Ultra Games

Ultra Software Corporation
Company typeShell subsidiary of Konami
IndustryVideo games
Founded1988
Defunct1992
FateMerged to parent company
SuccessorKonami of America
HeadquartersBuffalo Grove, IL, USA
OwnerKonami
ParentKonami of America
Palcom Software Limited
Company typeShell subsidiary of Konami
IndustryVideo games
Founded1990
Defunct1994
FateMerged to parent company
SuccessorKonami Ltd. (UK)
HeadquartersMiddlesex, England
OwnerKonami
ParentKonami Ltd. (UK)

Ultra Software Corporation was a shell corporation[1] and publishing label created in 1988 as a subsidiary of Konami of America, in an effort to get around Nintendo of America's strict licensing rules in place at the time for the North American market. One of these rules was that a third-party company could only publish up to five games per year for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US.[2]

This was hardly convenient for Konami, which had begun releasing more than ten games a year for both the Famicom and its Disk System add-on in Japan. With a greater library than it was allowed to localize, Konami formed the Ultra Games brand to extend its annual library to ten games a year.[2]

  1. ^ "Star Trek on Nintendo Consoles - Where Are the Great Star Trek Games?". 21 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Konami's Cheat to Get Around a Silly Nintendo Rule". 31 July 2012.