Namco vs Namcot

[Gypsy]

Any gaming historians know the deal here? Nothing I found by googling was all that convincing.

[esteban]

I, too, always wondered about this, but never researched it.

Here's my 2¢:

Namco (sans "t") = a more internationally-friendly version for branding purposes.

It sounds less-silly to English-speaking audiences, IMHO.

(Like I said, this is my dumbass explanation...I'm ignorant as f*ck on this...I don't even know what Namcot was supposed to reference, if anything! Ha!)

[PukeSter]

Namcot was the home division

[turboswimbz]

Namcot was the home division

This was always how I understood it, NAMCO was the overall name, while Namcot was the name they published games for home consoles under, during the heyday.  Hence why arcade machine, theme parks etc have the NAMCO name while your PC engine games say Namcot.

[EmperorIng]

Two different takes:

1) NAMCO [Home Entertainmen]T - thus, their home console ports/original projects carried the logo

2) On another forum I go to, a user had a chance to hear from the horse's mouth:

I recently met Masanobu Endo (the Xevious and Druaga guy) and had a chance to ask him about the meaning of "Namcot".

Apparently the name was chosen by Toru Iwatani and comes from "pet" and "mascot", giving the impression of something small you can keep at home (as opposed to the "big" arcade games).

Perhaps apocryphal, but a neat insight nonetheless!

Fun trivia fact: Namcot spelled backwards is Tocman; Toc-Man being the villain of Pac-World! Might remind you of how Super Darius/Darius Plus's pilots, PROCO and TIAT, are TAITO CORP spelled backwards. 

[esteban]

Perhaps apocryphal, but a neat insight nonetheless!

Fun trivia fact: Namcot spelled backwards is Tocman; Toc-Man being the villain of Pac-World! Might remind you of how Super Darius/Darius Plus's pilots, PROCO and TIAT, are TAITO CORP spelled backwards. 

Thanks for sharing the "two different origin stories"...

...but it was the Toc-Man and PROCO trivia that I love to learn about the most because it is CONCRETELY OBVIOUS, yet I never knew it.

[Gypsy]

Thanks.