What happend to Data East??...

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 8:23 am

LoneSage wrote:It's funny how most people only think of Fighter's History as a ripoff of SFII (and if you really dissect it and look at the character designs, IMHO it definitely is), but Heavy Barrel was definitely inspired by Ikari Warriors and the similarities between Midnight Resistance and Contra made me laugh hard once I listed them a few years ago. Red Falcon and Crimson Head and the spread shot, to name two.

Data East, in some cases, lived off of other companies ideas', and in turn created some wonderful games. They weren't the most innovative company, but hell, they sure did know fun.

Agreed. Tumblepop is nothing but Snow Bros with vacuums, but it's a solid game.

Though I want to see someone top Robocop and Captain America and the Avengers coin ops. Best. Use. Of License. Ever.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:08 am

big data east fan here as well...

boogie wings and edward randy both get quite a bit of playtime in my cab

ed randy is an incredible graphics feast btw.. it looks absoluteley amazing, some really genious solutions in there especially concidering its age.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:48 am

Midnight Resistance... what a game. And the coin-op is still the only way to play properly. Robocop was cool, I also enjoyed Crudebusters, though Dragon Ninja was shit though. Still, a comp would be really nice.

D · Post by D » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:55 am

Marc wrote:I also enjoyed Dragon Ninja, though Crudebusters was shit though.

*fixed*

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 10:19 am

You prefer Dragon Ninja to Crude Busters? Each to their own I guess...

D · Post by D » Wed Sep 07, 2005 11:44 am

Well, crudebuster is on Genesis and that game sucks, I don't like those rhino looking crude busters characters.

I couln't compare them actually

so what makes Dragon Ninja suck then opposed to Crude Busters?

I also love the title Bad Dudes VS Dragon Ninja. The First ever VS title

And Indeed Midnight Resistance ROCKS.
Genny version is okayish, colors are strange in some stages.
Amiga had a reasonably conversion of MR.

And It's: "To each their own", I was corrected on this once so I'm passing on what I was teached.

SFKhoa · Post by **SFKhoa** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:05 pm

Didn't Data East port Soukyugurentai to the ps1?

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:15 pm

Data East should have bankrupted in early 2000, i think, so no Magical Drop IV, sadly

Just before they went tits up, they announced 'Magical Drop Family" I believe it was, at some game show. No mention of what system it was going to be on... or even if it was a proper sequel. I have (had?) an article of it which appeared in Sega Saturn Magazine. Might've saved it, but I'll have to dig... very deep.

EDIT:
I think it was in the issue that had "Biohazard 2 Announcement" written on the cover.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:45 pm

I was wondering about Date East too the other day…
I remember feeding loads of quarters in Tumble Pop back in Summer 1994!
The good ol days.

A few of the most memorable Data East Games:

Bad Dudes (Arcade/NES)
Caveman Ninja (Arcade/SNES)
Crude Buster – Two Crude Dudes (Arcade/Genesis)
Midnight Resistance (Arcade/Amiga)
Robocop (NES)
Sly Spy (Arcades)
Tumble Pop (Aracdes)
Vapor Trail (Arcade)

Here is some interesting info on Boogie Wings...
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?let ... me_id=7189

I still have to try Skull Fang on the Saturn.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 12:35 am

My favorite thing about Data East is that voice sample they used... most memorable in Side Pocket, but I remember it being used in a few Amiga titles too... you know.. 'Presented by Data East'.

PBMax · Post by **PBMax** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:37 am

Maybe I'm the only who thinks so, but Street Hoop is pretty fun. The rap soundtrack is a riot.

Windjammers is undeniably fantastic.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 8:46 am

ST Dragon wrote:I was wondering about Date East too the other day…
I remember feeding loads of quarters in Tumble Pop back in Summer 1994!
The good ol days.

A few of the most memorable Data East Games:

Bad Dudes (Arcade/NES)
Caveman Ninja (Arcade/SNES)
Crude Buster – Two Crude Dudes (Arcade/Genesis)
Midnight Resistance (Arcade/Amiga)
Robocop (NES)
Sly Spy (Arcades)
Tumble Pop (Aracdes)
Vapor Trail (Arcade)

Here is some interesting info on Boogie Wings...
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?let ... me_id=7189

I still have to try Skull Fang on the Saturn.

Why no (Arcade/GB) for Tumblepop? It's on GB too. Didn't Ocean design the NES Robocop? I like the GB version of Lock 'n Chase quite a bit. I think that was Data East.

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:16 am

I did mention Tumble Pop (Arcade) as one of my favourites. I think there was another un-official Arcade clone names Tumble Pop 2... I vaguely remember seeing something like this at the arcades back in 2000.
But I could be wrong.

I didn't know it was released for the GB though.
I've never had my own GB, so most games I've beaten, were the ones included with the GBs I would borrow from friend's...

Robocop (AMIGA) was made by "Ocean" but I think the NES was made by Data East. Somebody has to refresh my memory though.

What other cool games has Data East made for the Arcades/consoles & computes?

Street Hoops is an incredible Basketball game! The animation & Rap theme is so cool!

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:36 pm

Karnov. Word.

Danny · Post by **Danny** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:06 pm

Randorama wrote:Data East should have bankrupted in early 2000, i think, so no Magical Drop IV, sadly. Just in case, i also recommend NIght Slashers, Super Burger Time and Joe and Mac return, other excellent titles of theirs (ah, i'd add Wolf Fang/Rohga and the arcade version of Boulder Dash)..In general, they were expert game makers, even if their games were usually not so nice to look at, before the "Night Slashers" hardware (whose name escapes me now, duh).

Well actualy you're wrong there was a modern remake of Magical Drop on the PSX called Magical Drop F and it was pretty darn good. Brought smack bang into the 32bit era with nice sprites and great animation and so on.

I do so happen to have the fairly rare magical drop III deluxe (PAL) which came with Magical Drop 1+

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:53 pm

ST Dragon wrote:
I didn't know it was released for the GB though.
I've never had my own GB, so most games I've beaten, were the ones included with the GBs I would borrow from friend's...

Robocop (AMIGA) was made by "Ocean" but I think the NES was made by Data East. Somebody has to refresh my memory though.

The Robocop arcade game was made by Data East allright. But Ocean had the rights, so that's why the Ocean appears credited on the coin op. Some people say that the arcade is a port of the Amiga game, but I doubt it, since Ocean never made anything that could be considered decent. They're like the Acclaim of the Amiga world. (Jurassic Park SNES and Addams Family anyone?)

Post by **undamned** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:51 pm

Specineff wrote:The Robocop arcade game was made by Data East allright.

Pardon the off-topicness, but I have to tell everybody that Greg and I watched Spec 1 credit Robocop up to Dick Jones (where he only needed to shoot him once and woefully ran out of time before doing so). Spec is as technical in his platformer/side scrollers as people like Kiken are on their shmups

-ud

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 10:19 pm

Danny wrote:
Well actualy you're wrong there was a modern remake of Magical Drop on the PSX called Magical Drop F and it was pretty darn good. Brought smack bang into the 32bit era with nice sprites and great animation and so on.

I do so happen to have the fairly rare magical drop III deluxe (PAL) which came with Magical Drop 1+

Said remake should have been published a few months before bankruptcy, so if you can post the publishing year/month of said remake, it would be useful.

Danny · Post by **Danny** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 10:50 pm

I think it was the last game to be made by Data East and was released 10/24/1999 acording to Gamespot which btw I've posted the review that they did below...

http://www.gamespot.com/ps/puzzle/magic ... eview.html

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 10:56 pm

Specineff wrote:
ST Dragon wrote:
I didn't know it was released for the GB though.
I've never had my own GB, so most games I've beaten, were the ones included with the GBs I would borrow from friend's...

Robocop (AMIGA) was made by "Ocean" but I think the NES was made by Data East. Somebody has to refresh my memory though.

The Robocop arcade game was made by Data East allright. But Ocean had the rights, so that's why the Ocean appears credited on the coin op. Some people say that the arcade is a port of the Amiga game, but I doubt it, since Ocean never made anything that could be considered decent. They're like the Acclaim of the Amiga world. (Jurassic Park SNES and Addams Family anyone?)

Jurassic Park and Addams Familly are usually regarded as the best stuff they ever done , hehe

I kinda dig Addams Family, nice platform game. Jurassic Park also has lots of fans.

And to be quite honest, I always enjoyed Lethal Weapon too. Very nice platform game.

I´ve read somewhere that Data East made the Arcade game based upon the Ocean version of Robocop (Which wasnt exclusive to the Amiga... it was also at least on the Spectrum and the MSX).

It says here that the Amiga version is actually based on the arcade game: http://hol.abime.net/1260 , but its weird as the arcade version is dated 1988 and the title screen of the amiga game says 1987

Anyway, I never played the amiga version, but the arcade one, IMO, feels like the Spectrum one, except a lot faster, with more color (obviously), the action is more spot-on and Robocop can JUMP. But both games are very similar, with similar enemies, similar level structure...

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 11:16 pm

Danny wrote:I think it was the last game to be made by Data East and was released 10/24/1999 acording to Gamespot which btw I've posted the review that they did below...

http://www.gamespot.com/ps/puzzle/magic ... eview.html

Well, i did say that Data East bankrupted in 2000, a few months after said reprint...sdaly, their last game

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:12 am

oh, btw data east did a shmup that hasn't been mentioned in this thread.

it's called Gondomania, uses a twistystick like havy barrel, and it ROCKS.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:15 am

Jurassic Park and Addams Familly are usually regarded as the best stuff they ever done , hehe

I kinda dig Addams Family, nice platform game. Jurassic Park also has lots of fans.

And to be quite honest, I always enjoyed Lethal Weapon too. Very nice platform game.

I´ve read somewhere that Data East made the Arcade game based upon the Ocean version of Robocop (Which wasnt exclusive to the Amiga... it was also at least on the Spectrum and the MSX).

It says here that the Amiga version is actually based on the arcade game: http://hol.abime.net/1260 , but its weird as the arcade version is dated 1988 and the title screen of the amiga game says 1987

Anyway, I never played the amiga version, but the arcade one, IMO, feels like the Spectrum one, except a lot faster, with more color (obviously), the action is more spot-on and Robocop can JUMP. But both games are very similar, with similar enemies, similar level structure...

I'm pretty sure that the home computer versions (Spectrum/Amstrad/C64/MSX/Atari ST & Amiga) were actually released after the coin-op, have to check to be 100% though. They weren't exactly the same, as youv've stated the coin-op was much improved from the home versions.

Home versions were stupidly difficult, though the C64 and Amiga at least were quite enjoyable.

In no way were Ocean the Acclaim of their time though, they put out some good shit. Parallax, Wizball, Head Over Heels, Rainbow Islands, Salamander (Imagine was an Ocean subsiduary), Green Beret, Target Renegade, the list goes on guys... In fact, they put out a large percentage of the C64's classics.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:33 am

Ok. I'll grant you that. Some of the games weren't their original creations, like Acclaim's, but better a decent port than a crappy original. *Cough, maximumCarnage, cough*

The info about the Arcade game based on the Ocean Amiga game was quoted by the KLOV.com page, however the tidbit has vanished since the last update.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:13 am

They published more than they developed I think, the only stuff I remember them really developig in-house were the movie licences. Their original stuff was usually from outisde teams or programmers - Ritmon & Drummond, Denton Designs, Special FX etx... Still, they left behind an impressive body of work, I personally was quite sad when they eventually disppeared. Are they any names from the 8-bit era left bar Activision? And how the hell did Activision survive anyway - they were never the most prolific even back then?

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:37 am

Also, check the AMIGA Robocop title screen: "Conversion by Peter Johnson"
A lot of AMIGA games would also state from what system they were converted from. Usually Atari ST, C64, Amstrad, Spectrum, etc...
So it's not quite clear in this case. But judging by some screen comparisons at another site, the AMIGA version looks very similar to the Arcade version than to the rest.

Never the less, OCEAN was a pretty decent company back in the AMIGA days, imo.

They've made/published some cool stuff:

Alien Breed 3D
Alien Breed 3D II
Cabal
Epic
Hook
Jungle Strike
Lethal Weapon
Liquid Kids
Midnight Resistance
Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad - (Shares elements from Sonic, Mario World & Zelda. Has nothing in common to the Genesis/SNES version, othe rthan the squirel. The techno Cities where you encounter the Huge Bosses are very similar to the maze-like Techno levels of Sonic. Awesome Platform adventure game.)
New Zealand Story, The
Pang
Parasol Stars: The Story Of Rainbow Islands II
Rainbow Islands
RoboCop
RoboCop 2
Shadow Warriors - Ninja Gaiden
Toki - Arcade perfect conversion of a true classic
Worms

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:39 am

why dont we try to mae a complete list of releases?, im sure there are a few gems ive missed!

oh and btw gondomaina is great i have it

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:14 pm

Huh? What about Chelnov (Atomic Runner)? Without doubt my favourite Data East game (the MD version is actually especially good). One of the best and most underrated run n guns ever, after you've fiddled with the control options that is.

snap monkey · Post by **snap monkey** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:05 pm

Am I the only one who completely fell in love with the SNES Shadowrun? I'm not a big RPG fan, but that was one of the few I really got into. Never played its Genesis counterpart (not a port but an entirely different game, not by DataEast) nor read the novels nor played its D&Dish game, but I highly recommend it on the SNES.

PaCrappa · Post by **PaCrappa** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 7:18 pm

Again, Data East just published that one. Beam Software or something like that did the SNES one and Blue Sky did the Genesis one.

Pa