Technōs Japan

Technos Japan Corporation is the defunct Japanese video game publisher that originated the Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio-Kun (including River City Ransom) and Double Dragon franchises. The company was also the owner of the American publishing subsidiary, "American Technos Inc." Initially operating from a single-room apartment, Technos was founded in 1981 by three former members of the now-defunct video game company, Data East, including Kunio Taki, whom the Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio-Kun franchise was named after.

File:Technos logo.gif

Logo of Technos Japan Corporation

History

Arcade-based games

Nekketsu koukou dodgeball bu

Technos started on the arcade business publishing puzzle games as Dommy, Eggs and Mysterious Stones. It should be noted that Technos' earliest games, such as Tag Team Wrestling, Karate Champ, and Dog Fight were published by DataEast. Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun, the first game that Technos published on its own, was marketed in the United States by Taito under the name, Renegade.

The company, however, ran into financial difficulties after the release of Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun(Nekketsu Kouha means "Hot Blooded Tough guy"). It was on the verge of bankruptcy when it began work on a sequel to Renegade, the result of which was totally unexpected. In 1987, Technos released Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu, in which Kunio kun takes part in a "dodge ball" game tournament. This title spawned a new sports series, featuring the Kunio kun character. Its financial woes, however, were far from over.

In 1987, Technos started the arcade-based Double Dragon video game franchise. After the success of its arcade games, the company was finally able to relocate from its single-room apartment to an urban plant of its own. The success of Double Dragon in the United States also gave the company more confidence in the Western video game market, leading to the formation of its subsidiary, "American Technos", in the United States.

Double Dragon II was more of a reworked version, rather than a new game. At that time, Technos was too preoccupied with several other arcade games, among which were China Gate, V'Ball and WWF Superstars. After the marvellous success of Double Dragon, the new games seemed insipid, and Technos decided to suspend further development.

NES ports

In 1988, Technos turned its attention to the NES (Nintendo) console, which had become very popular at that time. Its first three titles were ports of Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun (Renegade) Double Dragon and Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu (Super Dodge Ball). All three games contained considerable differences from their arcade counterparts.

After Double Dragon, Technos developed its third game in the Kunio-kun series, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (River City Ransom in USA). Although the game was quite popular in Japan, it passed unnoticed in the United States. The game gained popularity only several years after, and acquired a cult following. Concurrently, Technos ported V'Ball on the NES. Initially named U.S. Championship V'Ball, it changed its title to Super Spike V'Ball when it was released in the United States in 1990. The game was published by Nintendo.

In 1989, Technos released Double Dragon II for the NES. It was a completely reworked version of the arcade version, featuring new plot, stages, graphics and music.

When success seemed to fade, Technos decided to return to the arcade market with a Double Dragon sequel. As the original team was preoccupied with the Combatribes title, a whole new team had to be brought in, and this predetermined the game's fate. Despite good graphics, Double Dragon III fared much worse than the previous two games.

Combatribes did not succeed either. It was ported to the Super NES in 1992, but did not become a hit despite good graphics and playability. After the double failure, Technos left the arcade market and returned to consoles once again.

Kunio kun series

File:Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu Soccer hen.jpg

Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu Soccer hen

Work on the Kunio kun series continued. Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu Soccer hen (known as Nintendo World Cup in USA) was released in 1990. Downtown Special - Kunio Kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugou!, created by the original team that developed the Kunio kun series, became the second most popular Technos title in Japan, after Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun itself. The game is about a samurai in medieval Japan. Downtown Nekketsu Koushin Kyoku Soreyuke Dai Undoukai featured Kunio kun in a sports game that had no regulations.

In 1991, American Technos published a game from a small company, California Dreams, named Block out. The arcade version did not attract much attention, although the idea of 3-D Tetris was quite original. The NES version, although completed with box design, was not released as a result.

One of the most appreciated games among Technos fans was Ike Ike! Nekketsu Hockey bu Subette Koronde Dai Rantou — ice hockey without regulations. American Technos planned to release it as Crash 'n the Boy's Ice Challenge in the United States, but cancelled the release at the last moment.

Then came a strange game, Surprise Nekketsu New Record Gold Medal Champions — Olympic Games without regulations. In USA, it was named, Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge.

File:Nekketsu! Street Basket Ganbare Dunk Heroes.jpg

Nekketsu! Street Basket - Ganbare Dunk Heroes

Six months later, Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu was released in Japan. It was a 2 x 2 fighting game, and had many interesting features such as the creation of a custom character, and many super blows and moves. It was widely accepted as the best game in the Kunio kun series.

Later, two more games in the Kunio kun series were released on NES. Kunio kun no Nekketsu Soccer League is an enhanced version of Nintendo World Cup. The English version, tentatively named Crash 'n the Boy's Soccer Challenge, was planned, but was not produced. Nekketsu! Street Basket — Ganbare Dunk Heroes ranked high among the console basketball simulations.

There were in all, eleven sport games in the Kunio kun series, and fifteen games released on NES by Technos.

New platforms

File:Kunio kun no Oden.jpg

Kunio kun no Oden

Technos had anticipated the SNES (Super Nintendo) market, and was ready for it. In 1992, it released Combatribes and Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun, an official sequel to Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun. The sequel combined the RPG elements of River City Ransom with the fighting of Double Dragon.

Technos settled on other platforms too. Many of its old games were ported to the Mega Drive, and PC Engine (Turbo Grafx 16). Among the best for the Mega Drive was High School Soccer Kunio Kun, a reworked version of Nintendo World Cup. Return of Double Dragon became a SNES classic. The English version was released by Tradewest as Super Double Dragon. Kunio kun no Dodgeball, a sports game for four players, was released on SNES in 1993. Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari Yakyuu De Shoubu Da!, a baseball simulator, originally aimed at NES, was released on SNES two months later. It was not successful, however.

Next came Shin Nekketsu Kouha Kunio tachi no Bannka, beat-em-up from the people who worked on Double Dragon, which was released only in Japan. Kunio kun no Oden was a computer puzzle game in Puyo Puyo style, featuring the Kunio kun series characters. It was an experiment for Technos.

During the period in which the SNES games were developed, Technos released several insignificant arcade games. The only interesting game among them was WWF WrestleFest. The game was quite popular, and American Technos even held a WWF WrestleFest contest, offering the arcade machine with the game as the first prize.

Foreseeing the demise of SNES, Technos searched for new platforms. In 1994, they ported Block Out on the new PlayStation console, renaming it Geom Cube. Later, Technos made games for the then popular Neo Geo, the first of which was a 1x1 fighting game based on the 1993 Double Dragon movie, featuring characters and excerpts from the movie. The game was quite good, but was not distinctive among others of the same genre.

Later works

File:Super Dodge Ball (Neo-Geo).jpg

Super Dodge Ball for Neo Geo

The next game for Neo Geo was Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, an anime style 1x1 fighting game that turned out to be quite unpopular as well. Then came Super Dodge Ball, a completely reworked game, with a new look. It was the most expensive of all Technos games, and it featured digitalized voice. Kunio kun's voice was by Horikawa Ryo, the same actor who voiced over for Vegeta in the Dragon Ball Z game. Super Dodge Ball had excellent graphics, carefully drawn movements, and splendid music composed by Kazunaka Yamane, who also composed the music for the first two Double Dragon games.

The sun finally set on Technos because the Neo-Geo versions of Double Dragon and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer did not do well in the arcades. The Neo Geo version of Super Dodgeball was the last game from the company. In 1996, Technos filed for bankruptcy, and went defunct.

Aftermath

A sequel to V'Ball, V'Ball: Beach Volley Heroes, was released for the PlayStation by Funsoft in 1998. While the game bears the Technos name and appears to be Japanese in origin, it was only released in Europe and European credits are listed for the music. This indicates that Funsoft may have obtained the rights to the game in an unfinished state, without music, adding their own before releasing it.

"Urban Plant", a small and relatively unknown company, ported Double Dragon (Neo Geo version) and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer to PlayStation.

American Technos published one of the first games for Playstation, "Strike Point", that was developed by a Californian company. The game was ported on PC. American Technos continued to make programs and screensavers until 1999.

Meanwhile, Kunio Taki started work at Million, a Japan shop net. A few years after the Technos bankruptcy, the company's assets were acquired by "Million Corp.", a company founded by Kunio Taki and former staff members of Technos. They have recently developed enhanced remakes of games from the defunct company, the first being 2001's Super Dodgeball Advance for Game Boy Advance, based on Super Dodge Ball. The games by Million Corporation are published by Atlus Games, Inc.

Games

In its 17 years of existence, Technos released a total of 50 games, the more popular of which are as follows:

• Tag Team Wrestling
• Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun (1986, the first game published by Technos itself) known as Renegade in USA (published by Taito)
• Xain'd Sleena (1986, also released as Soldier of Light in the UK and Solar Warrior in USA (published by Taito)
• Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu (1987)
• Double Dragon (1987)
• WWF Superstars for arcade machines and the original Game Boy
• Double Dragon II: The Revenge (1988)
• River City Ransom (aka Street Gangs) (1989)
• Super Dodge Ball (USA version of Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu, 1989, published by American Technos)
• Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone (1990)
• Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball bu Soccer hen, Nintendo World Cup in USA (1990)
• Combatribes (1991)
• Downtown Special - Kunio Kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugou! (1991)
• Downtown Nekketsu Koushin Kyoku Soreyuke Dai Undoukai (1992)
• Ike Ike! Nekketsu Hockey bu Subette Koronde Dai Rantou (1992)
• Surprise Nekketsu New Record Gold Medal Champions aka Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge (1992)
• Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu (1992)
• Super Double Dragon (1992)
• Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun (1992)
• Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Dayo Zenin Syuugou! (1993)
• Kunio-kun No Nekketsu Soccer League (1993)
• Nekketsu! Street Basket - Ganbare Dunk Heroes (1993)
• Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio Tachi no Banka (1994)
• Double Dragon for Neo-Geo (aka Double Dragon '95) (1995)
• Shadow Force for Arcade machines.

External links

• Much of the information in this article came from the webpage, Technos Japan: A Written Timeline by Linque, at Nestriforce. The site is, however, now defunct. The Russian translation may be found at EMU-Russia
• Dorando Games Translation Patches - Link to a patch for Kunio-Kun no Jidaigeki dayo Zenin Shuugou: Downtown Special to translate it into English