Gaming Ads: Atlus

Atlus Co., Ltd. is a Japanese developer and publisher founded in 1986. Its North American branch opened in 1991 and today is known as Atlus U.S.A.* but it was originally called Asuka Technologies, Inc. The history of the company gets a bit complicated in 2010 when it was merged with Index Holdings and more or less ceased to exist as each Atlus location was renamed. Atlus the corporation was no more but Atlus the game publishing brand was still used for a while. In 2013 things took yet another turn as Index Holdings faced bankruptcy. Sega Sammy Holdings acquired Index which led to a return of Atlus that now operates under Sega.

The U.S. division localizes games from Japan and is best known for role-playing games having most recently released Persona 5. Persona is part of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise that also includes Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga. Although I played some Japanese role-playing games (JRPG) on Sega consoles and the first PlayStation, I don't play many these days so I've not experienced a lot of Atlus' recent games. However, early this year I borrowed a PlayStation TV device and started trying out a bunch of Vita games. I don't play handheld games very often (another reason I've missed many of Atlus' games) but Persona 4: Dancing All Night, which despite being a combination of two genres -- visual novel and rhythm -- I don't typically enjoy, hooked me. The characters and music are so good that I couldn't stop playing until I earned my first platinum trophy.

Unfortunately, I didn't come across any Persona ads in my magazines. There are a variety of types of games in the ads though with most of the games being for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System or the PlayStation.

More ads from Atlus can be found at Facebook and Google Photos.

*Sega of America has since absorbed Atlus U.S.A. and now Atlus is only a publishing brand in North America.