Sonic the Hedgehog is a 1991 side-scrolling platform game. It is a companion to the 16-bit Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog for the 8-bit Game Gear and Master System consoles. Ancient—a studio founded by composer Yuzo Koshiro for the project—developed the game and Sega published it to promote the handheld Game Gear. The 8-bit Sonic is a side-scrolling video game similar in style to the 16-bit game, but reduced in complexity to fit the 8-bit systems.
Ninja Gaiden is a series of action video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as Ninja Ryukenden in Japan. The word "gaiden" in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means "side story" in Japanese. The original arcade version, first two Nintendo Entertainment System games and Game Boy game were released as Shadow Warriors in PAL regions. As of 2008, the series has shipped over 7.7 million copies.
Streets of Rage is a beat 'em up game developed and published by Sega for the Genesis in 1991. Players control one of three former police officers turned vigilantes who battle a crime syndicate. Streets of Rage establishes many conventions of the Streets of Rage series, such as two-player cooperative play and an acclaimed techno soundtrack from composer Yuzo Koshiro. It was ported for the Game Gear, Sega CD and Master System and has been rereleased as part of various compilations and on download services.
Yuzo Koshiro is a Japanese composer and sound programmer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune and video game music, producing music in a number of genres including rock, jazz, symphonic, and various electronic genres such as house, electro, techno, trance, and hip hop.
Over one hundred video games based on the Star Wars franchise have been released, dating back to some of the earliest home consoles. Some are based directly on films while others rely heavily on the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Streets of Rage 2, known as Bare Knuckle II In Japan, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game published by Sega in 1992 for the Mega Drive/Genesis. A sequel to Streets of Rage (1991), the characters Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding return while the game also introduces two new characters: Max "Thunder" Hatchet, and Eddie "Skate" Hunter, the younger brother of Adam Hunter from the first game.
Shinobi is a series of hack-and-slash action video games created by Sega. The ninja (shinobi) Joe Musashi is the protagonist of the original series of games.
Arika is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It was formed in 1995 by former Capcom employees, originally as ARMtech K.K, later named Arika. The name of the company is the reverse of the name of the company's founder, Akira Nishitani, who along with Akira Yasuda, created Street Fighter II. Arika's first game was Street Fighter EX. It was successful and was followed up with two updates, and it's two sequels Street Fighter EX2 and Street Fighter EX3. In 2018, they released a spiritual successor to both Street Fighter EX and Fighting Layer, titled Fighting EX Layer. From 2019 to 2021, Arika collaborated with Nintendo to create the battle royale games Tetris 99, Super Mario Bros. 35, and with Bandai Namco for Pac-Man 99. Arika is also known for the Tetris: The Grand Master series, the Dr. Mario series, and the Endless Ocean series.
The music of the Streets of Rage series of beat 'em up games, released in the early 1990s, was produced by Yuzo Koshiro.
Ancient Corp. is a Japanese video game developer founded by composer Yuzo Koshiro and his mother and sister on April 1, 1990. The company has worked on games such as the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage 2, Beyond Oasis, Shenmue, and Gotta Protectors, among others.
The Japanese multinational consumer electronics company Nintendo has developed seven home video game consoles and multiple portable consoles for use with external media, as well as dedicated consoles and other hardware for their consoles. As of September 30, 2021, in addition to Nintendo Switch, Nintendo has sold over 863.07 million hardware units.
Battletoads is a video game media franchise by Rare that began with the original beat 'em up game Battletoads in 1991. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions, Rash, Zitz, and Pimple, the series was created to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games series. The original Battletoads game for the NES was renowned for its extreme difficulty, but still received a cult following, spawning sequels for various platforms including a crossover with the Double Dragon series and a modern reboot after a 25 year gap in releases. In each of the games, the objective is to defeat the toads' nemesis the Dark Queen and her army of space mutants.
7th Dragon is a role-playing video game for Nintendo DS developed by imageepoch and published by Sega in Japan on March 5, 2009. The game has not been published in other territories. However, an English fan translation was completed in 2014.
Edmund Charles McMillen is an American video game designer and artist known for his Flash game visual style. His most notable works include 2010's side-scroller Super Meat Boy and 2011's roguelike game The Binding of Isaac and its 2014 remake.
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is the first video game in the Skylanders series. It is a 3D action-adventure platform game that is played along with toy figures that interact with it through a "Portal of Power" that reads their tag through NFC and features the voices of Josh Keaton, Darin De Paul, Dave Wittenberg, Keythe Farley, Audrey Wasilewski, Joey Camen and Kevin Michael Richardson.
Majesco Entertainment Company is an American video game publisher and distributor based in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986, and was a privately held company until acquiring operation-less company ConnectivCorp in a reverse merger takeover, becoming its subsidiary and thus a public company on December 5, 2003. ConnectivCorp later changed its name to Majesco Holdings Inc. on April 13, 2004.
Project X Zone 2 is a crossover tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Monolith Soft and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Despite the game being the sequel to Project X Zone, the plot is a homage to the events of its spiritual predecessor, Namco × Capcom, while retaining a standalone story. The game is a crossover between various franchises from Bandai Namco, Capcom, and Sega, with special guests from Nintendo. The game was released in Japan in November 2015, and worldwide in February 2016.
Etrian Odyssey is a dungeon crawler role-playing video game series. It is primarily developed and published by Atlus and currently owned by Sega. By 2016, the series had sold a combined total of 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a 2018 platform game developed and published by Inti Creates. It is a companion title to developer ArtPlay's 2019 game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and was conceived to fulfill the promise for a retro-style accompaniment to Ritual of the Night after its Kickstarter campaign exceeded crowdfunding goals. Curse of the Moon follows Zangetsu, a cursed swordsman hunting down demons for revenge, as well as three other playable characters named Miriam, Alfred and Gebel. It features an 8-bit aesthetic and gameplay style similar to Castlevania games on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), particularly Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989).
Bayonetta is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya, developed by PlatinumGames, and owned by Sega. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with Bayonetta. Two sequels were released, Bayonetta 2 (2014) and Bayonetta 3 (2022), as well as a spinoff, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (2023). In the games, players control a witch nicknamed Bayonetta as she wields dual pistols, shooters in her high heels, and long, magically transforming hair which becomes a deadly weapon.
