-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
NeoGAF: Your Top 5(+) Developers of All Time?
- Thread starter Boss Man
- Start date
1. Black Isle/Obsidian - Best RPG house of all time.
2. Lucasarts - Tie Fighter, Adventure games, Jedi Knight, amazeballs.
3. Origin Systemworks - Wing Commander, Ultima, Crusader
4. Valve - HL, Steam
5. Looking Glass - System Shock, Ultima Underworld, Thief, Terra Nova
2. Lucasarts - Tie Fighter, Adventure games, Jedi Knight, amazeballs.
3. Origin Systemworks - Wing Commander, Ultima, Crusader
4. Valve - HL, Steam
5. Looking Glass - System Shock, Ultima Underworld, Thief, Terra Nova
GotchaForce
Member
Nintendo
Capcom
Sega
Square
Konami/Treasure (yeah kinda cheating, whatevs)
Capcom
Sega
Square
Konami/Treasure (yeah kinda cheating, whatevs)
SOME-MIST
Member
CAVE Co., Ltd. - pretty much created my favorite games since the old raizing/8ing shmups. dodonpachi, progear, ketsui, mushihimesama futari, muchi muchi pork, ibara, etc.. blistering difficulty, twitch intensive gameplay, creative scoring/shooting mechanics, and a gameplay-centric focus, CAVE has continued to output exceptional titles.
Treasure Co., Ltd. - another company with an outstanding history. Another company that likes to output what might be labeled "hardcore" games with two of my absolute favorite titles being Sin & Punishment: Star Successor and Alien Soldier. Not to mention Guardian Heroes, Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, and Bangai-O.
Vanillaware - someone else in this thread mentioned that they buy absolutely everything by Vanillaware and I wholeheartedly agree. Though they don't constantly output games, the George Kamitani visual style and fun gameplay ensure that I purchase every title I release. Notable titles being Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Odin Sphere, and Grim Grimoire.
LucasArts (90s) - hard to deny the creative minds behind some of the best point and click adventures of all time. Grim Fandango is literally one of my top 3 favorite games of all time. Not to mention other popular titles such as the monkey island and maniac mansion series, full throttle, sam & max: hit the road, the dig, etc..
PlatinumGames - I'm a huge Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya fanboy, so naturally their games are focused on gameplay. I know Mikami went on to make his own studio, but some of my favorite titles from this generation were released by PlatinumGames.. Bayonetta, Vanquish, Anarchy Reigns, and soon The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 (although I don't own a Wii).
lastly - especially if 90s LucasArts doesn't count
Double Fine - some of the creative mines from the old 90s LucasArts bring the same humorous quality to games as their former selves. Psychonauts, Stacking, Brutal Legend, and Iron Brigade. I hope fantastic things happens for this studio in the future (outside of kickstarter).
Treasure Co., Ltd. - another company with an outstanding history. Another company that likes to output what might be labeled "hardcore" games with two of my absolute favorite titles being Sin & Punishment: Star Successor and Alien Soldier. Not to mention Guardian Heroes, Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, and Bangai-O.
Vanillaware - someone else in this thread mentioned that they buy absolutely everything by Vanillaware and I wholeheartedly agree. Though they don't constantly output games, the George Kamitani visual style and fun gameplay ensure that I purchase every title I release. Notable titles being Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Odin Sphere, and Grim Grimoire.
LucasArts (90s) - hard to deny the creative minds behind some of the best point and click adventures of all time. Grim Fandango is literally one of my top 3 favorite games of all time. Not to mention other popular titles such as the monkey island and maniac mansion series, full throttle, sam & max: hit the road, the dig, etc..
PlatinumGames - I'm a huge Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya fanboy, so naturally their games are focused on gameplay. I know Mikami went on to make his own studio, but some of my favorite titles from this generation were released by PlatinumGames.. Bayonetta, Vanquish, Anarchy Reigns, and soon The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 (although I don't own a Wii).
lastly - especially if 90s LucasArts doesn't count
Double Fine - some of the creative mines from the old 90s LucasArts bring the same humorous quality to games as their former selves. Psychonauts, Stacking, Brutal Legend, and Iron Brigade. I hope fantastic things happens for this studio in the future (outside of kickstarter).
SneakyStephan
Banned
Valve :
half life 1-2 , portal 1-2 , l4d , team fortress, dota 2 and all the mods like cs and dod etc that spawned from half life
Source engine is also amazing and steam is cool though it took time to not suck
ID
Doom, quake, id engine
Capcom
Street fighter, devil may cry, dragon's dogma, dino crisis, moto gp
They have games with amazing gameplay
Konami :they have too many good games to list, going back to the 80s
half life 1-2 , portal 1-2 , l4d , team fortress, dota 2 and all the mods like cs and dod etc that spawned from half life
Source engine is also amazing and steam is cool though it took time to not suck
ID
Doom, quake, id engine
Capcom
Street fighter, devil may cry, dragon's dogma, dino crisis, moto gp
They have games with amazing gameplay
Konami :they have too many good games to list, going back to the 80s
A hard list to make, but here we go:
1. Valve -- Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Portal, Counter-Strike, Steam
2. Sega AM2 -- Shenmue, Shenmue II, too many arcade games to name
3. Kojima Productions/Konami Computer Entertainment Japan -- Metal Gear Solid 1-3, Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner
4. Atlus -- Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 3/FES/Portable, Persona 4/Golden, Catherine
5. Ion Storm -- Deus Ex
Honourable mentions (in no specific order): Rare (Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark), Bungie (Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 Multiplayer), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 2), Bioware (Baldur's Gate II, KOTOR, Mass Effect 1), Obsidian (Fallout: New Vegas, KOTOR 2), Naughty Dog (Uncharted 2), CiNG (Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, Another Code), LucasArts (Monkey Island 1-3, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max: Hit the Road, The Dig, and so on...), Sucker Punch (inFamous 1 & 2, Sly 1-3), and Capcom (Ace Attorney series, Mega Man series, Resident Evil 2 & 4, Okami, Street Fighter II-IV, and more...).
1. Valve -- Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Portal, Counter-Strike, Steam
2. Sega AM2 -- Shenmue, Shenmue II, too many arcade games to name
3. Kojima Productions/Konami Computer Entertainment Japan -- Metal Gear Solid 1-3, Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner
4. Atlus -- Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 3/FES/Portable, Persona 4/Golden, Catherine
5. Ion Storm -- Deus Ex
Honourable mentions (in no specific order): Rare (Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark), Bungie (Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 Multiplayer), CD Projekt RED (The Witcher 2), Bioware (Baldur's Gate II, KOTOR, Mass Effect 1), Obsidian (Fallout: New Vegas, KOTOR 2), Naughty Dog (Uncharted 2), CiNG (Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, Another Code), LucasArts (Monkey Island 1-3, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max: Hit the Road, The Dig, and so on...), Sucker Punch (inFamous 1 & 2, Sly 1-3), and Capcom (Ace Attorney series, Mega Man series, Resident Evil 2 & 4, Okami, Street Fighter II-IV, and more...).
List it once. Put "i cant think of anything" for choices 2-5
kensama
Member
GhaleonQ
Member
Some people are blurring the line into publisher. For me, I'll try not to limit mine to teams, so it's not "ALL NINTENDO GAMES EVER."
I haven't posted my "best series" list, but here is my top 10 games list. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=25741820#post25741820
I also go for some nebulous combination of "median quality," "mean quality," and "quantity of highest quality."
And, no, I don't have any developers outside of Asia. I just find them too inconsistent for the most part! Moreover, you would be horrified by how close Nippon Ichi got to placing, as they've blown my mind since the Playstation 3/PSP generation and were pretty great before that. Like, them over Sierra On-Line, Namco, Irem, Game Arts, Square, and my number 5 feels wrong.
5. Treasure: I really thought this place would go to 1 of the ones I listed. Namco's cuteness is irresistible, Irem knows how to get melancholy across, and the rest composed my formative gaming years, right? However, my primary virtue in development is multidisciplinary focus. In the end, the others couldn't match how well Treasure did everything. The day they create a real role-playing or tactics game (Light Crusader is an action game, come on) is the day they find a higher place on this list. For me, they're a concentrated version of their predecessor, Konami. They're good at everything and a bit weird. Going independent allowed them to amplify those qualities while retaining their good-natured influence on the industry. As I've soured on indie cheerleading by the video games press, I return to Treasure to remind me that peculiarity and independence can be coupled with tonal exactness and gameplay sheen.
3 favorite games: Bangaio Spirits, Radiant Silvergun, Go, Go, Trouble Makers/Mischief Makers
4. Konami (all?): I don't feel like one needs to justify picking 1 of the arcade greats, but one needs to differentiate them from their competitors. Konami's probably the odd one out of Capcom-Namco-Sega-Konami, too. Personally, I love tonal extremes. My favorite art mixes horror or intellectual self-seriousness with silliness and farce. Konami embodies that. In the arcade, at home, and during travel, they give me games that make me furrow my brow or chuckle contentedly better than the rest. Since their early 1980s arcade games, they've concentrated on being unique rather than copying and providing the best version of what the mainstream demands. Most importantly, they make games without the self-importance of their competitors. (Konami, being 1 of those Japanese arcade zaibatsu and existing in an era with low credits to artists, is tough to split up into teams. It feels like cheating to include everything they developed, but I can't split them into teams until later on when it was team-to-franchise. If I have to limit them, consider my "Konami" 5 of the 8 franchises listed below. Obviously, this doesn't include stuff they merely published, like the Assault Suits series.)
10 favorite games: Demon's Castle Dracula: The Stolen Seal/Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia, Chattering Parodius: Forever With Me/Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius, Silent Hill 3, Persevere, Goemon: The Glittering Journey/Legend Of The Mystical Ninja 4, Xexex/Orius, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time, Moai/Moai-Kun, Metal Gear Acid 2, Fantasy Water Margin Legend III/Suikoden III, Pop'n Music 19: Tune Street
3. S.N.K. (principal S.N.K. team): They overload their games with content, pioneered tens of unique aesthetics in video games, produce rock-solid action, role-playing, sports, music, strategy, shooter, and fighting gameplay to differentiate themselves from Capcom, push story to the fore of their fighting games (and often genuinely moved me by doing so), and do all of this on 1/10th of their competitors' budgets. They're masters of all sorts of gameplay and put it 1st, but they give their devotees superfluous, fun information to obsess over in a way that's charmingly nerdy, not exploitative. They're everything I love about Japanese video game development. (I'd still place them even if I had to exclude the Nazca team that did Great Seafloor War/In The Hunt with Irem and the Metal Slug games after being absorbed, and I am excluding A.D.K., who made a series I adore called Twinkle Star Sprites, and Sunsoft, who produced brilliant games occasionally. S.N.K. Playmore era counts, though.)
5 favorite games: Bakumatsu Romance 2: On the Moon, A Flower Blooming, A Petal Falling/The Last Blade 2, The King Of Fighters 9/The King Of Fighters: 2002: Unlimited Match, Metal Slug 3, which can be bumped if you exclude "Nazca," Persevere, Neo Poke/Ganbare, Neo Poke-Kun, Baseball Stars 2, Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition
2. Intelligent Systems (Nintendo): It would almost be enough that they've existed for nearly 20 years with a mean of more than 1 game per year, and, arguably, have not yet produced a bad game. That is absurd. They get this place over Nintendo's other teams, though, because they're the brain to EAD's heart. Yes, Super Mario World ranks over Panel Pon Gamecube on my list, but Intelligent Systems dominates all of my favorite contemplative genres year-after-year. They innovated with Fire Emblem and Nintendo Wars, evolved with Panel Pon and Paper Mario/Mario Story, and surprised with Pull-/-Mo. Critically, from Game Boy and Famicom on, they thrive on handhelds as much as they do on consoles. I buy their games immediately, always. (I'm not counting games where they just pitched in like Made In Wario/ware, Inc., Animal Leader/Cubivore, or High Speed Card Battle: Card Hero.)
3 favorite games: Panel Pon Gamecube/Puzzle League 2 in Nintendo Puzzle Collection, Paper Mario R.P.G./Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Fire Emblem: Genealogy Of The Holy War
1. Lovedelic: Duh, dummies. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376513 They made games smarter than anyone else's so far, 1 of them is my favorite developer ever, and 1 of their games is the greatest video game ever. Yes, I adore that they melded the games and low art tropes of Square and Japanese graphic adventure developers with the high art of Yellow Magic Orchestra and a handful of Japanese authors. I marvel that they made 3 vastly different games with no "practice run" titles, all with wholly different designs, aesthetics, themes, and development styles. I respect that they created tributaries into the more mainstream game industry while compromising little of what made them Lovedelic. Really, though, they get this place for making 3 straight games with complex systems and themes, demonstrating to their lessers that it's them, not "gamers" or "the industry" that's holding games-as-art back.
3 favorite games: Moon: Remix R.P.G. Adventure, U.F.O.: A Day In The Life, L.O.L.: Lack Of Love
I haven't posted my "best series" list, but here is my top 10 games list. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=25741820#post25741820
I also go for some nebulous combination of "median quality," "mean quality," and "quantity of highest quality."
And, no, I don't have any developers outside of Asia. I just find them too inconsistent for the most part! Moreover, you would be horrified by how close Nippon Ichi got to placing, as they've blown my mind since the Playstation 3/PSP generation and were pretty great before that. Like, them over Sierra On-Line, Namco, Irem, Game Arts, Square, and my number 5 feels wrong.
5. Treasure: I really thought this place would go to 1 of the ones I listed. Namco's cuteness is irresistible, Irem knows how to get melancholy across, and the rest composed my formative gaming years, right? However, my primary virtue in development is multidisciplinary focus. In the end, the others couldn't match how well Treasure did everything. The day they create a real role-playing or tactics game (Light Crusader is an action game, come on) is the day they find a higher place on this list. For me, they're a concentrated version of their predecessor, Konami. They're good at everything and a bit weird. Going independent allowed them to amplify those qualities while retaining their good-natured influence on the industry. As I've soured on indie cheerleading by the video games press, I return to Treasure to remind me that peculiarity and independence can be coupled with tonal exactness and gameplay sheen.
3 favorite games: Bangaio Spirits, Radiant Silvergun, Go, Go, Trouble Makers/Mischief Makers
4. Konami (all?): I don't feel like one needs to justify picking 1 of the arcade greats, but one needs to differentiate them from their competitors. Konami's probably the odd one out of Capcom-Namco-Sega-Konami, too. Personally, I love tonal extremes. My favorite art mixes horror or intellectual self-seriousness with silliness and farce. Konami embodies that. In the arcade, at home, and during travel, they give me games that make me furrow my brow or chuckle contentedly better than the rest. Since their early 1980s arcade games, they've concentrated on being unique rather than copying and providing the best version of what the mainstream demands. Most importantly, they make games without the self-importance of their competitors. (Konami, being 1 of those Japanese arcade zaibatsu and existing in an era with low credits to artists, is tough to split up into teams. It feels like cheating to include everything they developed, but I can't split them into teams until later on when it was team-to-franchise. If I have to limit them, consider my "Konami" 5 of the 8 franchises listed below. Obviously, this doesn't include stuff they merely published, like the Assault Suits series.)
10 favorite games: Demon's Castle Dracula: The Stolen Seal/Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia, Chattering Parodius: Forever With Me/Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius, Silent Hill 3, Persevere, Goemon: The Glittering Journey/Legend Of The Mystical Ninja 4, Xexex/Orius, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time, Moai/Moai-Kun, Metal Gear Acid 2, Fantasy Water Margin Legend III/Suikoden III, Pop'n Music 19: Tune Street
3. S.N.K. (principal S.N.K. team): They overload their games with content, pioneered tens of unique aesthetics in video games, produce rock-solid action, role-playing, sports, music, strategy, shooter, and fighting gameplay to differentiate themselves from Capcom, push story to the fore of their fighting games (and often genuinely moved me by doing so), and do all of this on 1/10th of their competitors' budgets. They're masters of all sorts of gameplay and put it 1st, but they give their devotees superfluous, fun information to obsess over in a way that's charmingly nerdy, not exploitative. They're everything I love about Japanese video game development. (I'd still place them even if I had to exclude the Nazca team that did Great Seafloor War/In The Hunt with Irem and the Metal Slug games after being absorbed, and I am excluding A.D.K., who made a series I adore called Twinkle Star Sprites, and Sunsoft, who produced brilliant games occasionally. S.N.K. Playmore era counts, though.)
5 favorite games: Bakumatsu Romance 2: On the Moon, A Flower Blooming, A Petal Falling/The Last Blade 2, The King Of Fighters 9/The King Of Fighters: 2002: Unlimited Match, Metal Slug 3, which can be bumped if you exclude "Nazca," Persevere, Neo Poke/Ganbare, Neo Poke-Kun, Baseball Stars 2, Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition
2. Intelligent Systems (Nintendo): It would almost be enough that they've existed for nearly 20 years with a mean of more than 1 game per year, and, arguably, have not yet produced a bad game. That is absurd. They get this place over Nintendo's other teams, though, because they're the brain to EAD's heart. Yes, Super Mario World ranks over Panel Pon Gamecube on my list, but Intelligent Systems dominates all of my favorite contemplative genres year-after-year. They innovated with Fire Emblem and Nintendo Wars, evolved with Panel Pon and Paper Mario/Mario Story, and surprised with Pull-/-Mo. Critically, from Game Boy and Famicom on, they thrive on handhelds as much as they do on consoles. I buy their games immediately, always. (I'm not counting games where they just pitched in like Made In Wario/ware, Inc., Animal Leader/Cubivore, or High Speed Card Battle: Card Hero.)
3 favorite games: Panel Pon Gamecube/Puzzle League 2 in Nintendo Puzzle Collection, Paper Mario R.P.G./Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Fire Emblem: Genealogy Of The Holy War
1. Lovedelic: Duh, dummies. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376513 They made games smarter than anyone else's so far, 1 of them is my favorite developer ever, and 1 of their games is the greatest video game ever. Yes, I adore that they melded the games and low art tropes of Square and Japanese graphic adventure developers with the high art of Yellow Magic Orchestra and a handful of Japanese authors. I marvel that they made 3 vastly different games with no "practice run" titles, all with wholly different designs, aesthetics, themes, and development styles. I respect that they created tributaries into the more mainstream game industry while compromising little of what made them Lovedelic. Really, though, they get this place for making 3 straight games with complex systems and themes, demonstrating to their lessers that it's them, not "gamers" or "the industry" that's holding games-as-art back.
3 favorite games: Moon: Remix R.P.G. Adventure, U.F.O.: A Day In The Life, L.O.L.: Lack Of Love
KDash31987
Member
So five is not enough for me
There's a reason there's a plus sign next to the five, you know. Hah. Five is the minimum he wanted, not the limit.
1. Obsidian (Some of my favorite games including Alpha Protocol, New Vegas, and KOTOR2)
2. Platinum Games (I have never played a PG game that I didn't enjoy)
3. Squaresoft (Vagrant Story, Front Mission, FFTactics)
4. Naughty Dog (TLoU, Crash Bandicoot, Jak, Uncharted)
5. From Software (Souls series, 3D Dot Game Heroes was pretty good)
6. TaleWorlds (Developed one of my favorite game series of all time, Mount and Blade)
7. id (I still play Doom to this day. Also, John Carmack is a pretty cool guy)
2. Platinum Games (I have never played a PG game that I didn't enjoy)
3. Squaresoft (Vagrant Story, Front Mission, FFTactics)
4. Naughty Dog (TLoU, Crash Bandicoot, Jak, Uncharted)
5. From Software (Souls series, 3D Dot Game Heroes was pretty good)
6. TaleWorlds (Developed one of my favorite game series of all time, Mount and Blade)
7. id (I still play Doom to this day. Also, John Carmack is a pretty cool guy)
LittleNemoNES
Banned
Not much discussion going on but what the hey, here's my list:
1) Capcom (NES)
2) Konami (NES)
3) Nintendo (SNES)
4) SquareSoft (SNES)
5) Sega (Genesis)
1) Capcom (NES)
2) Konami (NES)
3) Nintendo (SNES)
4) SquareSoft (SNES)
5) Sega (Genesis)
flatearthpandas
Member
Nintendo
Atlus
Squaresoft (with some SE games still fitting the bill)
Blizzard (back in the day)
Bioware (back in the day)
Atlus
Squaresoft (with some SE games still fitting the bill)
Blizzard (back in the day)
Bioware (back in the day)
List 5 different Nintendo development teams. Easy.
GhaleonQ
Member
Well, it IS because too many people are listmaking, despite the advice not to do so. *laughs*
Zia and KDash31987 had cool lists, I should add.
I find this fascinating and maybe representative of a lot of Americans. What made you switch from Nintendo-Square-Capcom (and Firaxis-LucasArts) to action and shooter games? That's not to say Capcom don't have their share, but you really replaced 1 set of tastes for another, it seems.
kensama
Member
ChitoCrisis
Member
Kojima Productions - Metal Gear! My favourite video game series of all time!
Nintendo EAD - Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Mario Kart, etc.
Irrational Games - Mainly for BioShock and BioShock Infinite but looking forward to their next games. And I'm going to play their older games too.
Valve - Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.
Platinum Games - Everything they make is damn good!
Honorary Mentions: Retro Studios, Team Ninja (Itagaki era), Rare (Nintendo era), Squaresoft/Square-Enix.
Nintendo EAD - Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Mario Kart, etc.
Irrational Games - Mainly for BioShock and BioShock Infinite but looking forward to their next games. And I'm going to play their older games too.
Valve - Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.
Platinum Games - Everything they make is damn good!
Honorary Mentions: Retro Studios, Team Ninja (Itagaki era), Rare (Nintendo era), Squaresoft/Square-Enix.
Dr. Randy Marsh
Member
HAL Laboratory
Squaresoft
Naughty Dog
Insomniac Games (pre-A4O)
Sucker Punch
Squaresoft
Naughty Dog
Insomniac Games (pre-A4O)
Sucker Punch
DeadRockstar
Member
So five is not enough for me
Can't fault you there. My honourable mentions list would have been as long as my arm if I hadn't stopped myself.
I still feel bad for not mentioning Westwood, Treasure and id.
ChamplooJones
Formerly Momotaro
Easy.
1. Naughty Dog
2. Rare (Pre-Microsoft)
3. Sony Santa Monica
4. Sega Technical Institute
5. Sucker Punch
6. Platinum Games
1. Naughty Dog
2. Rare (Pre-Microsoft)
3. Sony Santa Monica
4. Sega Technical Institute
5. Sucker Punch
6. Platinum Games
SpartanN92
Banned
Bungie
Naughty Dog
Obsidian
Bioware
Nintendo (For me emphasis on Game Freak)
Irrational
Naughty Dog
Obsidian
Bioware
Nintendo (For me emphasis on Game Freak)
Irrational
Professor Chaos
Member
Valve
Rocksteady
R*
Irrational
(Old-school) Rare - DKC, Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, Conker
Rocksteady
R*
Irrational
(Old-school) Rare - DKC, Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, Conker
Not Spaceghost
Spaceghost
Koji Pro
Old Capcom
Project ACES
From Software
Platinum
Old Capcom
Project ACES
From Software
Platinum
Squaresoft - Final Fantasy VII-X, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy Tactics
Level 5 - Dark Cloud, Professor Layton, Ni no Kuni
Capcom - Resident Evil, Mega Man, Devil May Cry
Naughty Dog - Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, The Last of Us
Atlus - Persona, Catherine (all I really need is Persona though)
Someone's cheating a little
Level 5 - Dark Cloud, Professor Layton, Ni no Kuni
Capcom - Resident Evil, Mega Man, Devil May Cry
Naughty Dog - Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, The Last of Us
Atlus - Persona, Catherine (all I really need is Persona though)
Someone's cheating a little
- Relic Entertainment - Breathing new life to RTS and their outputs on Homeworld, Dawn of War, Company of Heroes.
- (Clover) Platinum Games - Pure masters of fun and gameplay
- Konami/Kojima Productions - Metal Gear man. Even he says it all the time, Kojima can't let it go.
- id Software - FPS from Doom to the Quake series, they're not relevant now, but they opened the gateway to 3d shooters.
- Looking Glass Studios - For Thief 1 and 2 and System Shock 2.
- Capcom - For staying this long, even when they stumble, I still enjoy their games.
- Black Isle/Interplay Entertainment/Old Bioware - Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale series
- Naughty Dog, From Software, SEGA's Valkyria Chronicles team, Valve, Persona Team, Microprose
SOME-MIST
Member
anticipatory top developer of all time?
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
EAD
Squaresoft
Capcom
Naughty Dog
R*
Squaresoft
Capcom
Naughty Dog
R*
1. Nintendo - nothing comes close to the high quality that consistently comes out of Mario's house. No other developer have made as many great games as them.
2. Sega - MIght be a shell of its former self, but in its day they were almost at the same level as Nintendo, and while Nintendo always relies on a few franchises, Sega was more willing to introduce new IP's and even went the whole Saturn-gen without a proper Sonic-game. Not always the smartest choices buisness-vice, but definitely made for a ton of awesome games.
3. Konami - I think they were actually better than Nintendo during the Nes-era, and they were also awesome during the 16-bit era and untill the 32-bit era. Lost it a bit on the PS2, and now seems like just a MGS-machine unfortunately. I wish someone would bring them back
4. Capcom - Had some good games for the Nes, but went to another level on the 16-bit where they were only behind Nintendo and Sega imo. Managed time and time again to expand its focus by introducing new stuff like Resident Evil, DMC, Ace Attorney, Onimusha, Okami and much more, and are still doing lots of interesting stuff even though it seems to have been a bit homogenized this gen along with everything else.
5. Paradox Interactive - Gets this spot because they are the only developer left producing strategy games. In an era where all the spotlight is on the newest and "freshest" shooter by the name Titanfall, Killzone or Destiny, they still make niche-games for enthusiast gamers in the long-forgotten strategy-genre - and I adore them for it. There games are also of extremely high quality, only hindered by their unwillingness to dumb them down to make them more mainstream - which is exactly why they are so loved by gamers like myself.
2. Sega - MIght be a shell of its former self, but in its day they were almost at the same level as Nintendo, and while Nintendo always relies on a few franchises, Sega was more willing to introduce new IP's and even went the whole Saturn-gen without a proper Sonic-game. Not always the smartest choices buisness-vice, but definitely made for a ton of awesome games.
3. Konami - I think they were actually better than Nintendo during the Nes-era, and they were also awesome during the 16-bit era and untill the 32-bit era. Lost it a bit on the PS2, and now seems like just a MGS-machine unfortunately. I wish someone would bring them back
4. Capcom - Had some good games for the Nes, but went to another level on the 16-bit where they were only behind Nintendo and Sega imo. Managed time and time again to expand its focus by introducing new stuff like Resident Evil, DMC, Ace Attorney, Onimusha, Okami and much more, and are still doing lots of interesting stuff even though it seems to have been a bit homogenized this gen along with everything else.
5. Paradox Interactive - Gets this spot because they are the only developer left producing strategy games. In an era where all the spotlight is on the newest and "freshest" shooter by the name Titanfall, Killzone or Destiny, they still make niche-games for enthusiast gamers in the long-forgotten strategy-genre - and I adore them for it. There games are also of extremely high quality, only hindered by their unwillingness to dumb them down to make them more mainstream - which is exactly why they are so loved by gamers like myself.
- Naughty Dog (responsible for some of my favorite Sony franchises and two of my favorite games of this generation)
- Nintendo EAD (I don't think I really need to explain this one, they've made countless classics)
- Kojima Productions (MGS is my favorite franchise, this has to be on the list)
Intelligent Systems (created some of the best Nintendo games of the past few generations - WarioWare, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Paper Mario)
- Blizzard (their RTS games are always fantastic - yes even SC2, and I was hopelessly addicted for WoW for much too long for them not to get a spot on this list)
- Nintendo EAD (I don't think I really need to explain this one, they've made countless classics)
- Kojima Productions (MGS is my favorite franchise, this has to be on the list)
Intelligent Systems (created some of the best Nintendo games of the past few generations - WarioWare, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Paper Mario)
- Blizzard (their RTS games are always fantastic - yes even SC2, and I was hopelessly addicted for WoW for much too long for them not to get a spot on this list)
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
- Platinum Games - Bayonetta and Vanquish are amazing games and I quite enjoy Metal Gear Rising as well. I very much appreciate their work.
- Intelligent Systems - I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan and with Wario Ware included I look forward to their work.
- Team Ico - Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are unlike anything else in the market. Release the Last Guardian already!
- Square - Even if their newer work isn't as good, older Final Fantasy games and Chrono Trigger are still fantastic.
- Nintendo EAD - Incredible pedigree of titles including Ocarina of Time.
My list from most influential in my gaming life:
1. Nintendo- Half of my greatest game of all time list consist of their games.
2. Squaresoft- Got me into JRPGs. Never looked back.
3. Blizzard- Made a game I played for 6 years and loved.
4 Bioware- This is almost solely because of Knight of the Old Republic.
5. Sony- I don't want to pick just one of Sony's amazing studios so I will include them all here.
1. Nintendo- Half of my greatest game of all time list consist of their games.
2. Squaresoft- Got me into JRPGs. Never looked back.
3. Blizzard- Made a game I played for 6 years and loved.
4 Bioware- This is almost solely because of Knight of the Old Republic.
5. Sony- I don't want to pick just one of Sony's amazing studios so I will include them all here.
H_Prestige
Banned
Nintendo
Squaresoft
From Software
Squaresoft
From Software
*SEGA / AM2 and other internal studios, they really were fantasic as an Arcade developer.
*Masaya a little known entity in the west but they were shit hot during the 16 / 32 bit era. Langrisser, Growlancer, Gynoug, Cho Aniki, Assault Suit Leynos 2, Gleylancer.
*Bitmap Bros, One of the few western dev houses on par with the Japanese for great gameplay. Like much of UK's greatest studios and talent that grew from the bedroom programming days on 8bit home computers, it was gutted by souless AAA publishers.
*Treasure, Great 2D / 3D shooters, the king of the boss fight.
*Taito, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, New Zealand Story, Rayforce.
*CAVE Co Ltd, they just own the shmup world, but they do sometimes venture out into other genres. Great twitch gameplay and unique score systems. I love their signature artstyle. CAVE's advanced use of colour is like no one else. and how they fill the screen with numbers and coins when scoring big feels very rewarding like I've won the jackpot on a gambling machine.
*Clover / Platinum, They know action games, nuff said.
*Altus love their JRPGs, although as a PAL gamer I have a love hate relationship with them.
*Sting, I goddam love their SRPG's like Knights in the Knightmare.
Shame most modern gamers have such a shit taste in games and wouldn't know a quality game even if it hit them in the face. Because most folk will only pay $60 for a shiny WRPG / FPS, with other genres limited to $10 bargin bins.
*Masaya a little known entity in the west but they were shit hot during the 16 / 32 bit era. Langrisser, Growlancer, Gynoug, Cho Aniki, Assault Suit Leynos 2, Gleylancer.
*Bitmap Bros, One of the few western dev houses on par with the Japanese for great gameplay. Like much of UK's greatest studios and talent that grew from the bedroom programming days on 8bit home computers, it was gutted by souless AAA publishers.
*Treasure, Great 2D / 3D shooters, the king of the boss fight.
*Taito, Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, New Zealand Story, Rayforce.
*CAVE Co Ltd, they just own the shmup world, but they do sometimes venture out into other genres. Great twitch gameplay and unique score systems. I love their signature artstyle. CAVE's advanced use of colour is like no one else. and how they fill the screen with numbers and coins when scoring big feels very rewarding like I've won the jackpot on a gambling machine.
*Clover / Platinum, They know action games, nuff said.
*Altus love their JRPGs, although as a PAL gamer I have a love hate relationship with them.
*Sting, I goddam love their SRPG's like Knights in the Knightmare.
Shame most modern gamers have such a shit taste in games and wouldn't know a quality game even if it hit them in the face. Because most folk will only pay $60 for a shiny WRPG / FPS, with other genres limited to $10 bargin bins.