Gremlin Industries

Gremlin Industries

Company type	Private
Industry	Arcade game manufacturing
Founded	1970
Founder	Harry Frank Fogleman, Carl E. Grindle
Defunct	1983
Fate	Purchased by Sega Enterprises Inc. in 1978; renamed Sega Electronics in 1982; assets sold to Bally Manufacturing in 1983
Headquarters	San Diego, California , United States
Products	Arcade games, coin-operated wall games, Noval 760 home computer

Gremlin Industries was a San Diego, California-based American arcade game manufacturer that operated from 1970 until 1983. After being purchased by Sega Enterprises Inc. in 1978, it functioned under the names Gremlin/Sega or Sega/Gremlin. Notable releases included Blockade and Head On, and the company also acted as the North American distributor for titles like Frogger and Zaxxon. In 1982, the firm was rebranded as Sega Electronics before closing down the following year.

Subsequently, Sega re-released numerous Sega/Gremlin titles through compilations such as Sega Ages and Sega Genesis Collection.

History

Established in 1970 by Harry Frank Fogleman and Carl E. Grindle, Gremlin began as a contract engineering business. The original plan was to name the company "Grindleman Industries," but due to a misunderstanding, it was incorporated as Gremlin. The company started producing coin-operated wall games in 1973 with the release of Play Ball, and ventured into video arcade gaming in 1976 with its debut video game, Blockade.

In 1977, through its subsidiary Noval, Inc., Gremlin introduced the Noval 760 home computer, distinguished by its wooden desk-style casing. However, poor sales led to its discontinuation by 1979.

Following Sega's acquisition in 1978, Gremlin published games from Sega and other Japanese developers including Namco's Gee Bee (1978), Nichibutsu's Moon Cresta (1980), Nintendo's Space Firebird (1980), and Konami's Frogger (1981).

By 1981, Gremlin had leased a $10 million manufacturing plant located in Rancho Bernardo's Technology Park, which became operational in 1982. This facility produced arcade games such as Zaxxon (1982), Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (1983), and Congo Bongo (1983).

In an effort to reinforce the Sega brand presence in the U.S., the company adopted the Sega Electronics name in 1982. However, a rapid downturn occurred due to excessive production coinciding with the decline of the arcade golden age.

In August 1983, Sega divested its arcade manufacturing operations to Bally Manufacturing, which incorporated these assets into Bally/Midway. This transaction included laserdisc technology utilized in games like Astron Belt, enabling Bally/Midway to release Sega arcade titles such as Up 'N Down and Flicky. The deal did not cover Sega’s American research and development units, which continued game development independently without publishing through Bally.

The home division of Sega Enterprises Ltd. continued producing licensed arcade ports including Tapper (1983) and Spy Hunter (1983).

In 1984, a management buyout led by David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama with backing from CSK Corporation took place at Sega. This acquisition encompassed rights to the Sega/Gremlin game library, which would later be included in various compilations. A new Gremlin Industries based in Las Vegas marketed wall games with participation from former employees.

Following the asset sale, Sega Electronics remained as a holding entity for Gremlin trademarks worldwide. It was renamed Ages Electronics in 1985 and later shifted focus to television production; it currently operates under CBS Media Ventures.

Coin-Operated Games

All titles were developed by Gremlin Industries unless otherwise specified.

Video games

• Blockade (December 1976)
• CoMotion (March 1977)
• Hustle (May 1977)
• Depthcharge (September 1977)
• Safari (February 1978)
• Blasto (July 1978)
• Frogs (November 1978) First issued under Gremlin/Sega branding.
• Fortress (1978)
• Super Space Attack (1979) Distributed only in Europe; identical to Space Attack by Gremlin.
• Head On (April 1979)
• Gee Bee (May 1979) Developed by Namco.
• Head On 2 (November 1979)
• Deep Scan (November 1979)
• Invinco (November 1979)
• Monaco GP (November 1979) Developed by Sega Enterprises Ltd.
• Digger (July 1980)
• Carnival (August 1980)
• Moon Cresta (December 1980) Developed by Nichibitsu.
• Space Tactics (1980) Developed by Sega Enterprises Ltd.
• Space Firebird (January 1981) Developed by Nintendo.
• Astro Blaster (February 1981)
• Super Moon Cresta (1981) Developed by Nichibitsu.
• Pulsar (June 1981)
• Space Fury (August 1981)
• Space Odyssey (August 1981) Developed by Sega Enterprises Ltd.
• Frogger (September 1981) Developed by Konami Industries, published by Sega Enterprises Ltd. in Japan.
• Turbo (December 1981) Developed by Sega Enterprises Ltd.
• Eliminator (December 1981)
• Zaxxon (April 1982) Developed by Ikegami Tsushinki, published by Sega Enterprises Ltd. in Japan.
• Zektor (August 1982)
• Pengo (October 1982) Developed by Coreland Technologies, published by Sega Enterprises Ltd. in Japan.
• Tac/Scan (October 1982)
• Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (February 1983)
• Congo Bongo (April 1983) Developed by Ikegami Tsushinki, published by Sega Enterprises Ltd. in Japan.
• Championship Baseball (July 1983) Developed by Alpha Denshi, published by Sega Enterprises Ltd. in Japan.

Wall games

• Play Ball (1973)
• Skeet Shoot (1975)
• Fooswall (April 1976)
• Tenpin (August 1977)
• All Star (December 1978)

Unreleased titles

• Shogun (1980) – This American adaptation of Sega's Samurai was renamed to capitalize on the popularity of the miniseries. Certain English-language units display the Sega branding.
• Battle Star (1981) – A color vector-based game presented at Gremlin's Visions ’81 distributor event.
• Pig Newton (~1983) – A platformer developed by Gremlin that never reached release.
• Ixion (~1983) – An action-puzzle game with plans for an Atari 2600 version.
• Razzmatazz (~1983) – Conceptualized as a follow-up to Carnival.
• Astron Belt (1983) – Originally intended for release under Sega Electronics; later published by Bally/Sega after asset transfer.

Ports

Sega has issued emulated editions of select arcade games from Sega/Gremlin within the Sega Ages series, available on platforms such as Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Additionally, these titles appear in the Sega Genesis Collection for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.

The game Deep Scan was also included as a bonus feature in the Sega Saturn edition of Die Hard Arcade.