Micro Cabin Co.

Overview

Micro Cabin Co., Ltd. (マイクロキャビン) was a Japanese video game development studio that was once well known for their adventure games and RPGs released for various Japanese computers and consoles. The company was founded on November 27, 1981 by Naoto Oyachi but initially began as a storefront that sold computer hardware and software called "Micro Cabin Yokkaichi" located in the city of Yokkaichi. In 1982 the store began creating their own original game software beginning with Mystery House in June of that year followed by several other titles. After finding success with their games, Micro Cabin was formerly established as a corporation on November 26, 1982.

During the early 1980s the company was primarily known for pioneering the graphical adventure genre in Japan and helped to create a boom for the genre during the beginning of the decade [3]. For many years the company's slogan was even an English phrase that read: "We make adventure spirit!". Some of their most famous adventure titles include the first two Mystery House games, the Harry Fox duology, Dreamland, Eiyuu Densetsu Saga and Seilane among others. Outside of their original creations, Micro Cabin was also well known for creating a number of adventure games based off anime licenses such as Maison Ikkoku and Urusei Yatsura. Later on in the late 80s and 1990s the company would become famous for their RPGs such as their popular Xak franchise, a series of action RPGs very similar to Falcom's Ys games.

Micro Cabin would continue making titles for the PC market but was hesitant to enter the console space due to the high development costs of making games for platforms like the the Famicom or Super Famicom. However, during the advent of CD-based systems, Micro Cabin began to focus more on console development due to the shrinking PC market in the mid to late 90s. Over time, Mirco Cabin would also begin working with other publishers to develop titles together in order to mitigate marketing costs, such as the company working with Sega to create Mystaria. However, doing work-for-hire like this caused Micro Cabin to become less well known in the industry which made it more difficult to recruit new employees. As the gaming landscape changed over the years, Micro Cabin began to move away from game development in the 2000s and instead focused on creating pachinko machines. Eventually Naoto Oyachi sold the company to AQ Interactive in 2008 and it eventually became a wholly owned subsidiary of Fields Co., Ltd. in 2011.

External Links and Sources

1. Official Website
2. List of Past Games
3. アドベンチャーゲームの老舗「マイクロキャビン」と、アーケードゲームの移植に定評があった「ニデコムソフト」by 佐々木 潤 (Akiba PC Hotline, 2019).
4. Interview with Naoto Oyachi (Plus Mie, 2021).