What game companies do you miss?

[vgmaster]

There are many great gaming companies that aren't around anymore who put out tons of great games. I miss ones such as Sierra, cause while growing up, we played a ton of their games, especially from their developer Dynamix. Also, companies like Atari Games (not that Atari that we know today) and Midway, who put out tons of awesome arcade games. I also miss Interplay, I didn't play too many of their games, but they've put out alot of games that tons of other people enjoyed.

What game publishers and developers do you miss?

[Emmett L. Brown]

Psygnosis. They made so incredibly many imaginative games, daring to experiment with genres and trying to make fresh experiences.

While they're still around today, I've got a nasty feeling I'm going to miss Bioware in the future. EA's corruption is getting more noticable with each new game they make.

[Swiss]

Rare, because they don't exist anymore. Pretty much every single game they made was nigh-on perfect.

Though I hear there's some new shovelware company who go by the same name these days.

[Cortez]

in b4 sonic team

Nah but seriously I miss No Cliché, their main title Toy Commander (which many of you may have played on a Dreamcast demo disk) is a really charming title and has one of the saddest endings in a video game because it goes out of it's way to remind you that your childhood is over... Gameplay is kinda dated by today's standards but still an absolute blast to play, especially in multiplayer, plus there's a sneaky little Sonic cameo in there as well ;D

Also Akklaim, just because they owned the rights to Fur Fighters and now they've gone bust there will never be a sequel or HD port GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Solkia]

Wisdom Tree.

*trollface*

[Koopalmier]

Mindscape.

Nah, kidding. I'm glad they're gone, if anything.

[Nintendoga]

Well since somebody already mentioned Rare-Ware,

Amusement Vision is one, made some fun puzzle games,

SquareSoft, though still around, I found their old games to be timeless compared to the ones made by Square-Enix of today.

[KHCast]

Squaresoft. They were super with their games. They didn't try to be a money caring company. They took time and thought into their stuff. Square Enix.....Not so much.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Hedgehogs Boost

[Emmett L. Brown]

Ooh, and Factor 5.

Cuz they made Turrican.

...which I was fond of.

[Diogenes]

I'm not and have never been an especially big fan of Rare in general, but I did like the Banjo games (well...mostly the first one...Tooie less so, though it's certainly not terrible...and N&B is okay even though it isn't really the Banjo I wanted), so it's kind of a shame it and they are pretty much dead.

[-Robin-]

Whoopee Camp.

Such a shame a Tomba! 3 will never come to be.

[VO.SUPER]

Does anyone remember Sierra, or their games? I miss the days when they were the only company who made Adventure games amusing on all fronts. Granted, I loved the old LucasArts, but there was an amusing thing about Sierra's tendency to shoved as many deathtraps into their games as possible.

[Sean]

This is only a partial example because they're still around, but I really loved Game Freak's non-Pokémon games, and it's a shame they don't make any anymore, because stuff like Drill Dozer and Pulseman were fantastic. A new project would certainly breathe more life into the company; I can't help but wonder how many employees are tired of making the same game over and over.

[JezMM]

I do indeed remember Sierra but I wasn't a huge fan. They are an important part of my childhood for three PC games:

Shivers - A first person point n click horror puzzle game. Both terrifying and balls hard to me as a kid. Never finished it (in fact even the very first puzzle I couldn't do, but my older brother managed to get somewhat into it - 2 or 3 out of the 8 or so artifacts you have to collect to finish). Wanted to go back and try again as an adult but my disc is busted so it doesn't install. =C

T.I.M. The Incredible Machine - A little 2D puzzle game where you had to complete rube-goldberg-esque devices to achieve a goal with parts given. Obviously there was also the ability to make your own from scratch. I only had the demo (it came with Shivers) but still had hours of fun with its limited content.

3D Ultra Pinball - Really great game but also super hard... This one does still work on my old PC, but even as an adult I never finished it. Could complete the first of the three levels in the "full" mode where you have to build a spaceport to launch a rocket, but that didn't really mean anything as you had to go back and forth between the three tables. Great game, fantastic music too for a midi-era PC game.

...So yeah that was just me being nostalgic sorry. Wanted to know if anyone else heard of these games.

I also miss Rare, even though I do think a lot of their games were unfairly hard or complex. Would have loved a remake of Jet Force Gemini which toned the difficulty down and made the "ah that must be an optional challenge" stuff actual optional challenges rather than "ha tricked you, all the effort you put into those was wasted since you have to go back and do them in these new areas to finish the game anyway". Rare's games could be very flawed, but when they weren't they were very very good.

I also miss Bullfrog. I know they're still around (mostly as Lionhead though they seem to be going a bit Rare on the Fable fans too) but... I guess I'm still bitter about the fact that I never got my dream of them releasing "Theme School". Theme Park and Theme Hospital were fantastic. I know those other guys made School Tycoon but Bullfrog were UKians and I wanted a game that encompassed all points of british school (so first level would be a village nursery playgroup, last level would be managing a huge University like Oxford and Cambridge).

I sort of rambled nostalgic there from my kid's perspective of the gaming world, so hopefully that was all still vaguely on subject lol.

Amusement Vision are gone though? Didn't know. =C Though doesn't surprise me considering how the Monkey Ball series has changed since the original two.

[Abominal SnowTaz]

14 posts in and nobody mentioned LJN? I loved those guys!

Nah..Just kidding. I miss Atari. They made the Dragonball Z games on GBA and they were awesome. Then the portable DBZ games lost their touch and well...sigh...I want my childhood back.

[Unknownlight]

Hmm... Clover Studios.

You know, the team that made Viewtiful Joe and Okami.

The closing of that studio was a sad day in gaming.

[SuperStingray]

These guys were THE SHIT during my childhood.

[JezMM]

^ I recognise them but nothing more. What games are those? o_o

[novelty]

^ I recognise them but nothing more. What games are those? o_o

DUDE? ITS FRICKING PUTT-PUTT and FREDDY FISH!!!!!!

Those games defined a generation, used to remember going to my cousins house to play them.

Edited March 19, 2012 by novelty

[Unknownlight]

Oh my GOD! Oh my GOD! I've been trying to figure out the name of that game I played when I was six-ish for forever (well, not actively trying to figure it out, but it was like a mystery that's been in the back of my head for a long time, even though I thought I'd never be able to find out what the name of the game was).

Now I know! It was Freddi Fish and the Case of the Stolen Conch Shell.

Thank you novelty for finally solving that for me! THANK YOU!

[Solkia]

Oh my GOD! Oh my GOD! I've been trying to figure out the name of that game I played when I was six-ish for forever (well, not actively trying to figure it out, but it was like a mystery that's been in the back of my head for a long time, even though I thought I'd never be able to find out what the name of the game was).

Now I know! It was Freddi Fish and the Case of the Stolen Conch Shell.

Thank you novelty for finally solving that for me! THANK YOU!

Humongous Entertainment

I think they're still around actually. There's a Freddi the Fish game for Wii iirc.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Solkia

[Milo]

Rare, because they don't exist anymore. Pretty much every single game they made was nigh-on perfect.

Though I hear there's some new shovelware company who go by the same name these days.

∞ x this. I still have no idea where my copy of GE 007 is.....and I still wish I had my own copy of Diddy Kong Racing.

These guys were THE SHIT during my childhood.

Spy Fox and the original Backyard Baseball (Backyard Soccer too) FTW. Damn shame my CD of Backyard Baseball broke >_<

Other studios I miss...

The original Sonic Team for obvious reasons regarding gameplay and storyline. It's kinda like they never really got to move forward after Sonic Adventure 2 TBH. The Sonic games they released within 2002-2005 were for the most part made by other developers. And when they did work on what could arguably had been their first project by themselves in years (the ill-fated Sonic 06), Naka then jumped ship with most of the original crew during development. It ended up being too much to handle for the remaining team thanks to the dwindling time they had left and the pressure they were under to get it released on time.

Sonic Team USA: I remember enjoying these guy's games like Heroes, Riders, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Secret Rings despite their flaws. To be totally honest, after Sonic and the Secret Rings I haven't enjoyed any other Sonic game like that afterwards by Iizuka's Sonic Team or Dimps like I did with those games.

Hasbro Interactive - The PS1 Frogger games as well as the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.

Smilebit - If only JSRF did not end up bombing commerically, a JSR3 might had seen the light of day.... But now they're just "Sega Studios Japan," aka the Mario and Sonic crossover party game developers.

Sega Wow (Sega GT 2002)

Sega AM3 (Crazy Taxi)

Sega Technical Institude (Sonic 2, 3, &K (co-developed/created with Sonic Team), Sonic Spinball, Kid Chameleon, Comix Zone, ill-fated Sonic X-treme)

Edited March 19, 2012 by Madame Amano

[JezMM]

That's really strange, I still don't recognise those games, just the characters. They must have been on school computers or at a friends' house or something.

[SuperStingray]

Humongous Entertainment

I think they're still around actually. There's a Freddi the Fish game for Wii iirc.

They exist in name alone, unfortunately. The original team tried to buy them back in Atari in 2001, but it didn't work out, and the current Humongous team only has about 5 people from the original staff on it. Any new games by them are either Backyard Sports sequels or ports of the old point and click games. Seeing as Ron Gilbert is at Double Fine now, I'm hoping the new point and click game they're working on incorporates some of Humongous' old humor.

[Celestia]

I miss Humongous Entertainment too. Of course, Spy Fox and Pajama Sam were a lot cooler than Putt-Putt and Freddi Fish... *COUGH* But yeah, their sense of humour always amused me. The games are pretty short (assuming you know what you're doing, anyway), but I always found them entertaining.