Technos Japan / Million Co. appreciation thread
Jul 6, 2013 8:23:06 GMT -5
Post by 1983parrothead on Jul 6, 2013 8:23:06 GMT -5
When most people think of Technos Japan, they mostly think of the Double Dragon franchise (especially its home console ports and exclusives, because home console gaming is more convenient than arcade gaming), followed by a few Kunio-kun titles like Renegade, River City Ransom, Crash 'n' The Boys Street Challenge and the arcade and Neo-Geo versions of Super Dodge Ball. Sometimes they think of Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, The Combatribes and when they supported Data East in developing the Karate Champ and Tag Team Wrestling arcades.
But what about Minky Monkey (Technos Japan's first arcade game?), Dommy, Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Mysterious Stone, Acrobatic Dog-Fight, Syusse Oozumou (an early sumo wrestling game), Mat Mania, Mania Challenge, Bogey Manor (play this during Halloween), Battle Lane!, Xain'd Sleena, China Gate, Shadow Force - Henshin Ninja, Sugoro Quest++ Dicenics, Geom Cube, DunQuest and some licensed games based on Popeye and WWF franchises? Here is Minky Monkey:
Technos Japan may deserve more credit than Data East in developing Karate Champ and Tag Team Wrestling, but they were founded by three former Data East employees. Yoshihisa Kishimoto, one of Technos Japan's main employees, was also a Data East employee, who's first game was Data East's Pro Soccer (released in November 1983). He later created Data East's interactive movie games Road Blaster (a.k.a. Road Avenger, Road Prosecutor, etc.) and Thunder Storm (a.k.a. Cobra Command (ntbcw the 1988 shooter)).
The LX-5 car later appeared in the garage seen in the very first part of the Double Dragon arcade (as well as its home ports), and the LX-3 Super Cobra helicopter later appeared in the garage seen in the very first part of the arcade version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge (as well as in most home ports of it). The reason why is that Yoshihisa Kishimoto, creator of Road Blaster and Thunder Storm, later went to Technos Japan and created the Double Dragon series, as well as the Kunio-kun series (including Technos Japan's first own successful game, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, better known outside of Japan as Renegade). Speaking of the Kunio-kun and Double Dragon titles, here are videos showing them:
What makes the Kunio-kun and Double Dragon series so successful and popular is their influence by the Karate Champ arcade. When I noticed that both were developed by Technos Japan, I started comparing their gameplay and noticed that some characters in both Karate Champ, Kunio-kun and Double Dragon can attack in many ways. They even can attack backwards while facing the opposite direction.
Road Blaster and the Double Dragon series were both influenced by the Mad Max series; however, they closely match the references of the Hokuto no Ken series, which both Kenshiro and the Lee Brothers pay tribute to Bruce Lee, while Road Blaster was animated by Toei Animation, the same studio that animated the Hokuto no Ken anime. Of course, Hokuto no Ken was also influenced by the Mad Max series and Bruce Lee, it has some originality, like gigantic enemies (what Abobo, Burnov and other similar Double Dragon characters).
Kunio, like Sunsoft's mascot Hebe from the Hebereke series (or is he?), is also a company mascot (of Technos Japan), who also had his look and name changed, but more than once. Despite Kunio being the company's mascot, most people outside of Japan appreciate the Double Dragon series more than the Kunio-kun series, enough to get the Double Dragon series milked to death by crossing it over Rareware's Battletoads, have its own animated series made in the same fashion as the 1987 TMNT animated series (which were both loosely based on their original counterparts and were used to advertise their toylines), and have a not-so-good film that's probably better than the ones for the Mario and Street Fighter franchises, but that probably isn't saying much. Anyway, this is what changed the Kunio-kun franchise forever. It even spawned numerous ports and spinoffs:
But perhaps their largest effort they made was when they teamed up with former Technos Japan staff Almanic (also known as Givro) in developing Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka. Unfortunately, the unofficial translation found at RomHacking.Net needs more work:
After they released their last game, Kunio no Nekketsu Dodgeball Densetsu (known outside of Japan as the Neo-Geo Super Dodge Ball), they filed for bankruptcy and went out of business, while they later founded the successor, Million Co. Ltd.. Currently, Arc System Works supports them in developing and publishing some Kunio-kun titles. To prove it, look on the bottom of this official website:
kuniokun.jp/
See also Avit, who developed Ridegear Guybrave 1 and 2 for Axela:
gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Avit
But what about Minky Monkey (Technos Japan's first arcade game?), Dommy, Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Mysterious Stone, Acrobatic Dog-Fight, Syusse Oozumou (an early sumo wrestling game), Mat Mania, Mania Challenge, Bogey Manor (play this during Halloween), Battle Lane!, Xain'd Sleena, China Gate, Shadow Force - Henshin Ninja, Sugoro Quest++ Dicenics, Geom Cube, DunQuest and some licensed games based on Popeye and WWF franchises? Here is Minky Monkey:
Technos Japan may deserve more credit than Data East in developing Karate Champ and Tag Team Wrestling, but they were founded by three former Data East employees. Yoshihisa Kishimoto, one of Technos Japan's main employees, was also a Data East employee, who's first game was Data East's Pro Soccer (released in November 1983). He later created Data East's interactive movie games Road Blaster (a.k.a. Road Avenger, Road Prosecutor, etc.) and Thunder Storm (a.k.a. Cobra Command (ntbcw the 1988 shooter)).
The LX-5 car later appeared in the garage seen in the very first part of the Double Dragon arcade (as well as its home ports), and the LX-3 Super Cobra helicopter later appeared in the garage seen in the very first part of the arcade version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge (as well as in most home ports of it). The reason why is that Yoshihisa Kishimoto, creator of Road Blaster and Thunder Storm, later went to Technos Japan and created the Double Dragon series, as well as the Kunio-kun series (including Technos Japan's first own successful game, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, better known outside of Japan as Renegade). Speaking of the Kunio-kun and Double Dragon titles, here are videos showing them:
What makes the Kunio-kun and Double Dragon series so successful and popular is their influence by the Karate Champ arcade. When I noticed that both were developed by Technos Japan, I started comparing their gameplay and noticed that some characters in both Karate Champ, Kunio-kun and Double Dragon can attack in many ways. They even can attack backwards while facing the opposite direction.
Road Blaster and the Double Dragon series were both influenced by the Mad Max series; however, they closely match the references of the Hokuto no Ken series, which both Kenshiro and the Lee Brothers pay tribute to Bruce Lee, while Road Blaster was animated by Toei Animation, the same studio that animated the Hokuto no Ken anime. Of course, Hokuto no Ken was also influenced by the Mad Max series and Bruce Lee, it has some originality, like gigantic enemies (what Abobo, Burnov and other similar Double Dragon characters).
Kunio, like Sunsoft's mascot Hebe from the Hebereke series (or is he?), is also a company mascot (of Technos Japan), who also had his look and name changed, but more than once. Despite Kunio being the company's mascot, most people outside of Japan appreciate the Double Dragon series more than the Kunio-kun series, enough to get the Double Dragon series milked to death by crossing it over Rareware's Battletoads, have its own animated series made in the same fashion as the 1987 TMNT animated series (which were both loosely based on their original counterparts and were used to advertise their toylines), and have a not-so-good film that's probably better than the ones for the Mario and Street Fighter franchises, but that probably isn't saying much. Anyway, this is what changed the Kunio-kun franchise forever. It even spawned numerous ports and spinoffs:
But perhaps their largest effort they made was when they teamed up with former Technos Japan staff Almanic (also known as Givro) in developing Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka. Unfortunately, the unofficial translation found at RomHacking.Net needs more work:
After they released their last game, Kunio no Nekketsu Dodgeball Densetsu (known outside of Japan as the Neo-Geo Super Dodge Ball), they filed for bankruptcy and went out of business, while they later founded the successor, Million Co. Ltd.. Currently, Arc System Works supports them in developing and publishing some Kunio-kun titles. To prove it, look on the bottom of this official website:
kuniokun.jp/
See also Avit, who developed Ridegear Guybrave 1 and 2 for Axela:
gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Avit
