Bandai Namco Entertainment

Namco Bandai Holdings is a video game and toy company composed of Namco and Bandai which merged in 2005. They have developed several Mario games for Nintendo in the past. They are notable for creating various classic arcade video game titles, and owning the rights to the Pac-Man series. They additionally own the rights to Mametchi, a Tamagotchi who made a playable appearance in Mario Kart Arcade GP 2.

The first Mario game that Namco had developed was Mario Superstar Baseball for the Nintendo Gamecube. Namco later produced an arcade cross-over Mario Kart game, which came to be known as Mario Kart Arcade GP, its sequel Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 and Mario Kart Arcade GP DX. Their most recent Mario game is Mario Super Sluggers, which was released in Japan on June 19, 2008 and on August 25, 2008 in the United States. It was never released in Europe and Australia.

Masahiro Sakurai confirmed that Namco Bandai is currently co-developing the next Super Smash Bros. title to be released on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.