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Devs that made exclusive games for multiple systems

C

ClayKavalier

Banned
I was playing Ratchet last night and thinking about how weird it is that Insomniac has made an exclusive each for the two main systems this generation.

How many other companies have done this? The other others I can think of off the top of my head are Capcom (lots of exclusive GameCube and PS2 games) and Platinum (Bayonetta 2 and the dragon game).

Just to narrow it down let's say only developers who have switched back and forth between consoles, so Rare wouldn't count even though they made Nintendo-exclusive games before being bought by Microsoft.
 
This gets more common the further back we go, doesn't it? Capcom (Dai Makaimura, Cho Makaimura, Strider, Punisher, etc), Konami (Contra and Castlevania games), Namco, etc. back in the NES, Genesis, and PSX generations.
 
treasure made several exclusive games for the saturn, one exclusive party fighting game for the PSX, and multiple exclusive games for the N64.
 
Tain said:
This gets more common the further back we go, doesn't it? Capcom (Dai Makaimura, Cho Makaimura, Strider, Punisher, etc)
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Capcom didn't make any of the Dai Makaimura or Strider ports, Sega and NEC did.

Actually, until Street Fighter II' on the Genesis, Capcom exclusively made games for Nintendo. Even the PC Engine Port of Street Fighter II wasn't by them, it was by NEC.
 
Gamefreak made a handful of Sega Genesis exclusive titles, like Pulseman, and of course a ton of Gameboy exclusive titles, like Pokemon.
 
300px-Clover_Studio_logo.jpg

Okami - God Hand - Viewtiful Joe
 
ClayKavalier said:
Just to narrow it down let's say only developers who have switched back and forth between consoles, so Rare wouldn't count even though they made Nintendo-exclusive games before being bought by Microsoft.
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So you mean companies that weren't bought?
Factor 5
They made Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike on Gamecube. They then made Lair for Playstation 3
Silicon Knights... sorta? maybe?
They made two GameCube exclusives, and then made Too Human which was only on the Xbox 360 (and started as a Playstation game, then moved to the GameCube, and ultimately the 360 so I don't know it really fits what you're looking for).
 
Justinh said:
So you mean companies that weren't bought?
Factor 5
They made Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike on Gamecube. They then made Lair for Playstation 3
Silicon Knights... sorta? maybe?
They made two GameCube exclusives, and then made Too Human which was only on the Xbox 360 (and started as a Playstation game, then moved to the GameCube, and ultimately the 360 so I don't know it really fits what you're looking for).
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I think the OP is also only qualifying exclusive games for multiple platforms released during one console generation, seeing as plenty of devs have swapped platform support throughout the years.
 
Justinh said:
So you mean companies that weren't bought?
Factor 5
They made Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike on Gamecube. They then made Lair for Playstation 3
Silicon Knights... sorta? maybe?
They made two GameCube exclusives, and then made Too Human which was only on the Xbox 360 (and started as a Playstation game, then moved to the GameCube, and ultimately the 360 so I don't know it really fits what you're looking for).
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Yeah, and it's even harder to think of examples that don't line up with generation changes. Factor 5 was "loyal" to Nintendo during the 64 and GameCube eras and than switched to Sony for PS3.

It's interesting, I wonder if Insomniac will continue to develop for both.
 
T&E Soft went really far with multi-platform exclusives back in 1986, releasing different installments of their Daiva game series from that point forward on 7 different platforms. You had sci-fi wargames on the MSX2, Fujitsu FM-7, PC-88, Sharp X1, Famicom, FM-77AV, and PC-98! And these scenarios were unique, each telling an episode in the whole saga.
 
Square Enix. It's especially annoying with Kingdom Hearts where you need literally every single video game system mankind has ever created to know the full story.
 
I miss the days when third parties would make unique experiences for different systems. Konami gave us a very SNES appropriate title with Super Castlevania IV, and a very Genesis appropriate title with Castlevania Bloodlines. Heck, even within the same IP, we'd get unique games like quality licensed SNES and Genesis versions of Aladdin.

It's a big reason why it feels like the HD Remastered Twins don't have unique identities. At least compared to the good old days, oldmanyellsatcloud.gif
 
Living Proof said:
I think the OP is also only qualifying exclusive games for multiple platforms released during one console generation, seeing as plenty of devs have swapped platform support throughout the years.
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Okay, I see it now. I... the Bayonetta 2/Scalebound example threw me for a loop because I didn't think of the Wii U as a current gen console (my mistake).
 
Krejlooc said:
do you think that ports are usually handled by the same team or something? That's how all ports are done, even concurrent ports.
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No, I mean what I'm getting at is it wasn't a multiplatform game originally, from a development perspective.

Clover made the game as a PS2 game, and released it that way. Then they shut down. Only after the game had been out for 2 years on PS2 were ports made.

It's like how Super Mario All-Stars or the GBA ports or the Virtual Console don't make Super Mario Bros. into a multiplatform game. It was developed, released, and available first and foremost for NES. So that makes it an NES exclusive, because other platforms were not in the cards at the time.

Meanwhile a recent game like Dark Souls III or what have you was specifically developed and released for multiple consoles all at once. That makes it multiplatform, because it was designed specifically from the get-go to be that way.
 
Krejlooc said:
that doesn't matter at all.
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Does it? I'm not sure... Rereleases and later ports are different from how a game was originally developed, built, marketed, and consumed.

Recently things like timed exclusives have blurred the lines, but then, usually stuff like that is planned from the get-go. Something like Resident Evil 4 WAS Gamecube exclusive, and then they changed their mind after it released. It was specifically made with the decision and intention of being an exclusive game. Later ports would not change those original intentions.

I guess ultimately it's talking semantics, but I think it does matter.

e.g. with the Tales series, almost all of them were exclusive. Though yeah, some were ported later down the line, that doesn't change that none of them began as intentional multiplatform titles.
 
Veritigo_X said:
Square Enix. It's especially annoying with Kingdom Hearts where you need literally every single video game system mankind has ever created to know the full story.
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That's a good one. It's getting tiresome, but at least it'll finally end with KH3 on PS4 for me (until a new saga begins at least).
 
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