Technosoft staff worked on Gate of Thunder

[sunteam_paul]

I'm reading through The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers vol 3 and during an interview with Yuichi Toyama (programmer at Technosoft, Compile and Raizing) he mentions:

The main staff probably all quit Technosoft by 1991, and after that I know they worked on Gate of Thunder and Lords of Thunder. However, as I said before, the main planner / programmer doesn't want to give out his name or contact details.

TF3 was released in 1990, Devil Crash (MD) in 1991 (Compile made Devil Crash on PCE). So by the time a bunch of existing staff left, they went on to work on Gate of Thunder. So that negates criticism that Gate is just a TF3 rip-off. It's more a spiritual sequel by the same staff.

It's a shame that some of the Japanese developers are still wary about giving out information or talking about their past work. I'd love to hear about the design process behind Gate and Lords.



I've always wondered what Technosoft could have achieved if they worked on the PC Engine. I guess now we know.

[truxtontradchampno1]

That makes so much sense now! I knew the similarities between GoT and TFIII wasn't just a coincidence....

[bigusschmuck]

Makes me want to play both of those games now. lol

[Deleted]

While the author of the book could have been someone else entirely, those are still a goldmine.

Thanks for sharing.

[ultrahealthy]

Fascinating, and not surprising. I liked Gate of Thunder but I felt it was one of those things where it's a little too easy on normal mode, way too hard on hard mode. Lords of Thunder I'll always keep dear though.

[spenoza]

Sounds like vol. 3 might be a better book than 1 and 2. I wrote some detailed reviews of those volumes over at Racketboy and wow, the author wasn't doing much to win me over with those.

[Black_Tiger]

There's a thread or two about it on pcefx.

It's difficult to figure out who actually worked on games during the 16-bit era, because publishers still tried to get people to use nicknames or not credit them at all... or often the credits are not accurate and a conpany like Tose actually did all of the real work.

[Shadow]

Sucked in The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers last weekend, was very interessting to hear that. wow what a time that must have been.

[_jash]

That is all sorts of freak'n amazing. Comically, I've never really spent much time with TF3 on the Gens. I should spend some more time with it when I get a chance.

[sunteam_paul]

Apr 17, 2018 20:28:09 GMT _jash said:

That is all sorts of freak'n amazing. Comically, I've never really spent much time with TF3 on the Gens. I should spend some more time with it when I get a chance.

It's worth it for the music alone.

[nando]

Apr 16, 2018 17:39:42 GMT spenoza said:

Sounds like vol. 3 might be a better book than 1 and 2. I wrote some detailed reviews of those volumes over at Racketboy and wow, the author wasn't doing much to win me over with those.

Would you mind linking to the articles? I was considering buying the books.

[nando]

Apr 15, 2018 9:02:23 GMT sunteam_paul said:

It's a shame that some of the Japanese developers are still wary about giving out information or talking about their past work. I'd love to hear about the design process behind Gate and Lords.



I've always wondered what Technosoft could have achieved if they worked on the PC Engine. I guess now we know.

I’d love to have a book that goes into the design process of the artist and programmers of that era. The ideation of games and characters as well as concept art. Kinda like what we have now.

[spenoza]

Apr 23, 2018 4:48:26 GMT nando said:

Apr 16, 2018 17:39:42 GMT spenoza said:

Sounds like vol. 3 might be a better book than 1 and 2. I wrote some detailed reviews of those volumes over at Racketboy and wow, the author wasn't doing much to win me over with those.

Would you mind linking to the articles? I was considering buying the books.

If you have Amazon Prime, the first 2 volumes can be read for free, I believe. My reviews are on Amazon as well. I gave the books their lowest scores.

But here are the links to the reviews I wrote, same text, at Racketboy:

Vol 1
www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=51397#p1101765

Vol 2
www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=51587#p1108856

[nando]

Apr 23, 2018 14:22:28 GMT spenoza said:

Apr 23, 2018 4:48:26 GMT nando said:

Would you mind linking to the articles? I was considering buying the books.

If you have Amazon Prime, the first 2 volumes can be read for free, I believe. My reviews are on Amazon as well. I gave the books their lowest scores.

But here are the links to the reviews I wrote, same text, at Racketboy:

Vol 1
www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=51397#p1101765

Vol 2
www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=51587#p1108856

Yeah crappy writing and editing get on my nerves. I wouldn’t finish it. Too bad though, seems like there are a few good gems.

I saw the guy started another book Kickstarter. This one has big pics and it’s in color.

[EmperorIng]

I thought I had heard somewhere that Technosoft staff had worked on Gate of Thunder; this interview must be it - or some derivative of it.

If you read this interview with Technosoft programmer Naosuke Arai, you'll note that he mentions that many of the staff who worked on Thunderforce III (and Thunder Force II, Elemental Master, and Herzog Zwei) left with a new team taking over for Devil's Crush MD and Thunder Force IV (talk about a rookie team knocking it out of the park!).

One wonders why, but this was probably around the start of the recession in Japan (right?) so they probably looked for lucrative contracts like making a game for Hudson/Red. Makes me wonder if they went ahead and did anything beyond Gate and Wind. Funnily, looking at the heavy-metal fantasy rocker that is Elemental Master, Winds of Thunder fits somewhat well into the "canon."

Gate is definitely one of the best for the system, even if I like Thunder Force III and its weapons more. On its difficulty (or perhaps lack thereof, on Normal), it at least carries on the Technosoft tradition of giving you lots of fire-power to effortlessly crush through endless waves of opposition in a satisfying way. Though it is a smidgen harder than TF3, which I once described as a game where you "cruise till they lose", but with nothing on TF4, which is a real balls-to-the-wall adventure (look to that upcoming Switch port/remaster by M2, folks!).

One day I need to sit down and burn a copy of Winds and play it more than a passing curiosity.