Sunsoft

Sunsoft[lower-alpha 1], stylized as SUNSOFT, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher.

Not to be confused with the former SunSoft division of Sun Microsystems.
Sunsoft
Native name
サンソフト
Sansofuto
TypeDivision
IndustryVideo games
Founded1978 (1978)[1]
HeadquartersKōnan, Aichi, Japan
ProductsList of Sunsoft video games
ParentSun Corporation
Websitesunsoft.jp/en

Sunsoft in itself is not a company, but instead the brand name of Japanese electronic manufacturer Sun Corporation for its video games operations.[2] Its U.S. subsidiary operated under the name Sun Corporation of America, though, as in Japan, games published there showed a logo that read only Sunsoft.

History

In April 1971, Sun Electronics Corporation (alternatively called Sun Denshi) was founded in Kōnan, Aichi as a manufacturer and vendor of electronics equipment.[3][4]

Sun Corporation's history in video games began in October 1978 in arcades with two titles: Block Challenger and Block Perfect.[3][4] Sun Corporation had several arcade hits in the early 1980s such as Arabian, Ikki and Kangaroo. At the time, its arcade video games were released under its own corporate name of Sun Electronics Corporation.[3][2]

The brand Sunsoft first appeared in the latter of the 1980s when Sun Corporation began developing original games and technology for the home video game console market, with emphasis mostly on the Famicom.[2] Sunsoft had gone international at that time, and it had the publishing might to secure major licenses of the day (such as Batman and The Addams Family).[2] In the 1990s, Sun Corporation of America joined forces with Acclaim Entertainment to handle ad sales rights to Sunsoft's video games for game consoles. Additionally, a number of Sega games, including Fantasy Zone, Fantasy Zone II and After Burner, were ported for Nintendo consoles by Sunsoft.

Finally, in 1995, Sun Corporation of America heavily restructured in the face of bankruptcy, and all the company's pending projects were either sold to other companies or cancelled.[5]

Former Sunsoft producer René Boutin spoke on Sunsoft's problems before he left the company. Boutin explained in an interview that

it was around this time our Director of Development, David Siller, suddenly announced he was leaving to work for Universal Interactive. Then a short time later, in February 1995, the entire staff was called in for a meeting where Sunsoft's president announced that the company was shutting down effective immediately. They kept on a skeleton crew of four or five people to wrap up operations and facilitate transfer of IP over to Acclaim, but that was it for production, QA, and marketing. By this time, Looney Tunes B-Ball was in QA at Nintendo and we had just gotten Speedy Gonzales to beta, so it was about to go as well. It turned out that Sun Corporation had lost millions on some golf course investment in Palm Springs and it cost us all our jobs.[6]

Sun Corporation of America eventually resurfaced with a scant number of video games for the PlayStation and the Game Boy Color, such as Monster Seed. From 1994 to 1998, Sunsoft attempted the fighting game craze by releasing four fighting games: Sugoi Hebereke for the Super Famicom (1994), Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors for the Neo Geo (1995), Waku Waku 7 for the Neo Geo (1996), and Astra Superstars for Sega ST-V-based arcades (1998). Prior to its re-emergence in the USA, the last games released and published by Sunsoft stateside were Eternal Eyes, Blaster Master: Blasting Again, Blaster Master: Enemy Below, and Power Quest. Citing several factors, like yet-another "next generation" console transition, and high overhead production costs, Sunsoft closed its offices in America and Europe, and initiated a re-organization. Sunsoft has continued to operate out of its corporate headquarters in Japan, developing and publishing role-playing video games, pachinko games and mahjong games, and mobile platform titles in partnership with other companies such as NTT DoCoMo and Yahoo!.

On September 14, 2006, Nintendo announced that Sunsoft was a partner on the Wii's Virtual Console.[7] Although this relationship with Nintendo took more than three years to release any games, on December 4, 2009, Sunsoft announced[8] that it was partnering with GaijinWorks to bring Blaster Master to Virtual Console that month for 500 Wii Points. Also as of December 10, 2009, the company has also acquired Telenet Japan's entire game library.[9] On February 6, 2010, Sunsoft announced the release of Blaster Master: Overdrive for WiiWare, 2 days prior to its release. Afterwards, Sunsoft also released Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2, and Ufouria: The Saga on Virtual Console.

See also

Notes
  1. Japanese: サンソフト Hepburn: Sansofuto

References
  1. SUNCORPORATION., © 2017. "SUNSOFT". www.sun-denshi.co.jp.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. Gancer, Stefan (2017-04-14). "The History of Sunsoft – Part II: Going consumer". VGArc. Archived from the original on 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  3. Gancer, Stefan (2017-04-08). "The History of Sunsoft – Part I: Before Sunsoft". VGArch. Archived from the original on 2019-03-26. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  4. "History｜SUNCORPORATION". www.sun-denshi.co.jp.
  5. "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?". GamePro. IDG (70): 138. May 1995.
  6. "Interview: René Boutin discusses SUNSOFT, licensed games, and the 16-Bit era". Dromble.com.
  7. "NCL Wii Event". GoNintendo.com.
  8. "Blaster Master Coming to VC in December". NintendoWorldReport.com.
  9. "Debrief: SUNSOFT acquired entire Nihon Telenet software library".
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