Interview: Ellen Fuog

[Melf]

When the Genesis launched, it lacked something its rival, the NES, enjoyed in spades: third party software. Due to Nintendo's strict licensing agreements, companies that published on the NES were forbidden to release games on competing hardware, and this left Sega's new machine with a big problem. Thankfully, the U.S. court system put an end to this practice, and the support slowly began to pick up. During the dry period, however, a few small companies jumped at the chance to pick up the slack left by bigger publishers like Konami and Capcom. Among them was Kaneko, which was a staunch supporter of the little black box. Sega-16 spent some Q&A time with former Kaneko VP of marketing, Ellen Fuog, and she shared her insights on what it was like to be at a small publisher at the dawn of the 16-bit era. Read the full interview for all the details.

[Zebbe]

You should have asked her how come they could develop for both Nintendo and Sega at the same time, as a follow up to one of the questions. Other than that, it was a good interview.

[Joe Redifer]

There is no reason why any developer couldn't release games for both Sega and Nintendo at the same time even in the early days. They just couldn't release the same game on both platforms if I have my facts straight (which I never do).

[Zebbe]

But this doesn't explain why the third party software for MD/Gen was so scarce the first years. Quote from the interview presentation text:

Due to Nintendo's strict licensing agreements, companies that published on the NES were forbidden to release games on competing hardware, and this left Sega's new machine with a big problem.

I still don't understand why some companies had to wait for years to release Sega games (Capcom, Konami?) while others released for both (Kaneko, Vic Tokai).

[Melf]

Kaneko didn't release for the NES, did it? I don't recall them releasing on a Nintendo platform until quite some time after the Genesis had been around.

Joe, you're right, though it was still very restricting. Companies couldn't release more than five games on a Nintendo platform per year without negotiating a separate contract, and all games had a 2-year exclusivity clause. So, companies weren't obligated to release their best games on the NES, but doing otherwise meant losing the massive user base it had, since the game couldn't be released anywhere else for two years.

[segagamer]

Found the following error:

Ellen Fuog: Yes. In fact, Kaneko developed and published Power Moves (named Air Buster on Genesis) as well as two Chester Cheetah games.

Correction: Power Athlete was renamed Deadly Moves on the Genesis.

[Aarzak]

Nintendo wisely held the big third parties such as Capcom & Konami by their balls, as they were much more high-profile and valuable then most of the low-profile third parties that Sega managed to sign up during the Genesis' pre-Sonic days. Nintendo probably didn't care much about them. Kaneko was one of these ham-and-egger third parties.

Some companies were just Nintendo loyalists to begin with (Square, Enix, to a lesser extent Capcom).

Correction: The game was named "Deadly Moves" on the Genesis, "Power Moves" on the SNES. Same crappy SFII clone, different name.

[vintagegamecrazy]

That was a decent read, what ever happened to Kaneko?

[Melf]

Originally Posted by Aarzak

Nintendo probably didn't care much about them. Kaneko was one of these ham-and-egger third parties.

That was their undoing though, especially since all those big companies were only exclusive because of legal reasons. Once the licensing agreements freed them, they weren't so loyal anymore, and they saw these little companies making a good living publishing on successful hardware. All Nintendo did was begin to alienate its 3rd party base, something it finished up with the N64.

Originally Posted by vintagegamecrazy

That was a decent read, what ever happened to Kaneko?

They went under a few years ago. I find it sad that these companies came and went with so little fanfare. I mean, Data East died and almost no one noticed, and they were so much bigger than Kaneko. Companies like Seismic, Sages' Creation, Treco, and others just upped and vanished like a fart in the wind. Sad, really.

[A Black Falcon]

Originally Posted by segagamer

Found the following error:

Ellen Fuog: Yes. In fact, Kaneko developed and published Power Moves (named Air Buster on Genesis) as well as two Chester Cheetah games.

Correction: Power Athlete was renamed Deadly Moves on the Genesis.

No, Power Athlete was the Japanese title (on both platforms), Power Moves the US SNES title, and Deadly Moves the US Genesis title.

They went under a few years ago. I find it sad that these companies came and went with so little fanfare. I mean, Data East died and almost no one noticed, and they were so much bigger than Kaneko. Companies like Seismic, Sages' Creation, Treco, and others just upped and vanished like a fart in the wind. Sad, really.

Their last US console release, it seems, was Fido Dido (Genesis) and the SNES version of Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest, both in 1994... (some of?) their 1995 arcade games seem to have had US releases, but that was it for Kaneko in the US. The Japanese side released its last game in 2002, but seems to have made it to 2006 before closing, according to Wikipedia... but yeah, when small companies vanish, people don't always notice.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Originally Posted by Melf

They went under a few years ago. I find it sad that these companies came and went with so little fanfare. I mean, Data East died and almost no one noticed, and they were so much bigger than Kaneko. Companies like Seismic, Sages' Creation, Treco, and others just upped and vanished like a fart in the wind. Sad, really.

Spoken for truth.


Then there's companies (cough, cough, Acclaim!) that were a fart in a tightly enclosed room that lingered too long and became so strong and repulsive that it bacame corrosive and caused severe damage before finally fading away.

[CRV]

Originally Posted by Melf

They went under a few years ago. I find it sad that these companies came and went with so little fanfare. I mean, Data East died and almost no one noticed, and they were so much bigger than Kaneko. Companies like Seismic, Sages' Creation, Treco, and others just upped and vanished like a fart in the wind. Sad, really.

Treco was just Sammy. IIRC, Treco's Japanese address was the same as Sammy's. Sage's Creation and Seismic might have just been subsidiaries of other companies, too.

Here's another one for you: Mentrix. Evidence suggests this was Romstar (for example, Romstar staff like Darryl Williams and Rene Lopez are given special thanks on Championship Bowling). Looking at Mentrix's old address, it was apparently based in a condominium in Torrance. Romstar was only a couple miles away.

Originally Posted by A Black Falcon

Their last US console release, it seems, was Fido Dido (Genesis) and the SNES version of Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest, both in 1994...

Fido Dido never came out.

Two other Kaneko arcade games came to the Genesis, with seemingly no involvement from Kaneko: Kageki and Heavy Unit.

[Aarzak]

Gah......Treco, of "Fighting Masters" fame. Can't believe they, along with Bignet and "Heavy Nova", sold truckloads of that CRAP to fighting game-starved Genesis owners. WTF mate? Couldn't they just wait until SF2: SCE came out?

[Ash]

Heavy Nova was pretty bad. Although they really redeemed themselves with Black Hole Assault. So very much improved.

[Baloo]

Originally Posted by vintagegamecrazy

Spoken for truth.


Then there's companies (cough, cough, Acclaim!) that were a fart in a tightly enclosed room that lingered too long and became so strong and repulsive that it bacame corrosive and caused severe damage before finally fading away.

Acclaim was such a horrible company, they made so many bad games, it's a wonder they lasted as long as they did.

Interestingly enough there's now a new Acclaim that makes PC games that bought the logo and copyrights.