In the last episode of The Early Adopters, Treco was revealed as the illegitimate son of Sega, to the horror and disgust of Renovation. Nuvision was stranded on a deserted island with nothing to eat but coconuts and small pewter Scottie dogs. And what about little Kaneko? Will she ever shake her amnesia? This episode of The Early Adopters answers none of these silly questions.
SEISMIC
Seismic seems to be a popular name for software companies
these days… believe me, I would know. I’ve
discovered a Seismic that sells surveying apps for GPS devices and a Seismic
that makes Facebook games, but try as I might, I’ve had no luck finding
information on the Sega Genesis publisher.
THAT Seismic may as well be a figment of my imagination. The company doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry,
and its presence on Moby Games is limited to a tiny list of games and a history
section left blank.
I can’t even find a pattern in the games Seismic published,
because its approach to licensing was so scattershot. The company localized software from T&E
Soft (Super Hydlide), Compile (MUSHA), Toaplan (Hellfire), and Copya System (Air
Diver), with R.C. Grand Prix for the Sega Master System being the lone game
designed in America. Moby Games claims
that Dan Kitchen, previously responsible for Activision titles like Crackpots, headed
the team that created R.C. Grand Prix, suggesting that the prolific developer either
worked at Seismic, or was Seismic. I’ve contacted Mr. Kitchen and will hopefully
get more details about his involvement with this elusive publisher in the
coming weeks.
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| What is this, some intergalactic on ramp? |
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at Hellfire, one
of Seismic’s earliest (and onliest!) Genesis releases. This one goes right into the “fond memories”
file, as I recall struggling through its death-laden stages with a friend. Hellfire is a side-scrolling shooter with
Toaplan’s typically off-putting art design but a clever weapon system… pressing
a button cycles between forward, backward, vertical, and diagonal shots,
letting you attack from all angles. You
could almost consider it a sequel to SNK’s Vanguard, except you don’t have a second
joystick for firing. After a couple of
rounds, you’ll really wish you had one.
There’s also a remake on the TurboDuo, which adds redbook audio and
animated cut scenes but cranks the difficulty down to negative three.
SAGE’S CREATION
Even the name is confusing with this one. The founders of this company must have
thought it was mysterious and profound, like the spells weaved by a mystic
living in seclusion high atop a mountain.
However, it just takes too much thought to figure out, like what
happened to the company after the Playstation launched. The best explanation I can offer is that
Sage’s Creation was a publishing arm or at least a partner of Hot-B… the fact
that all of their games but one were developed by the company certainly suggests it. By the way, Moby Games claims that Hot-B went
hot-bankrupt in 1993 before offering a link to its web site, which probably
shouldn’t have existed in 1993 and definitely
shouldn’t be promoting a late Playstation 2 release.
More research reveals that the site belongs to Hot-B’s
American office, which stuck around for a while after the Japanese one went
belly up in its koi pool. I also
discovered that the team behind the original
Hot-B formed a new company, Starfish, and took all of its intellectual property
with it. (You know, because those half
dozen fishing games were just too good to leave behind.) Starfish produced a remake of its spooky
Arkanoid clone Devilish for the Nintendo DS, which was skewered by IGN as “one
hell of a bad game.” That’s okay, IGN,
you just keep trying to grasp that strange concept we humans call “humor.” Also, apropos of nothing in particular, the
name “Starfish” reminds of that scene from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, where a giant
turd monster regales you with a song about how he’ll beat the himself out of
you.
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| Just when you thought wasps couldn't get any scarier... |
The game shown in the ad, Insector X, is a side-scrolling
shooter seen from a bug’s eye view, with insects for ships. It’s a bit like Sagaia, but for entomologists
instead of the seafood lover in you. The
arcade game by Taito had a lighthearted atmosphere, but on the Genesis, the
characters are more streamlined and threatening, with bulbous compound eyes and
bionic limbs. As for the gameplay, it’s
competent if a little lackluster. You
can boost your hero’s firepower to devastating levels, should you be lucky
enough to survive that long, but past that there’s not much about Insector X
that’s noteworthy. Well, aside from its
uncanny resemblance to Apidya, another bug-themed shooter for the Amiga
computer.
TENGEN
In the board game Go, Tengen is the dead center of the
playfield, the coveted area players strive to claim for themselves after taking
the corners and edges. However, in the
video game business, Tengen was a source of headaches for Nintendo when the publisher
invaded its own territory, the hugely successful Nintendo Entertainment System. After signing up as a Nintendo licensee,
Tengen had its tech boys reverse engineer the development kit, then went rogue,
making NES games after the license had lapsed.
Pretty sneaky, sis!
Tengen’s subterfuge sparked a battle of wits between the two
companies. When Tengen got its hands on
the puzzle game Tetris, Nintendo broke its grip by having BPS Software’s Henk
Rogers purchase the rights from ELORG, the branch of the Soviet government in
charge of technology exports. When
Tengen released a minor arcade hit like Rolling Thunder, one of Nintendo’s
licensees offered a suspiciously familiar knock-off. Eventually Tengen got tired of the cat and
mouse game and migrated to the Sega Genesis.
Tengen published dozens of titles for the system, including timeless
hits like Dragon’s Fury and Gauntlet IV, before it was absorbed by Time-Warner
in 1993. Nearly twenty years later, the
company formerly known as Tengen is now Warner Games.
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| The US version of Klax, released by Tengen. |
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| The Japanese version, courtesy of Namco. |
One of Tengen’s first Genesis releases was Klax, one of the more inspired puzzlers of the early 1990s and a heartwarming tale for hopeful game designers besides. Klax creator Dave Akers wrote his game in BASIC for the Amiga computer, before rewriting it in C for a speed boost, then rewriting it again for the Genesis when the game became an arcade smash. Just when you thought this story couldn’t get more redundant, get this… Namco released its own slightly better Genesis version of Klax in Japan. That one’s got more voice and crisper graphics, although the applause after each wave ends is conspicuously absent, replaced with a more subdued "Well done." Damn it, I’ve got low self-esteem! I could use the encouragement!
ACTIVISION
A series of corporate mergers and the stupidity of college
frat boys have made Activision the number one game publisher in America. However, Activision was strictly small potatoes
in 1990, still recovering from the industry crash seven years earlier. The company made a tactical retreat to the
home computer market, but was eager to return to the video game industry after
Nintendo returned it to
profitability. Activision first built a
foundation for itself on the NES and Sega Master System, and decided to expand
on it by publishing software for the 16-bit Genesis.
And then… bankruptcy.
Yes, the mighty Activision ran out of money. Its planned debut on the Sega Genesis, Tongue
of the Fatman, was put on the backburner while the company pieced itself back
together. Activision took another stab
at the Genesis in 1994 with four games, headlined by the quite palatable
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. Strongly
influenced by the work of David Perry (Earthworm Jim, Cool Spot, and Aladdin)
and including a version of the original Pitfall! as a hidden bonus, The Mayan
Adventure was a far better premiere on the Genesis than a creaky old computer
game like Tongue of the Fatman would have been.
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| So it's not a good game, but at least they had the right idea when they let you beat up Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters. |
Tongue of the Fatman would
be released for the Genesis, but by a new publisher, and with a new name. A cash-strapped Activision sold the rights to
Razor Soft, which changed the title to Slaughter Sport and promoted it to
teenagers as an edgy alternative to Street Fighter II. Granted, there weren’t too many games in the
early Genesis library which could scratch that itch for one on one combat, but
anything, even renting yourself out to the local gym as a punching bag, was
better than suffering through Slaughter Sport.
The gameplay was limited to simple button and joystick combinations,
technique boiled down to spamming magic attacks purchased between each stage,
and characters other than the wimpy default had to be selected with codes. But hey, there’s blood! Big whoop… I’ll wait
for Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition.
NAMCO
Namco… now we’re talkin’!
If you’re not familiar with the creators of Pac-Man and Galaga, well…
it’s probably because Midway took all the credit for their work. Namco wisely ended its licensing agreement
with Midway, and after a successful partnership with Atari in the late 1980s,
mustered up the courage to publish its own games under the Namco Hometek
label. It’s pretty clear from its early output
that Namco had more faith in the TurboGrafx-16, making over a dozen games for
that system in Japan. However, when the
machine cratered here in the United States, Namco wised up and put its full
weight behind the Genesis.
Unfortunately, the early 1990s were lean years for Namco,
and their Genesis games reflected that.
There were no smash hits with a lasting cultural impact… just
conversions of obscure arcade titles like Phelios (shown here), Burning Fight,
and Marvel Land, along with two pretty good Rolling Thunder sequels and several
attempts to stir the embers of the long-cold Pac-man series. In 1995, Namco swore off Sega and pledged
their allegiance to the Playstation, even releasing games that were too similar
to would-be killer apps Virtua Fighter and Cop to have been just a
coincidence. Today, Namco is a major
player in the video game industry, even if its acquisition by toy giant (and
game midget) Bandai leaves many gamers grinding their teeth.
 |
| Showdown at the Apollo. |
Phelios, the game featured in Sega’s advertisement, is a
perfectly playable shooter with a Greco-Roman theme. The setting is a refreshing change of pace
from the crapton of science-fiction shoot ‘em ups on the Genesis… heck, there
are six in that print ad alone! However,
the game has issues that make it less entertaining than its cast of
mythological monsters would suggest.
Your hero’s a massive bullet sponge, and the game is held back by the
limitations of the Genesis hardware. The
arcade version of Phelios was an orgasm of scaling and rotation, with Apollo
swooping down on his winged steed to unleash his fury on fire-belching skulls,
but the Genesis port seems uncomfortably restrained by comparison. Maybe Namco should have held onto this one
until the Sega CD was released…
ELECTRONIC ARTS
You know ‘em, you love ‘em… it’s Electronic Arts! Well, you know
them, anyway. The company casts a frightening
shadow these days, but EA was started with the best intentions. Founder Trip Hawkins wanted to treat his game
designers like celebrities, putting their software in packaging better suited
for a Pink Floyd album and printing a detailed profile of the programmers in
the lovingly crafted instruction manual.
The presentation was stunning, the admiration for the developers palpable,
and the love for the customer obvious.
So what the hell happened?
It’s hard to say just when Electronic Arts turned to the dark side, but
there was still some of that old spark left in the company when it made games
for the Sega Genesis. True, the
elaborate packaging that had defined its early work on home computers was left
in the past, but the developers were still given due credit in the instructions,
and Electronic Arts was still willing to roll the dice on crazy concepts while
all its competitors were cranking out samey shooters and Street Fighter II
clones. Who else would have published
General Chaos, or Haunting starring Polterguy, or Rings of Power?
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| Everybody on my island looks happy. I bet a flood would change that! Bwa ha HA! |
Populous is another of those high-concept games, tailor made
for the old Electronic Arts. Created by
Peter Molyneaux, now famous for the Fable series and underdelivering on his lofty
promises, Populous puts you in the open-toed sandals of a god. Your holy mission is to build a civilization,
then send your worshippers to other islands to slaughter the heathens who live
there. The gameplay demands the patience
of the patron saint of turtles, and the interface is icon-based and gallingly
obtuse, but you’d expect that from a Molyneaux game made in the 1990s. Seriously Pete, people love words. You should try using some.
TO BE CONCLUDED...
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