Top 10 Developers

Everyone can name a Top 25 games list pretty much off the top of their head. Going for the Top 100 as some people chose to do to match EGM and IGN is much more challenging.

However, most people's Top X games are all made by a handful of developers. Trying to expand taste and knowledge beyond the obvious is sometimes not easy to do. In that spirit, let's try to put together a Top 10 developers for each of us.

Here are some simple ground rules to try to keep this apples to apples:

1. Sega is not a developer. Smilebit, AM2, WOW, etc. are developers. The same holds true for Nintendo, Konami, and any other large publishers with many development houses.

2. Developers only should be given credit for games they developed under their organization at the time the game was made. For instance, Treasure should not be given credit for Castlevania IV.

3. Please provide a couple examples of games from your choices to help people who may be interested in finding out more about some of the lesser known houses (e.g. Sonic Team - Sonic, NiGHTS, PSO)

4. Please order your list in ascending order. Start with 1 and go to 10. This way if we want to tabulate a TNL Top 10, it is much easier to do so.

Have at it!

1. EAD - Mario64, Mario Kart, Zelda
2. Intelligent Systems - Advance Wars, Metroid, Paper Mario
3. Treasure - Gunstar Heroes, Guardian Heroes, Sin & Punishment
4. Sonic Team - Sonic, Nights, Burning Rangers
5. Amusement Vision - F-Zero GX, Monkey Ball
6. SNK - Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug, Fatal Fury
7. Square - Final Fantasy, Front Mission
8. Capcom - Street Fighter, Strider
9. KCEJ - Metal Gear, Castlevania(?), Snatcher
10. Irem - R-Type, Sub Rebellion
Honorable mentions
Team Klonoa - Klonoa games
AM2 - Virtua Fighter, Outrun

I'm glad you jumped on this, Spike. I was struggling with whether to include Capcom as one entity or to try to find their individual teams. Now I'll just follow your lead.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
I'm glad you jumped on this, Spike. I was struggling with whether to include Capcom as one entity or to try to find their individual teams. Now I'll just follow your lead.

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If I was to separate Capcom into teams, it will take up too many slots on the list. That's why I listed it as one entity.:)

01. KCET - Castlevania, Contra, Gradius, Silent Hill
02. Capcom - Street Fighter, Ghouls 'N' Ghosts, Resident Evil
03. SNK - King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Baseball Stars
04. EAD - Mario, Zelda, Pikmin
05. GameArts - Lunar, Grandia, GunGriffon, Silpheed
06. Taito - Bust-A-Move, Darius, Elevator Action
07. AM2 - Virtua Fighter, Shenmue, Out Run, Virtua Cop
08. Sonic Team - Sonic, NiGHTS, Phantasy Star Online
09. LucasArts - Full Throttle, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango
10. Namco - Klonoa, Splatterhouse, Soul Calibur

Honorable Mentions:
Intelligent Systems, Irrational Games, Blizzard, Smilebit

The problem with these top 10 lists is when you're typing them out, you forget a great many developers.

I completely forgot about:

LucasArts, Valve, Blizzard, Looking Glass, Ion Storm Austin, etc.

1. Treasure : Guardian Heroes, Alien Soldier, Gunstar Heroes, Sin and Punishment
2. Capcom : Makaimura, Street Fighter, Biohazard, Rockman
3. Sonic Team : Sonic, NiGHTS, Burning Rangers
4. Sega AM2 : Virtua Fighter, Virtua Cop, Outrun, Space Harrier, Shenmue
5. KCET : Silent Hill, Snatcher, Castlevania, Contra, Winning Eleven, Gradius
6. Nintendo R&D1 : Wario Ware, Super Metroid, Sin and Punishment
7. Taito : Bubble Bobble, Don Doko Don, Newzealand Story, Puzzle Bobble, Parasol Stars
8. Team Shinobi / Overworks : Shinobi, Bare Knuckle, Sakura Taisen, E-SWAT
9. Nintendo EAD : Mario, Wave Race 64, Starfox, F-Zero
10. Camelot : Shining series

I'm fairly sure i've credited the right games there.

1. Yukes (Toukon Retsuden series, Hermie Hopperhead)
2. AM2 (Daytona, Shenmue and VF games)
3. Capcom (Slam Masters, Final Fight)
4. SNK (World Heroes series, 3 Count Bout)
5. Sonic Team (Burning Rangers, Nights)
6. Aki (WCW/NWO games, WWF No Mercy and WrestleMania 2000, Virtual Pro Wrestling series, and Def Jam Vendetta)
7. Smilebit (JGR, JSRF)
8. Namco (Tekken series, R4)
9. EAD (F-Zero and F-Zero X], Metroid
10. Konami (Castlevania series)

So far the only significant difference is how many Sega teams are included.

Intelligent Systems have never been involved in any of the F-Zero games.

I am probably missing somebody and replacing them with somebody else, but from first thought:

1 AM2 -- VF series, Daytona, Shenmue, Outrun, Space Harrier, Hang On
2 Capcom -- SF II and SF Alpha
3 Atari arcade division of the 80's -- Ed Logg et al. for Missile Command, Centipede, Battlezone, Asteroids
4 Williams / Kid Vidz team -- Eugene Jarvis, John Newcomer, et al. for Defender, Robotron, Joust
5 Namco -- Soul Calibur, Ridge Racers, even Pac-man World 1&2 and older stuff like Xevious, Pac-Man, Tower of Druga, Pole Position II
6 Sonic Team -- Sonic the Hedgehog series, NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Chu Chu Rocket
7 Treasure -- Dynamite Headdy, Gunstar Heroes, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga
8 AM3 -- Sega Rally ( I think it was AM3)
9 Lobotomy -- RIP but they were impressive in their day -- see Powerslave Saturn!
10 Delphine -- Flashback

1. Konami TYO(I mix up the Konami teams=\)- Castlevania, Contra, Suikoden, Vandal Hearts, Rocket Knight Adventures, Silent Hill, Gyruss, Juno First, Salamander, Parodius, Twinbee
2. AM2- Outrun, Space Harrier, Virtua Cop, Shenmue 2, Hang On, Daytonna, Power drift, SCUD Race.
3. Cave- Feveron, DonPachi, Guwange, ESP
4. Nintendo EAD- Zelda, Mario, Mario Kart
5. Sonic Team- Sonic, NIGHTS, Chu Chu Rocket, Samba de Amigo
6. Overworks- Shinobi, Streets of Rage
7. Williams- Robotron 2084, Defender, Narc, Sinistar, Smash TV
8. Int Systems-Advance Wars, Paper Mario, Metroid
9. Raizing- Battle Bakraid/Garrega, Mahou Daisakusen, Batrider
10. Atlus R & D 1: Persona, SMT

Well, whoever did the F-Zero games (another grey area of sorts due to only Nintendo really being credited) gets that slot on my listing.

My top ten in no order:

1) Intelligent Systems

2) Konami - back when they were one team with several divisions working on different consoles. If it's Konami today, then I say Konami TYO (with JPN in a close second and tied between OSA and HWI in third).

3)Nintendo EAD (aka R&D4) - Super Mario and Zelda, nuff said.

4) Technos Japan Corp - I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Technos Japan had two different teams working on their games. Whether this is true or not, I'm going to list Technos as one entity since alot of the same people worked on almost all of their games.

5) Overworks - Shinobi and Streets of Rage, nuff said.

6) Capcom - Aside from Studios 4, I'm guessing Capcom could be considered as one entity.

7) Namco - They made Rolling Thunder and Splatterhouse and that's good enough for me. Their recent games don't do much for me, but I like the Soul Edge series (aside from Namco's asinine numbering system) and the Time Crisis series.

8) Nintendo IRD -Punch-Out, nuff said.

Can't think of a no.9 or 10.

1. SNK - Whichever team did Mark of the Wolves
2. SmileBit - Typing of the Dead, JGR, JSRF
3. Sonic Team- Sonic, NIGHTS, Chu Chu Rocket, Samba de Amigo
4. Nintendo EAD- Zelda, Mario, Mario Kart
5. Cave- Feveron, DonPachi, Guwange, ESP
6. Camelot : Shining series; Golden Sun
7. AM2 -- VF series, Daytona, Shenmue, Outrun, Space Harrier, Hang On
8. Namco -- Soul Calibur, Ridge Racers, even Pac-man World 1&2 and older stuff like Xevious, Pac-Man, Tower of Druga, Pole Position II
9. Konami - Suikoden; Bemani series
10. Gust - Summon Night series

Really my list is just thrown together with what I knew, and I'm pretty ignorant on the part of Developers.

Edit: Ogre/Square - Final Fantasy Tactics taken out, since it's just a special group that probably has never made another game together.

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Originally posted by Jeremy
Well, whoever did the F-Zero games (another grey area of sorts due to only Nintendo really being credited) gets that slot on my listing.

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Err no, EAD are clearly credited for both the SFC and N64 F-Zero games. Nd Cube did the GBA version.

1. Maxis: Sim City, Sim Farm
2. Nintendo EAD: Mario 64, Zelda: OOT, Pikmin
3. United Game Artists: Rez, Space Channel 5
4. Smilebit: JSR, JSRF
5. Ion Storm: Deus Ex
6. Rareware: Banjo Kazooie, Blast Corps
7. Sonic Team: Sonic Adventure, NiGHTS
8. Intelligent Systems: Advance Wars, Paper Mario
9. DMA Design (aka Rockstar North): Space Station Silicon Valley, GTA
10. Ensemble Studios: Age of Empires, AOE2

Whichever team did Final Fantasy Tactics

I think that it was Quest.

I feel bad for leaving Capcom, DMA, Sierra, and Westwood out. I'll edit my post if someone tells me the names of the teams. I don't care for their fighting teams, and I'm not a fan of Shinji Mikami. And Maximo was developed by an entirely new team.=\

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Originally posted by xS
Whichever team did Final Fantasy Tactics

I think that it was Quest.

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Quest did NOT make FFTactics. It was produced by a few key people behind the Ogre series (including the character designer of the first Ogre) game, but otherwise it was done by Square. Quest was developing Ogre Battle 64 around the time FFTactics was released.

Too complicated, I'll just take it out.

Sidez, okay then. EAD it is. Thanks for the info.

1. DICE - Battlefeild 1942
2. EAD - Mario Kart, Mario
3. Rareware - Star Fox Adventures, Donkey Kong Country, Blastcorps
4. Square (or whoever developed Chrono trigger here) - Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Tactics
5. AKI - WCW: Revenge, WWF Wrestlemania 2000, Virtual Pro Wrestling 1 & 2
6. IRD - Punch Out, Super Punch Out
7. Konami (Don't know the inhouses) - Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2, ZOE 1 & 2, Suikoden 1, 2, 3, etc.
8. Valve - Halflife 1 & 2, now TFC and Counterstrike
9. Rockstar North - GTA: Vice City
10. Capcom - Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, Powerstone, Maximo

I don't know a lot of developers, but I will change my list accordingly if someone would care to fill me in.

Well, whatever the top 10 is, EAD and KCET are in there somewhere. Sega is too fn' difficult for me to sort out with all of those different developers, so I won't even try.

1. G.Rev- They produced some of Taito's biggest shooters like the RayForce & Darius series. Metal Black also, I think.

2. Raizing- Soukyugurentai, Battle Garegga, Dimahoo

3. 8ing- Battle Bakraid & also their collaboration on Raizing's efforts above.

4. Cave- Dodonpachi and a slew of others.

5. Konami's team that worked on Gradius Gaiden & Salamander 2... what's the name, KCET?

6. Capcom's Final Fight team- especially for Alien vs. Predator & The Punisher.

7. Takashi Sano & the Crisis Team- TC2, Crisis Zone... and now TC3.

8. Aicom/Yumekobo- Pulstar & Blazing Star. Unfortunately, they struck out on Prehistoric Isle 2 which isn't nearly as good.

9. AM2- Virtua Cop series, Power Drift, OutRun, Virtua Fighter, and a shitload of others.

10. WOW- House of the Dead series

Sega and Nintendo get divided up yet Capcom doesn't? I understand the reasoning for using separate teams but almost every company has several teams, we just don't know the names of them.

Could you provide a link please that details Capcom's different development teams? It's something that i've wanted to know about for ages.

Nintendo
SNK
Sega AM2
Hudson Soft
NCS/Masiya
Sonic Team
Team Andromeda
Team Shinobi
Gamearts
KCET

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Originally posted by Sidez
Could you provide a link please that details Capcom's different development teams? It's something that i've wanted to know about for ages.

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There is Capcom Digital Studios, which makes the Maximo games. There is Flagship, but they only write scenarios. Capcom Coin-op designs arcade games. I've never come across an explanation of how Capcom of Japan is divided up, but there is atleast 4 different teams.

To be fair, you'd have to credit each individual Capcom team, as well as the 5 or so teams at Konami, each team at EA etc. This thread has good intentions, but I don't really see how it can work. Its easy to just group them together as one company, and thats why it is done so often.

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Originally posted by Sidez
8. Team Shinobi / Overworks : Shinobi, Bare Knuckle, Sakura Taisen, E-SWAT

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I hate to be a bastard, but the old shinobi games, the streets of rage games, and e-swat were made long before R&D2/Overworks existed. Some team members overlap, but it's still breaking rule 2.

Here is my list:

1, Overworks
2, Sonic Team
3, Smilebit
4, Treasure
5, Camelot
6, GameArts
7, UGA
8, Westone
9, Dimps
10, Klonoa Works

Honourable mention: Capcom (I am not sure the breakdown of Capcom's internal teams)

If we have to split up Sega then the pecking order goes:

1. Treasure: S&P, Ika, Gunstar
2. AM2: Space Harrier, Daytona, Shenmue II
3. Atari Games/Midway West: Star Wars, Asteroids,
4. Nintendo R&D1: Wario, Popeye, Donkey Kong
5. Wolfteam: Tales of series, El Viento, Granada
6. tri-Ace: Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile
7. Westone: Monster World series
8. Sonic Team/STI: Sonic, Ristar, Samba
9. Namco: Pacman, Dig dug, Pole Position
10. Lucas Arts: Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, everything Star Wars

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sidez
Could you provide a link please that details Capcom's different development teams? It's something that i've wanted to know about for ages.

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Agreed. I know Mikami's team, but that is it.

which Konami team is responsible for Suikoden?

I think that it's Tokyo.

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Originally posted by xS
I think that it's Tokyo.

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Correct

well alright. they seem to get around.


1. Technos Japan Corp - Downtown Nekketsu/kunio kun series, Double Dragons
2. KCET - Suikoden series
3. WinkySoft - Ghost Chasers, Guardians/Denjin Makai, Early Super Robot War games, Masou Kishin Psybuster:Lord of Elemental, Rayblade, Zone of Enders GBA
4. Lucas Arts: Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max
5. TNN - umihara kawase...and apparently some soccer game!?
6.Quest - Tactics Ogres and Ogre Battles
7.Treasure- Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Bangaio
8. Int Systems-Advance Wars, Paper Mario, Metroid, Fire Emblem
9. AM2 -Space Harrier, OutRun
10. Nintendo EAD: Marios.


interesting. I didn't type these out in any particular order, but its pretty much exactly in the order I would have put it in.

Anyone know who developed Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie?

Big West developed Scrambled Valkyrie.

1- Treasure [Sin and Punishment, Ikaruga, Alien Soldier]
2- Cave [EspRaDe, Dodonpachi, Guwange]
3- KonamiTYO [DDRSeries, Tokimeki Memorial, Castlevania:AoS]
4- Konami other [Contra, Vandal Hearts, Azure Dreams]
5- Capcom 90's coinup [Alien v Predator, D&D 1+2, Punisher]
6- SNK [Metal Slug series, Garou?, WindJammers?]
7- SmileBit [JSRF, GunValkyrie, Panzer Dragoon Orta]
8- Sonic Team [Sonic Series, Nights, PSO]
9- XenoTeam [Xenogears, Xenosaga]
10- Team NeoBlood [GuiltyGear, GuiltyGearX series]

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Originally posted by §eraphim
9- XenoTeam [Xenogears, Xenosaga]

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Xenosaga is Monolith

Thank you, I looked for a bit but couldent find their name. I really should have known....