Throwback Entertainment

Last updated
Throwback Entertainment
Company type Video games
Industry Video games
Founded2006
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people
Thomas Maduri (Chairman)
Robert Maduri (President)
Products Vexx
Extreme-G
Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance
Number of employees
25–50
Website Official website

Throwback Entertainment is a video game developer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Contents

History

In 2006, Throwback announced the purchase of the Acclaim Entertainment library, consisting of over 190 titles such as Iggy's Reckin' Balls , Extreme-G , Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance , Wizards & Warriors and Vexx . [1] [2]

In February 2011, WeGo Interactive Co., Ltd., located in Seoul, Korea, purchased the Re-Volt franchise from Throwback Entertainment. [3]

On June 2012, Throwback Entertainment launched Double Clutch, an automotive lifestyle site. [4]

On February 2013, Throwback Entertainment launched Sportsgoer, an app for the iPhone that combines schedule data for professional sports. [5]

On May 6, 2015, during Microsoft's IGNITE conference, it was announced that Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance will be made available on Xbox One and the Windows stores. [6] On December 29, 2015, Throwback released TrickStyle on GOG.com.

In 2016, Throwback released iOS 10 sticker packs for Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance, TrickStyle, Legends of Wrestling, Wrestling, SX Superstar and All-Star Baseball on the iMessage App Store.[ citation needed ] On December 20, 2016, Throwback released Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance on the l Windows Store. Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance was also subsequently released on Steam on January 28, 2017. Both versions included enhanced HD rendering and full controller support.

On February 21, 2017, TrickStyle was released on the Steam store along with the soundtrack as free DLC. On May 2, 2017, Extreme-G 2 was added to Steam. On September 1, 2017, Throwback with Jordan Freeman Group released TrickStyle on ZOOM Platform with exclusive Mac support. [7]

In October 2018, Liquid Media Group purchased 65 ex-Acclaim titles from Throwback for $1 million. This mainly consisted of installments in the NBA Jam, AFL Live, All-Star Baseball and NFL Quarterback Club franchises, as well as some Taito titles that Acclaim published outside of Japan. [8]

In February 2022 the company partnered with Nightdive Studios to release PowerSlave Exhumed. [9]

Related Research Articles

Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide development team through a series of acquisitions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After poor financial returns in their 2003 fiscal year, Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2004. Properties owned by Acclaim were subsequently auctioned off to various parties.

<i>Turok 2: Seeds of Evil</i> 1998 video game

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a first-person shooter video game developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment. It was released for the Nintendo 64 console in 1998 and ported to Microsoft Windows computers in 1999. Seeds of Evil is the second game in the Turok video game series and a sequel to Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. The game follows the story of a Turok and his efforts to stop a powerful alien entity from escaping the confines of his Lightship. A different game set in the same fictional universe, also titled Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, was released for the Game Boy Color alongside the Nintendo 64 game.

<i>Wizards & Warriors</i> 1987 video game

Wizards & Warriors, titled Densetsu no Kishi Elrond in Japan, is an action platform video game developed by Rare and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America in December 1987, and in Europe on January 7, 1990. The player controls Kuros, "Knight Warrior of the Books of Excalibur", as he sets out in the Kingdom of Elrond to defeat the evil wizard Malkil. Malkil holds the princess of Elrond captive in Castle IronSpire, deep within the forests of Elrond. The player fights through forests, tunnels, and caves, while collecting keys, treasure, weapons, and magic items.

<i>PowerSlave</i> 1996 video game

PowerSlave, known as Exhumed in Europe and 1999 AD: Resurrection of the Pharaoh in Japan, is a first-person shooter video game developed by Lobotomy Software and published by Playmates Interactive Entertainment in North America, and BMG Interactive in Europe and Japan. It was released in North America, Europe and Japan, for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and MS-DOS over the course of a year from late 1996 to late 1997. On May 24, 2015, Powerslave EX, an unofficial remake of the PlayStation version appeared on GitHub. The MS-DOS version of PowerSlave was added to the GOG store on November 19, 2020.

<i>Re-Volt</i> 1999 video game

Re-Volt is a racing video game designed by Paul Phippen and Simon Harrison. It was developed by Acclaim Studios London and published by Acclaim Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, PlayStation and Dreamcast.

<i>Dirt Trax FX</i> 1995 video game

Dirt Trax FX is a racing video game developed by Sculptured Software and released by Acclaim Entertainment for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. The 3D graphics of the game were made possible by the Super FX powered GSU-1, which was built into the cartridge.

<i>Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance</i> 2003 video game

Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance is a hack and slash video game developed by Acclaim Studios Manchester and published by Acclaim Entertainment for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. A GameCube version was cancelled. During development, the game was titled I Gladiator. Throwback Entertainment acquired the rights to several of Acclaim's properties in 2006, including Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance.

Turok is a series of first-person shooter video games based on the comic book character of the same name. It is set in a primitive world inhabited by dinosaurs and other creatures. The series was originally developed by Acclaim Studios Austin as Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment from 1997 until Acclaim's bankruptcy in September 2004. The series was then developed by Propaganda Games and published by Touchstone Games. The series generated more than $250 million in revenue by 2002.

Mercury Steam Entertainment S.L., doing business as MercurySteam, is a Spanish video game developer based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid. The company was founded by former members of Rebel Act Studios, who previously developed Severance: Blade of Darkness in 2001. Dave Cox is a producer at Konami who has assisted MercurySteam during the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trilogy.

Ronimo Games was a Dutch video game developer founded in 2007 by former students of the Utrecht School of the Arts.

<i>Cutthroat Island</i> (video game) 1995 video game

Cutthroat Island is platform game based on 1995 film of the same name that was developed by Software Creations and published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1995 for the Game Boy, Game Gear, Genesis, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. When the game was first released, it featured a promotion by which players could find hidden treasure chests in the game and enter a contest to win real world prizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightdive Studios</span> American video game developer

Night Dive Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Vancouver, Washington. The company is known for obtaining rights to abandonware video games, updating them for compatibility with modern platforms, and re-releasing them via digital distribution services, supporting preservation of older games.

<i>Katana Zero</i> 2019 video game

Katana Zero is a 2019 platform game created by the indie developer Justin Stander. Set in a dystopian metropolis, the neo-noir storyline follows Subject Zero, a katana-wielding assassin with amnesia who can slow down time and predict the future. Zero unravels his past while completing assassination contracts. Katana Zero features side-scrolling hack-and-slash gameplay in which the player attempts to kill all enemies in a level without being hit, using Zero's abilities to manipulate time, dodge attacks, and take advantage of environmental hazards. In between levels, the story is told in sequences where the player converses with non-player characters through dialogue trees.

<i>Daemon X Machina</i> 2019 video game

Daemon X Machina is a 2019 action game by Marvelous. It was released for Nintendo Switch and Windows, received mixed reviews. A sequel, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is in development.

<i>Dark Seal</i> Data East arcade games

Dark Seal (ダークシール) and Dark Seal II are isometric role-playing beat-'em-up video games released for arcade by Data East in 1990 and 1992 respectively. The first game was localized in English under the title Gate of Doom and the second one as Wizard Fire.

<i>Cooking Mama: Cookstar</i> 2020 video game

Cooking Mama: Cookstar was a cookery simulation-styled minigame compilation video game, and the sixth installment in the Cooking Mama series of video games. The game was the first entry in the Cooking Mama series since Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appétit! (2014), and the first Cooking Mama game to release on a home console since Cooking Mama: World Kitchen (2008) or Babysitting Mama (2010).

<i>Namcot Collection</i> 2020 video game

Namcot Collection, also known as Namco Museum Archives, is a 2020 video game compilation published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Originally released in Japan for the Nintendo Switch, it was localized for international territories as two separate collections, Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, for the Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows. Namcot Collection includes a wide array of video games published by Namco for the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System, with save states, achievements, and homebrew ports of Pac-Man Championship Edition and Gaplus.

Fire: Ungh's Quest, also known simply as Fire, is an point and click-puzzle video game developed and published by Daedalic Entertainment. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows on April 9, 2015 and was later released for Wii U on October 20, 2016, for Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2021 and later for IOS, macOS and SteamOS + Linux. The game received mixed reviews. Some of the negative points mentioned were the exaggerated ease of quests and the short duration of the game.

<i>Sludge Life</i> 2020 video game

Sludge Life is an independent first-person adventure game oriented toward graffiti. The game was designed by musician Adam "Doseone" Drucker and artist Terri Vellmann following their release of High Hell on Devolver Digital. Sludge Life was released in 2020 for free for the first year. It has been released along with a soundtrack EP and digital album.

Emulators of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo's current eighth-generation video game console, have been in development since 2017, less than a year after the console's release. Multiple emulators have been in development, the most well-known being the now-defunct Yuzu, and Ryujinx. Switch emulators have been widely noted by video games journalists for the swift and significant progress of their abilities to accurately emulate the console, as they are already able to run existing and new titles for the console in a playable state, sometimes within days of their release, as well as able to run on a variety of devices, including PCs running Microsoft Windows and Linux, and the Steam Deck.

References

  1. Throwback Entertainment (2006-07-07). "Throwback announces Acclaim library acquisition". Throwback Entertainment. Retrieved 2015-09-15.
  2. "The History of Wizards & Warriors". Retro Gamer (81). Bournemouth: Imagine Publishing: 54–59. September 2010. ISSN   1742-3155. OCLC   489477015.
  3. "Throwback sells Re-Volt | Throwback Entertainment". 23 February 2011.
  4. "Throwback launches Double Clutch". 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  5. "Throwback launches Sportsgoer". 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  6. "Throwback Entertainment Unleashes 'Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance' on the World of Windows". 2015-05-06. Retrieved 2015-05-07.
  7. "Zoom Platform".
  8. Doolan, Liam (2018-10-02). "Liquid Media Acquires Acclaim Entertainment Video Game Properties". Nintendo Life . Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  9. Doolan, Liam (January 29, 2022). "Nightdive Brings '90s FPS PowerSlave Exhumed To Switch This February". Nintendo Life . Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.