Bandai was founded by World War II veteran Naoharu Yamashina as Bandai-Ya on July 5, 1950, as the corporate spin-off of a textile wholesaler.

[2] The eldest son to a rice retailer, Yamashina had studied business in high school and was enlisted in World War II, where an impact from a grenade shrapnel blinded him in his right eye.

[5] He made little money working, and as he was having a difficult time finding ways to allow the business to pick up, a neighbor told him about the potential of the toy industry and the financial success that could be generated from it.

[2] Yamashina assumed full control of the toy division on July 5, 1950, when it was spun-off as a separate company named Bandai-ya[b] in Taitō, Tokyo.

[6][8] The growing company worked on creating a friendly corporate image for itself, introducing a new logo, slogan, and television commercials that emphasized its quality products.

[6][8] While its toys often sold well in Japan, Bandai didn't achieve considerable success until 1963, when it began producing action figures based on the anime Astro Boy.

[4] In July 1966, it released Crazy Foam, a line of bubble blowing canisters that sold 2.4 million units in three months, thanks to the backing of an extensive marketing campaign.

Upon his arrival, Makoto Yamashina completely changed the ageing staff of Bandai and replaced them with younger employees with the intent of not only bringing new ideas, but also revisiting the strategy of the group.

Shortly after its release, Nintendo purchased the rights to the FFF mat in North America, replacing it with their own redesign, the Power Pad.

[19] Stadium Events was not released by name again, but instead was slightly modified and relaunched as the Power Pad pack-in game, World Class Track Meet.

[25] The announcement followed a ¥9 billion loss from Bandai the same month, attributed to declining game sales and the poor reception of the Apple Pippin console.

[22] Bandai felt Sega was an appropriate company to merge with, as it possessed an American management model and several international offices, in addition to owning several successful franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog.

[22][25] Opposition arose within Bandai's employees and midlevel executives, as neither felt the company's family-friendly work ethic meshed well with Sega's top-down corporate culture.

This transition will not affect Bandai Japan's Super Sentai (the series from which Power Rangers takes footage) master toy license with Toei.

In the past, it owned offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Germany, and East Asia, which acted as distributors for Bandai products in their respective countries.

The company focuses on creating unique and innovative products for its consumers, and to bend established conventions within the industry; its slogan, "Break out of the box" was made in reference to this.

[36] Bandai Spirits Co., Ltd. produces figurines and plastic models targeted towards older demographics, utilizing popular licenses such as Mobile Suit Gundam, One Piece, Pokémon, Kirby, Disney, Star Wars, Hatsune Miku, Dragon Ball, Demon Slayer, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman, and My Hero Academia.