Irem (company)

IREM
アイレムソフトウェアエンジニアリング株式会社

Type	Public
Industry	Computer and video game industry
Founded	July 10, 1974 (Irem Corporation) April 15, 1997 (Irem Software Engineering)
Headquarters	Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Products	R-Type (See complete products listing.)
Number of employees	259 (March 2016)
Parent	EIZO
Website	http://www.irem.co.jp/

Irem (アイレムソフトウェアエンジニアリング株式会社, Airemu^?) is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Irem is probably mostly known for three 1980s arcade games: Moon Patrol (1982; licensed to Williams Electronics in North America), the earliest beat 'em up, Kung-Fu Master (1984), and the scrolling shooter R-Type (1987). In recent years, Irem has greatly diminished its input for video game consoles and has instead focused its attention in developing video game software based on Pachinko machines.

The full name of the company that currently uses the brand is Irem Software Engineering. It was founded in 1997 by its parent company Nanao for the purpose of taking over the development department of the original Irem Corporation that had left the video game industry in 1994 to concentrate itself on the rental and sales of coin-op electronics. Irem Corporation was founded in 1974 as IPM and still exists today under the name Apies.

Irem has been a popular developer in Japan with games like Photoboy for the PC Engine and In the Hunt for the arcades, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PC.