Mobile Police PATLABOR was born in late 1986, when screenwriter Kazunori Ito, manga author Yuuki Masami, mechanical designer Yutaka Izubuchi, and character designer Akemi Takada presented the project to Bandai. They then went on to found HEADGEAR to produce PATLABOR in its first incarnation as an OVA series, with Mamoru Oshii coming onboard to direct.

The initial installment of the first OVA series (also called The Early Days episodes) went on sale in April 1988. PATLABOR THE MOVIE (PATLABOR 1) first came up in early autumn of 1988 and was released in theatres throughout Japan in July 1989. The film won the Grand Prix at the 1989 Japan Anime Awards. This success was followed by the TV series, which ran 47 episodes between October 1989 and September 1990.

A post-TV series (the second OVA series) launched and ran at a nearly monthly pace until April 1992, and sales of the entire PATLABOR series reached 1,000,000 copies. PATLABOR 2 THE MOVIE (PATLABOR 2) was announced in the summer of 1992, and opened in theaters in Japan in August 1993.