Native name | アルゼグローバルトレーディング株式会社 |
---|---|
Romanized name | Aruze Gurōbaru Torēdingu Kabushiki gaisha |
Formerly |
|
Company type | Subsidiary |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 30 April 1997 |
Founder | Hiroki Kikuta |
Defunct | 1 February 2009 |
Fate | Merged into Aruze Marketing Japan |
Headquarters | , Japan |
Key people |
|
Products | Shadow Hearts |
Parent | Aruze (2002–2009) |
Sacnoth Inc., [lower-alpha 1] renamed Nautilus Inc. [lower-alpha 2] in 2002, was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. The company was founded in April 1997 by Hiroki Kikuta with funding from SNK; its staff, including Kikuta, were veterans of Square. While their first releases were the Dive Alert games for the Neo Geo Pocket Color (NGPC), the company was founded to produce Koudelka , a role-playing video game for the PlayStation. The development of Koudelka was troubled due to creative differences between Kikuta and the rest of the staff, with Kikuta resigning as CEO following the game's release and being replaced by Jun Mihara. The company also released the NGPC game Faselei! .
Following Koudelka, the company went on to develop the first game in the Shadow Hearts series. In 2002, Aruze acquired Sacnoth and renamed it to Nautilus. Under that name, the company developed two more Shadow Hearts games. As part of a larger reorganization within Aruze, Nautilus was renamed Aruze Global Trading Corporation [lower-alpha 3] and exited the video game business in September 2007 before being absorbed into another Aruze subsidiary in February 2009. The work of Sacnoth for the NGPC has been mentioned positively in articles on the console, while the Shadow Hearts series retains a cult status and is remembered for its setting and gameplay. Multiple former employees joined Feelplus.
Sacnoth was founded by Hiroki Kikuta, a former composer for Square who worked on Secret of Mana , Trials of Mana and Soukaigi . [1] While at Square, Kikuta wanted to direct his own game but, due to the strict hierarchical structure at the company, could not move beyond his role as a composer. [2] Searching for a means of expanding his role, he was introduced by a business advisor to the chairman of SNK. During their talk, Kikuta outlined many perceived pitfalls he saw emerging in the role-playing game (RPG) genre. [1] The company was founded on 30 April 1997, with Kikuta as its CEO. [3] While SNK provided funding for the company, it had little involvement in its products and creative direction, with SNK's Norimasa Hirano describing Sacnoth as an independent developer. [4] Sacnoth's headquarters were based in Tokyo. [3] [5]
Sacnoth developed their first two projects in parallel: Koudelka for the PlayStation, and the Dive Alert duology for the NGPC. [6] The Dive Alert games were their first releases in Japan and were promoted as part of the portable's early line-up. [7] [8] It was also one of the last NGPC games released in North America. [9] Koudelka was born from Kikuta's wish to create a "horror RPG", beginning development of the title following the company's foundation. [1] [2] Kikuta acted as the game's director, producer, writer and composer. [1] His original plan for the gameplay and combat was to combine mechanics from simulation and adventure games, breaking away from RPG trends. [10] The rest of the staff were reluctant to do this, and they instead created a traditional turn-based battle system without his involvement. [1]
Kikuta resigned as Sacnoth's CEO following the release of Koudelka in 1999, later founding the music label Norstrilia. [11] [12] Kikuta was replaced as CEO by Jun Mihara. [13] The last game developed by Sacnoth under SNK was Faselei! , a tactical RPG released in 1999 for the NGPC. [7] [9] During this period, SNK ran into financial troubles and was bought out by Aruze in January 2000. [14] [15] [16] Faselei! was one of the last games produced for the NGPC, as Aruze pulled the console from sale in June 2000. [9] [17]
Following Koudelka, Shadow Hearts began development for the PlayStation 2, directed and written by Koudelka art director Matsuzo Machida (credited as Matsuzo Itakura). [18] [19] [20] Mihara acted as the game's producer. [13] [21] Using the setting of Koudelka, Machida created a traditional RPG that blended Lovecraftian horror with alternative history. [19] [20] Released in 2001, Shadow Hearts was the first RPG published by Aruze. [22] [23] Shadow Hearts was the last game developed by Sacnoth under that name. [14]
In November 2002, Sacnoth was acquired by Aruze and renamed Nautilus, carrying over its original staff. [14] [24] [25] The responsibilities of Nautilus were divided between developing further Shadow Hearts titles and supporting the production of Aruze's pachinko machines. [5] The company's first title under the Nautilus name was Shadow Hearts: Covenant , a sequel to Shadow Hearts featuring many of the same staff. [14] [26] Using feedback from the first Shadow Hearts, Machida added more comedic elements. [20] Covenant was released in Japan in 2004. [19] The team also created a director's cut of the game. [14]
After the release of Covenant, Shadow Hearts: From the New World entered into production. The game was completed on a very tight schedule and focused on refining the battle system of Covenant instead of adding new elements. [25] [27] [28] From the New World is a spin-off featuring new characters to reach a wider audience. [28] The game was released in Japan in 2005, coming to Western countries through third-party publishers over the next two years. [29] [30] [31] Plans to continue the Shadow Hearts series were never realized. [20]
By February 2007, Nautilus had become absent from Aruze's financial statements, prompting rumours that the company had been dissolved. [29] The studio was renamed Aruze Global Trading on September 21, 2007, during large-scale structural changes within Aruze. [32] Under its new name, Aruze Global Trading was not involved in game development. [33] The company was merged into another Aruze subsidiary, Aruze Marketing Japan, on February 1, 2009. Aruze Marketing Japan was itself merged into Aruze in June of that year. [34] Several of Sacnoth's staff eventually joined Feelplus, which helped develop games like Lost Odyssey and Ninety-Nine Nights II . [33] [35] [36]
Sacnoth is noted as being one of a group of video game companies—alongside Monolith Soft, Love-de-Lic and Mistwalker—founded by Square staff who had worked on notable titles produced during the 1990s. Writing in a feature for Anime News Network , Todd Ciolek noted the positive responses to the studio's work on Shadow Hearts, though felt Koudelka was inferior compared to their other work. [37] In an article on the NGPC for USgamer , Jeremy Parish noted Sacnoth as one of the best developers to work with the console due to their work on Dive Alert and Faselei!. [38] Faselei! has been remembered or ranked as one of the best NGPC games of all time, and become a collector's item. [9] [39] [40] The Shadow Hearts series has also seen a positive reception over time and maintained a cult following, with many noting its gameplay design and combination of alternate history and Lovecraftian horror in its setting. [41] [42]
Year | Title | Platform(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | Dive Alert | Neo Geo Pocket Color | Released in two editions: Becky's Version and Matt's Version [43] |
Koudelka | PlayStation | ||
Faselei! | Neo Geo Pocket Color | ||
2001 | Shadow Hearts | PlayStation 2 | Last game developed under the "Sacnoth" title [14] |
2004 | Shadow Hearts: Covenant | PlayStation 2 | |
2005 | Shadow Hearts: From the New World | PlayStation 2 |
The Neo Geo Pocket (NGP) is a monochrome handheld game console released by SNK. It was the company's first handheld system and is part of the Neo Geo family. It debuted in Japan in late 1998 and was primarily sold in Japan and Hong Kong. The system and all five English games saw limited distribution in the West, where it could be ordered directly from SNK USA.
The Neo Geo, stylized as NEO•GEO and also written as NEOGEO, is a ROM cartridge-based arcade system board and fourth-generation home video game console released on April 26, 1990, by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was the first system in SNK's Neo Geo family.
The Neo Geo CD is the second home video game console of SNK Corporation's Neo Geo family, released on September 9, 1994, four years after its cartridge-based equivalent. This is the same platform, converted to the cheaper CD format retailing at $49 to 79 per title, compared to the $300 cartridges. The system was originally priced at US$399, or £399. The system can also play Audio CDs. All three versions of the system have no region lock, but they are region aware, and some games will display English or Japanese depending on the console's region setting. The Neo Geo CD was launched with a bundled control pad instead of a joystick like the AES version. A newly designed joystick was released alongside the Neo Geo CD, and the system was compatible with controllers from the AES.
The Neo Geo Pocket Color (NGPC) is a 16-bit color handheld game console developed and manufactured by SNK. It is a successor to SNK's monochrome Neo Geo Pocket handheld which was released in 1998 in Japan, with the Color being fully backward compatible. The Neo Geo Pocket Color was released on March 19, 1999 in Japan, August 6, 1999 in North America, and October 1, 1999 in Europe, entering markets all dominated by Nintendo, competing with Nintendo's Game Boy Color.
Hiroki Kikuta is a Japanese composer and game designer. His major works are Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana, Soukaigi, and Koudelka, for which he also acted as producer and concept designer. He has composed music for seven other games, and worked as a concept designer in addition to composer for the unreleased MMORPG Chou Bukyo Taisen. He became interested in music at an early age, but earned a degree in Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Cultural Anthropology from Kansai University. He spent the next few years working first as a manga illustrator, then as a composer for anime series, before coming to work for Square in 1991.
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Koudelka is a role-playing video game developed by Sacnoth for the PlayStation. The game was published by SNK in Japan in 1999, and by Infogrames internationally in 2000. Set in the haunted Nemeton Monastery in Wales, the plot follows protagonists Koudelka Iasant, Edward Plunkett and Bishop James O'Flaherty as they uncover Nemeton's secrets and confront monsters created from its dark past. Its gameplay blends exploration and puzzle elements with turn-based battles waged on a grid.
Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a role-playing video game developed by Nautilus (Sacnoth) for the PlayStation 2, and is the second entry in the Shadow Hearts series. Published in Japan by Aruze in 2004, the game was released internationally by Midway Games in 2004 and 2005 (Europe). A director's cut with additional content was released in Japan in 2005.
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Shadow Hearts: From the New World is a role-playing video game developed by Nautilus (Sacnoth) for the PlayStation 2. It was published in Japan by Aruze in 2005, in North America by Xseed Games in 2006, and in Europe by Ghostlight in 2007. From The New World is the third and final game in the Shadow Hearts series, acting as both a continuation of the series narrative and a spin-off featuring new characters.
Metal Slug 2nd Mission is a 2000 run and gun video game developed by Ukiyotei and released by SNK for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. It is a direct sequel to 1999's 1st Mission. In 2021, the game was re-released together with 1st Mission, both as part of Metal Slug 1st & 2nd Mission Double Pack on Nintendo Switch and as part of Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1.
Neo Geo is a family of video game hardware that was developed by SNK. On the market from 1990 to 2004, the brand originated with the release of an arcade system, the Neo Geo Multi Video System (MVS) and its home console counterpart, the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System (AES).
Shadow Hearts is a role-playing video game developed by Sacnoth for the PlayStation 2. Published in Japan by Aruze in 2001, it was published internationally by Midway Games in the same year and 2002 (Europe). The titular first game in the Shadow Hearts series, it acts as a sequel to the 1999 video game Koudelka, being set in the same world and featuring recurring characters.
Faselei! is a tactical role-playing game developed by Sacnoth for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. It was published by SNK in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in the United Kingdom. A prospective North American release was cancelled when the console was pulled from sale. Following the exploits of the titular mech-piloting mercenary group during a civil war, the gameplay focuses on combat using mechs, with actions determined by commands imputed using a pool of action points.
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Shadow Hearts is a series of role-playing video games, consisting of a trilogy of titles for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and their predecessor Koudelka for the PlayStation. The entire series was developed by Sacnoth ; Koudelka was published by SNK in 1999, while the Shadow Hearts trilogy were published by Aruze from 2001 to 2005. Multiple other publishers handled the titles overseas. The Shadow Hearts chronology extends from the late 1890s to the 1920s, following different casts of characters caught in supernatural mysteries. The setting combines alternate history and cosmic horror, with real-world figures making appearances, and each title has multiple endings.
The music of the Shadow Hearts role-playing video game series, developed by Japanese game company Sacnoth, was primarily composed by Yoshitaka Hirota. Hirota collaborated on the original game with Masaharu Iwata, Yasunori Mitsuda and Ryo Fukuda. For its sequel Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Mitsuda returned and was joined by Kenji Ito and Tomoko Kobayashi. The final game From the New World saw Fukuda and Kobayashi return with newcomer Hirotomi Imoto. The Shadow Hearts series originated in the 1999 role-playing game Koudelka, the music of which was composed by company founder Hiroki Kikuta. Each game has received a soundtrack album, with Hirota also producing an arrange album of Shadow Hearts music.
Dive Alert: Becky's Version and Dive Alert: Matt's Version are role-playing video games developed by Sacnoth for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. They were published by SNK in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in North America. Following the exploits of protagonists Becky and Matt as they complete missions on a flooded Earth to gain access to the remaining land of Terra, the gameplay involves the protagonist completing missions by fighting monsters and underwater crafts. The Japanese version is compatible with the console's Wireless Link adaptor for online multiplayer matches, while the Western version is limited to use of the console's physical link cable.