Favorite Game Developers

by **Thief** » Mon Sep 02, 2013 10:32 pm

There was a time, in the early 2000's, when I made an effort to buy anything by Rare. It started with Donkey Kong Country but exploded with my love for Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie. Back then I didn't really have cable or the internet so I was never sure which games were out or coming out; I just looked for that golden "R".

While I've always loved Rare, Sonic Team is by far my favorite (at least they were during the Saturn/Dreamcast/Gamecube years). Their games were goofy, slightly cheezy, incredible fun, and reeked of charm. Sonic Adventure, Phantasy Star Online, NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Samba de Amigo, Chu Chu Rocket, and Billy Hatcher!

Unfortunately, both Rare and Sonic Team got into a horrible lull in recent years, and while Rare is still doomed, Sonic Team seems to be catching a break with games like Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and hopefully the upcoming Sonic: Lost World. Now if only they could make something besides Sonic... :)

Anybody have any favorite development teams that they just Looooooooooooooove?

by **Bluecast** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:24 am

SEGA of the 80's/90's
Nintendo 80's and early 90's
Squaresoft of the 90's
Enix side of Square now for DQ.
Monolith Soft
Mistwalker
Game Arts of the 90's
Capcom of the 80's/90's
Virgil games before gong Bankrupt
Cing before going Bankrupt
Newchallengerawaits (tho I think the one guy is a total jerkface)
Wayforward-they just do an amazing job of sidescolling games..when it coems to these types of games they are the new Capcom.
Vanillaware
I miss Quintet
I miss Game Republic
Falcom of course
Xseed even if a publisher
Atlus of course
Miss Working Designs
Platinum Games..they make up for the missing Clover
SNK of the 90's
Renegade kid is growing on me
Rare in the 90's
I love Suda
Konami of the 90's
Level-5
I really liked Renovation when they published Genesis games
I like Namco of the late 90's early 00's and now I like them again
I loved Hudson Soft
I miss Midway in the arcades
I love the side of Ubi that made Rayman 2,Origins,Legends
Really liked Artoon
Retro Studios

I know there is more but this ended up massive..sorry :oops:

by **Axm** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:00 am

Naughty Dog has easily become one of my favorite developers. My favorite of this gen.
Mikami and his team were great and looks like The Evil Within will bring it back in a big way.
Sega-AM2 with Suzuki was ofcourse classic.
Square before Enix. Although I still like Square-Enix despite the hate.
Q Games who make the Pixel Junk series of games on PSN I also hold in high regard. Im friends with the CEO on Facebook and we've chatted every once in awhile. Great guy.
Bungie. Ya Halo is good stuff. Looking forward to Destiny.
Atlus is gold.
From Software is gold.
Rockstar is pretty incredible these days.
Konami is still great. Although I think they peaked with MGS3. Really looking forward to 5 though.

by **Ri_oh** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 6:48 am

AM2 for sure. Mostly when Suzuki was there. But even after his departure they have remained strong. Probably the only developer i can honestly say has never made a game i dislike (though i have yet to play VF Quest).

Am1
Team Ryu Ga Gotoku (or whatever they call themselves...)
Team Ninja (they were best with Itagaki, but are still strong since reforming)
Sumo Digital
Smilebit/Andromeda(rip)
Core Design (rip)
Rebellion
Falcom(mostly just for Ys 1-3)
Capcom(when Mikami & Inafune were making RE. But i like most of the company's dc stuff)
Platinum Games
Crazy Games/Climax Graphics(rip)
Crystal Dynamics
EA in the early 90s(rip)
New World Computing(rip)
id
Starbreeze

Sure i'm missing some, but those are the main ones i follow.

by **Henry Spencer** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:09 pm

Man, but there's so many...

Treasure for their consistently fun games that have yet to disappoint and never changing.

Platinum Games for keeping the niche Japanese action games scene alive.

Grasshopper Manufacture for making some of the most atmospheric action games and underrated adventure games to come from Japan.

Cavia for bleeding to death (and recently having a revival) and creating games that I endure through and love. They also mess around with your expectations a fair bit and design games in a different manner from the usual.

AM1 (AKA Overworks/Wow) & Team Andromeda were my favourite internal SEGA developers who never put a foot wrong by me.

Quest/Team Matsuno which created many classic strategy RPGs and hybrid RPG games that I love.

Team Silent/Team Siren for creating some of the best horror experiences found in gaming and extra kudos for Team Siren for crafting the best Vita game up until this point of time.

From Software. For stepping up where other JRPG (heck, RPG games, in general, no matter where they're from) developers were failing this gen. They fill a gap in the market and now everybody wants to imitate them. There will only ever be one From Software!

Squaresoft/Square-Enix. I've played so many games from them this generation and I've loved most of them. Not as amazing/consistent as they used to be, but they still put out some really great games now and again. I think they're on an upward slope now anyway what with FFXIV, Drakengard 3, FFXV and who knows what else on the horizon.

Atlus. Best RPG developer of all time by me. Their games have yet to disappoint. No one else makes games like Atlus does. Not just in terms of quality, but in terms of style and some of their games are gloriously stuck in the 90s/early 00s which I love.

And in their heyday; Capcom, Konami & Nintendo. The former two are on a slippery slope, the latter of the three will improve soon, I think. The three of them helped to develop my gaming in my childhood. So much nostalgia for their old games.

Other ones: Vanillaware for keeping 2D games alive; Sting for being the most underrated SRPG developer out there; Starbreeze for making some of the most interesting First Person games; Namco Bandai for developing classic arcade titles; CyberConnect for being totally awesome and cramming all of the craziness that they can into every game they make.

by **Rakim** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:44 pm

Off the top of my head:
Game Freak
Kojima Productions
EA
Cing
Level 5
Square
Rockstar

by **MiTT3NZ** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 7:38 pm

Rockstar and Ubisoft are pretty consistent, so probably them. And I'll have to throw in Rocksteady just for Arkham Aslyum n City.

by **Raithos** » Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:03 pm

Falcom, Game Arts, Team Sonic, SNK, Team Ico and NGDev Team would have to be my favorites. Squaresoft as well. I miss those days where you could pick up a Square game and you just KNEW it was going to be good.

by **Kenny** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:03 am

Old School Rare up to Conker's Bad Fur Day, which I think was the last masterpiece they ever released. Love alot of their games on the N64 but stuff like Donkey Kong Country is brilliant as well.

QuanticDream is there too. I'm always interested in the next thing they do. Despite me being disappointed in Last of Us, it still had its moments and plus the Crash games, the Jak games, and the Uncharted games make Naughty Dog an amazing dev.

Telltale Games is definitely up and coming. Walking Dead is amazing and I enjoyed Poker Night, Jurassic Park, and Back to the Future. Of course they aren't without their flaws.

by **Perfect_Chaos** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 11:09 pm

Axm wrote:
Square before Enix.

by OL » Tue Sep 10, 2013 7:31 pm

^^I'll reverse that and say Enix before Square as well. Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Actraiser, Robot Alchemic Drive, and the early Star Ocean games are all excellence.

by **Bluecast** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 7:35 pm

OL wrote: ^^I'll reverse that and say Enix before Square as well. Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Actraiser

Enix was only the publisher. Quintet developed them. Enix side is still good as DQ games been excellent.Star Ocean is Tri-Ace since the beginning.

by **Chaos** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:31 pm

Can I just be lazy and list my least favorite?

343 industries

by **AnimeGamer183** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:59 am

Holy shit its chaos.

by **Chaos** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:21 pm

wassup

i had to get my couple posts in for the year