These ‘most under appreciated company of all time’ threads are always a mess. Most people will often name their favorite niche team, like say Treasure or Raizing. Others will try to name companies like Electronic Arts and Microsoft, saying that their games are somehow superior to those l33t Japanese games we play. And some of the more dim witted among you will probably cite Working Designs as an under rated company. Then someone will post something along the lines of TREASURE IS OVERARTED!!!111111 and then the thread will just deteriorate until it falls off the front page. Anyways, the point of this increasingly pointless post is that… Atlus is one of the most criminally under rated companies of all time.
In short: They are the best shooter publisher of all time, they develop the best RPGs and strategy role playing games, They are have published the ‘real’ sequel to Strider(!), their coin op history over the last few years has a leg up with that of companies like Namco, Capcom, and SNK, and yet nobody seems to care about them.
I intend to rectify that by shedding a little light on their different branches, and the various collaborations that they’ve had with other companies. Most of their output is esoteric Japanese stuff<mostly RPG’s>, but I’m sure that you’ll find something of your interest here Atlus as a developer
~The 8 bit days
All right so I’m not leet enough to know exactly where they started off, but here are a few of their earlier titles that I’ve had a chance to play.
Rockin Rats
http://roms.mame.dk/png/pc_rkats.png
The sheer quantity of plattforming games for the NES easily outnumbers the amount of FPS available on PC. That might be a slight exaggeration on my part, but much of the systems side scroller line up is epitomized by games that generally lack any sort of spit and polish. Atlus’ Rocking Rats manages to adhere to this by playing very similar to Psycho Fox for SMS, only lacking the gloss of the former.
Golf Grand Slam
http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/nes/golfgs.jpg
Golf Game for the NES.
Wacky Races
http://www.boomspeed.com/zenogaga/wackracers.gif
Mutley would not be proud.
Widget
http://www.boomspeed.com/zenogaga/widget.gif
Probably Atlus’s best NES plattformer. Unlike Wacky Races, this game actually has some sort of semblance of gameplay. My only major gripe with it is that it recycles enemies from Rockin Rats.
Amazing Tater
http://www.boomspeed.com/zenogaga/aaaaaaaa.gif
A unique puzzle game for the Game Boy.
All in all, you can see that their 8 bit software was pretty solid.
~Atlus and Devils~
Atlus’s infatuation with demons and other creatures of the dark is what they are most famous for in the land of the rising sun. Many of their games are drenched with religious and mythological allegories ; and the most popular of these is the Megami Tensei series, which is on par with stuff like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in Japan. Unlike the myriad of games that are released today which often use some silly religious reference to somehow give the pretension that their plots are deep, the designers of these games are actually well versed in this subject matter. Everything from Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes to Hindu mythology to the HP Lovecraft’s work has been the inspiration for these games. Also, it’s important to note that Megami Tensei is the originator of the use of Western religion in Japanese games, and without it… games like Xenogears and Silent Hill would have never existed.
http://agtp.romhack.net/images/megaten/00.png
Megami Tensei actually started off as a Namco published series back in 87, but the designers left off at some point in the future.
Shin Megami Tensei
Without a doubt the MegaTen series is the most prolific part of Atlus’s output. Most J RPG’s have you playing the same old role of some spunky (or some kid with self esteem issues in some of squares games)16 year old boy who has to save the world being turned to zero by some mystical menace, regardless of whether you actually feel like undertaking these tired quests or not. SMT, on the other hand allows you to choose your paths… whether you decide to work for God or Satan is totally up to you. Unfortunately, these games have never made it to the states despite that fact that they do extremely well in Japan. A ROMhack of the original is available for whoever wants to play it, and a SMT2 romhack will probably be available in a month or two. Until then you can take a look at some screens from SMT3 for the PS2.
http://www.dds-china.com/shindds3/chara/title2.jpg
http://www.dds-china.com/shindds3/chara/3-1a.jpg
http://www.dds-china.com/shindds3/chara/3-4a.jpg
http://www.dds-china.com/shindds3/chara/3-3a.jpg
Persona
Designed by the team behind the MegaTen series, Persona is a spinoff series which plays like a hybrid between typical SMT and Suikoden. These games were released domestically, but never managed to do all that well.
http://www.psillustrated.com/ss_persona24.jpg
Devil Summoners: Soul Hackers
RPG related to SMT. Sony did not approve of this one for domestic release.=\
http://agtp.romhack.net/images/soulhack/1.jpg
Revelations: The Demon Slayer
http://www.gameboydx.co.uk/reviews/alpha/shots/rev1.gif
Another SMT spin off that was released domestically. It’s a really awful game and you should avoid it like plague.
DemiKids: Light and Dark
Their Pokemon killer. Ironic that they try to make such a game, ‘cause SMT is the originator of the ‘gotta catch em all’ genre.
http://www.atlus.com/screenshots/demikids003.jpg
Shin Megami Tensei 9
Their PSO killer
http://www.the-magicbox.com/Feb/xbmegami13.jpg
Maken X
And this is their HALO killer!
http://www.planetdreamcast.com/sonic...ni_mxwp002.jpg
There are loads of other Atlus games that feature devils, but covering them all would defeat the purpose of this thread… as it would take up the time required to cover the different branches of this company. So errrmm yeah, you can take a peek at some of the stunning Kazuma Kaneko artwork in consolation…
http://www.allrpg.com/games/persona2/artwork/13.jpg
http://www.allrpg.com/games/persona2/artwork/4.jpg
http://www.allrpg.com/games/persona2/artwork/19.jpg
~Adventure games~
Japanese adventure games more often than not play as well as American fighting games. Atlus’s ventures into this genre nonetheless seem interesting though.
Lunacy : Adventure game with a devil based theme for the Saturn. Someone has told me that this is MegaTen related, but I really don’t know.
http://64.95.118.51/images/opti/7c/4...resized200.jpg
Bloody Bride
Another adventure game.
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/ima...196787_psx.jpg
Despira
[img] http://image.com.com/gamespot/images....jpg[/img]
Adventure game which features rampant drug abuse…
Growlanser
If the lack of MegaTen weren’t painful enough, here’s another great series by Atlus which has never made it to the states.
The Langrisser series are easily some of the best games ever made. NCS Masaya’s(Wings of Wor, Gley Lancer, Hani in the Sky, Assault Suit Leynos) were the geniuses behind these games. For whatever reason, the death of Masaya led to many of the members of the Langrisser team to start co developing the Growlanser series with Atlus.
http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/growlanser2/growl2-06.jpg
With its unique blend of real time and turn based combat, martial themed plot, beautiful art, and a team as talented as career soft, the recent Growlanser 2&3 really could be the next coming of Final Fantasy Tactics. Oh yes, but you’ll never know ‘cause Sony doesn’t seem to approve of this game for domestic release. It’s a damn shame as the transalation GL2 is pretty much complete.=\
Random other Atlus games
Prikura Daisakusen
Anyone remember this from the last issue of Gamefan? PD’s graphics are easily as good as any other 2d Saturn games are. It’s easily on par with Vampire Saviour and Battle Garrega, and for that reason is easily qualifies as one of the prettiest looking games of all time. For those of you who haven’t played it: just think Pocky and Rocky with an isometric perspective. I only wish that I brought it off my local importer back when the prices weren’t insanely high.
http://www.ncsx.com/addendum/prikura2.jpg
Princess Crown
A side scrolling action RPG. Supposedly plays very well.
http://www.classicgaming.com/japanga...cessCrown2.jpg
Go Go Hyper Grind
http://www.atlus.com/GGH/Screenshots/GGH06_small.jpg
Skating game with Spumco characters
Snow Board Kids
Easily the best third party racer for the N64 after Beetle Adventure Racing.
http://www.gamesdomain.com/n64/reviews/sbk1.jpg
Blaze On
A side scrolling shooter that plays similar to R Type/Gradius. The unique thing about it is that it allows you to capture enemy craft for your own control.
http://roms.mame.dk/png/blazeon.png
Brigandine
Strategy RPG for the PS1
http://media.gameshark.com/media_arc...brigandine.jpg
Kartia
Same as above
http://cache.bizrate.com/vg/medium/6438627_PSX.jpg
Tactics Ogre
Atlus supposedly co developed this one.
Trap Gunner
http://www.gamesdomain.com/playstati...s/tgunner2.jpg
Naname de Magic! ,Oh my god!
Puzzle games.
http://roms.mame.dk/png/naname.png
Technos Japan Corp
Developers of games like Double Dragon, River City Ransom and Renegade. I believe that Atlus regards most of Technos’s games as their own internally developed games so I’ll keep them here.
Double Dragon Advance
A remake of the arcade game with added features such as a Vs mode. I don’t think that it’s a very compelling game, but fans will certainly rejoice.
http://www.classicgaming.com/amigare...edragon2-a.png
Dodge Ball Advance
http://www.funranch.com/reviews/gba/sdba/sdba.jpg
Remake of the NES dodge ball game.
River City Ransom
No need for explanation here.=\
http://www.motogenocide.com/images/tats.jpg
Atlus as a publisher
As great as Atlus’s internally developed games are, they really aren’t any match for the myriad of games that they have published.
