Editing Taito (section)

====First video game====
Taito's first video game was called ''Elepong''. It is a ping-pong arcade cabinet released in 1973 in Japan.

[[File:Tomohiro-nishikado.jpg|thumb|[[Tomohiro Nishikado]] in 2011]]
[[Tomohiro Nishikado]], a [[Tokyo Denki University]] engineering graduate who joined the company in 1968, was instrumental in the company's transition to video games. After developing the hit electro-mechanical target shooting games ''Sky Fighter'' (1971) and ''Sky Fighter II'', his bosses at Taito believed [[transistor-transistor logic]] (TTL) technology would play a significant role in the arcade industry, so they tasked Nishikado with investigating TTL technology as he was the company's only employee who knew how to work with [[integrated circuit]] (IC) technology, and one of the few engineers at any Japanese coin-op company with significant expertise in [[solid-state electronics]].<ref name="Smith192"/>

Nishikado spent six months dissecting [[Atari, Inc.|Atari]]'s ''[[Pong]]'' arcade unit and learning how the game's IC chips worked, and began modifying the game.<ref name="Smith192">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Alexander |title=They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I: 1971-1982 |date=19 November 2019 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |isbn=978-0-429-75261-2 |pages=192–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cxy_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT192}}</ref> This led to his development of the ''Pong''-style [[sports video games]] ''Soccer'' and ''Davis Cup'' for Taito,<ref name="Kohler">{{citation|author=Chris Kohler|year=2005|title=Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life|pages=16–19|publisher=[[BradyGames]]|isbn=0-7440-0424-1}}</ref> with ''Soccer'' developed first<ref name="Smith192"/> but both released in November 1973.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Akagi |first1=Masumi |title=アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) |trans-title=Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005) |date=13 October 2006 |publisher=Amusement News Agency |language=ja |location=Japan |isbn=978-4990251215 |pages=40–1, 124 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArcadeGameList1971-2005/page/n41/mode/2up}}</ref> He then developed several original arcade video game hits for Taito, notably the sports game ''[[TV Basketball]]'' (1974), the [[racing game]] ''[[Speed Race]]'' (1974), and the [[shooter game]] ''[[Western Gun]]'' (1975); these three titles were localized by [[Midway Manufacturing]] in North America as ''TV Basketball'', ''Wheels'', and ''Gun Fight'', respectively.

In 1978, Nishikado created ''[[Space Invaders]]'', which became the company's most popular title and one of the most popular games in [[Timeline of arcade video game history|arcade history]], partially responsible for beginning the [[golden age of arcade video games]].<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://timeline.com/golden-age-video-arcades-940a177ccb30|title = Photos: The golden age of video arcades|date = December 20, 2016|access-date = June 12, 2020|archive-date = September 27, 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200927163043/https://timeline.com/golden-age-video-arcades-940a177ccb30|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=Dean|last=Smith|url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/the-role-of-space-invaders-as-the-archetypal-action-videogame-and-why-its-theme-of-one-versus-many-is-so-successful|title=The role of Space Invaders as the archetypal action videogame, and why its theme of 'One Versus Many' is so successful|date=June 20, 2016 }}</ref> After Michael Kogan died in February 1984, his son, Abraham "Abba" Kogan, became Taito's chairman and Akio Nakanishi became its president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840401p.pdf#page=15|title=Nakanishi Appointed As New President Of Taito Corp.|magazine=Game Machine|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=1984-04-01|accessdate=2021-03-12}}</ref>

[[File:Taito logo (old).svg|thumb|Taito's former logo]]
In April 1986 and barely a month after becoming part of the [[Kyocera]] group, Taito merged with two of its subsidiaries, Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd. and the Japan Vending Machine Co., Ltd, and absorbed them both. Japan Vending Machine was once an independent company but was purchased by Taito in July 1971 to strengthen its presence in the operation of amusement facilities.<ref name=history>{{cite web|title=Taito Corporate History|date=January 18, 2024 |url=https://www.taito.com/corporate/history|publisher=Taito Corporation}}</ref> Pacific Industrial was created by Taito itself in 1963 to develop products for the company.<ref name=history/>