Cyvern is quite excellent. Doesn't do anything especially clever or new, but what's present is more than solid.
Kaneko is definitely one of the most underrated game companies ever with several great contributions to action gaming for over two decades. Here are the games of Kaneko:
Red Clash(Arcade, 1981)
This was most likely Kaneko's first game and it is a very impressive shooter given the context of when it was released. It consisted of a few different levels including a one with a scrolling screen and also a boss fight with a mothership. It's an early taste at the direction Japanese shooters were taking and still very playable today.
Fly Boy(Arcade, 1982)
Jump Coaster(Arcade, 1983)
This was a fast-paced platformer where you had to grab money bags while avoiding cops. You climb ladders on a roller coaster and also have to dodge apes riding the coaster.
Roller Aces(Arcade, 1983)
This was possibly the first rollerskating game ever made. It was published in Japan by Taito as Fighting Roller and in the West by Williams. Williams altered the character sprites a bit. I'm not 100% sure it's Kaneko-developed but it's listed as a Taito/Kaneko game on several sites and on MAME. The graphics are excellent for a 1983 game and the scrolling is very smooth.
Boggy '83(Arcade, 1983)
This was another Taito/Kaneko game and it's supposed to be quite rare. A bootleg version called Boggy '84 was released outside of Japan by a company called Eddie's Games.
Highway Jumper(Arcade, 1984)
VS Gong Fight(Arcade, 1984)
I wouldn't call it a classic boxing game like Nintendo's Punch Out series but the voices in it are kind of funny.
The 1988 arcade games Heavy Unit and the fighting game Kageki are sometimes listed as a Kaneko games but I only see Taito's name on them. Does anyone know if Kaneko was involved with them?
DJ Boy(Arcade, 1989)
The Mega Drive port was one of the first import games I bought and I loved it. It was a neat beat 'em up with a rollerskating theme. It's a shame the domestic Genesis version had the cinemas and ending removed(although the bastards showed part of the intro in the instruction book). I think the game was slightly censored too.
Gals Panic(Arcade, 1990)
This was a hentai game with gameplay similar to Taito's Qix and Atari's Quantum. It's Kaneko's most well-known series but since I feel it overshadows their better games, I won't bother going over the sequels.
Air Buster/Aeroblasters(Arcade, 1990)
I loved this shooter back then. I used to have both the Genesis and TurboGrafx ports. I remember liking the Turbo one a bit more although the Genesis lack more parallax or something.
The Berlin Wall(Arcade, 1990)
A single-screen platformer. It was ported to Genesis and Game Gear.
Magical Crystals(Arcade, 1991)
Super Star Soldier(TG16, 1991)
Hudson got Kaneko to develop this excellent sequel. It's one of my favourite shooters.
Star Parodier(PCE CD, 1992)
Hudson also wanted their own "parody shooter" like Konami had with Parodius and so they had Kaneko develop this. In this game character selection consisted of Bomberman, the Star Soldier ship and PC Engine Man. Great stuff.
http://screenmania.retrogames.com/pce/01/pce_013_2.html
Final Soldier also kicked ass although I don't recall seeing Kaneko's name on it.
Speaking of Duo shooters, if I'm not mistaken Kaneko is in the ending credits of Lords of Thunder even though only Hudson and Red are listed on the title screen. I don't remember if Gate of Thunder had Kaneko's name anywhere.
Bakuretsu Breaker(Arcade, 1992)
B. Rap Boys(Arcade, 1992)
This was the obscure sequel to DJ Boy. It never had a home port.
Power Moves/Deadly Moves(SNES/Genesis, 1992)
This fighting game wasn't too hot from what I remember.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics2/powermoves.html
Shogun Warriors(Arcade, 1992)
Wani Wani World(Mega Drive, 1992)
A quality SSP. xS made a thread about it recently.
Blood Warrior(Arcade, 1994)
Seven Force made a thread about this Shogun Warriors sequel not too long ago.
Bonk's Adventure(Arcade, 1994)
For years I thought this was a port of the TG16 game but it's actually an original game in the series.
Great 1000 Miles Rally(Arcade, 1994)
Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire(Arcade, 1995)
I have looked for pics of this many times but I can never find any.
Mille Miglia 2: Great 1000 Miles Rally(Arcade, 1995)
Silhouette Stories(Playstation, 1996)
http://allsoft.scei.co.jp/jacket/l/slps00374b.jpg
Saru Kani Hamu Zou(Arcade, 1997)
Mediaworks is also listed with this game; they might the developer.
GT Max Rev.: Zen Nippon GT Senshuken(Playstation, 1992)
Some racing game.
Sengeki Striker(Arcade, 1997)
This was developed by Warashi and published by Kaneko.
Cyvern(Arcade, 1998)
I haven't found this in any arcades but it looks amazing.
Kitty on your Lap(Playstation, 1998)
Nope, that doesn't sound rude at all.
http://allsoft.scei.co.jp/jacket/l/slps02317b.jpg
Sen-Know(Arcade, 1999)
Kouyousha's name is also on this but I know nothing about that company.
Panic Street(Arcade, 1999)
The gameplay looks similar to Gals Panic but it doesn't look like a hentai game.
Guts'n(Arcade, 2000)
A puzzle game with an internal organs theme?
Your thoughts on Kaneko? Did I miss anything?
Thumb Pilot
Cyvern is quite excellent. Doesn't do anything especially clever or new, but what's present is more than solid.
There are two of those Jackie Chan fighters, AFAIK. From what I'm told, they're really bad games with live people playing the characters, in the vein of Mortal Kombat. I've seen precious few screenshots, but I know a couple appeared in an issue of Tips and Tricks awhile back. I believe the second one is just an enhancement of the first, with a few new characters, and I think it made Jackie Chan playable, as he wasn't in the first.
I haven't played either myself, and my memory of the shots and the writeup is pretty fuzzy, so I could be way off... if anyone has any more info to share, I'd be glad to hear it. I'm a huge fan of Jackie Chan and these bizarre, awful-looking games always interested me, heheh.
Ñ-user
This company was once one of the most important coin-op makers and is still one of the very few from the 8-bit era which remain today. They developed one of the most powerful 2D arcade systems used by other companies, too (Super Nova). It is still well loved and considered. In Japan, at least.
Heavy Unit was published by Namco, but developed by Kaneko. There's also a MD version, I think.
Kageki was also a Kaneko game but published by Taito, as were Samurai Nihon-Ichi, Ready Master, Yuke Yuke Yamaguchi-kun and Super Qix. So we can say that the Qix concept was original from Kaneko and they used it in acclaimed Gals Panic series.
Some omissions would be unmamed Kabuki Z and Kyuukyoku!! PC Genjin (the obscure arcade version of Hudson's popular series).
Banpresto's Zen Nihon GT Senshuken was the only SFC game they did besides Power Athlete.
Saru Kani Hamu Zou was not developed by Media Works. They just owned chracters' copyright or something like that.
And never heard of another Jackie Chan arcade game besides "The Kung-Fu Master".
Thanks for these threads, Neoz'r. What about Human / Spike next?
Thanks Recap. I didn't know those other Taito games were Kaneko-developed. I wish Taito would credit their developers more visibly on their games.
Heavy Unit was released for MD and PCE. I have the PCE version but I haven't played it much. I don't remember who ported the game.
I did mention the Bonk arcade game. It looks sweet but I haven't played it either.
Human I don't know enough about to make a history thread. Sorry. I loved Kabuki Quantum Fighter though.
I actually like the Gals Panic series, or at least the later ones. They aren't all hentai games, btw. Panic Street is a non-hentai clone of one of them, btw, I think Gals Panic S or S2.
Cyvern was very cool also, as was Super Star Soldier. Not real well versed on Kaneko outside of that. Interesting choice for a retrosdpective.
I don't think the Gals Panic games are bad. I just hate to see the lesser known Kaneko games I like more go noticed.
Rise from your grave, asshole!
Oooh so much good stuff. I am a HUGE Air Busters fan, and can recommend Magical Crystals to anyone with a penchant for MAME.
I wonder if the background in Boggy '83 rotates? It sure looks like it does.
Are you ready?
The main difference between the two JC games is that FoF (the later one) adds super moves and even pursuit attacks. I think reversals are here too. For some reason, some of the characters have really odd skin colors. (No, it's not the monitor!)Originally Posted by Grave
I do have some screen shots of the first game. I will post those soon.
Meanwhile, here are some of the Bonk's Adventure arcade shots (again).
Damn, those pics from uvlist stopped working. I'll wait and see if they reappear.
Ex Ranza, Boggy doesn't rotate. I just remembered I played the rom of the MSX port. It was done by Nippon Columbia.
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