Video game companies that are less known

So as we were discussing in the other thread some lesser known companies that make awesome games are:

cave
sunsoft
irem

and another one I appreciate is treasure.

Here are some I can add:

Data East
Kaneko (responsible for Air Buster, Heavy Unit and another which I really want to try out that is highly regarded of - Cyvern).
Seta (responsible for Cal.50 a great rotary game (I love the soundtrack on this game), also twin eagle 1&2 and many others).
Jaleco (created Saint Dragon (a favorite shooter of mine), the Rushing Beat series on the SNES, and many others).
Natsume
SNK (I'm talking pre Neo Geo. Games such as P.O.W, prehistoric isle, street smart, ikari warriors).

I love treasures work, all their games are so unique and play so well.

Oh man old SNK is like "wtf SNK made games like this??". It's like SNK before they became a capcom ripoff company . Natsume sure makes obscure but interesting and often fun games.

That's exactly right, they became such a ripoff of Capcom. Especially with Burning Fight (it even sounds like final fight), that was a terrible game.

glenn101 wrote:

That's exactly right, they became such a ripoff of Capcom. Especially with Burning Fight (it even sounds like final fight), that was a terrible game.

I remember being like 12 years old and seeing I think fatal fury in the arcade and staring at the screen thinking to myself ".....what a ripoff of street fighter 2...."

Really the best and probably most original series I've seen come out of snk was samurai shodown. I never considered snk as a great software company but they did make the mvs which was the first and best arcade hardware that had an super easy to swap rom board. I didn't get to experience snk games until later in life since most of their games were released on their hardware and it would cost an insane amount of money at the time.

I love that ryo dude in snks fighting games....it's like ryu with one letter different, instead of saying "hadouken" he says "ouken" when he shoots a fireball. And he even has a ripoff uppercut move haha

They must have thought they could make a fortune of money by copying the same concept, but it wasn't executed anywhere near as good as street fighter 2 so it wasn't their best move.

Samurai shodown is a great series, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Apart from creating the MVS I also given them credit for starting the rotary game genre.

Here's an interesting fact about Irem which you probably know because you are a fan of them but anyway. Some Irem members in 1994 left Irem due to company inactivity and formed their own development team, Nazca corporation, who went on to start the metal slug series on the MVS. Gunforce 2 looks very similar to metal slug, even gunforce 1 sort of does. I always wondered if their were irem members working on them, and there were! I'm also almost certain that some Irem developers joined Aicom to create pulstar - that game is basically a combination of r-type 1 & 2 - pretty awesome.

I knew the gunforce team helped with metal slug but I didn't know they came from irem. That's interesting

Tecmo (for their arcade games, they created games such as Rygar, Dead or Alive series, Strato Fighter and Shadow Warriors).

Wait...tecmo created rygar?! I love rygar on the nes! I assume that was also done by tecmo? I can no longer bring myself to play rygar for a couple or reasons.

Reason 1: The game has no saving or passwords and it's massive, I dedicated an entire day in the late 80s / early 90s to clearing that game which I did and I completely forget what the ending was

Reason 2: The music in rygar becomes annoying

And yes I'm aware that the arcade version of rygar is completely different from the nes version. But pretty much everyone I know wasn't even aware that there's an arcade version yet I meet plenty of people who fondly remember the nes port (such as myself).

Wow I never knew how different the arcade and NES games are!!

The arcade version is so much different to the NES version. But the platforming action is pretty much the same. I do like the soundtrack better on the arcade, but it still does become annoying.

Geez that's mental not having a save/password system, it looks like a massive game.

I'm not too fond of Rygar myself, it is quite a good game, it's just one of the games tecmo made which I think they deserve more credit for. Shadow Warriors (also known as ninja gaiden) is completely different on the arcade version than it's NES counterpart, it's a beat 'em up style game instead, it is a classic. Both versions are great though, they are both great in their own right, and can't be compared.

*Edit* Of course the NES version is more well known, without a doubt. I was just mentioning another game tecmo did in which the arcade/nes versions differ immensely.

I'm pretty sure the nes port of ninja gaiden is more popular than the arcade version. And since we're on the topic there's a little something you should know about me...............











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I prefer the nes port of tmnt 2: the arcade game over.....the arcade game!!!! I think the game is way more playable on the nes and I even prefer the animation and graphics. The arcade version looks like a bad cartoon and I never was a fan of video game voice acting. And the arcade version feels more like smashy smashy button without putting any real thought into what you're doing where the nes version is a completely different experience where I actually feel like I'm using my brain

I've never played the NES port of TMNT2. I just watched a video of it then though and I am surprised and impressed. The playability looks amazing, your right about the using your brain thing, in the arcade version it's a money grabber basically no real strategy just button mashing. I'll keep on lookout for it. Because of the arcade versions nonsensical manic button pressing, which doesn't involve the slightest bit of skill, mainly chance, especially with the bosses, it is one of my least favorite arcade beat 'em ups.

glenn101 wrote:

I've never played the NES port of TMNT2. I just watched a video of it then though and I am surprised and impressed. The playability looks amazing, your right about the using your brain thing, in the arcade version it's a money grabber basically no real strategy just button mashing. I'll keep on lookout for it. Because of the arcade versions nonsensical manic button pressing, which doesn't involve the slightest bit of skill, mainly chance, especially with the bosses, it is one of my least favorite arcade beat 'em ups.

my respect for you + 10,000. I know so many people who love the brain dead arcade versions of tmnt, as well as the braindead arcade version of final fight.

Oh speaking of tmnt 2 for the nes I found my playthrough on my youtube:



Whole game start to finish. This recording's older before I upgraded the video quality of the system but it's too much effort to redo this playthrough

Sweet, I'll watch that when I get the chance. Yeah I agree about final fight too, it's quite a good game, but when people say it's their favourite beat 'em up I automatically know that they know nothing about quality beat 'em ups. To me a good beat 'em up is one that you can actually stay alive for a considerable time by applying certain strategies to take down bosses and enemies, that's why I love cadillacs and dinosaurs. The gameplay is so awesome on that game, and once you know the enemy AI you can work your moves out to your advantage, you can do dash attacks, do an air summersault type move, do different grabs/throws, it is so much better than final fight. It's a shame about the suicide battery on it though, luckily that can be fixed

Yeah luckily it can be fixed but because the game came out ages before the fix was around most people just got rid of the boards so now they're too rare.....blehhhhhh

Gunforce 2 looks very similar to metal slug, even gunforce 1 sort of does. I always wondered if their were irem members working on them, and there were! I'm also almost certain that some Irem developers joined Aicom to create pulstar - that game is basically a combination of r-type 1 & 2 - pretty awesome.[/quote]

yeah, but Gunforce is a ridiculously bad playing game and its not exactly game of the year in the graphics department.

gunforce 2 is bad ass. and at least half of the gunforce 2 team went on to make metal slug.

Personally, i just cant believe that in the hunt was released for the psx and saturn, and gunforce 2 wasnt released for any console. someone should have been fired over that descision.

Gunforce 2 is manly to a fault. It's overly manly. It's like going to a mixed martial arts or certain skate board meetups, just full of guys who're so obsessively manly that you won't find a girl around for miles. I like gunforce 2 but I think in the hunt is a better game overall.

mvsfan wrote:

Gunforce 2 looks very similar to metal slug, even gunforce 1 sort of does. I always wondered if their were irem members working on them, and there were! I'm also almost certain that some Irem developers joined Aicom to create pulstar - that game is basically a combination of r-type 1 & 2 - pretty awesome.

yeah, but Gunforce is a ridiculously bad playing game and its not exactly game of the year in the graphics department.

gunforce 2 is bad ass. and at least half of the gunforce 2 team went on to make metal slug.

Personally, i just cant believe that in the hunt was released for the psx and saturn, and gunforce 2 wasnt released for any console. someone should have been fired over that descision.

[quote="Drakon"]Gunforce 2 is manly to a fault. It's overly manly. It's like going to a mixed martial arts or certain skate board meetups, just full of guys who're so obsessively manly that you won't find a girl around for miles. I like gunforce 2 but I think in the hunt is a better game overall.

i guess you can tell i was a big contra fan. ive got a 6 slot with metal slug 1-5 in it. the 6th game slot is the only one that gets changed out constantly.

[quote="mvsfan"]

Drakon wrote:

Gunforce 2 is manly to a fault. It's overly manly. It's like going to a mixed martial arts or certain skate board meetups, just full of guys who're so obsessively manly that you won't find a girl around for miles. I like gunforce 2 but I think in the hunt is a better game overall.

i guess you can tell i was a big contra fan. ive got a 6 slot with metal slug 1-5 in it. the 6th game slot is the only one that gets changed out constantly.

with that said, a company thats not often mentioned is natsume. sometimes they come up with some fun and unique games like i really enjoyed lufia 1+2.

Natsume sure is interesting. They made the awesome snes game wild guns!

Yeah I did mention Natsume, and yes they definitely deserve more recognition. Super Rescue Solbrain is one of my favorites from them and also Lufia 2. The power rangers game on the SNES is great too.

Yeah the power rangers game is surprisingly good. I'll have to lookup those other games.

i just found another company i like is renovation. they did the valis series and they did Arcus Odyssey.

Arcus Odyssey is an awesome game.

It was actually supposed to be on snes and genesis but sega bought out the publisher.

theres a completed beta of Arcus for snes with superior sound. too bad it never made it.

but since its actually a good game, and its complete, i wonder what the prototype is worth?

mvsfan wrote:

i just found another company i like is renovation. they did the valis series and they did Arcus Odyssey.

Arcus Odyssey is an awesome game.

It was actually supposed to be on snes and genesis but sega bought out the publisher.

theres a completed beta of Arcus for snes with superior sound. too bad it never made it.

but since its actually a good game, and its complete, i wonder what the prototype is worth?

Good question, has the rom been dumped?