Technos Japan Corp.

Overview

Technōs Japan Corporation was a Japanese developer of beat-em-ups and sports game during the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded in 1981 in a one-room apartment, by former employees of Data East. Technōs is most well known for the Double Dragon and Kunio-kun franchises, as well as the signature character design found in all of their titles. Technōs Japan also owned an American subsidiary, known as American Technōs Inc.

History

After the initial foundation of Technōs Japan, the three man team released their first arcade game in 1982. Titled Minky Monkey, like many of Technōs's early titles, it was not self-published. One of their first real successes came with Renegade, known as Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun in Japan; the first game in the Kunio-kun series. This also marked the first time that Technōs would release a game on a home console, with the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Renegade.

In 1987 came one of Technōs's biggest hits of their entire lifespan: Double Dragon. Double Dragon told the story of Billy and Jimmy Lee, and their quest to save Marian. The game was a huge success, ported to numerous platforms and producing multiple sequels. Kunio-kun was also a runaway success, but limited to Japan. By the end of the 1980s, Kunio (the star of the series) was the figurehead of multiple games, including sports titles, beat-em-ups, and more.

In 1996, the company went bankrupt. The company's final game was Super Dodge Ball, a 1995 Neo Geo version of their original Super Dodge Ball game. After Technōs's closure, many of the intellectual properties were purchased by Million, a company which has since continued many of their well-known franchises, producing games such as Super Dodge Ball Advance and Double Dragon Advance.

American Technōs

American Technōs was founded in 1987 after the release of Double Dragon. They published titles in North America, while Technōs games were published by other companies in Japan. American Technōs published the following titles.

• Double Dragon II: The Revenge (Arcade, 1988)
• U.S. Championship V'Ball (Arcade, 1988)
• WWF Superstars (Arcade, 1989)
• Block Out (Arcade, 1989)
• Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone (Arcade, 1990)
• River City Ransom (NES, 1990)
• Mat Mania Challenge (Atari 7800, 1990)
• WWF Wrestlefest (Arcade, 1991)
• Action Masters (Amiga, 1992)
• Crash 'N the Boys: Street Challenge (NES, 1992)
• Super Bowling (SNES, 1992)
• Shadow Force (Arcade, 1993)
• The Combatribes (SNES, 1993)
• Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer (Neo Geo, 1995)
• Geom Cube (PlayStation, 1995)
• Strike Point (PlayStation, 1996)