Culture Brain was founded in 1980 as Nihon Game Corporation. In 1981, a subsidiary to handle the sales operations of the company was established. Its first video games were arcades games, with titles such as Shanghai Kid and Chinese Hero that were manufactured under "Taiyo Systems" trademark. In 1987, it transitioned from arcade to console video games and renamed itself "Culture Brain". The company has also alternatively used the brand "Micro Academy" in the mid-1980s. In North America, Culture Brain is mostly known for its six video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and its three for the Super NES. Two of those games, The Magic of Scheherazade and Flying Warriors, were strongly redesigned by Culture Brain USA to better appeal North American consumers. Culture Brain was distinct for its innovative gameplay and its mixture of role-playing video game elements with either action or adventure. However, like many other Japanese video game companies, Culture Brain ceased its operations in the United States in the 1990s. Ever since the demise of Culture Brain USA, video games developed by the parent company have rarely made it in America. An exception of the latter situation is the Nintendo 64 version of Flying Dragon which was published by Natsume. Culture Brain also ran until 2003 a professional school, the Culture Brain Art Institute. In 2016, the company was renamed Culture Brain Excel and the website's URL was changed to the new name. The longtime Culture Brain logo was instantly dropped and will be replaced by a new logo that is scheduled to be unveiled in 2017.
In this list are series which were originally released as "Chinese Hero", but became better known as Super Chinese, but with the exception of "Kung-Fu Heroes", these titles were released in North America as the "Ninja Brothers" series.
A Japan-only series of games for the GBA about fashion and dressing up. The games feature a wide range of clothes, shoes, accessories and makeup to be used in different combinations. There are 5 GBA games and 2 DS games.
Ferret/Hamster Monogatari series
A Japan-only series of games formally about care-taking ferrets, and later about care-taking hamsters. The illustrations of the Hamster Monogatari ones were heavily inspired by Ritsuko Kawai's children's storybook series, Hamtaro.
Hamster Monogatari
Hamster Monogatari 64
Hamster Monogatari 2 GBA
Hamster Monogatari GB + Magi Ham Mahou no Shoujo
Hamster Monogatari 3 GBA
Hamster Monogatari Collection
Hamster Monogatari 3EX, 4, Special
Konchuu Monster series
A Japan-only series of games about catching, training and battling insects. First released with Super Chinese Labyrinth both in Volume 3 of Culture Brain's Twin Series, a series of two-in-one Game Boy Advance games.
