The History of Sunsoft

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

BrianC wrote:Interesting! I didn't know about Shanghai Refresh. I was referring to Arcade Archives Shanghai III.
Refresh might be only for Switch. Yeah now when you mention it I saw Shanghai III too.
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FRO
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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Would love to see a prototype of Sunman.
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soprano1
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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FRO wrote:Would love to see a prototype of Sunman.
Stranger things have surfaced before. :)
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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FRO wrote:Would love to see a prototype of Sunman.
If David Siller answers my e-mails again I could ask him how probable that could be.
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

I just realized there is a interview with the designer of Sunman, Kenji Eno, where he talks a little bit about Sunman. Really interesting. Would be interesting to hear someone at DC who handled the deal talk about it.
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

At the moment I am looking into two unreleased arcade games that were being developed at Sunsoft of America. These games has not been heard of even at the time of development. Really interesting stuff.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by garrz32 »

Gazimaluke wrote:At the moment I am looking into two unreleased arcade games that were being developed at Sunsoft of America. These games has not been heard of even at the time of development. Really interesting stuff.
Enjoyed your Sunsoft work. Will your article of these two games be available to read online or is this purely for your future book?
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

garrz32 wrote:
Gazimaluke wrote:At the moment I am looking into two unreleased arcade games that were being developed at Sunsoft of America. These games has not been heard of even at the time of development. Really interesting stuff.
Enjoyed your Sunsoft work. Will your article of these two games be available to read online or is this purely for your future book?
That story will be told before the book is out. It's about these two games and the internal Sunsoft of America dev team that no one seem to have known about for 30 years.

Besides that I am willing to talk about most of what I have found.
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garrz32
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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Great, look forward to that.

Out of interest what is the focus on your book? Sunsoft or something totally different.
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

garrz32 wrote:Great, look forward to that.

Out of interest what is the focus on your book? Sunsoft or something totally different.
The book will be called The History of Sunsoft so it's all Sunsoft.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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8)
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by guigui »

Sunsoft expert here ? I've always wondered if the "SUNSOFT" difficulty rating on the Megadrive/Genesis version of Lemmings had anything related to the game company ?

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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

guigui wrote:Sunsoft expert here ? I've always wondered if the "SUNSOFT" difficulty rating on the Megadrive/Genesis version of Lemmings had anything related to the game company ?
Sunsoft ported Lemmings to the Mega Drive/Genesis.
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BrianC
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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guigui wrote:Sunsoft expert here ? I've always wondered if the "SUNSOFT" difficulty rating on the Megadrive/Genesis version of Lemmings had anything related to the game company ?

Image
Sunsoft ported and published the game, but there's also an exclusive level based on Hebereke included under that difficulty.

edit: Did not realize that the EU version lacked the Sunsoft logo.
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

BrianC wrote:Did not realize that the EU version lacked the Sunsoft logo.
Yeah that's why some people might not know the connection. Sunsoft was all over the place with publishing. Sega published in Europe and I think Sunsoft might be mentioned in the fine print on the back. When Lemmings was released in 92 it would be a year before Sunsoft Europe was started.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by guigui »

Alright, everything becomes clear. I remember the Psygnosis logo on the EU box, but no Sunsoft mention. This difficulty rating stayed carved in my mind for it is the hardest, and capitalized as opposite to the others.

Now that you mention it, I also remember the Hebereke theme level, however I did not know what that was at this time. Gotta love those tribute levels through the game that were really easy but gave a breath of fresh air.

Now that I think about it, a full Sunsoft set would be a nice addition to my JP Sega Saturn collection ? :idea:
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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guigui wrote:Now that I think about it, a full Sunsoft set would be a nice addition to my JP Sega Saturn collection ? :idea:
They didn't make that many Saturn games so it sounds like a reasonable goal :)
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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So I've been trying to put up a list of the Sunsoft games on the Sega Saturn. They should be labelled as "T-15xxG" according to the usual numbering of games on the system. I list only the games, not the different versions of them (RAM Pack version, Satakore version and so on) :

Code: Select all

Albert Odyssey 
Astra Superstars
Galaxy Fight
Game no Tatsujin
Game no Tatsujin 2
Game no Tatsujin The Shangai
Hissatsu Pachinko Collection
Myst
O-chan no Oekaki Logic
Oracle no Houseki
Photo Genic
Popoitto Hebereke
Shangai Banri no Choujou
Shangai Great  Moments
Waku Waku 7
All of those have the blue Sunsoft logo on their front artwork. Though I fear this list is not complete ; for instance Hissatsu! is supposed to be published by Sunsoft, but has no logo and is not numbered T-15xxG.
Any informations on that ? Any other Sunsoft games (developper or publisher) I am missing on the JP SS ?
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

guigui wrote: Any informations on that ? Any other Sunsoft games (developper or publisher) I am missing on the JP SS ?
I might have missed some of those Shanghai games on my list actually. I will take a look later.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

Trying to find out stuff about the development of Sunman at the moment. Can't get hold of anyone who worked on the game. And on top of that the composer once listed a Game Boy Sunman as a cancelled project he had worked on.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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Slightly OT, but there was a surprise release of Blaster Master Zero 2, which has a few Sunsoft references. One planet is based of Ikki, right down to Gonbei the MC of that game as a boss. Zavira from Atlantis no Nazo is in that area too.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by soprano1 »

BrianC wrote:Slightly OT, but there was a surprise release of Blaster Master Zero 2, which has a few Sunsoft references. One planet is based of Ikki, right down to Gonbei the MC of that game as a boss. Zavira from Atlantis no Nazo is in that area too.
Saw that too, very cool for Inti to do this.
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

soprano1 wrote:
BrianC wrote:Slightly OT, but there was a surprise release of Blaster Master Zero 2, which has a few Sunsoft references. One planet is based of Ikki, right down to Gonbei the MC of that game as a boss. Zavira from Atlantis no Nazo is in that area too.
Saw that too, very cool for Inti to do this.
It was funny how the first Blaster Master Zero came to be because Inti's American guy had backpain at GDC and the Japanese producer walked around and meet a Sunsoft producer who had problems pitching a Blaster Master reboot to Nintendo for the Switch and the Inti guy said they could do it. And the rest is history.
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

Update: I am planning to do a YouTube series on Sunsoft.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by guigui »

Gazimaluke wrote:
guigui wrote: Any informations on that ? Any other Sunsoft games (developper or publisher) I am missing on the JP SS ?
I might have missed some of those Shanghai games on my list actually. I will take a look later.
I did finish to gather the Sunsoft set (hopefully complete ?) on the JP SS. Here is my list, I'll take pictures soon enough :

Albert Odyssey
Astra Superstars
Galaxy Fight
Game no Tatsujin
Game no Tatsujin 2
Game no Tatsujin The Shangai
Hissatsu Pachinko Collection
Myst
O-chan no Oekaki Logic
Oracle no Houseki
Photo Genic
Popoitto Hebereke
Riven (Sunsoft Logo, no T-15XXG)
Shangai Banri no Choujou
Shangai Great Moments
Waku Waku 7
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

guigui wrote:
Gazimaluke wrote:
guigui wrote: Any informations on that ? Any other Sunsoft games (developper or publisher) I am missing on the JP SS ?
I might have missed some of those Shanghai games on my list actually. I will take a look later.
I did finish to gather the Sunsoft set (hopefully complete ?) on the JP SS. Here is my list, I'll take pictures soon enough :

Albert Odyssey
Astra Superstars
Galaxy Fight
Game no Tatsujin
Game no Tatsujin 2
Game no Tatsujin The Shangai
Hissatsu Pachinko Collection
Myst
O-chan no Oekaki Logic
Oracle no Houseki
Photo Genic
Popoitto Hebereke
Riven (Sunsoft Logo, no T-15XXG)
Shangai Banri no Choujou
Shangai Great Moments
Waku Waku 7
I have never thought about how many games they actually released for the Saturn. Even if the PlayStation is longer due to all the pachinko games. And only ONE Hissatsu Pachinko Collection for Saturn.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Ajora »

I've played through Batman, Gremlins 2 and Waku Waku 7. All incredible games. I would like to someday play through Gimmick and the Blaster Master series.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

Ajora wrote:I've played through Batman, Gremlins 2 and Waku Waku 7. All incredible games. I would like to someday play through Gimmick and the Blaster Master series.
I have never played Waku Waku 7. But Batman and Gremlins 2 are great games. Gimmick is really good. But also hard. I have only gotten the "bad" ending.
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

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Gimmick! is a strong contender for best game of the Famicom's best and still world-class genre, the sidescrolling action/platformer. SUPER STRONG RECOMMEND. Stick a time limit on and chop the extend rate, and it could go straight into a cab.

Gremlins 2 is some good stuff. Once you're through the first couple stages and got your hands on some decent firepower, its shooting is damn near SFC Kiki Kaikai-good. Monster spreadshot + cluster bomb later on. it makes me wish Sunsoft had gone back and tried Metafight again, now that they'd figured out how to do topdown action. Topdown action/platforming, even!

Batman remains reference-standard for Walljumping sidescrollers. The enemy hitbox cancel on damage also prefigures Quintet's masterful use of the mechanic in ActRaiser II. And of course the aesthetic and soundtrack go without saying. The last couple bosses are almost parodically cruel to newbies but they mature into a superb final gauntlet.

Jesus I love these guys, they had a helluva latter-half FC run.
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Gazimaluke
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Re: The History of Sunsoft

Post by Gazimaluke »

BIL wrote:Jesus I love these guys, they had a helluva latter-half FC run.
It's unfortunate that they didn't make enough money on those kind of games to keep doing them. I think they actually sold more of their earliest Famicom games than the later. Due to there not being that many developers in 85-86 so every new game sold pretty good.
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