Sunsoft

Sun Corporation has quite an extensive and varied game history. They have covered virtually every genre, their quality level varies from excrement to excellent, they have done several ports and even more original games. Let's take a look at Sunsoft's games. Their earliest games were released under the Sun Electronics name.

Route 16(Arcade, 1981)
A maze driving game similar to Namco's Rally-X. It was published by Centuri in the West.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/.../xRoute_16.png

An upgraded version called Route 16 Turbo came out for the Famicom in 1985.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/nes/01/route16.html

Funky Fish(Arcade, 1981)
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...Funky_Fish.png

Kangaroo(Arcade, 1982)
A classic platformer about a mother kangaroo off to save her child.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/.../yKangaroo.png

Arabian(Arcade, 1983)
This addictive little platformer was ported to the Famicom as Super Arabian

Atari published Kangaroo and Arabian in the West and they ported Kangaroo to the 2600 and 5200.

Boomerang(Arcade, 1985)
A maze-chase game.

Ikki(Famicom, 1985)
This might be an arcade port. Overhead view ninja killing action. It wasn't anything special.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...06/85_ikki.gif

Atlantis no Nazo(Famicom, 1986)
A very boring side-scrolling action game.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...2/atrantis.gif

Kanshakudama Nage Kantarou no Toukaidou Gojuusan Tsugi(Famicom, 1986)
Now that's a name I will never know off by heart. It was similar to Atlantis in that it was a side-scroller where you threw bombs at enemies except it was more appealing because ninjas make everything better(it's a scientific fact).
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa.../toukaidou.gif

Dead Zone(Famicom Disk, 1986)
I couldn't get past the text heavy menu to enter the game itself. What's it like?
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...8/deadzone.gif

Adien no Tsue(Famicom Disk, 1986)
This game looks familiar...
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...adeannotue.gif

Wing of Madoola(Famicom, 1986)
I liked this game quite a bit. It was a platform game where you could find upgraded weapons.
http://64.53.95.207/dump/madoola/madoola1.gif

Mitokoumon(Famicom, 1987)
An Action/RPG series.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...mitokoumon.gif

Nazora Land(Famicom Disk, 1987)
This board game series consisted of various puzzle games. I think these games were included with some Famicom magazine.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...nazoraland.gif

Super Boy Allan(Famicom Disk, 1987)
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...perboyaran.gif

Chisoko Tairiku Orudora(Famicom Disk, 1987)
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...teitairiku.gif

Marchen Veil(Famicom Disk, 1987)
This was a port of Sacom's MSX game. It's an Action/RPG where you play as a half girl half beast. It didn't seem that good from what I played.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...eruhenberu.gif

Sunsoft ported Sega's Fantasy Zone to the Famicom and it was a hell of a lot better than the putrid Tengen version released here. Tengen should have brought over Sunsoft's version instead. Sunsoft also ported the SMS Fantasy Zone 2 to the Famicom.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...antasyzone.gif

In 1992, Sunsoft made Super Fantasy Zone for the Mega Drive which was a worthy addition to Sega's series.
http://www.ciudadfutura.com/emuarcade/sfanzone.gif

Platoon(NES, 1988)
This was a port of Ocean's computer game based on the Vietnam war themed movie. It was an action game with various perspectives: side-scrolling, first-person, and overhead.

Blaster Master(NES, 1988)
This is still my favorite Sunsoft game to this day. It was an action/adventure game where controlled a tank that could jump. What was really cool was that you could get out of your tank and go on foot. Certain on-foot levels had a 3/4 overhead view. Blaster Master was rereleased for Game Boy Color.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa..._metafight.gif

Unfortunately, sequels weren't kind to this game. The Game Boy one Blaster Master Boy looked nice but I never played it. The Genesis sequel Blaster Master 2 had impressive graphics but the gameplay was off.
http://www.1000haru.com/uc/oversea/g...ne.blaster.jpg

More recently we had Blaster Master: Blasting Again, a budget-priced release for the Playstation. I bought it a couple weeks ago and it's priced low for a reason. Blaster Master could have been fun in 3d but having shitty control, jerky frame rates and dull mazes isn't much fun.

Sunsoft ported Activision's tile game Shanghai to the arcades and Famicom. They have released countless tile and mahjong type games since then. I'm not going to bother trying to cover them.

Freedom Force(NES, 1988)
Not to be confused with the recent PC game by Irrational Games, NES Freedom Force was a good gun game, a predecessor in many ways to games like Sega's Virtua Cop.

Xenophobe(NES, 1988)
A port of Midway's alien blasting arcade game.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/nes/01/xenophobeNES.html

Nankin no Adventure(Famicom Disk, 1988)
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...oadventure.gif

Ripple Island(Famicom, 1988)
Another graphic adventure game.
http://www.nesplayer.com/features/famicom/8/rabbit.gif

Tough Turf(Arcade, 1989)
A beat 'em up on Sega's System 16 hardware.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...Tough_Turf.png

Alien Syndrome(NES, 1989)
This was a port of Sega's arcade game released here by Tengen. Sunsoft's name is absent but if you look at the import version, their name is on it along with Sanritsu's. This game is worth noting because it's the only case where a Sega arcade game was better on NES than SMS.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...nsyndorome.gif

After Burner(NES, 1989)
Another Tengen/Sunsoft port of a Sega arcade game. It was okay but nothing great.

Sekiryuou(Famicom, 1989)
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...sekiryuuou.gif

Batman(NES, 1989)
Now this is how to do a licensed game. I don't like this game as much as most people do but I was still impressed with the dark atmosphere and tight gameplay.
http://www.nes-site.com/contest/powe.../batman_02.gif

Sunsoft continued to make Batman games on NES and Game Boy. Back then Nintendo had restrictions that any game on their system had to be exclusive for a certain period of time. This caused the delay of the much hyped Genesis version of Batman. Genesis Batman did eventually come out but it didn't lived up to the hype; it was good but I liked the first NES game more.

They also made a Batman game for the PC Engine. This one wasn't a platformer but a maze action game. http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics8/batmanj.html

EGM must have had some deal with DC Comics because Batman made the cover a million times back then. Or maybe Semrad and Harris were just big Batman fans.

Bay Route(Arcade, 1989)
Both Sunsoft and Sega's names are on this game. I assume Sunsoft was the developer.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...xBay_Route.png

Fester's Quest(NES, 1989)
This Action/RPG was based on the Addams Family character. The game bored me quickly.
http://www.nesplayer.com/reviews/fes...st/fester2.gif

Maharaja(Famicom, 1989)
A graphic adventure game that took place in India.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...1/maharaja.gif

Out Live(PC Engine, 1989)
Some kind of RPG. Out Live was remade on the Playstation years later.
http://allsoft.scei.co.jp/jacket/l/slps01732b.jpg

City Hunter(PC Engine, 1989)
A platform/adventure game based on the anime.
http://www.kojima.freeserve.co.uk/City2.gif

Super Spy Hunter(NES, 1990)
Sunsoft made a sequel to Midway's arcade classic. It was pretty good from what I vaguely remember.

Journey to Silius(NES, 1990)
I liked Silius. It sort of resembled Mega Man.
http://prones.virtualave.net/favscreen/screen047.gif

Gremlins 2: The New Batch(NES/GB, 1990)
Better than Fester but still forgettable licensed stuff.

Tel Tel Stadium(Mega Drive, 1990)

Nantettatte!! Baseball(Famicom, 1990)
Some baseball games.

Shikinjo(Mega Drive, 1991)
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/genesis02/shikin.html

Hebereke(Famicom, 1991)
It's too bad this didn't come out here. It was a non-linear platform adventure game with very nice graphics and animation.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...0/hebereke.gif

http://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/soft/gif/heberobo.gif

Hebereke became a sort of a mascot for Sunsoft in Japan. Other Hebereke games are Hebereke No Popoon, an arcade/Super Famicom puzzle game similar to Puyo Puyo, Hashire Hebereke a Super Famicom isometric on-foot racing game, Sugoi Hebereke, a Super Famicom fighting game kind of like a 16-bit Power Stone and Hebereke's Popoitto, another puzzle game for Super Famicom and Playstation. Overall, it's a neat franchise. I really the characters and the games.
http://picket.akira.ne.jp/hebereke/popun.jpg

http://picket.akira.ne.jp/hebereke/hashire.jpg

http://picket.akira.ne.jp/hebereke/sugoi.jpg

Sunsoft did the console ports of Psygnosis/DMA Design's computer puzzle series Lemmings.

Mr. Gimmick!(NES, 1992)
This never came out in North America but it did have a European release. It was certainly a good platformer.
http://64.53.95.207/gimmick/gmkboat.gif

Barcode World(Famicom, 1992)
http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/fc/barcode.html

Benkei Gaiden(Super Famicom, 1992)
An RPG.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/snes05/5-17-02/0058.html

Sunsoft ported MicroCabin's computer RPG series Xak to the Super Famicom.

Oishii Puzzle Ha Irimasenka(Arcade, 1993)
I don't know much about this puzzle game. Atlus' name is also on it.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...Irimasenka.png

Pyokotan no Daimeiro(Famicom, 1993)
An action/adventure that consisted of mini-games starring a baseball-capped bunny.
http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...3/pyokotan.gif

Albert Odyssey(Super Famicom, 1993)
The Albert Odyssey series started out with this Strategy/RPG. I'm not sure if the first game in this series was developed by Sunsoft since Tokai is also on the title screen. http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/snes01/01/albert.html

Albert Odyssey 2(Super Famicom, 1994)
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/snes01/01/albert2.html

Albert Odyssey Gaiden(Super Famicom, 1994)
This one was a traditional RPG.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/rpgcorner/Al...en/aogsfc3.JPG

Gaiden was later remade for Saturn and released here by Working Designs as Albert Odyssey. My cousin bought this game thinking it would be similar to Lunar because of the box art but he was quite disappointed. Albert was average in every way.
http://www.rpgdreamer.com/rpgworld/ao/aologo.jpg

One of the biggest financial blunders in gaming history happened when Sunsoft decided to fund a little game being developed by Cyan for computers called Myst. Sunsoft's part of the deal was to have exclusive rights to the console versions. Myst became a record-breaking phenomenon on PC while the console versions failed miserably. And speaking of Cyan, Sunsoft did the Duo port of their game The Manhole.

Shonen Ninja Sasuke(Super Famicom, 1994)
A fast-paced beat 'em up/adventure game. It's worth checking out.
http://www.edgegamez.com/screens/Sup...a_Sasuke-2.gif

Galaxy Fight(Neo Geo, 1995)
This fighting game that was ported to the Saturn and Playstation. It was nothing spectacular but at least it had a unique look.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...l_Warriors.png

Ouchan no Oekaki Logic
A puzzle game series released for Super Famicom, Playstation, Saturn and Wonderswan.
http://www.swan.channel.or.jp/swan/s.../hc_ouchan.gif

Sunsoft also ported Taito's Puzzle Bobble and Space Invaders to the Wonderswan.

Stone Walkers(Playstation, 1996)
http://allsoft.scei.co.jp/jacket/l/slps00472b.jpg

Waku Waku 7(Neo Geo/Saturn 1996)
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...aku_Waku_7.png

Oracle no Houseki(Saturn/Playstation, 1996)

Virtual Gallop Kishudou(Playstation, 1996)
A horse racing game. Sunsoft also later made one for PS2.

Astra Superstars(Arcade/Saturn, 1998)
http://www.highervoltage.net/ss/147//astra03.gif

T.R.A.G.(Playstation, 1998)
An action/adventure game.
http://allsoft.scei.co.jp/jacket/l/slps01733b.jpg

Monster Seed(Playstation, 1999)
An RPG that didn't get very good reviews.

Eternal Eyes(Playstation, 2000)
Crave brought this RPG out here as a budget-priced game. I haven't heard too many compliments about it.

Mumin no Daibouken(Game Boy Color, 2000)

Minna no Igo(Playstation, 2001)
Some import board game.

I'm not sure what this Kids Station Playstation series is about.
http://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/soft/cs/...ame/ygame2.jpg

In 2001, Sunsoft began releasing some Fami-compilations for the import Playstation under the name Memorial Series: Sunsoft. Volume 1 had Ikki and Super Arabian. Volume 2 had Route 16 Turbo and Atlantis no Nazo. Volume 3 had Madoola and Kanshakudama. Volume 4 had Meta Fight(Blaster Master) and Ripple Island. Volume 5 had Raf World(Silius) and Hebereke. Volume 6 had Battle Formula(Super Spy Hunter) and Gimmick. I love the packaging but two games per disc is super stingy.
http://allsoft.scei.co.jp/jacket/l/slps03382.jpg

Clock Tower 3(Playstation 2, 2002)
I'm not sure if Capcom was involved in the development of this game but it felt like a cross between Resident Evil and the old Clock Tower games by Human. Overall, Clock Tower 3 was a solid survival horror with the constant fear of being hunted down.
http://www.newtechnix.com/Webmasters...Tower_3_66.jpg

Sunsoft also made some pachinko and typing games for PS1/PS2 but I can never keep track of those genres.

That should cover most of their developed games. I probably missed a few. I left out their published stuff from companies like The Sales Curve, Software Creations, B-Factory, Success, Japan System Supply, SEED9, Vector, Iguana, Digital Reality, Joyon, Metropolis, Game One, etc.

If I missed any that were developed by Sunsoft, let me know. Were those 16-bit Superman games developed by them or just published? Your thoughts on Sunsoft?

And screw the new board and its image limit.

Fantastic post. Without a comprehensive look at their body of work, it's sometimes easy to forget how many great games Sunsoft has worked on in their lifetime.

Wing of Madoola is one of the better earlier (1986) Famicom games I've played. I'm still trying to track down actual copies of Hebereke, Raf World (Journey to Silius), and Gimmick (though I hear this is a very expensive find). It took me long enough to find Meta Fight.

I still play Waku Waku 7 on Saturn every now and then. It's a shame Astra Superstars dissapointed, I wound up selling that one.

And as a kid, for some reason, I liked Fester's Quest.

I mostly can't post here since 99% of the time I'm surfing on a DreamCast.
But I'd like to say that that I really enjoy these posts and apreciate the effort that's been put into them.

Thanks NeoZeedeater. :)

I haven't read it yet, but thanks for doing Sunsoft!

On average, how long does it take to round up all the info, and finish one of these up?

Thanks guys :)

It would be hard to estimate the average time it takes since I usually do a bit at a time, starting with making a list of every game I can think of by the company. Most threads take about half an hour but some like the Vic 20 thread were done in 5-10 minutes. I tend to make threads on stuff I'm very familiar with so most of the time is spent typing it up, looking for pictures and confirming years. Thanks to TNLers exposing me to the Famicom Database site, my picture searching has become easier.

This thread took me the longest to make because I needed to study Sunsoft more in depth. I spent some time before making the thread checking out stuff like the 16-bit Hebereke games through emulation. It was well worth the time for me.

If I rememeber correctly, Sunsoft was actually a publishing house, they were never an actual developer. Most of their games were coded by an outside company they owned called Tokai Engineering. I've seen their name pop up on RAF World and Metafight (the Famicom versions of Silius and Blaster Master respectively), as well as on Albert Oddysey and Ripple Island.

Blaster Master Boy was just a graphic hack of Bomber King (which was apparently a more puzzle-oriented version of Bomberman).

I'm willing to bet Sunsoft had its own development teams other than Tokai. The ones developed by other companies, like Panorama Cotton or Firepower 2000 always show the developers' name on the title screen. I think it's fairly safe to assume that if no other name is present, it's a Sunsoft-developed game.

Super Fantasy Zone is my favorite Sunsoft game.
[img]And screw the new board and its image limit.
[/img]
If you post immediately after your first post, both will be combined into a single larger post. You can keep on doing this within a short time limit as long as nobody posts in between them.;)

Thanks alot. Whenever I look up information on one of their games I always read about how many great games they had in the past but I was only familiar with a few.

The hebereke characters make a cameo appearance in Albert Odyssey. They run some of the shops. Maybe they do more but I'll never know as I've been stuck in the same spot for over a year now. =\


They also put out the Dodge Danpei games:

card battle based dodgeball games on the famicom

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-...22/dd2logo.gif

http://www10.xdsl.ne.jp/~yoshi225/fa...3/dzdanpe2.gif <--they aped the downtown nekketsu style!



, and a standard sort of dodgeball game on the 16-bit systems.

Batman: Return of the Joker (NES) was an excellent Batman game with Contra-like gameplay. The story seemed to pick up after the movie, where the Joker fell off the roof of the cathedral and managed to actually survive. Batman's sprite is quite large and detailed. By collecting different weapon powerups, Batman could use a flame-thrower, a crossbow projectile, etc.

http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/nes/0...-%20Ingame.gif

Edit: Apparently the image doesn't show up, unless you actually go to the address above (right click, copy the URL and paste it in your browser, hit enter).

A review.