Astroll

Astroll Co., Ltd. was a Japanese games studio whose roots date back to 1977, when it was founded under the name Unic. In 1997, it was renamed Astroll and continued to develop games primarily for Sony consoles.

The studio focused mainly on smaller action, sports and puzzle titles. Among its best-known games are the billiards simulator Real Pool (EX Billiard / International Cue Club) for the PlayStation 2, the pinball game Pinball (American Arcade) and Cocktail Harmony for the original PlayStation. It also contributed to the development of Sound Novel Evolution 2: Kamaitachi no Yoru Tokubetsu-hen and later created the game Master Jin Jin’s IQ Challenge for the Nintendo DS.

Alongside its own projects, Astroll also collaborated on other games as a support studio. For example, it contributed graphics to Itadaki Street: Gorgeous King and was involved in other Japanese projects for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and WonderSwan.

Although Astroll was never one of Japan’s largest studios, it left its mark primarily thanks to high-quality console titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Its games are still appreciated today by fans of classic PlayStation consoles and collectors of lesser-known Japanese titles.