Seika Company (1994)

Original ad published in the January 1994 of EGM (no. 54)

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A Socialist Party in a Video Game Advert

There are little precious electronic resources that shed any light on a Japanese company known in the 90’s as Seika. You’ll find that it’s also named as Kemco-Seika, but details are sketchy. They produced some quality games back in the day, as you see in the list above, but then they sort of mutated or where absorbed by some Japanese conglomerate. 

What is very interesting is the advert you see here. For starters, it’s main audience are clearly not 13 year-old boys reading Electronic Gaming Monthly. I can only assume it’s directed towards investors and the media themselves to communicate their seriousness as a company. A Japanese company trying to do business in America. That alone stands out from the usual suspects you normally see in this blog.

And now for the really interesting bit. For all intents and purposes, the graphic illustration you see above takes enormous inspiration from the Socialist art and Socialist Realism movement of the early 20th Century.  The copy goes the same way: Seika works hard to produce quality games.

Hard working man with different tools to get the job done? Check! Sky-high edifices that symbolize that handwork? Check! Proletary, working class, central image? Check! The diagonal lines of the background also are a clear nod to Socialist artists of Europe and Mexico, where the Socialist and Communist movement produced magnificent artwork. Mexican Muralists became world-famous for their unique vision and style. 

You can check works of Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquieros and other marxist art in a recent paper I just published. Scroll to the end of the text to observe their socialist graphic art. 

Seika print ad copy

Building on a Strong Foundation

In the world of video games, what you don’t see is often more important than what you do see. Like the stability and financial strength that lies behind every game that bears a company’s name.

We’ve been around a long time and have released our share of hit titles. With more big hits on the way. That’s because we’ve always been very selective in choosing which games bear the Seika name. A matter of quality vs. quantity. Se rest assured that whether our games deal with medieval adventures or futuristic super heroes, we’ll be around to support it—Tomorrow. 

• Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
• Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2
• Uninvited
• Shadowgate
• Spy vs. Spy
• Snoopy’s Silly Sports
• Snoopy’s Magic Show
• Superman
• Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 
• The Super Aquatic Games
• Lagoon
• Super Turrican
• Legend
• Troddlers
• Pinkie
• Super Turrican 2

SEIKA