Developer Retrospective: Sunsoft
Welcome to another developer retrospective! This time, I’ll be taking a look at one of the giants of the NES era that hasn’t been heard from in a while: Sunsoft!
Like many of gaming’s oldest developers, Sunsoft got their start in the arcades. Still using the parent company name of Sun Electronics Corporation, their first official release was 1978’s breakout-style game Block Challenger, along with several other arcade games such as Arabian, Ikki, and Kangaroo. I don’t have much experience with their arcade output, but where they really shined was on the NES, though much of their output came several years into the system’s life. Initially, they focused on Japan-only ports of their arcade games with the likes of Super Arabian and Route 16 Turbo. These must have made an impact, because Sun would be trusted with the NES’s Sega arcade ports for Fantasy Zone and After Burner, along with Midway’s Spy Hunter, quickly distinguishing themselves as one of the NES’s top game developers.
One of Sunsoft’s Most well known NES games from their early days: Spy Hunter
Not content to simply bring the best of arcades to home console, Sunsoft, using the more familiar logo and name while still operating as a subsidiary of Sun Electronics, turned their attention to creating original games for the Famicom/NES. The first of these is a Japan-only command-based adventure game called Ripple Island, which had only limited popularity but became something of a cult classic, with copies of the game and its tie in manga being sought after by collectors for a time. It’s interesting that they tried such a genre for their first original NES game, and shows the kind of originality and willingness to branch out that is so important for the industry to have, even if the game didn’t become a hit. Ripple Island would be followed by a couple of disk system games and the Zapper game Freedom Force, before what I consider to be Sunsoft’s breakout hit: 1988’s Blaster Master.
Blaster master also had remarkable Boss design for an 8-bit game
Blaster master (jp title Super Planetary War Chronicle: Metafight) seems like an ambitious title even today. It combines 2-D platforming in a vehicle that can be exited at any time (the tank can jump!), a non-linear metroid-style map, and top-down on-foot “dungeons”. The goal, as stated by art designer Yoshiaki Iwata, z’we wanted to bring to life a sense of action that incorporated all 360°of the environment in a way that players hadn’t really experienced up to that point. Along with that, we wanted large, expansive maps so that we could support that vision.” (source). He does even cite Nintendo’s Metroid as something they saw as a competitor.
Like any NES games I write about, I discovered Blaster Master long after its original release. While the game is beloved even today, the NES original is perhaps not the best version. The game pushed the limits of the console, and sprite flicker can be particularly frequent and jarring in some sections. It also has neither save points nor passwords, meaning the entire game will have to be played through without shutting the system off. The later re-releases, especially the excellent re-make Blaster Master Zero, are the best way to play it now, and how I completed my full playthrough. Even then, there are some old-school elements modern players may find off-putting, such as how your weapon powers down as you take damage in the top-down sections.
Sugoi Hebereke is available on the Japanese version of the NSO app
Blaster Master would go on to be SunSoft’s most enduring franchise, with future installments on the Genesis, Gameboy Color, and Playstation, though the later games never truly took off and failed to really improve on the original in a substantial way. There was even a bomberman spinoff on the gameboy (Blaster Master Boy) re-branded into a part of the Blaster Master series in a Super Mario Bros. USA sort of fashion. In the meantime, Sunsoft kept producing some of the NES’s best licensed properties such as Batman, as well as the more infamous Fester’s Quest. At the close of the NES era Sunsoft would create a new series, Hebereke, which is unfortunately very unfamiliar outside Japan. Hebe would actually go on to be used as a company mascot in Japan, while only 3 of the 9 games making up the series released in Europe and Australia, with none of them making it to America. Each game features the same cast of quirky characters but plays differently from the last, with the series running a variety of genres from puzzles to adventure games to even 4-player SNES arena free-for-all fighting game. Hebe would even appear in Barcode world, which Sunsoft themsevles published. Also on the NES is the excellent Journey to Silius, originally intended as a Terminator game, which features one of the most underrated NES soundtracks.
Sunsoft kept busy in their output on the SNES, Genesis, and Gameboy. Aside from the previously mentioned follow-ups to Hebereke and Blaster Master, they also continued to produce many games based on licensed properties, in particular keeping a very good relationship with Warner Brothers, as they were responsible for many of the games based on DC superheroes and Looney Tunes franchises in this era, such as the underrated Looney Tunes B-ball. On the original front, they attempted to answer Sonic the Hedgehog with their own animal with attitude in Aero the Acrobat, who became the new company mascot, and followed him up with the similar Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. Yet once again, while Aero the Acrobat was competently done, he ultimately didn’t catch on the way they might have hoped, with a planned TV show ultimately being cancelled and no attempts made to bring the character forward into the playstation and N64 era.
New logo featuring Aero
Chameleon Twist features unique tongue controls that even Yoshi can’t imitate
As the 16 bit era came to an end, Sunsoft made several arcade fighting games for the Neogeo (Waku Waku 7, Galaxy Fight), again trying to capitalize on the latest craze in search of that big hit, like with Aero the Acrobat.They also published one of the N64’s hidden gems: Chameleon Twist, along with an average-ish tactics rpg Eternal Eyes on the playstation, which I have fond memories of all the same. Chameleon Twist is one of those games I can’t wholeheartedly recommend, as it has plenty of issues, but it’s a platformer game with unique controls where the chameleon characters use their tongues to pivot around posts, so it’s worth checking out for the originality of its concept. Perhaps I latched onto it because I always wanted to ride yoshi in Super Mario 64. Though not particularly well received, Chameleon twist got a sequel on the N64 shortly after, this time with the character’s heads actually looking like chameleons instead of simple spheres.
Sunsoft more or less disappeared by the time of the Playstation 2 and gamecube, presumably cutting staff as their output for the 64 and playstation was much lighter than the previous era. Despite appearances from how their games had been doing, Sun corporation of America restructured in the face of bankruptcy in 1995. According to former producer at Sunsoft Rene Boutin, this was due to the company losing millions in a bad golf course investment. Without producing the massive hit the company never quite seemed to land, Sunsoft would wind down console game development and shift most of their focus to mobile and Pachinko games, putting them in a similar situation as Konami is today.
Sunsoft was also responsible for publishing and porting a number of games that might have stayed in Japan if not for them. This even includes Square’s SaGa games, released under the name of Final Fantasy Legend and Success’s Panorama Cotton. They were also responsible for the SNES and Genesis ports of Lemmings. This tradition even continued as they broke a long period of inactivity to support the Wii virtual console with not only their own back-catalogue, but Human Entertainment’s Clock-Tower, saving the franchise from being forgotten after Human Entertainment declared bankruptcy in 2000. This makes them something of an unsung hero of game development, all the more so because their original series never quite caught on the way something like Mega Man or Dragon Quest did. Today, Sunsoft still exists, but their game releases are limited to re-releasing retro content from the past, with even the remake of Blaster Master being given to Inti Creates to develop. It is unlikely Sunsoft will return to its former glory, as most of the talent that made those games in the past have moved on, “none of those people are working together anymore since they've all separated from Sunsoft [over the years]". says Iwata. They may not have been a giant on quite the level of Capcom or Konami, but Sunsoft had a big part in the golden age of 8-bit and 16-bit games, and showed a remarkable aptitude for innovation that I think was underappreciated at the time. They may not have been the vanguard, but the golden age of retro gaming would not have been the same without them.
