Bandai began as Bandai-ya on July 5, 1950, when Naoharu Yamashina spun a toy stall out of a textile wholesaler in Taitō, Tokyo. The name comes from bandai fueki—“eternally unchanging.” Early stock was celluloid dolls, metal cars, and rubber rings. The first original product, the Rhythm Ball, shipped the same year. The firm took the name Bandai Co., Ltd. in 1961. Astro Boy figures in 1963 taught it to ride television; Ultraman and, from 1980, Gunpla plastic kits made Mobile Suit Gundam a shelf staple.
Games were a second shop. Bandai became a Famicom third party in 1985, shipped the Family Trainer (the Power Pad abroad), and folded arcade house Coreland into Banpresto in 1989. It bought studio Sunrise in 1994. Own hardware did less well: the Playdia (1994) and the Apple Bandai Pippin (1996) missed. Tamagotchi (1996) and Digimon paid the bills. A planned merger with Sega collapsed in 1997.
The handheld that still matters to players is the WonderSwan. Gunpei Yokoi’s Koto Laboratory designed it after he left Nintendo. The mono unit launched in Japan on March 4, 1999; the WonderSwan Color followed on December 9, 2000, then the SwanCrystal in 2002. Square brought Final Fantasy to a handheld on that hardware. Bandai stopped the line in 2003.
On September 29, 2005, Bandai and Namco formed Namco Bandai Holdings (now Bandai Namco Holdings). Bandai remains the group’s toys-and-hobby company in Taitō. Bandai Namco Entertainment publishes the games. Gundam, Tamagotchi, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai still sit on the same shelves the WonderSwan once tried to share with the Game Boy.
Bandai Corporate Snapshot
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Founded | July 5, 1950 (Taitō, Tokyo), as Bandai-ya |
| Founder | Naoharu Yamashina |
| Headquarters | Komagata, Taitō, Tokyo |
| Signature platforms | Playdia; Apple Bandai Pippin; WonderSwan / Color / SwanCrystal |
| Signature IP | Gundam / Gunpla, Tamagotchi, Digimon, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman toys |
| Parent | Bandai Namco Holdings (from September 29, 2005) |
| Current status | Toy and hobby subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings |