Best Third Party Developer?

[Alianger]

So I recently decided to compile a list of what I consider to be the most noteworthy developers and their best games for the genny (the Genesis / Mega Drive, NOT the SCD/MCD or 32X).
I used Mobygames, GameFAQs and the games themselves for research, but these contradict eachother so I may have made some mistakes.

Anyway, which one is really The Best? I couldn't decide this by myself, so I made this poll. Now you have to decide!



Treasure (second party) - Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Dynamite Headdy, Treasure Land Adventure

Konami - Double Dribble, International Super Star Soccer Deluxe (ported by Factor 5), Lethal Enforcers 2, Tiny Toons Acme All-Stars, Contra Hard Corps, Castlevania Bloodlines, Rocket Knight Adventures, TMNT: Hyperstone Heist

Capcom - Chiki Chiki Boys (ported by Sega), Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Sega), Mercs (Sega), Forgotten Worlds (Sega), Strider (Sega), Mega Man: Wily Wars, Street Fighter series, Saturday Night Slam Masters, Punisher (ported by Sculptured Software)

Technosoft - Thunder Force series, Elemental Master, Herzog Zwei, Dragon's Fury (with Naxat Soft)

Masaya - Langrisser/Warsong 1-2, Vixen 357, Wings of Wor/Gynoug, Gley Lancer

Namco - Burning Force, Ball Jacks, Pac-Attack, Rolling Thunder 2-3, Marvel Land/Talmit's Adventure, Splatterhouse 2-3, Megapanel

BlueSky Software (second party) - Techno Clash (with Zono), Vectorman series, Starflight (original by Binary Systems), Shadowrun, Ren & Stimpy: Stimpy's Invention

Data East - Atomic Runner, Dashin' Desperadoes, Two Crude Dudes (ported by Opera House), Midnight Resistance (Opera House), Vapor Trail (ported by Telenet)

Taito - Rainbow Islands: Extra Version, Sagaia/Darius 2, New Zealand Story, Chase H.Q. II, Flintstones

Traveller's Tales - Toy Story, Mickey Mania, Puggsy

Compile - Puyo Puyo series, MUSHA

Toaplan - Hellfire, Slap Fight, Snow Bros, Fire Shark

Electronic Arts - Sports games, Road Rash series, The Haunting, Desert Strike

Core Design - Asterix & the Power of the Gods, Chuck Rock 2, Bubba 'n Stix, Skeleton Krew

Codemasters - Psycho Pinball, Micro Machines series, Pete Sampras Tennis, Man Overboard! S.S. Lucifer

SNK (Ported by Takara) - King of the Monsters 2, Fatal Fury 2, Samurai Shodown

Telenet Japan - Valis III, Gaiares, Traysia

Virgin - Aladdin, Robocop vs. Terminator

Wolf Team - El Viento, Dino Land, Arcus Odyssey, Zan Yasha Enbukyoku, Granada

Novotrade - Cyborg Justice, Ecco 1-2, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Crossroads of Time

Sunsoft - Super Fantasy Zone, Batman, Scooby Doo Mystery, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel

Vectordean/Millenium - Rolo to the Rescue, James Pond series

Bitmap Brothers - Chaos Engine/Soldiers of Fortune, Speedball 2

Psygnosis - Wiz 'n' Liz, Lemmings 1, Flink

Rare - Snake Rattle 'n Roll, Battletoads, Battletoads & DD, Championship Pro-Am

Koei - Aerobiz Supersonic, Gemfire, Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons, Romance of the Three Kingdoms III

[GEN ESIS GAMER]

Electronic arts no qestions asked.

[0x15e]

Some minor corrections to your examples:

I'm pretty sure Capcom didn't do the Genesis Strider port. I think Sega licensed that one and did it themselves.

Also, SNK didn't do any of the Genesis ports that I'm aware of. Those all got farmed out to Takara (who usually did a pretty decent job, IMO) except Super Baseball 2020, which was done by EA (also a good port).

As for my votes, I'd have to call it a toss-up between Treasure, Konami, and Blue Sky. Those developers almost always did quality work on the Genesis and were responsible for some of the most impressive titles on the system.

While Capcom did release a couple of decent games, their ports always seemed kind of half-assed to me. The SF2 ports were pretty good but could have been better, IMO.

[Alianger]

Ah, so that's what "reprogrammed game" stands for huh? Well the question is where to give credit, since for example Strider was still made by Capcom originally. I guess porting it well to the Genesis is a feat in itself though.

I'll edit the post to make this clear where I know that's the case.

I agree that the SF ports could've been better, at least sound-wise. Same thing with some Konami ports.

[Zebbe]

Especially Sunset Riders.

I voted Treasure and Tecnosoft. They were pretty obscure compared to giants like Capcom and Konami, but still knew the system best and really had some original games.

[David J.]

Razorsoft!

Technocop, Slaughter Sport, That football game, Death Duel where all pretty rockin, imo.

[megabomberman]

Has to be EA absolutely awesome, also some additions, syndicate, powermonger and shadow of the beast are all also from EA,

great thread by the way

[Alianger]

Syndicate and Power Monger were great games but I think they worked better on PC/Amiga with the mouse & keyboard combo.

Also, SotB was developed by Psygnosis and Power Monger by Bullfrog (they probably did Syndicate as well). Sorry, but I'm trying to make it strictly development so no publishing. :)

[megabomberman]

No probs man, my knowledge doesn't go that deep, I just saw the yellow sticking out of the side and thought, oh ya they're good!

[Rusty Venture]

I had to vote EA.

EA put out some unique stuff out back then.


I don't really feel Capcom or Konami put 100% into doing stuff on the Genesis.

Sure Konami put out Castlevania and Contra, but Turtles on Genesis was a joke. I feel terrible looking at the game and thinking "Konami, is this really the best you could do?"

[j_factor]

The poll choices are so random. Wolf Team and Toaplan over Psygnosis, Core, Virgin, Codemasters, Taito, and Game Arts? Craziness. And wasn't Blue Sky second-party at the time?

Anyway, I counted how many games from each third-party I had in my Genny (including CD and 32x) collection and want list (combined). The winner was Core, with 13. And they are: Bubba 'n Stix, Skeleton Krew, Battlecorps, Chuck Rock, Chuck Rock 2, Heimdall, Soul Star, Thunderstrike, Wonder Dog, Asterix & the Power of the Gods, B.C. Racers, Jaguar XJ220, and Wolf Child. Core only made one other game for the system, which I hated (Corporation/Cyber-Cop). 13/14 is a pretty good track record, I'd say. Core really made some top-notch games back then, and were also one of few developers to take any real advantage of the Sega CD hardware. Kudos to them.

Second place goes to Psygnosis, with 10. They made a few crappy games, such as Novastorm and Microcosm; their "win/loss" record is not as good as Core's, nor are their games quite on the same level. But Psygnosis does have a certain intrigue to them -- they took more risks gameplay-wise and I find that their game design is, at times, the most interesting. Even their less-than-stellar games are often "interesting".

EA came in third, with 9. They get props for the Road Rash series, the Strike series, and a few unique games like Haunting and The Immortal. I never cared for their sports games.

[Alianger]

Well that's some unexpected critique!

Apart from counting the SCD (This poll is about the Genesis) games, you mention Chuck Rock and Wolf Child which are very mediocre platformers..

Game Arts made 1 Genesis game, and while it's a good one it's hardly enough to merit a spot in the "top" 9 choices for me.
Virgin made 2 Good ones (I didn't list Global Gladiators), but they're not exactly Top 10 material.

Putting the Psygnosis and Wolf Team titles next to eachother, I think they both made some unique, fun titles and personally I prefer Psygnosis somewhat.. I actually did pick Wolf Team randomly.
I don't think it's a big deal, and I don't see a problem when you can just choose "Other.." :)

[108 Stars]

Definately EA. No other company supported the MD like they did, and from the early days on!
Capcom and Konami have both made very ood games, but you could see that some of them were a bit rushed (Castlevania, SSF II, Turtles).They all were great fun of course, but absolutely inferiour to their SNES-counterparts for no logical reason
Treasure is generally overrated with Gunstar Heroes being the only really great game and a bunch of visually excellent, but gameplay-wise mediocre titles.

@Alianger
Yes, ISS was ported by Factor 5, Germany´s only true gaming-stars.

[Alianger]

While EA played a major role in popularizing the Genesis in the US, and they published some interesting titles..

Looking at their own games, I'd pick any Treasure-made game over any EA-made game except perhaps NHL '96 or Road Rash.
Desert Strike bores me, Haunting is interesting but too short and basic. Road Rash is pretty choppy in multiplayer, which is the most fun to play.

[retrosega]

Renovation

[Ash]

Compile. Don't forget MUSHA!

[Joe Redifer]

Seismic! Or maybe Sage's Creation. However there's always got to be a vote for Kyugo Trading Co. I think they are the best!

[Melf]

Ah, so that's what "reprogrammed game" stands for huh? Well the question is where to give credit, since for example Strider was still made by Capcom originally. I guess porting it well to the Genesis is a feat in itself though.
Capcom shouldn't get credit for any of the reprogrammed games (Strider, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds, MERCS, Chiki Chiki Boys, Final Fight CD). It licensed the games to Sega, who did the ports. This was because Capcom was still tied to Nintendo's fascist licensing agreements, and couldn't release the games itself. Once the courts made Nintendo lift the terms, Capcom then began to release Genesis games under its own label.

It's funny though, as more Capcom games were released by Sega on the Genesis than by Capcom itself!

[Rusty Venture]

Better Capcom games were released by SEGA on the Genesis than by Capcom itself.

[Melf]

Quite true. I liked Punisher and SF: SCE, but the others seemed so half-assed to me.

[j_factor]

Well that's some unexpected critique!

Apart from counting the SCD (This poll is about the Genesis) games, you mention Chuck Rock and Wolf Child which are very mediocre platformers..

Sega CD is part of Genesis. I still don't get why people try to separate them, when they (generally) don't separate Turbografx hucard and CD. It's not its own system; it's an extension.

Also, I guess I can understand calling Wolf Child mediocre, but Chuck Rock? I thought most people liked that one.


Game Arts made 1 Genesis game, and while it's a good one it's hardly enough to merit a spot in the "top" 9 choices for me.

This goes back to the previous point; I was counting Silpheed, Lunar, and Lunar 2. Even then, Game Arts is probably the least significant of the devs I mentioned and I probably shouldn't have listed them. :p


Virgin made 2 Good ones (I didn't list Global Gladiators), but they're not exactly Top 10 material.

Virgin "made" a lot of great games. I put "made" in quotes, because, although you did say that you're only talking about developers specifically, everyone seems to be giving EA credit for every game they published.


Putting the Psygnosis and Wolf Team titles next to eachother, I think they both made some unique, fun titles and personally I prefer Psygnosis somewhat.. I actually did pick Wolf Team randomly.

Wolf Team made fewer games, though. Looking at their catalog, I guess they were pretty good overall, I just can't get over how much I despised Earnest Evans.


I don't think it's a big deal, and I don't see a problem when you can just choose "Other.." :)

It's not a big deal at all. And I did choose other, thankyouverymuch. :p

[Alianger]

ugh, quoting hell :P


Sega CD is part of Genesis. I still don't get why people try to separate them, when they (generally) don't separate Turbografx hucard and CD. It's not its own system; it's an extension.

Also, I guess I can understand calling Wolf Child mediocre, but Chuck Rock? I thought most people liked that one.

Personally I wouldn't mind counting with the SCD or even 32X but the truth is most people see them as separate hardware, just take a look at this board where they have their own sections! It would also have taken me a Lot more time to compile such a list.

I don't know much about the Turbografx since it wasn't released in Sweden (to my knowledge), but if you say so.

I used to like Chuck Rock but after playing it recently I felt the gameplay was really half-assed. It's just a standard platformer with some cheap hits and the typical ice and water levels that are always annoying. I'm not keen on the soundtrack either..


"Game Arts is probably the least significant of the devs I mentioned and I probably shouldn't have listed them. :p"

At least we can agree on something :)


"everyone seems to be giving EA credit for every game they published."

Which is Wrong! So stop doing it people!
It's understandable though, my first list put all games with EA Boxes under "EA".


"Wolf Team made fewer games, though. Looking at their catalog, I guess they were pretty good overall, I just can't get over how much I despised Earnest Evans."

I don't think you should judge them for 1 or 2 crappy games, but yeah that was a terrible game and a terrible character too. I liked the bosses though (watched a speedrun of it).

[DigitalSpace]

Excellent thread. It was a tough call between Treasure and Konami, but I picked Treasure.

[Alianger]

Thanks! It's a multiple choice poll btw, I picked both of them + Technosoft as well :)

[CRV]

Seismic! Or maybe Sage's Creation. However there's always got to be a vote for Kyugo Trading Co. I think they are the best!

Seismic and Sage's Creation didn't develop anything, and neither did Kyugo, at least on the MD (Super Airwolf/Crossfire was developed by A.I).

And neither did Renovation or Takara, as far as I know.

Opera House (http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Miki_%26_Fujiwara_Production/Opera_House) handled some of those Data East conversions (Captain America, Midnight Resistance, Two Crude Dudes).

[Zebbe]

CRV: Never take Joe Redifer serious when he's using exclamation points.

[Obviously]

Well Treasure and Blue Sky were second party... that being said I think EA did the most for the Genesis.

[Sega Genesis]

My three favorite games are Ghouls'N'Ghosts, Strider, and Forgotten Worlds. I found out later on that they were all Capcom. Also, my favorite fighter on the Genesis, Super Street Fighter 2, also Capcom.

Treco, Tengen, and Taito didn't make the pole but had some good games.