Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (Sharp X1 version) (in Japanese). Enix.
25. Back cover of Kagirinaki Tatakai Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine (Sharp X1 version) (in Japanese). Enix. October 1983.
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27. Back cover of Lolita Syndrome Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (FM-7 version) (in Japanese). Enix. October 1983.
28. Tadashi Sugie (October 1983). Title screen of Fushigi na Tabi Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (FM-7 version) (in Japanese). Enix.
29. Takeshi Nakazawa (October 1983). Title screen of Tropical Boy Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). Enix.
30. Hideyuki A. (October 1983). Title screen of Magnetic Field (in Japanese). Enix.
31. Back cover of PushMan Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (NEC PC-8001 version) (in Japanese). Enix. October 1983.
32. Kazuhiro Hasegawa (October 1983). Title screen of Cosmo Crash Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). Enix.
33. Laver (June 21, 2007). "Lovely飛鳥" (in Japanese). Oh!FM-7. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
34. Back cover of Parallel World Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (NEC PC-8801 version) (in Japanese). Enix. May 1984.
35. ^ Katsuo Ishida (April 2, 2004). "チュンソフト、「ドアドア」に続く懐かしのタイトル iモード「ニュートロン」を配信" (in Japanese). Game Watch. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
36. Yasuhiro Miyata (May 1984). Title screen of New Fan Fun Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine (NEC PC-6001mkII version) (in Japanese). Enix.
37. ^ 会社概要 (in Japanese). Clap Hanz. April 9, 2010. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
38. ^ クラップハンズ社長村守のゴルフゲーム遍歴 (in Japanese). Clap Hanz. September 19, 2008. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
39. McFerran, Damien (25 January 2024). "Before Dragon Quest, Yuji Horii Created This Groundbreaking Erotic Adventure". Time Extension. Hookshot Media. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
40. "レトロゲームファンサイト". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
41. Angelus: Akuma no Fukuin (CD cover). Koichi Sugiyama. Japan: Apollon Music Industrial Corp. 1988. BY30-5205.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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v t e Square Enix
Video game development	Square Enix Europe Square Enix Collective Taito
Other industries	Gangan Comics PlayOnline Image Studio Division
Lists of video games	List of franchises Square Enix mobile Enix home computer Square Square Enix Europe Crystal Dynamics Eidos Taito
Key people	Jun Akiyama Kazuhiko Aoki Tomoya Asano Naoki Hamaguchi Hiroyuki Ito Akitoshi Kawazu Yoshinori Kitase Hiroshi Minagawa Tetsuya Nomura Kazuko Shibuya Masayoshi Soken Takashi Tokita Motomu Toriyama Naoki Yoshida Former Kenichiro Fukui Nasir Gebelli Masashi Hamauzu Shinji Hashimoto Yasuyuki Honne Koichi Ishii Masato Kato Yasumi Matsuno Yasunori Mitsuda Yuji Naka Kazushige Nojima Soraya Saga Hironobu Sakaguchi Yoko Shimomura Hajime Tabata Tetsuya Takahashi Hiromichi Tanaka Toshiro Tsuchida Nobuo Uematsu Yoichi Wada Frequent contractors Yoshitaka Amano Yuji Horii Koichi Nakamura Koichi Sugiyama Yoko Taro Akira Toriyama
Former assets	Defunct Beautiful Game Studios DigiCube Eidos Hungary Enix The Game Designers Studio Ion Storm Luminous Productions Quest Corporation Tokyo RPG Factory Square Sold Crystal Dynamics Eidos-Montréal IO Interactive Square Enix Montreal
Related articles	Compilation albums Companion books DS:Style Localization of Square Enix video games Luminous Engine Crystal Tools NESiCAxLive NESYS Taito Type X Zuntata
Category

• Enix games
• Video game lists by company
• Lists of video games by platform
• Video games developed in Japan