Treasure Co. Ltd
Encyclopedia : T : TR : TRE : Treasure Co. Ltd
Treasure Co. Ltd (トレジャー) is a Japanese video game developer, founded by former employees of Konami on June 19, 1992.
Contents
History
Before foundation
The core founding members came from various development teams within Konami Tokyo; the most notable being the teams behind the arcade and NES Bucky O'Hare games. The team behind the arcade version included: Hiroshi Iuchi, primary background artist and director of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga; Norio Hanzawa (aka NON), primary music composer; and Tetsuhiko Kikuchi (aka Han), primary character designer. The team behind the NES version included: Masato Maegawa, CEO and founder; Kaname Shindoh, graphic designer; Hideyuki Suganami, programmer; and Kouichi Kimura, graphic designer.Contrary to popular belief, no significant employees were involved in the development of ', Super Castlevania IV, or '. However, one to three identifiable employees were involved in the following Konami games:
- Aliens (Arcade)
- Axelay (SNES)
- Bucky O'Hare (Arcade/NES)
- The Castlevania Adventure (Game Boy)
- (Game Boy)
- Contra (Game Boy)
- (SNES)
- Rocket Knight Adventures (Mega Drive/Genesis)
- The Simpsons (Arcade)
- (Game Boy)
After foundation
Treasure is known for intense action games, with a lot of creative work put into the gameplay. Their design aesthetic usually involves taking the basic elements of a genre, adding something new to the play mechanics or controls, as well as adding many new and varied elements into the level design. They are also known for their boss levels, which are almost always the focus of the game. On older systems, these featured larged multijointed sprite bosses (using a technique where each arm or appendage was a still picture that was rotated for movement instead of the entire boss being one picture). They were also once notorious for their apparently explicit policy that forbade themselves to develop sequels of their games, although Treasure employees have said on numerous occasions that no such policy existed.Games developed by Treasure
Items marked with a '*' were not released in North America/Europe/Australasia.
- Gunstar Heroes (1993, Sega. Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis; Unknown date, unknown publisher, Sega Game Gear)
- McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (1994, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
- Dynamite Headdy (1994, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis; Unknown date, unknown publisher, Game Gear)
- Yu Yu Hakusho Makyo Toitsusen (幽☆遊☆白書 魔強統一戦) (1994, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis*)
- Alien Soldier (1995, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
- Light Crusader (1995, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
- Guardian Heroes (1996, Sega, Sega Saturn)
- Mischief Makers (ゆけゆけ!トラブルメーカーズ yuke-yuke! Trouble Makers) (1997, Enix (JP)/Nintendo (US), Nintendo 64)
- Silhouette Mirage (1997, ESP, Saturn*; 1998, ESP (JP)/Working Designs (US), Sony PlayStation)
- Radiant Silvergun (1998, self-published, Arcade*; 1998, ESP, Saturn*)
- Rakugaki Showtime (1999, Enix, PlayStation*)
- Bangai-O/Bakuretsu Muteki Bangaioh (爆裂無敵バンガイオー) (1999, ESP, N64*; 1999 (JP)/2000 (EU)/2001 (US), ESP (JP)/Swing! Games (EU)/Conspiracy Entertainment (US), Sega Dreamcast)
- GunBeat (Cancelled, unknown publisher, Arcade)
- (2000 (JP)/2001 (US/EU), Capcom (JP)/Swing! Games and Conspiracy Entertainment (EU)/Working Designs (US), Sony PlayStation 2)
- Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (罪と罰~地球(ほし)の継承者~) (2000, Nintendo, Nintendo 64*)
- Stretch Panic (ひっぱリンダ hippa linda) (2001, Conspiracy Entertainment (US)/Swing! Games (EU)/Kadokawa Shoten (JP), PlayStation 2)
- Ikaruga (斑鳩) (2001, self-published, Arcade*; 2002, ESP, Dreamcast*; 2003, Atari, Nintendo GameCube)
- (2002, Swing! Games (EU), Nintendo Game Boy Advance)
- (cancelled, unknown publisher, PlayStation 2)
- Wario World (2003, Nintendo, GameCube)
- Dragon Drive D-Masters Shot (2003, Bandai, GameCube*)
- (2004, Sega, Game Boy Advance; developed in collaboration with the Sega team, Hitmaker)
- Gradius V (2004, Konami, PlayStation 2)
- Advance Guardian Heroes (2004, Ubisoft, Game Boy Advance)
- Gunstar Super Heroes (2005, Sega, Game Boy Advance)
- (2006, Sega, Nintendo DS*)
External links
- [Treasure HomePage] (Japanese)
- [Treasure Co. Ltd] profile on MobyGames
- [SF Kosmo - comprehensive fan site]
- [Treasure Entry] at the gaming wiki, Encyclopedia Gamia
- [An illustrated history of Treasure]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
