What is your favorite underdog video game developer?

[treismac]

Is there a video game company that you have a soft spot in your heart for, regardless of them never pumping out blockbusters like Capcom, Namco, or Konami? If there is, explain why.

[treismac]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VTnDFT33Dt0/THg43dtXgBI/AAAAAAAAE2g/dJHyp3KoKFA/s200/hudson+bee.JPG

My loyalty and love for Hudson spring from their franchises (Bomberman, Adventure Island, and Bonk), their support of the ill-fated Turbografx-16, their former mascot (Takahashi Meijin aka Master Higgins), and their iconic logo posted above.

Honorable Mention goes to Technos.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1/10833/243162-technos_logo_large.gif

The logo says why.

[jonebone]

Atlus.

[dystopian]

Natsume. Shatterhand, Wild Guns, Pocky and Rocky.

[chrisbid]

rennovation

[Graham Mitchell]

Compile. The Guardian Legend and Golvellius are amongst my absolute favorite games of the 8-bit era. That's mostly because they represent a diverse assortment of gameplay styles integrated seamlessly into the same game, and it all works beautifully. (Many games in the 8- and 16- bit eras that genre-hop may have variety, but they don't do any one thing particularly well. This was not the case with these Compile games.) They're shmups and great port of R-type on the SMS are another reason to love them.

I snag Compile Heart releases these days when they show up, but unfortunately nothing newer can even approach how great their 8- and 16-bit stuff was. Too bad, but I'll always love them.

[c2000]

Data East, love the Side Pocket series.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://www.underdogcollector.com/photogallery/collectibles/Underdog%20game.jpg

Milton Bradley. Obviously.

What, too literal a response?

[kupomogli]

From Software. They're well known now because of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, but back then you were hard pressed to find anyone a fan of their games. It's rare that I'll come across a game developed by them that I don't like, but that's because how great of a developer they are.

Media.Vision. Developers of the Wild ARMs series. Wild ARMs is my favorite RPG series. Each game has a unique and extremely fun gameplay element added to them that makes them different from the previous game. Kind of like how Final Fantasy decided to start going in different directions except the Wild ARMs games have actually been good. I'm a fan of this developer because of the Wild ARMs series alone, but Gunner's Heaven is a good game also. Never played that Wizard of Oz game and not interested to, but also not going to go out of my way to play the others either.

[Darkman2K5]

Team Andromeda for the Panzer Dragoon series. Presto Studios for The Journeyman Project series, a PC game series.

[Aussie2B]

tri-Ace for their amazing RPGs, CyberConnect2 for Tail Concerto and Solatorobo, and Almanic/Givro for the Wonder Project J series (EVO is good stuff too).

[RPG_Fanatic]

Working Designs, They really only ported my fav. games RPG's

[tomwaits]

I don't know if an indie downloadable game developer qualifies as an underdog, but I really like Pom Pom Games. Astro Tripper, Alien Zombie Megadeath, Mutant Storm, Jelly Pops.

Simple, fast paced retro gaming on current gen consoles. Fun stuff.

[Nebagram]

Guess I'll be the first to say it- Llamasoft. :D

[j_factor]

Core Design pre-Tomb Raider put out a lot of interesting games. They also get brownie points from me for supporting Sega CD. Soul Star ftw.

[RCM]

Wolf Team and their work on Sega CD. I'm only half kidding, heh.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I love this thread. Contributing. These are my very favorite underdog developers, ever.

http://blog.wayforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/whitelogo.png
WayForward Technologies Inc

Favorite game they've made: Shantae (2002, GBC)

http://www.infendo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/logo.png
Natsume Inc

Favorite game they've made: Shadow of the Ninja (1991, NES)

http://segaretro.org/images/thumb/2/21/GameArts_logo.svg/200px-GameArts_logo.svg.png
GameArts Studio

Favorite game they've made: Lunar: The Silver Star (1993, Sega CD)

http://www.sunsoftgames.com/style/sunsoft_logo.455x80.png
Sunsoft

Favorite game they've made: Gimmick! (1992, Famicom)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/Nis.png
Nippon Ichi Software Inc

Favorite game they've made: Rhapsody: a Musical Adventure

[Korppi]

EDIT: nevermind

[Collector_Gaming]

LJN mofos!!!!
http://i2.listal.com/image/2678252/500full.jpg
...
i am kidding jeeze guys

Although i still say their best game ever is nightmare on elm street the game which i think gets horrible rap from gamers expecting the super uber game to end all games in the 80s.


Data east made some good stuff. Some shitty stuff but some good stuff as well
http://mimg.ugo.com/201106/7/2/8/198827/baddudes-12.png
"Im bad!"

Burger Time i mean how can you go wrong with burger time?
karate champ
Kung Fu Master

[Ryudo]

http://i.imgur.com/YmuIn.jpg

Because they make my fave series ever in the Ys series.

http://i.imgur.com/GaIs6.jpg

Also these guys for bringing it to the US
http://i.imgur.com/2pWbR.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1bQWF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0sYRp.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/YrSINl.jpg

[Zebbe]

Treasure & Tecno Soft. And Sega were underdogs in the console market until the Mega Drive started selling so well, so I guess they too.

[TurboGenesis]

http://segaretro.org/images/thumb/2/21/GameArts_logo.svg/200px-GameArts_logo.svg.png
GameArts Studio

Favorite game they've made: Lunar: The Silver Star (1993, Sega CD)


http://images.nuttymp3.com/artist/61/61344889.jpg

I LOVE Game Arts... I really enjoy their lesser known titles...
Alicia Dragoon
Veigues Tactical Galdiator
Silpheed (Sega CD)
Faria

as well as their big name RPG franchises Lunar and Grandia

[substantial_snake]

From Software. They're well known now because of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, but back then you were hard pressed to find anyone a fan of their games. It's rare that I'll come across a game developed by them that I don't like, but that's because how great of a developer they are.

I would like to echo this about From Software as well. Their series armored core has been a personal favorite for mine for years and although I have not been a fan of their "next gen" installments the older games have given me some of my best times and most treasured gamer memories.

Westwood is a personal favorite of mine as well. I pretty much loved everything they produced and their distinct style made all of their titles fun. The Red Alert and Tiberium series go down as two of my favorite series in gaming and the weird blend they made between RTS and FPS with Renagade was a ton of fun. its just too bad that they were one of the many entities that were absorbed in EA's amoeba phase.

I would also like to add Genki to the honerable mentions list.

I didn't like every game they put out by a long shot but the Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Drift series are again some of my favorite games. They are definitely not for everyone but I have yet to play another racer where you can swap a Lotus Espree's Twin Turbo V8 for a 20b rotary and other totally awesome off the wall things along with little minute GT like tuning to improve car performance. Also the translation was always just enough to understand but also not enough to be incredibly funny. Ranking up in the game to aquire names from teriyaki street boy to depressed burning carless iron was just so F****** awesome. Loved all of those games. :D

[Steven]

Hudson, Natsume, Technos definitely. Natsume came out with one of the most underrated unknown SNES games around:

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_1474978/Budokan-Fatal4-7.JPG

I also like NCS/Masaya a lot. They were responsible for the never released OB Club (AKA BS Out of Bounds Golf, another sadly unknown SNES gem)

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_1518678/EGMOBCLUB.jpg

[Thrillo]

Tengen, definitely. They made and/or published some solid arcade ports for the NES, such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Super Sprint, etc. Two of their games were also ported by other companies as well (Ms. Pac-Man and Tetris) and in both cases, the Tengen version is superior.
And on top of that Tengen was a true underdog, what with their decision to give Nintendo the finger and publish games on their own, and the messy Tetris lawsuit. Too bad they lost 'em both and eventually ended up folding because of that, as it'd be interesting to see what crazy lawsuits they'd be involved in nowadays :)

[joshnickerson]

I'd say Wayforward, since they seem to doing their best to keep 2-D sprites alive in a world of fully rendered polygons.

[T2KFreeker]

Sadly, all three of mine are now gone. Working Design did some of the most amazing translations of RPG's and games ever. I loved Hudson Soft. Back in the Turbo Grafx days, they were amazing and still put out a game or two since that were outstanding. Lastly, lobotomy was amazing. They made QUAKE and Duke Nukem' on the Saturn when everyone said it could be done. I guess these days I have to go with Renegade Kid. The Dementium games on the DS were amazing and keep me wanting another one!

[Aussie2B]

Hudson is still around. They're just a subsidiary of Konami now, albeit kind of forgotten. Not unlike Taito with Square Enix.

[Damaramu]

Another vote for Game Arts. I LOVE the Gungriffon series and Alisia Dragoon is one my favorite Genesis titles.

[Hwj_Chim]

It is a newer company but mine is Vanillaware. Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire were two of my favorite games on the PS2, and Dragon's Crown on the PS3 looks awesome.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q197/hwj_chim/1103717-vanillaware_small_logo_large.png

[kupomogli]

I'm going to also going to echo others by saying say XSeed, Working Designs, and the old Atlus as my favorite publishers.

[Drixxel]

From Software. They're well known now because of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, but back then you were hard pressed to find anyone a fan of their games. It's rare that I'll come across a game developed by them that I don't like, but that's because how great of a developer they are.


I would like to echo this about From Software as well. Their series armored core has been a personal favorite for mine for years and although I have not been a fan of their "next gen" installments the older games have given me some of my best times and most treasured gamer memories.

A third vote for From Software as top underdog, one of the coolest and most unique Japanese developers around that have made some of my favourite games. I'm thankful that King's Field found an immediate audience in Japan, that's a bold series to launch a game division on but I suppose if any market was to seriously dig a first person, plodding pace, unforgiving RPG, it'd be Japan. No shortage of imagination with these folks.

[gameofyou]

Treasure, for the excellent games they put out on Saturn & N64.

[Emperor Megas]

I'm not sure is Telenet Japan was ever really an underdog developer, but their American subsidiary, Renovation, probably qualifies. They aren't around anymore though, so their more defunct than an underdog.

Cave is certainly a favorite of mine. They really just put out bullet hell shooters. I'd prefer standard, non-manic shooters, but they're one of the few companies still doing 2D arcade games.

Does SEGA count as an underdog developer these days?

[hbkprm]

ill give it to aksys cause they have rights to most of the technos ips. platnum games for bayenetta. zeyba games for breath of death vii and sega technical insitute for sonic 2 and 3 and comix zone

[treismac]

Does SEGA count as an underdog developer these days?

I'd say yes.

[Bloodreign]

Not sure if Taito counts as an underdog, but Bubble Bobble and it's sequels, Darius games, Liquid Kids, New Zealand Story, the Rayforce trilogy (Rayforce, Raystorm, and Raycrisis), Kick Master, the two Power Blade games, Puzzle Bobble series, Cleopatra Fortune, Pop N Pop, and much much more. They had some unique ideas for games back in the day, they weren't afraid to take risks.

Game Arts were more known for Lunar, but damn it if I didn't fall in love with the Alisia Dragoon game first time I played it, and got lucky and found it in the wild 2 days later.

[pseudonym]

Lots of good choices here, a few I didn't see in the thread so far.

Older: Irem, Compile.
Newer: WayForward.

[Shulamana]

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/7438/683708-quest_logo_copy_large.jpg

Quest, for bringing us the Ogre Battle series as well as setting the standard for isometric tactical RPGs with Tactics Ogre (and spawning the group that made Final Fantasy Tactics for Square immediately after).

Now part of the Greater Squeenix Co-Prosperity Sphere.

[Cryomancer]

I have tons of these, but I'll throw out Sandlot, Tamsoft, and Telenet Japan.

[StealthLurker]

Cave is certainly a favorite of mine. They really just put out bullet hell shooters. I'd prefer standard, non-manic shooters, but they're one of the few companies still doing 2D arcade games.


While in the overall gaming world as a whole Cave is an "underdog", within the shooting game/shmup community it's like IBM. People get tired of yet another Cave fan singing it's praises and want people to give the underdog or lesser known/mentioned dev houses in the shmup genre some light. Just kinda funny to me seeing Cave marked as an "underdog", though completely understandable.

As for me I'd throw another vote to Game Arts.... was floored early on with the likes of Thexder and Silpheed on the old computer platforms. Their console releases were great as well.

.

[TurboGenesis]

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/7438/683708-quest_logo_copy_large.jpg

Quest, for bringing us the Ogre Battle series as well as setting the standard for isometric tactical RPGs with Tactics Ogre (and spawning the group that made Final Fantasy Tactics for Square immediately after).

Now part of the Greater Squeenix Co-Prosperity Sphere.

see my avatar for my allegiance to Quest...

[Shulamana]

see my avatar for my allegiance to Quest...

I was surprised to see Magical Chase on their list of games but the Wikipedia article says that it was it was developed by a company called Palsoft, can you enlighten me at all on that?

[Drixxel]

Not sure if Taito counts as an underdog, but Bubble Bobble and it's sequels, Darius games, Liquid Kids, New Zealand Story, the Rayforce trilogy (Rayforce, Raystorm, and Raycrisis), Kick Master, the two Power Blade games, Puzzle Bobble series, Cleopatra Fortune, Pop N Pop, and much much more. They had some unique ideas for games back in the day, they weren't afraid to take risks.

Kick Master was actually the work of the talented NES devs at KID (Low G Man, G.I. Joe, Recca), Taito handled publishing. Still, Taito deserves props for getting it out there.

[TurboGenesis]

I was surprised to see Magical Chase on their list of games but the Wikipedia article says that it was it was developed by a company called Palsoft, can you enlighten me at all on that?

I am not fully sure of the collaboration of Quest and Palsoft on Magical Chase, but Magical Chase was done by Hiroshi Minagawa, who also worked on the first Ogre Battle game and Tactics Ogre, before going to Square...

[old man]

Quintet - Actraiser, Soul Blazer, Terranigma, etc.

[XYXZYZ]

So many fantastic developers, I can't pick a favorite.

I want to mention RED, the developers of Gate of Thunder, LORDS OF THUNDER :guitar:, and the Tengai Makyou / Far East of Eden series.

http://win.webxprs.com/remakes/images/remakes/lordsofthunder/Lords%20of%20Thunder%20(6).jpg

http://pds20.egloos.com/pds/201011/04/33/b0006633_4cd2c489c7a92.jpg

I'd also like to mention FACE, who made Metal Stoker for the PC Engine, and Nostradamus, an arcade shmup.

And I certainly can't let this thread go without mentioning Psikyo. I love Psikyo shooters, I prefer them over CAVE's.

[Jim]

Vic Tokai is my pick. They developed some of my favourite Sega titles - Psycho Fox, Decap Attack and Columns III, to name a few. I'd definitely label them an underdog.

[xelement5x]

Definitely Working Designs, my allegiance to them is well beyond what is probably healthy. I'd consider them more of a publisher than developer per se, but they did do a lot for the localizations. Other older developers I loved were Atlus (modern Atlus not so much) and Hudson, Game Arts also did a lot of the awesome stuff that WD localized.

More current developer, I'd have to say NIS and Falcom, someone else said Media Vision and I loved the WA games too. XSEED is also more of a publisher/localization group in my eyes, but I appreciate the stuff that they take the time to bring out. Plus, keeping special editions awesome is a fine idea.

[Aussie2B]

I want to mention RED, the developers of Gate of Thunder, LORDS OF THUNDER :guitar:, and the Tengai Makyou / Far East of Eden series.

Nice choice. It always amazes me how many classics, which are usually attributed to other developers, that Red had their hands in. I believe we also have them to thank for the Bonk series. Sakura Taisen/Wars too.

[j_factor]

Red also made Gungrave, Blood Will Tell, Tempo, and The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Sakura Wars, which is also credited to Overworks.