Companies that are falling apart, or have fallen apart

[Moniker]

As long as Konami keeps churning out Castlevania games, I'm happy.

Other than remakes, I think the last true Castlevania game came out in 1994.

No love for the SOTN branch? Yeah, they're all basically the same, but for some reason, I can't get enough. I haven't bothered with whatever 3D iterations have been released.

[null1024]

Sega is trying it's damndest to get back up [and they appear to be trying not to shit on their mascot anymore, Colors was great, and what we've seen of Generations seems like it'll be amazing], but the average quality of their titles is pretty bad as of late. Remember when they made some of the best games in the world? Yeah, that was forever ago, might as well have been a different company. Speaking of AM2, what have they done recently?

Konami... wait, they still do stuff?
[Oh wait, Castlevania. Bah, the only one I really liked was the Genesis one, Bloodlines.]

Capcom is shooting itself in the foot a bit right now, but are otherwise still making stuff. I haven't played much of their recent output other than MvC3 though.

Square... if they made anything not-FF/KH, I'd be pretty happy. The Square of yesteryear made some great stuff in the PS1 era [for example, not-RPGs! Brave Fencer Musashi was a bit of a departure from their standard RPG, and Einhander is one of the best shmups on the PS1, if not one of the best shmups made, and even FF games were better then [I hold no love for 7 though, and I probably am saying this because I had 9 way back when]], and then that's it. Shame really. Kind of like how bloody Polyphony Digital made Omega Boost, which was AMAZING, and then proceeded to make nothing but racing games afterward.

Psygnosis... aren't they still working on stuff under that new Sony "corporate" name? What have they done lately? And has it been non-Wipeout related?

Also, Taito -- what the hell are they doing? Seeing Darius Burst makes me all kinds of happy though, but what else are they doing? [also, in relation to Square's status, anything not-RPG is likely being put under Taito's name, so my criticism in the preceding paragraph may be irrelevant]

Hudson... damnit, I want a new Bloody Roar. Sure, that's me just bitching and moaning, but damnit, why did BR5 get canned? They seem to be making stuff, even though I don't hear their name uttered very often.

[evil_ash_xero]

I want some Futari level stuff here.

Play Futari then.

CAVE have put out how many games on the 360 already? Enough to keep you going for a few years at least with the amount of scoring depth they offer. Akai Katana was only released in arcades just over a year ago and the 360 port is less than six months old... CAVE have given us a hell of a lot this generation if you ask me.

Now just because they're actually trying to make some money doing smartphone games and such, you say the company's dying? Hardly. Stop asking for more more more and get stuck in to the wealth of games they've already put out there.

Do you have stock in CAVE, or possibly have family members that work there?

[Blackbird]

Speaking of Sting, now THERE'S a developer I've been a bit worried about of late...after a string of interesting, semi-experimental titles (peaking with Knights in the Nightmare IMO) they seem to be moving in a bit more of a "traditional" direction lately, and considering how unimpressed I was with Hexyz Force this does not bode well if the trend continues.

Yeah, it feels like they've been a bit complacent lately. Lots of a titles that seem like rehashes of the Yggdra Union system to cash in/coast on it's popularity. I'm not -too- upset about it because I really like Yggdra Union, but I still feel like they need to make a masterpiece, and they haven't quite done that yet. Have you seen anything about Gungnir, though? From the looks of it, that will be their next "major" title, and it looks like they are mixing up the battle system a bit. That's the title I'm the most excited about.

[Stormwatch]

No love for the SOTN branch?

I like SOTN, but this is not about quality, but the definition of the "true Castlevania" formula (I, III, SCIV, and Bloodlines) versus "Metroidvania" or "God of Vania".

[greg]

Masaya. The fan site is coming along nicely, though. I have a guy who has volunteered to make it look real cool. Well, "volunteered" if I pay him a bit.

[Paradigm]

but the definition of the "true Castlevania" formula (I, III, SCIV, and Bloodlines)

The word you're looking for is 'traditional'.

[MX7]

Sega, Konami, Square and Capcom are all huge companies that have had to adapt their business model to produce these 'mega games' that perhaps lack a lot of the charm of their previous efforts. But there are still a lot of Japanese devs who make interesting games on a lower budget. From Software, Nippon Ichi, Grasshopper Manufacture, Platinum Games, Atlus, Cave... Not to mention doujin developers.

[iconoclast]

Speaking of AM2, what have they done recently?

This gen: Border Break (2009), After Burner Climax (2006), and obviously the Virtua Fighter 5 series (2006-2011). They're not pumping tons of games out, but they're still busy. I'm hoping they'll do a racing game next (OutRun 3 please).

[Sumez]

Nah, Taito hasn't fallen off. They might not get much talk from mainstream gamers but back when I played non-shmups I remember them being a company that came out with a lot of innovative and fun hidden gem type games. I'd recommend checking out LostMagic.

That is a long, long, long fall from Rainbow Islands.

Fukio Mitsuji, the guy who made the Bubble Bobble games died, so there. :\

As long as Konami keeps churning out Castlevania games, I'm happy.

Other than remakes, I think the last true Castlevania game came out in 1994.

Order of Ecclesia was really good IMO, and actually the last good inhouse Konami game I can even think of.
What happened to the anual/bi-anual metroidvania games for GBA/DS? Didn't people buy them? Did IGA leave Konami? Why did they stop! They were finally going in the right direction!

[Sumez]

But there are still a lot of Japanese devs who make interesting games on a lower budget. From Software

I think From recently passed the border from medium budget to triple-A. In fact, I think Dark Souls sets an entirely new standard for AAA productions due to an incredible presentation that I think even mega titles like Skyrim and Skyward Sword, and even Uncharted 3 will have a seriously hard time living up to!

[Obiwanshinobi]

Taito fell the hardest - The best arcade pub in the 80s completely collapsed after the fall of arcades and is now just a skin being worn by the hated Square-Enix.

Spica Adventure is good to say the least.

As for Sega, it's a last gen story now, but I liked Shinobi for the PS2 better than NiGHTS and Sonic in 3D. GunValkyrie looks like THE game worth buying an old Xbox for to me.

[Sumez]

GunValkyrie was fun for a few minutes

[Obiwanshinobi]

GunValkyrie was fun for a few minutes

Sounds better than Halo (or NiGHTS for that matter). Not too shabby for Xbox.

[Drum]

Taito fell the hardest - The best arcade pub in the 80s completely collapsed after the fall of arcades and is now just a skin being worn by the hated Square-Enix.

Spica Adventure is good to say the least.

omfg why haven't I heard of this?!?!??

[replayme]

as a fan of japanese development, i don't know if japanese game companies are falling apart.

yes, squeenix did do einhander and their name was synonymous with quality during the 16 and 32 bit era, but their acquisition of eidos has meant that they are now responsible for releasing deus ex.

sega are still going (semi) strong and are releasing a remake of hotf:overkill, and also released aliens infestation from way forward. some people on this forum have cited games like bayonetta (by platinum games) as being another example of sega's creativity, but i was honestly left cold by games like vanquish.

with regards to konami: i'm intrigued by the new castlevania (los), and am also looking forward to the mgs hd overhaul.

capcom...? they might be milking resi for all its worth, but i liked resi 5. i can't wait for what capcom have up their sleeve for resi 6. it would also be nice of them to re-release strider 2 on psn/xbla. and even though the game is old now, the company was also responsible for god hand (under clover).

sony are still going strong - ico and sotc (+last guardian) see to that.

personally, i'm more concerned with "boutique" developers such as treasure. i want that company to make a "sequel" to any of their (iuchi) shmups - like rsg, ikaruga, or even gradius v (for which konami holds the ip).

i recently bought the last earth defence force game - a series started by sandlot, and have still to find time to play any of the persona games by atlas. speaking of atlas, haven't they also done catherine?

let's not forget q entertainment - the company behind rez and child of eden. mizuguchi was also responsible for space channel 5, and also had a hand in sega rally (whilst still working for sega).

maybe we should be talking about japanese developers/game designers instead, in which case, i'd like to hold up the following as shining examples of what the japanese games community has to offer:
s mikami
t mizuguchi
s miyamoto
t itagaki (regardless of what you may think of him, he's bloody talented)
h iuchi
y matsuno
y futatsugi (panzer dragoon saga is probably my favourite rpg - better than ff7 imho)

[BulletMagnet]

Have you seen anything about Gungnir, though? From the looks of it, that will be their next "major" title, and it looks like they are mixing up the battle system a bit. That's the title I'm the most excited about.

I read whatever updates Siliconera had on the thing, but the headline of this one was enough to make me less than hopeful about it, at least in terms of standing apart from the crowd like its predecessors did.

[Sumez]

sega are still going (semi) strong and are releasing a remake of hotf:overkill, and also released aliens infestation from way forward. some people on this forum have cited games like bayonetta (by platinum games) as being another example of sega's creativity, but i was honestly left cold by games like vanquish.

with regards to konami: i'm intrigued by the new castlevania (los), and am also looking forward to the mgs hd overhaul.

Funny you're talking about Japanese developers, and then giving them merits based almost entirely on western developed games (Aliens Infestation, Castlevania LoS, HotD:Overkill)

[Obiwanshinobi]

Japanese companies can outsource the development to whenever good developers are for all I care. Nintendo has been quite good at it.

[Drum]

Those Sega games are also all externally developed, so yeah.
People like Valkyria Chronicles though (I never played it), so they're not a total disaster, but they're definitely falling apart.
Seems weird to booster folks like Konami/Sega (on the strength of HD ports of Metal Gear in the case of the former) and wring your hands about Treasure. They developed one of the best games they've ever made this gen and they're certainly riding the HD remake bandwagon.

[Sumez]

Nintendo still make great inhouse games, though. (HAL and Intelligent Systems are considered inhouse, too)

Sega and Konami haven't made anything good inhouse for years (edit: Ok, I forgot about valkyria chronicles). Well, I'm happy with games like Aliens Infestation, but I never once considered it a Sega game. And honestly, I could do without mediocre God of War clones from Spain taking over my beloved Castlevania franchise.
NeverDead does look awesome, and like something Konami should be making, but it's being developed by Rebellion, whose only decent game was the AvP title they made for PC in 99.

[Sumez]

They [Treasure] developed one of the best games they've ever made this gen

What, which? S&P2?

[Drum]

Sure.

[ryu]

No love for the SOTN branch? Yeah, they're all basically the same, but for some reason, I can't get enough. I haven't bothered with whatever 3D iterations have been released.

what irks me about that is that sotn is still by far the best of the bunch. the game flows much better and doesn't feel as stiff as the gameboy and ds iterations (unless they've fixed that in ooe, but i doubt that).

[Drum]

No love for the SOTN branch? Yeah, they're all basically the same, but for some reason, I can't get enough. I haven't bothered with whatever 3D iterations have been released.

what irks me about that is that sotn is still by far the best of the bunch. the game flows much better and doesn't feel as stiff as the gameboy and ds iterations (unless they've fixed that in ooe, but i doubt that).

Aria and Dawn of Sorrow/Order of Ecclesia are easily better games than Symphony in most of the most important ways. Symphony being the best Metroidvania is a claim often made, never substantiated. You could be the first!

[Sumez]

what irks me about that is that sotn is still by far the best of the bunch. the game flows much better and doesn't feel as stiff as the gameboy and ds iterations (unless they've fixed that in ooe, but i doubt that).

Yeah, the major difference is that all the other iterations were just built on SOTN's success (I don't mind reusing elements, SOTN itself did that a lot), and didn't receive all the love, SOTN did from its developers. SOTN itself was made as a discount title, no one expected it to have the success it had, so they just made the game they wanted to see themselves, resulting in all that excess you see in the game, that wasn't actually necessary to the basic gameplay experience, but improving the overall atmosphere and impression of the game tenfold.

The handheld SOTN "copies" are still good games though, and I think Order of Ecclesia is the closest they got to the quality of SOTN. I like how it's more linear in the beginning and ends with a huge open ended castle, as well as I enjoy the increased difficulty and well designed boss battles (this part beats even SOTN). It fits the formula perfectly, and they should make more games on this formula. Preferably in HD 2D for X360 and PS3.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Hum... Circle of the Moon, being a handheld game, plays faster than SotN and has none of the Street Fighter-like moves I consider out of place in a platformer (exploration in such a game shouldn't be about moves like down, up+jump to perform a rocket jump). Despite CotM's subpar production values, I found it more playable.

[Sumez]

Huh? CotM is the one handheld game that's SLOWER than SotN. I love it for it, though. It's not really a SotN-like, even though it appears so. It's more like a classic Castlevania, and the class system makes for great replayability (playing as a thief is awesome).

[Skykid]

Most Japanese companies have declined in terms of quality output, even if they're not falling apart per se.

The ones that have collapsed probably did so because they couldn't keep up with the pressure to produce junk shovelware three dee games made to a formula for western people with ADD.

[ryu]

Aria and Dawn of Sorrow/Order of Ecclesia are easily better games than Symphony in most of the most important ways. Symphony being the best Metroidvania is a claim often made, never substantiated. You could be the first!

i'd have to replay sotn and dawn of sorrow first to elaborate on that. i just remember to have liked sotn's atmosphere much more and that i liked how the game flowed thanks to multi directional attacks. the other game's feel stiff as stone in comparison.