Questions about defunct Japanese developer "Technosoft"...

Hey folks,

I good friend pointed me in the direction of the GiantBomb forums claiming that it was the kind of place where the most knowledgeable of industry fans tend to dwell. I've been developing a short animated film for the last two years whose humour and plot in largely inspired by the 16-bit era, so much that a distinct portion of the homage comes from the digi-metal soundtrack to Thunder Force IV, a Genesis title from 1991. While he's confident that a festival release of this film will not garner me any unsavory attention from a now defunct company, I'm still looking to license the music from the rights holder in the event that the show is ever picked up by a distributor.

Here's where the puzzle begins. After a morning of searching the web for clues, I still have no idea what ever happened to the rights for Thunder Force 4. If anybody has any knowledge of what happened to Technosoft, or contact information for those who may hold the rights, I would be greatly obliged.

If you'd like an artists statement about the piece, I'd be happy to share it :)

Travis Dickie

traviswd@gmail.com

I want 50,000 in cash, a 1997 blue Cadillac Seville, and your first born child.

Only then will you have the soundtrack to Thunder Force IV. My lawyers will keep in touch.

From the developer's Wikipedia page:

However, with the announcement of Thunder Force VI, the copyright for the game has been apparently turned over to one of the series' creators and may no longer apply.

I'm not sure if the copyright applies to TFIV, though. Sega is listed as the publisher on GB's wiki page, though. You might try getting in contact with them regarding the matter.

So, Wikipedia in English mentions something about a certain 21 Company holding the rights.  This 21 Company is purportedly a maker of pachinko machines, though the only actual 21 Company I could find does Japanese domain hosting.  The date given for the acquisition was 2001, so that's pretty much eons in internet time anyway.  Technosoft does have a website (in Japanese), and you could try contacting them directly.  However, it's a salient point that they might not have the rights to the older TF games, as they don't list any of them on their website, instead starting with TFV.  I think it would be best to start by contacting Sega, as they at least have offices in the US and could answer you in English.