Developer Obscura Vol. 1: Pony Canyon & Friends

[idrougge]

Funnily, I also find myself in the middle of investigating these companies right now. Here's a theory: Perhaps Newtopia Planning, as the name implies, and as the "produced by" credits imply, was in fact just a middle-hand, doing the planning for games while handing the hard work out to subcontractors even further down the chain, such as Miki/Fujiwara Pro. This is just yet another theory.

[idrougge]

I have mailed Infinity about their past connection with Newtopia. Their boss is Yukio Horimoto, of Battle of Olympus fame. Let's hope they respond.

[idrougge]

- I thought Reiko Oshida might be from Infinity, but she's probably just a freelance graphic artist.

Here's food for thought: a director at the current Infinity is called Reiko Horimoto. Could Oshida have married Yukio Horimoto?

As for Hitoshi Yasuda, I'm certain he belongs to Group SNE. I only find him in games "developed" by SNE, and I think that's a dead end. SNE seems to be a licencing and planning company; they don't seem to do any actual development work themselves, apart from drawing design documents and following progress at the actual developers.

[CRV]

Here's food for thought: a director at the current Infinity is called Reiko Horimoto. Could Oshida have married Yukio Horimoto?

I would say "probably." She worked on graphics for the GameCube version of Ribbit King. Yukio was one of the programmers.

Yes, Infinity did the GameCube version of Ribbit King. Their works list only mentions that version. So I don't know if they did the PS2 version.


As for Hitoshi Yasuda, I'm certain he belongs to Group SNE. I only find him in games "developed" by SNE, and I think that's a dead end. SNE seems to be a licencing and planning company; they don't seem to do any actual development work themselves, apart from drawing design documents and following progress at the actual developers.

Yes, Hitoshi Yasuda IS from Group SNE. Group SNE is a company mostly involved with making pen-and-paper and table RPGs. Their involvement in video games doesn't seem to beyond those things you pointed out. However, I did consider Group SNE a developer on PCE Cyber Knight, since Ryo Mizuno of Group SNE designed the game. But maybe I shouldn't. What do you think?

[idrougge]

Here's food for thought: a director at the current Infinity is called Reiko Horimoto. Could Oshida have married Yukio Horimoto?

I would say "probably." She worked on graphics for the GameCube version of Ribbit King. Yukio was one of the programmers.

You always seem to be one step ahead.


Yes, Infinity did the GameCube version of Ribbit King. Their works list only mentions that version. So I don't know if they did the PS2 version.

I'd say they did not. They have a separate page where they list their original concepts, and those are few. Ribbit is not listed there. Their specialty seems to be ports in any case, just a look at the release list tells you that.



As for Hitoshi Yasuda, I'm certain he belongs to Group SNE. I only find him in games "developed" by SNE, and I think that's a dead end. SNE seems to be a licencing and planning company; they don't seem to do any actual development work themselves, apart from drawing design documents and following progress at the actual developers.

Yes, Hitoshi Yasuda IS from Group SNE. Group SNE is a company mostly involved with making pen-and-paper and table RPGs. Their involvement in video games doesn't seem to beyond those things you pointed out. However, I did consider Group SNE a developer on PCE Cyber Knight, since Ryo Mizuno of Group SNE designed the game. But maybe I shouldn't. What do you think?

That depends on what you mean by "develop". Planning and writing scenario is of course a development job, but the hard work was done by Compile. I'm more intrigued by who did the SNES version. Did Tonkinhouse/Tokyo Shoseki have its own development team?

[idrougge]

I received a prompt reply from Mr. Horimoto. He recalls that Newtopia Planning was a 2nd party (his words) to Ponyca. Newtopia's boss was Koji Ichikawa, who is now boss of Locus (http://www.locus.co.jp/kaisyaannai/index.html). The development contract for Ultima - Seisha e no michi (Avatar) was given by Newtopia to Infinity through a company called Digital Presence, run by the boss of another company called Digital Arts.

So now we get a picture of the complicated make-up of the Japanese software industry, and know who Koji Ichikawa is. It might also support my theory that Newtopia wasn't a real program house.

Edit: Can't find a trace of Digital Presence, but Digital Arts is operating as a company still. Founded in 1986, made framebuffers. Now it is specialised in scan converters, though it seems to take on software development contracts as well. No mention of games in its company history.
The company history for Locus says that it started out as a software consulting company, with the localisation of Wizardry and Ultima as its primary business. I should probably mail them and ask if they're the same company as Newtopia. They were founded in 1986.

[Ed Oscuro]

What was the extent of your email question? I understand that you didn't want to ask too much, of course.

[CRV]

The company history for Locus says that it started out as a software consulting company, with the localisation of Wizardry and Ultima as its primary business. I should probably mail them and ask if they're the same company as Newtopia. They were founded in 1986.

It's entirely possible.

The earliest game I can find from Locus is a 1993 Game Boy game called Panel Action Bingo, published by FCI in the US. I presumed they were the developer, but now, I'm not so sure. They share the copyright. They later worked on some Wizardry ports for the PlayStation/Saturn/Windows.

http://review-site.net/developer/ro.html#ローカス

[idrougge]

The earliest game I can find from Locus is a 1993 Game Boy game called Panel Action Bingo, published by FCI in the US. I presumed they were the developer, but now, I'm not so sure. They share the copyright. They later worked on some Wizardry ports for the PlayStation/Saturn/Windows.

http://review-site.net/developer/ro.html#????

As SIT says, they only (with emphasis on only) do production and planning.

Is it anything you think I should ask Horimoto or Lotus?

[idrougge]

What was the extent of your email question? I understand that you didn't want to ask too much, of course.

I basically asked if they knew anything about Newtopia, and if it possibly was the old name for Infinity. Well, it can't have been that, since it says Infinity even on the title screen of Olympos no tatakai, but I hadn't played that game until today. The ending for Olympos credits only three people: Y. Horimoto, R. Oshimoto and K. Sawa.

[idrougge]

What was the extent of your email question? I understand that you didn't want to ask too much, of course.

I basically asked if they knew anything about Newtopia, and if it possibly was the old name for Infinity. Well, it can't have been that, since it says Infinity even on the title screen of Olympos no tatakai, but I hadn't played that game until today. The ending for Olympos credits only three people: Y. Horimoto, R. Oshimoto and K. Sawa.

[CRV]

Is it anything you think I should ask Horimoto or Lotus?

I would just go ahead and ask Locus about Newtopia Planning.

As for Tokyo Shoseki, which you asked about before, I'm not sure if they actually developed anything or not.

[Ed Oscuro]

What was the extent of your email question? I understand that you didn't want to ask too much, of course.

I basically asked if they knew anything about Newtopia, and if it possibly was the old name for Infinity. Well, it can't have been that, since it says Infinity even on the title screen of Olympos no tatakai, but I hadn't played that game until today. The ending for Olympos credits only three people: Y. Horimoto, R. Oshimoto and K. Sawa.
Hmm...could you ask him what games he remembers having worked on, and what teams he was with? Anyway, thanks for doing this, you're awesome.

[CRV]

I was digging through the ISO for 1994's "Eye of the Beholder" for the Sega CD, looking for credits. Well, guess who's involved. Satoru Miki and Hiroyuki Fujiwara and all the "usual suspects" from what we're calling "Miki & Fujiwara Production." That blows my theory out of the water. Maybe ISCO really didn't develop games like MD Midnight Resistance and MD Master of Monsters. They certainly were involved since the company president, Shigeki Saka, produced or supervised many of them.

Iggy, you think you could e-mail ISCO about this whole thing?

[idrougge]

I don't know, what should I ask? We're having a 30 degree heat wave here, so I can hardly think. ;-)

Could you post those credits for EOTB?

[CRV]

I don't know. Ask if they actually developed those games or just produced them. Ask about Satoru Miki & Hiroyuki Fujiwara.

Eye of the Beholder Sega CD Credits

PRODUCER
Yasutaka Ukai
Makoto Ichinoseki

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Hiroyuki Fujiwara
Satoru Miki

GRAPHICS
Atsuhiro Gunji
Hiroshi Akagi
Ken Takagi
Yasuaki Mizutani
Saeko Satou
Kiyoto Yoshimura

GAME DESIGN
Atsuhiro Gunji
Masaaki Furuya

MUSIC
Yuzo Koshiro
Motohiro Kawashima

SOUND EFFECTS
Hitoshi Sakimoto (YmoH.S)

VISUAL
Makoto Ichinoseki
Kiyoto Yoshimura
Yoko Ogasawara

GRAPHICS
Atsuhiro Gunji
Ken Takagi

SOUND EDIT
Hidefumi Ohara
Keiichi Yoshida
Kiyoto Yoshimura

VOICES
Martha Carlucci
Teacey Steinmetz
Margot Blattmann
Charlens Landrum
Tim Brown
Harold Johnson
James Ward
Nicholas Beliacff

TRASLATION SUPERVISE
GROUP SNE
Hitoshi Yasuda
Miyuki Kiyomatsu
Megumi Tsuge

PROMOTION
Yoshiaki Matsumoto
Masayoshi Kanagawa

Testing
Jeff Gregg

THANKS TO
Darren
Ross
Eric
Erik
Rich
Charlene
Robert
Albert
Michael
Mr. Fukuda
Elaine
Cynthia Po (I don't know if these names are supposed to be together or separate)
Kuniaki Ikariya (SEGA)
Yuji Ikeuchi (SEGA)

SPECIAL THANKS TO
James Ward (TSR)
Nicholas Beliaeff
Kaz Saito (FCI-NY)
Doreen Do (FCI-NY)
Eiko Nagata (FCI-NY)
James MacLean (FCI-NY)

[idrougge]

- I was looking Ultima: Exodus for the MSX2 tonight. While it says "Produced by Newtopia Planning," if you look in the ROM, it says "Ultima Msx2 version by Miki & Fujiwara Production."

Interestingly, Ultima 1 for the MSX is "produced" by Newtopia Planning, but ported by two other companies which are not listed in SIT - SuperStation, Inc. and Desktop, Inc.

Credits:
Original by Richard Garriott (Lord British)
Directed by Kunihiko Kagawa
Coordinated by Koji Ichikawa, Yasuhiro Kawashima
Program Directed by K. Mizuno (JF2AJA)
Programmed by H. Fujita, K. Takeuchi, H. Miyoshi, T. Tsujioka (JH1NRR)
Pictured by Mari Miyazawa
Music by Takeshi Yasuda
Art Design by Hideki Haruta
Special thanks to Shiro Hirano, Yusuke Nakajima, Koichiro Mori
Translation work by SuperStation Inc., Desktop Inc.
Produced by Newtopia Planning
Presented by Ponycanyon Inc.

[CRV]

Here's a page featuring T. Tsujioka (JH1NRR). It's quite old. I doubt the e-mail address works.

http://mmm.uec.ac.jp:8081/club/koken/team/yamahan/members/tsujioka.html

Here's a Japanese site featuring info on Ultima and other RPG series. It's seems JH1NRR/SuperStation/DeskTop "translated" the PC-98 Ultima ports.

http://www.saturn.dti.ne.jp/~dastard/azito.htm

[idrougge]

Didn't think of looking up those callsigns, but they seem to lead somewhere, at least. Will try to contact them later on.

[Dimitri]

Going back to Micronics for a second, I found somewhere someone mentioned that Micronics might have been (or been part of) Treco. The suggestion that Atomic Robo-Kid on MD was also by them, but credits don't seem to exist for that particular game. However:

Task Force Harrier EX:
Management Hiromitsu Kususe
Creative Staff
Task Force Harrier EX
Director Team Griffin
Takashi Kuroda
Ryo Saitou
Planner Yoh Hayakawa
Main Programmer Y.K
Sub Programmer Yuuichi Yamaguchi
Special Programmer Mitoshi Asakawa
Main Graphic Designer Yoh Hayakawa
Graphic Designer Mitusru Ishida
Masaru Yokoura
Sound Tenpei Satou
SE M. Kajihara
PCM T. Suzuki
Special Thanks Takashi Ohga
Satoru Tanaka
Mura
Yaga Shooting Master
Tsu-Chi
Kimi Chan
Mo-Rin
Midori Chan
Naoko Chan
Meiko Chan
Master of Games
Take Chan
Presented by Treco 1991

Street Smart:
Presend by American Treco Corporation
Staff
Boss E.Kawasaki
Producer Tsuka
Designer Nobuhiko
Wada UG
Natsuji
Wara2
Helper Akira Goto
Programmer Imasa
Sound Programmer Doda
Sound Jojoha Kitamura
Special Thanks Shinchan
Bento- Matsuyama
Kura
and SNK Arcade Version Staff

Twin Cobra:
Publisher Hajime Satomi
Producer Hiromitsu Kususe
Assistant Producer Tatsuhiko Tsuchida
Takashi Ohga
Midori Sawada
Takashi Kuroda
Akihiro Murayama
Program Designer Hyakumangoku Hamada
Oshiete Kawacyan
Art Creator Numatoroh
Etoh Shiwasu
Kencyan Arumon Mark-2
Harada Riku-Shicyoh
Arumon Puls
Hashiuri Yuki
Kidokoro Mai
Music Arrange Raika no Papa
Super Data Maker Dotsukanpo Itoh
Executive Director Yoshiaki Sawada
SPecial Thanks Gamenanoyo-N Shigecyan
Silpheed
Silence Takahashi
Dadida Syohji
Tetorisu Kudasai Maccyan
Bakkin Tamayama
Yukimi Papa
Urakurenai Man 7
Egawa Bucyoh
Yamanaka San
Hex Dec Bin Imoto
Presented by Sega Enterprises Ltd.
(C) 1991 All Rights Reserved

Y.K and Yuuichi Yamaguchi might be the "Y.Kazzo" and "Yuichi" listed in several Micronics games.

Takashi Kuroda is also mentioned in the NES version of Twin Cobra, but he may be someone from Taito since he's also mentioned in MD Sagaia.

(Street Smart is only up there in case someone else spots a connection that CRV and I missed.)

[Kitsune Sniper]

Here's food for thought: a director at the current Infinity is called Reiko Horimoto. Could Oshida have married Yukio Horimoto?
Probably not. The name Reiko is fairly common in Japan, as far as I know.

[CRV]

Probably not. The name Reiko is fairly common in Japan, as far as I know.

Considering that both Reiko Oshida and Reiko Horimoto did graphics in games, I'm leaning toward "yes."

[idrougge]

I found our friend Reiko Oshida hiding inside the SNES Sim Earth ROM today. It's published by Imagineer in Japan, but developed by a company called TomCat System (http://www.tomcatsystem.co.jp/game.html), made up of old Namco employees. Thankfully, they have an exhaustive list of works.

BTW, do we know who did FC Ballblazer yet?

[idrougge]

Y.K and Yuuichi Yamaguchi might be the "Y.Kazzo" and "Yuichi" listed in several Micronics games.

The programmer of Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings (Video System) on the SNES is called Kazzo. I've always written Kazzo off as a nickname for "Kazuo", mind you.

[CRV]

The programmer of Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings (Video System) on the SNES is called Kazzo. I've always written Kazzo off as a nickname for "Kazuo", mind you.

1) Yes, I noticed that. M. Tsukuda is also there. They're both in the arcade credits. I don't know what to make of that.

2) I'm wondering if Opera House is indeed Miki & Fujiwara Production. Looking at the Break Time (NES) credits again, the project manager is from Pony Canyon and everyone else seems to be from Miki & Fujiwara.

3) I was looking at the Double Hawk (SMS) credits again, too. Nannorio and Noboru Machida (Noborunrun) are there as planner and director respectively. But the rest of the credits I have not seen in another Sanritsu/SIMS game. But look at the programmers. Fujichan and Mikisama. Could it be Hiroyuki Fujiwara and Satoru Miki? Could Sanritsu have outsourced the game to Miki & Fujiwara Production/Opera House/whatever it is?

[idrougge]

2) I'm wondering if Opera House is indeed Miki & Fujiwara Production. Looking at the Break Time (NES) credits again, the project manager is from Pony Canyon and everyone else seems to be from Miki & Fujiwara.

The only game by Miki & Fujiwara Production I know of is Ultima Exodus (MSX), and I find no correlation at all.
Takeshi 'Honami' Yasuda did music on Ultima 1 (MSX), though.

I do however find some correlation with Super Runner (MSX), though it seems to be Pony personnel.

Have you looked at other ports of Ultima than NES and Famicom?


3) I was looking at the Double Hawk (SMS) credits again, too. Nannorio and Noboru Machida (Noborunrun) are there as planner and director respectively. But the rest of the credits I have not seen in another Sanritsu/SIMS game. But look at the programmers. Fujichan and Mikisama. Could it be Hiroyuki Fujiwara and Satoru Miki? Could Sanritsu have outsourced the game to Miki & Fujiwara Production/Opera House/whatever it is?

I am quite convinced. I think I'll submit that to Mobygames.

[CRV]

The only game by Miki & Fujiwara Production I know of is Ultima Exodus (MSX), and I find no correlation at all.
Takeshi 'Honami' Yasuda did music on Ultima 1 (MSX), though.

Well, besides Yasuda and Arimoto, everybody seems to be from the same developer. Just take a look at these credits. I've put an asterix next to everyone I've associated with Miki & Fujiwara/Opera House/whatever.

http://gdri.smspower.org/iscocredits.txt

It would seem Hitoshi Sakimoto was contracted to them as well.

My current theory: Miki & Fujiwara Production started out as a two-man operation. When it grew, it became Opera House.


Have you looked at other ports of Ultima than NES and Famicom?

We have looked at some of the MSX ones, haven't we?

[idrougge]

The only game by Miki & Fujiwara Production I know of is Ultima Exodus (MSX), and I find no correlation at all.
Takeshi 'Honami' Yasuda did music on Ultima 1 (MSX), though.

Well, besides Yasuda and Arimoto, everybody seems to be from the same developer. Just take a look at these credits. I've put an asterix next to everyone I've associated with Miki & Fujiwara/Opera House/whatever.

http://gdri.smspower.org/iscocredits.txt

Oh, I thought that you meant games that actually credited M&F Pro. I haven't come around to reconstructing such a company. I have just thought of it as ISCO calling up freelancers whenever it needed a game.

As for ISCO, it seems that there are some credits in Classic Road 2, but I haven't seen them. Have you?


It would seem Hitoshi Sakimoto was contracted to them as well.

Musicians are often freelancers since they want to retain rights to their own compositions.


My current theory: Miki & Fujiwara Production started out as a two-man operation. When it grew, it became Opera House.

Have you found any references to Opera House outside of Breaktime?



Have you looked at other ports of Ultima than NES and Famicom?

We have looked at some of the MSX ones, haven't we?

Sorry, I meant MSX and NES.

[CRV]

Oh, I thought that you meant games that actually credited M&F Pro. I haven't come around to reconstructing such a company. I have just thought of it as ISCO calling up freelancers whenever it needed a game.

Interesting that these "freelancers" also worked on Pony Canyon games together.


As for ISCO, it seems that there are some credits in Classic Road 2, but I haven't seen them. Have you?

I have a program installed called "NJWIN - NJStar CJK Viewer," which lets me view Japanese characters. It was in either the Classic Road or Classic Road II ROM where I saw "YMOH.S." But I couldn't copy and paste anything useful, just garbage as usual.


Musicians are often freelancers since they want to retain rights to their own compositions.

I know Sakimoto was a freelancer, but he seemed to have a contract with "this group."


Have you found any references to Opera House outside of Breaktime?

No, not yet. But I can't point out anybody in the Break Time credits who doesn't appear to be with "this group" or Pony Canyon. With FC Ultima IV, produced by Newtopia, I can point to the producer Yasuo Hattori and say, "Hey, he's from Newtopia."


Sorry, I meant MSX and NES.

There were those PC-98 ports that were apparently by JH1NRR and company.

NOTE: I've added GB Bubble Ghost to iscocredits.txt

[idrougge]

As for ISCO, it seems that there are some credits in Classic Road 2, but I haven't seen them. Have you?

I have a program installed called "NJWIN - NJStar CJK Viewer," which lets me view Japanese characters. It was in either the Classic Road or Classic Road II ROM where I saw "YMOH.S." But I couldn't copy and paste anything useful, just garbage as usual.

Oh my god! I had never though that they would put SJIS straight into a SNES ROM!

Here's what I found:


Classic road II (SNES):
-----------------------
STAFF
The Original Plan
????? (Yoshihiro Hanaoka)
The Original Game
????????? (Progress co., Ltd.)
Programmer
???? (Satoru Miki)
Chief Graphic Designer
????? (Hiroshi Akagi)
Composer
????? (Hayato Matsuo)
Sound Designer
?????? (Hitoshi Sakimoto)
Game Designer
????? (Masaaki Furuya)
Blood Data
???? (??? ???)
???? (Katsu/Masaru/Suguru Satou)
Graphic Supporter
????? (Atsuhiro Gunji)
????? (Kunihiko Nishikimi/Nishimi)
???? (Project leader/supervisor)
????? (Shigeki Saka)
????? (Hiroaki Iwano)
Test Player
????? (Akinori Aika/Ouka/Ouga)
????? (Masato Ishii)
Special Thanks
???? (Noboru Matsuzaki)
????? (Junko Watanabe)
Dialect Adviser
????? (Shuusaburou Matsuoka)
Director
????? (Hiroyuki/Hiroshi Furui)




Classic road (SNES):
--------------------
Original idea: Progress co., Ltd.
Original work: Yoshihiro Hanaoka
Director: Hiroshi/Hiroyuki Yasui
Assistant director: Tetsuya Shinotsuka/Shinozuka
Program: Satoru Miki
Graphic design: Hiroshi Akagi, Yasuaki Mizutani, Atsuhiro Gunji, Kiyoto/Seijin/Sumito Yoshimura
Graphic support: Kunihiko Nishikimi/Nishimi, Tomohiro Ueno
Sound design: YMOH.S, Hayato Matsuo
Sound support: Tsukasa Tawada
Project manager/supervisor: Shigeki Saka, Hiroaki Iwano, Hidetoshi Uchida
Special Thanks: Yoshiaki Iwasawa, Kouki Minami, Shunji/Toshiyuki Nishizawa, Kaku Maetani, Masumi/Makoto/Tadashi/Atsushi Morio, ??? Oozeki, Katsu/Masaru/Suguru Satou, Sadahiro Harada (Three of these worked with marketing for Victor/JVC around the same time)
Game design: Masaaki Furuya
Supervisor: Tsutomu/Osamu/Atsushi Okabe


Draw your own conclusions, I'm going to bed now.

[CRV]

Oh my god! I had never though that they would put SJIS straight into a SNES ROM!

Here's what I found:

Good work. Here we see Furuya, Miki, Gunji, and Akagi together again.

Not sure who or what Progress Co., Ltd. is, though.

[idrougge]

I checked Kyûyaku Megamitensei today:


Kyûyaku Megamitensei (SNES):
----------------------------
General Producer
H.YOKOYAMA
Producer
Y.NIINO
Chief Director
T.KAI
Co-director
M.TAKAHASHI
Character Design
K.KANEKO
SoundComposition
MACCO
TITLEIllustration
NORIMASA MATSUSHITA
Main Programer
YOUDERNG
Main Programer
Y.TAKASHIBA
Visual Programer
C.TOKUHIRO
Programer
H.FUJIWARA, S.MIKI
Scenario Plan
M.FURUYA
Scenario Plan
J.WATANABE
Chief Designer
K.YOSHIMURA
Designer
A.GUNJI, H.AKAGI
Designer
Y.MIZUTANI, S.SATO
Designer
T.IWASAKI, M.IKENAGA
Sound Composer
YMOH.S
ImageIllustration
R.TOBE
Marketing
S.AIHARA, M.IDEN, T.KOMATSU, F.ISHII
Marketing
N.KAWAI, K.YAMAMOTO, T.HANYA, S.MINOWA
Thanks to
Y.ASADA (NAMCO Ltd.), Y.TSUYUKI (NAMCO Ltd.)
Thanks to
K.OKADA, H.IWANO, Y.KOJIMA, T.MARUYAMA
Thanks to
E.SHIOTA, Y.EBIHARA, K.HISADA, T.TAMURA
Special Thanks to NAMCO Ltd.
Presented by ATLUS Ltd.


Several familiar names there.

Checking Super Hockey '94/Super Ice Hockey brings up all the usual suspects:



Super ice hockey (SNES):
------------------------
SUPER ICE HOCKEY STAFF
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
S.YONEZAWA
GENERAL PRODUCER
S.AKUTSU
PRODUCER
T.FUJIOKA (FROM ESPAL)
PLANNER
H.OHARA
PROGRAM
NEKO, S.MIKI, H.FUJIWARA, Y.OGASAWARA
GRAPHIC
A.GUNJI, CAP, Y.MIZUTANI, N.ISHIGAMI
MUSIC
YMOH.S, H.MATSUO
DIRECTOR
S.SAKA
ASISTANT DIRECTOR
H.IWANO, H.UCHIDA
ART DIRECTION
K.OBI (FROM ESPAL)
THANKS FOR
H.SHIMIZU, MR.CHAWAN-YA & MR.FUJIKAWA (FROM JET THUNDERBIRDS), MR.MIYAKE (FROM LE BAL), SHIGERU.O


I also ran a check on Numbers Paradise. The game text was readable half-width kana, but no trace of any credits, bar that MOMOI TOSHIHIKO reference in plain ASCII.

Do you know where to find that quiz game they did for the SFC?

[CRV]

Do you know where to find that quiz game they did for the SFC?

Shijou Saikyou no Quiz Ou Kettei Sen Super?

Found it at ROM World fairly easily.

Thanks again for the credits.

More ISCO stuff here:
http://vgrebirth.org/games/search.asp?developers=1444

We've learned that ISCO didn't really seem to develop anything, but there are some games where they apparently just did graphics and movie work. Did they do any of that in-house or did they outsource that, too?

[Dart]

Do you have any proof that the company behind all of said games is Micronics other than the Raiden Trad screenshot?

[Dimitri]

Do you have any proof that the company behind all of said games is Micronics other than the Raiden Trad screenshot?
Bloody Warriors and Mottomo Abunai Deka also say Micronics on their title screens, plus there's shared credits, and common sound effects (pause tone) and coding issues (jerky scrolling, sprite tearing, music desyncing).

That said, I'm not entirely convinced that Athena or Ikari II were done by them. Most of the others are all but definite, though, in my opinion.

[Dimitri]

HYPER THREAD BUMP

I was talking with crv last night and ended doing some tracing and searches on the sound code used in these games. The results were that we can more-or-less confirm that all of these games were done by the same company:

'89 Dennou Kyuusei Uranai
Athena
Bloody Warriors
Daiku no Gensan 2
Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors II
Jongbou
Kaguya Hime Densetsu
Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 3
Miracle Ropit's Adventure in 2100
Mottomo Abunai Deka
Ninja Kun Ashura no Shou
Outlanders
Shin Satomi Hakken-Den
Stick Hunter
Thundercade
Tiger-Heli
Twin Cobra
Zoids
Zoids 2

Every one of these games uses one of a handful of variations of the same sound code. Notice this confirms several argued games (Daiku no Gensan 2, Miracle Ropit, Ikari II, Ninja Kun) as well as adding several new ones (mostly RPGs). I haven't had a chance to delve into any of their earlier games yet, though...

Additionally, I've been able to confirm that Commando was done in-house at Capcom, as it shares sound code with *takes deep breath*: 1943, Bionic Commando, Destiny of an Emperor, Gun.Smoke, Higemaru Makaijima, Ide Yousuke Meijin no Jissen Mahjong, Legendary Wings, Mega Man, Mega Man 2, Pro Yakyuu Satsujin Jiken, Section Z, Strider, Trojan, and Willow.

I've yet to find anything meaningful in Elevator Action, Ghosts 'n Goblins, or Onyanko Town yet, but that's simply because they use a (surprisingly more efficient) sound driver that's harder to track.

Efforts to find any SNES games they've done other than Raiden Trad and Acrobat Mission have thus far proven futile. I also like the suggestion that they did MD Atomic Robo Kid, but there's probably no possible way of confirming that one.

[idrougge]

I was talking with crv last night and ended doing some tracing and searches on the sound code used in these games. The results were that we can more-or-less confirm that all of these games were done by the same company:

I would be more conservative and say that the sound routine is made by the same people.

[Dimitri]

I would be more conservative and say that the sound routine is made by the same people.
Fair enough. Still, the fact is that basically all that popped up were games that either were already known or believed to be by Micronics, or games that look and feel like their work. Of course, then one could argue that only similarly talentless companies used this sound system...

Unlike with later hardware, also, it seems that each developer came up with their own sound routines on the NES. There doesn't seem to be anything like SMPS or GEMS on the Genesis, or something like MusyX for a more modern equivalent. Capcom had their own sound routines, Konami did, Nintendo did (probably quite a few different, actually), Aicom did, etc...it seems to me like a perfectly viable way to find potential who-done-what candidates. Not much outside of code analysis can be done in these cases where credits are largely nonexistant, short of tracking down the people who actually made them.

[idrougge]

I would be more conservative and say that the sound routine is made by the same people.
Fair enough. Still, the fact is that basically all that popped up were games that either were already known or believed to be by Micronics, or games that look and feel like their work. Of course, then one could argue that only similarly talentless companies used this sound system...

Of course if fortifies the thesis that one developer was behind it.


Unlike with later hardware, also, it seems that each developer came up with their own sound routines on the NES. There doesn't seem to be anything like SMPS or GEMS on the Genesis, or something like MusyX for a more modern equivalent. Capcom had their own sound routines, Konami did, Nintendo did (probably quite a few different, actually), Aicom did, etc...it seems to me like a perfectly viable way to find potential who-done-what candidates. Not much outside of code analysis can be done in these cases where credits are largely nonexistant, short of tracking down the people who actually made them.

On the other hand, wouldn't Yuzo Koshiro have used the same sound driver while working for different companies, even though his driver had become the standard one at Falcom?

[Dimitri]

On the other hand, wouldn't Yuzo Koshiro have used the same sound driver while working for different companies, even though his driver had become the standard one at Falcom?
I can't speak for his earlier work but I can say that on the MD this really wasn't the case for him specifically.

Revenge of Shinobi uses a standard Sega system (pre-SMPS).
Streets of Rage uses a modified version of SMPS.
Streets of Rage 2 uses a completely custom system.
Streets of Rage 3 and Beyond Oasis (both of which credit Ancient) use a system developed at Ancient.
I'm not sure what Slap Fight MD uses as it didn't run in MESS when I tried it. It's possibly the same as SoR2.

Every game developed by Konami uses one of three engines used only in Konami games. Every Tecnosoft game uses the same engine. Every Koei game uses the same engine. Every Micronet game uses the same engine.

Conversely, all four games Jesper Kyd scored used the same engine even though they had different publishers and developers. Same with Brian Schmidt (though many credit Visual Concepts). Same with Matt Furniss (Krysalis).

I'm...not really sure where I'm going with this. Still, many third-party companies had their own sound engines used company-wide. Licensed, wide-use sound engines (GEMS springs to mind) tend to be identifiable by being used in a wide range of games by different developers.

...man, am I typing a lot today.

[idrougge]

Conversely, all four games Jesper Kyd scored used the same engine even though they had different publishers and developers. Same with Brian Schmidt (though many credit Visual Concepts). Same with Matt Furniss (Krysalis).

In Matt Furniss's case, most games will say "Sound by Krisalis" or something similar. He worked together with Shaun Hollingworth (both working at Krisalis), who wrote the sound drivers. Apparently there was a lack of competence in writing good sound drivers for the Megadrive in the industry, if you look at how much work Krisalis got.

Interesting about Koshiro, I didn't know that he would use a Sega routine.

[Graham Mitchell]

Additionally, I've been able to confirm that Commando was done in-house at Capcom, as it shares sound code with *takes deep breath*: 1943, Bionic Commando, Destiny of an Emperor, Gun.Smoke, Higemaru Makaijima, Ide Yousuke Meijin no Jissen Mahjong, Legendary Wings, Mega Man, Mega Man 2, Pro Yakyuu Satsujin Jiken, Section Z, Strider, Trojan, and Willow.

I've yet to find anything meaningful in Elevator Action, Ghosts 'n Goblins, or Onyanko Town yet, but that's simply because they use a (surprisingly more efficient) sound driver that's harder to track.


I guess I'm not surprised that Commando was developed in-house at Capcom, but one game missing from this list is 1942. Did you guys check that one? Not that it's terribly important, or that there's really any question whether or not Micronics produced it (listen to the pause tone-I think that's fairly convincing evidence), but I'm just curious.

[Dimitri]

I guess I'm not surprised that Commando was developed in-house at Capcom, but one game missing from this list is 1942. Did you guys check that one? Not that it's terribly important, or that there's really any question whether or not Micronics produced it (listen to the pause tone-I think that's fairly convincing evidence), but I'm just curious.
Yeah, I found a few more snippets of code (init and sprite routines -- not sound stuff) that linked virtually every game in my list above as well as 1942, Elevator Action, Exed Exes, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Onyanko Town, and Son Son. I think at this point we've found probably all of the games they made on the NES. I'll just c/p from IRC as that's easier...

[Dimitri] Anyway, I found init code shared between 1942, Elevator Action, Exed Exes, Onyanko Town, and Son Son.
[Dimitri] And I just found another bit of code that's shared between a bunch of games.
[Dimitri] code shared: 1942, '89 Dennou Kyuusei Uranai, Elevator Action, Exed Exes, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Ikari Warriors, Jongbou, Miracle Ropit, Mottomo Abunai Deka, Ninja Hattori Kun, Ninja Kun Ashura no Shou, Outlanders, Son Son, Stick Hunter, Super Pitfall, Tiger-Heli, Twin Cobra, Zoids
[Dimitri] And this is in-game code.

[Graham Mitchell]

And to think I always blamed Capcom for those abortions. Well, Trojan is still their fault, right?

[CRV]

http://review-site.net/developer/xo.html#オペラハウス

Seems I may be right about Miki/Fujiwara. The company is Opera House. The list at SIT Developer Table is a rather odd one, being mostly PS2 games, but the last game on the list is Classic Road for the Super Famicom.

[CRV]

Well, Trojan is still their fault, right?

No, it is not.

[Ed Oscuro]

I don't know if anybody caught (or needed to know) this, but Ultima V and VI for X68000 sold for $30+ each on eBay recently. I noticed that one of the games (one for sure, maybe both) had "Ponyca" on the sleeves.

[CRV]

http://img31.imagevenue.com/loc560/th_68967_heroesofthelance_122_560lo.jpg (http://img31.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=68967_heroesofthelance_122_560lo.jpg )

Found this on a Japanese Yahoo! auction. This is the back of "Heroes of the Lance" for FM Towns. The lower right says, "Program: Opera House."

EDIT: Anybody who owns an FM Towns own this game? If so, are there any credits?

[CRV]

Sorry to spam, but...

I don't plan on updating this thread again, so in case someone finds it, I would like to point them in the right direction (to Game Developer Research Institute, where the research rolls along).

For the latest findings on Micronics, which apparently became Khaos, go here (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Micronics/Khaos).

For Compile, go here (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Compile).

Infinity is not currently covered on GDRI, but will be eventually.

For Marionette, go here (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Marionette).

For Workss/Bits Laboratory, go here (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Workss/Bits_Laboratory).

For Miki & Fujiwara Production/Opera House, go here (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Miki_%26_Fujiwara_Production/Opera_House).

For Atelier Double, go here (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Atelier_Double).

Shouei System (originally Bear's) is not covered on GDRI, but will be eventually.

[Doommaster1994]

Hello, guys, this is my first post, so I apologize for doing/saying anything wrong.

You guys may like/not like what I am about to say because it's good/bad news in one...
I know Seiji Toda, the composer of Pool of Radiance and I've talked a little bit to Hitoshi Sakamoto (composer of Dragons of Flame and Heroes of the Lance) and Takeshi Yasuda (Composer of Dragons of Flame, Heroes of the Lance and Break Time). I never asked them who developed those NES games. I talked to Seiji Toda and asked him if he did music for games (to verify I had the right guy). All he told me was that he did music for so many games he doesn't remember which ones he did. Now, whenever I try to message him online he either doesn't get my messages or ignores me. I try to get a hold of these developers since me and a friend run a video game music site and we try to get as much info out of the composers as possible.
As far as Pool of Radiance being developed by Marionette, I highly doubt it. I've beaten the game several times and it says at the end 'Presented by Pony Canyon', so I'm almost sure that they did have a development team. Dragons of Flame clearly credits Ateiler Double. I still want to know who's responsible for developing Heroes of the Lance and Hillsfar.
Also, Hitoshi Sakamoto told me him and Takeshi both worked on the NES version of Heroes of the Lance and they ported the music for Dragons of Flame from the FM Towns version (Anyone got a staff roll for that game). The MSX version of Heroes of the Lance has credits. On our video game music site, we have a section for pictures of game credits. Here is Heroes of the Lance (MSX): http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=File:Heroes_of_the_Lance_-_MSX2_-_Credits.png
And here is Dragons of Flame (NES): http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=File:Dragons_of_Flame_-_FC_-_Credits.png
I uploaded the credits for Pool of Radiance to GameFAQs (And I think Dragons of Flame if I remember correctly). Heroes of the Lance on MSX and Pool of Radiance and Quest of the Avatar on NES credit Seiji Toda but I never bothered to compare the credits of the three games since I always assumed they were developed by Pony Canyon.

Hope this info helps.

[Parodius Duh!]

Play Son Son (Capcom) and Onyanko Town (published by Pony Canyon) and tell me they're not by the same people. A lot of these games have similar graphical issues, musical styles, graphical styles, and have the same or similar pause tone(s) (like how many NES Konami games shared a pause tone).

This is not a valid point. Companies rip each other off constantly or have the same people working on games at different companies......and pony canyon is a publisher, they did not develop any titles and they are the main publishers of music in japan (more so than sony), hence why they have many deals to release game music. This topic is stupid......edit: and its from 2006.....wow.

[ApolloBoy]

This is not a valid point. Companies rip each other off constantly or have the same people working on games at different companies......and pony canyon is a publisher, they did not develop any titles and they are the main publishers of music in japan (more so than sony), hence why they have many deals to release game music. This topic is stupid......edit: and its from 2006.....wow.
You might want to read into it further as they were both developed by the same company, Micronics.

[Doommaster1994]

Something that's been itching me for a long time is who developed Hillsfar? I looked into the sound code, and all these games share the same sound driver:

AD&D Hillsfar
Arctic
Bakushou! Jinsei Gekijou 1
Jangou

Unfortunately, not a single one of these games have credits. I even went as far to ask a seller on eBay if one of those games had credits in the instruction manual. They asked if it did if I would buy it and I said yes. I never heard from them.

With the exception or the last two titles, Hillsfar and Arctic were published by Pony Canyon.