The Early History of Falcom

This is a video where I talk about the early history of Nihon Falcom, covering about the first 30 years of their output.

I've been a fan of Falcom's Trails series for a while and always found the company's history to be very interesting since they have been around for so long, releasing their first games during the genesis of the industry in Japan. I started researching their history just to learn more about the company and, over time, it eventually turned into this hour long video. This ended up being a huge project that I spent about 4-5 months working on and is by far the longest video I've ever made. Hopefully it is informative and enjoyable. If I goofed up any of my facts, please let me know. Also, in order to keep things concise, I did not overview the stories or dive deep into the gameplay mechanics of Falcom's titles and instead focused on their development and the impact they had on the industry.

----Chapters----
00:00 - Introduction
01:40 - Falcom's Prehistory (1981-1985)
12:19 - The Rise of Falcom (1985-1988)
22:19 - Falcom's Great Exodus (1988-1990)
27:41 - New Legends and the End of an Era (1991-1995)
38:35 - DEATH & REBIRTH (1996-2005)
49:41 - The End of the PC (2006-2010)
56:19 - Conclusion

----Sources----
The list was too long to fit in the description so you can read the full list in my blog post here: https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/bow...

I do not know Japanese so, if I got any of these facts wrong, let me know.

----Helpful Resources----
Amusement Center’s Falcom Museum
h-eba Gagharv Trilogy Japanese Fan Site
Falcom Music Channel
Falcom Official Corporate Timeline
Falcom Sub-Reddit
Falcom Staff Roll Wiki
Game Catalog: From Masterpieces to Kusoge Wiki
Longplay Archive
I Love Falcom Chinese Fan Site
Neo Kobe PC88 and PC98 Archives
Nihon Falcom Japanese Wikipedia Page
The Falcom Chronicle (2011)
Psyzans’ Archive of Ys and Falcom Information
The Falcom Museum Japanese Fan Site
Scans of Japanese Game Magazines on Archive Dot Org
Sega Retro
Shumplations
VGDensetsu
World of Longplays
Ys Music Files Japanese Fan Site

----Music----
Falcom Special Box '89 - Fly With Me (Ys I PSG Version)
The Legend of Xanadu - Church (Super Arrange Version)
The Legend of Xanadu OST - Shop
The Legend of Xanadu OST - New Companions
Falcom Classics - Dragon Slayer Field
Xanadu - La Valse Pour Xanadu Ending
Anthem - Xanadu
Xanadu Scenario II - Mapleford
Romancia - Opening
Ys - Feena (PC-88)
Legacy of the Wizard - Overworld Theme
Sorcerian - Castle Let's Meet Here (PC-88)
Star Trader - The Logic of Shooters (X68000)
Ys II - Smile Again (Vocal Version)
Ys III - A Premonition Styx (PC-88)
Dinosaur - Spirit Hymm
Legend of Heroes - Game Over (PC-88)
Popful Mail - Jungle (Super Arrange Version)
Popful Mail - Cave (Super Arrange Version)
YS IV: Mask of the Sun - Pass Ruins (Mega CD)
The Legend of Xanadu - Legend of the Wind (Super Arrange Version)
The Legend of Xanadu - The Silent Shore
The Legend of Heroes III - The White Witch Gueld (PC-88)
The Legend of Heroes III - Little Heroes Julio and Chris' Great Adventure (PC-88)
Ys V - Sinister Shadow
Vantage Master - A Quiet Purity
Kaze no Tansakusha: Grand Slam - Title Theme
The Legend of Heroes V - Town of the Eternal People
Zwei!! - Mythical Land Serpentina
Ys VI - Release of the Far West Ocean
Trails in the Sky - Sophisticated Fight
VM Japan - Opening Theme
Ys V - Field of Gale
Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Aster House
Zero no Kiseki - Title Theme
Trails of Cold Steel II - To A Glimmering Tomorrow

----3rd Party Videos----
Again the list was too long so you can see the full list here: https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/bow...
If anyone is unhappy about me using their footage let me know.

----Extras----
While researching for this video I dug through a bunch of old Japanese magazines on Archive Dot Org and collected an assortment of Falcom advertisements. You can see all the ads I found here: https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/bow...

I also collected Falcom's news letters from Micom Basic Magazine which you can view here: https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/bow...