ArtePiazza is a video game development and computer graphics

Computer graphics

Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....

 studio based in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Their name derives from the Italian words for "art" and "a public square".

History

The company is best known for its involvement in the development of the Dragon Quest

Dragon Quest

, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005,Due to the inconsistent usage by sources since Square Enix obtained the naming rights to Dragon Quest in North America. Dragon Quest has been used by sources to refer to games released solely under the Dragon Warrior titles...

series by Enix

Enix

The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...

 and later Square Enix

Square Enix

is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...

. While ArtePiazza was mostly responsible for the CG design and illustrations of some of the early titles, they produced enhanced remakes of others. This includes Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

, as well as Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 remakes of Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, and Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation.

Other projects besides those based on Square Enix properties include the development of the PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

 and PlayStation 2 game Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon

Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon

Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon, is a PlayStation Portable game that breaks many of the traditions established in the other Harvest Moon games and also for the game on PlayStation 2...

and the co-production of Koei's Wii

Wii

The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

 title Opoona

Opoona

is a role-playing video game developed by ArtePiazza and published by Koei for the Wii. The player follows the story of the titular Opoona as he attempts to find the location of his family from which he was separated after the occurrence of a mysterious accident during their travels...

.

Dragon Quest series

• 1996: Dragon Quest III
  Dragon Warrior III
  Dragon Warrior III, known in Japan as , is a console role-playing game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix . It is the third installment in the Dragon Quest series , first released for the Famicom in Japan, and then the NES in North America...
  
  (Super Famicom version - CG design/scenario)
• 2000: Dragon Quest VII
  Dragon Warrior VII
  Dragon Warrior VII, known in Japan as is a Japanese console role-playing game developed by Heartbeat and ArtePiazza, and published by Enix for the PlayStation in...
  
  (PlayStation - CG design/scenario)
• 2001: Dragon Quest IV (PlayStation - CG design)
• 2002: Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko no Daibōken 3
  Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko no Daiboken 3
  is the third game in the Torneko series. It is part of the Mystery Dungeon series and contains randomly generated dungeons and uses turn-based action combat. It is the third Dragon Quest spin-off game in the Mystery Dungeon series...
  
  (PlayStation 2 - scenario)
• 2004: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (PlayStation 2 version)
• 2007: Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (Nintendo DS version)
• 2008: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Nintendo DS version)
• 2010: Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation (Nintendo DS version)

Other games

• 2006: Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon
  Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon
  Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon, is a PlayStation Portable game that breaks many of the traditions established in the other Harvest Moon games and also for the game on PlayStation 2...
  
  (PlayStation Portable/PlayStation 2)
• 2007: Opoona
  Opoona
  is a role-playing video game developed by ArtePiazza and published by Koei for the Wii. The player follows the story of the titular Opoona as he attempts to find the location of his family from which he was separated after the occurrence of a mysterious accident during their travels...
  
  (Wii)
• 2010: GO Series: Pinball Attack! (DSiWare)
• 2010: Accel Knights: Imashi ga Tame Ware wa Tsurugi o Toru (DSiWare)
• 2010: Arrow of Laputa
  Arrow of Laputa
  is a tower defense game developed and published by ArtePiazza in Japan on November 24, 2010 for the Nintendo DSi....
  
  (DSiWare)
• 2011: Rikishi (DSiWare)

External links

• Official Artepiazza Website (Japanese)