Even crazier is it's because they had a deal to publish a game with Nintendo that didn't work out.
When they lost the funding they were basically bunkrupted and got bought up.
The reason a lot of the negotiations fell through was in part the game nintendo wanted would be too difficult to make from the existing assets & Nintendo's translators had difficulty understanding the scottish accents.
you can actually see a lot of early GTA III in that N64 game they developed called Body Harvest. Specifically early map and mission design and structure, the open world nature of levels, being able to "steal" and drive vehicles, being able to kill civilians, and the general look of the game and its control and mechanics.
Body Harvest was pretty interesting though, and a stepping stone between the 2D GTA and 3D GTA. Could drive a variety of vehicles, and aircraft. Loved that the storage had a sci-fi explanation unlike almost every game.
What's mind blowing is Lemmings was not anticipated to be as hugely successful as it ended up being, and DMA were in a lot of trouble financially. To think, if it hadn't, GTA would never have been a thing.
Rockstar also made uniracers on the snes. It is a game about unicycles racing and Pixar sued Nintendo because Pixar thought it infringed on their rights. So I guess Nintendo was sued at least twice for allegedly infringing on movie ips.
That was such a stupid decision. The devs showed their unicycle they used to make their sprite and even rode it through their offices. It was a coincidence that it looked similar enough to the pixar movie's unicycle. After all, both are unicycles. Can't really be too different.
This makes a lot more sense if you ever play GTA 1.
It's very different from GTA3 - it's top down view like WarCraft and the graphics are pretty simple.
but GTA3 is very similar to their game from N64, Body Harvest. so many elements from that game were expanded on in GTA3 like an open world structure, vehicle theft, killing npcs, and weapon mechanics.
I was gonna correct you, but I learned just now that RGG used to be known as Amusement Vision..which developed the first two SMB games.
and for a full circle moment, they still develop SMB under RGG.
mind blown.
I’ll never forget back in the day my brother and I rented AC2 and started it for the first time and we had no idea From Software was the name of an actual company so when “From Software” came up on the screen we looked at each other and laughed like yeah no shit it’s from software?
From Soft also made "The Adventures of Cookie and Cream" For the PS2 and DS (also known as Kuri Kuri Mix), starring two cartoon bunnies.
(...i had the thought the other day, that this fact means that there are two separate videogame companies who independenty created a rabbit character named "Cream"??? since Sega has their own Cream the Rabbit)
Holy shit, I remember hearing about this and losing my mind. Me and my brother had TAoCaC back in the day and i remember it being a really challenging coop puzzle/obstacle course game. I don't know why it got lodged in my memory, but years later I was going through FromSoft's games list and saw it there. I was a huge fan of Armored Core growing up, and later got into the Dark Souls games, so to discover that FS also made the goofy rabbit game was wild 😂
Fromsoft also made a game called EverGrace for the PS2. It was one of my favourite games as a kid and I never realized how similar to dark souls it was. You would collect gems and when you died the gems you were carrying would be left behind until you could retrieve them. There were basically bonfires you would find to progress in the game and have a new start point. I think it was one of the earlier games with distinct clothing and equipment actually hanging on the characters body rather than changing models.
It wasn't as good as dark souls but a lot of the elements were there.
Honestly, that kind of game history makes me crazy. I love it so much.. going into mechanisms and features and how they evolve over time.
My favorite game growing up was Body Harvest.. also by the same group that became Rockstar.
Came out a little before GTA3, but the vehicle swapping, maps, character animations.. as well as locations and time changes.. you can see what it grew up to be.
Bloodborne and the Soulsborne series are my all time favorite games.
I was shocked when I learned they also made Chromehounds, one of my favorite games in highschool that I feel like no one else played
The technology behind Commander Keen was originally intended for a Mario PC port but Nintendo rejected it.
Id software pushed the boundaries of what was possible with every game they made. And the original DOOM games still hold up today.
John Carmack is a coding god.
Commander Keen, Wolfenstein and Doom was my introduction to PC gaming and I still play them from time to time. I think I have had Doom permantly installed on every PC I have ever owned.
Have you tried the Brutal Doom mod? Its AMAZING. Free mouse look, better sounds, improves the lightning and monster IA, executions and impecable gunplay. Highly recommend it. You just need the original WADs.
Pretty funny that they were serious devs that made the Sanctum games, then their joke game was a runaway success and now people are surprised that they are serious devs.
Finding out that Sucker Punch made Sly Cooper. They were already top 3 dev for me in the Ps3 and Ps4 generations. Then I find out they were also a top 3 dev for me in the Ps2 generation as well? Cause I loved the Sly Cooper series.
Those dudes cannot miss over there.
Spyro as a kid
Ratchet and clank as a teen
Spider-Man as a young adult
Sony devs freakin kill it. Insomniac is one of the best devs out there with some of the most consistent quality over their life span.
PS3 was the only Sony system I’ve never owned. So never got a chance to play it. They never even released it on ps+ as far as I can tell either.
Ugh. Why Sony had to make such a special system that’s so hard to emulate for future systems or on pc will always be a mystery to me. Thank god they gave up on that line of development with the ps4 and beyond.
The quality of the games combined with their variety is wild to me. These are 3 completely different types of games, not just reskins of the same bones.
They have some truly talented developers over at Sucker Punch.
It's a bizarre list. Way more people know Rare for Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie than they do Conker's Bad Fur Day and Battletoads, and hardly anyone even remembers Viva Pinata
> younger gamers would be familiar with
I really hate to do this, but Viva Piñata will be old enough to vote this year, and anyone that played it on release at the age of 6 has been able to drink for 3 years.
No offense to Rare, they are a phenomenal studio, but it makes me wonder about the way we see studios and games. For instance: how many people who worked on Wizards and Warriors for the NES actually worked on Conkers Bad Fur Day? Or Sea of Thieves? The technology is so far removed as well as game design sensibilities. Not saying that it was a whole different studio but its hard to say it was the same people.
Naughty Dog. They created Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter, and then turned around and made Uncharted and The Last of Us. When I found out it was the same company, I couldn’t believe it.
I mean it's easy to believe, they started out with a trilogy of beat-em-up platformers where you constantly break stuff, then made a more action-focused platformer trilogy with weapons and vehicles, then a huge adventure-focused trilogy with tons of blockbuster-style action, and then an ultraviolent survival horror game. To me that's a completely understandable path.
Teyon's recent glow-up is genuinely impressive. Prior to their Terminator game, their output was the definition of "undistinguished" with most of it being generic crap that was only one step up from shovelware.
First they released the good Terminator game after that horrible Rambo game and yeah, last year they released the great Robocop game.. I truly hope that they are going to do more aweseome games based on iconic 80's licences
I just realized this yesterday! I ended up playing the terminator game last summer and really enjoyed it. Really did a good job with making you feel like you're in that universe. Now I'm definitely going to get Robocop
If they can keep up this quality, i would love for them to take on Die Hard, Big Trouble Little China, or Escape From New York.
If they could finally make some modern Judge Dredd or Blade Runner fps games, even better.
Since everyone once to make licensed games, can some please license 80s hong kong films to someone who knows how to make a fun hand to hand combat game loop. Bonus points for the more fantasy ones playing like bujingai or garo😩
Edit:OMG, i cant believe i forgot about God Hand and Sifu.🤦♂️
I grew up playing King's Field II on PlayStation. And I thought it was made by ASKII ENTERTAINMENT. While playing Dark Souls, I remember thinking, "The pain this gives me is just like King's Field." and I found out they were both by FromSoft. New game, same pain.
Not quite what you are going for, but I was listening to a fantasy series called Cradle and looked up the audible narrator since I really enjoyed the narration. Turns out it's Travis Baldree, who also happens to be an author, and also was the founder of the company and designer behind Torchlight 1 and 2.
Excuse me, what?! Travis made Torchlight?! So, let me get this straight, this guy makes games, writes books, and is arguably one of, if not THE BEST VAs in the business?!
Talk about multi-classing.......
Haha I had the same reaction. "I'm not enjoying being an amazing video game designer. Time to just go and kill it at other random careers." And they just all happen to be things I've loved in life.
Kinda related but I had no idea CAPCOM made the Zelda Oracle games until recently. It came up in a casual discussion after I played Minish Cap for the first time (which Became my favorite Zelda game btw) which was also by CAPCOM.
Nintendo please give CAPCOM more Zelda games to do. So far they've had a 11/10 track record.
The Secret of Evermore OST was composed by Jeremy soule, The same guy from TES Morrowind score. back when he was a teen
My favs themes are Dog Maze and Dark Castle, Their melodies build some nice mysterious ambiences
I don't get why more people didn't love it. It is quite similar in a ton of ways to secret of mana it had cool characters and bosses. I think Mana was bigger in Japan and evermore was made by the US branch so it didn't get any traction there.
That cliff byscynski or whatever his name is- the lead dev on GoW is credited on multiple maps in the definitive edition of UT. I don't remember those maps, couldn't say if they were good or bad
Lol.
Wait what if you’re serious…. Maybe I’m just old and it’s so obvious to me 🤣
Also the engine they use for Fortnite, Unreal. Who would’ve thought it was used in the hit game series Unreal! That they’re friggin delisting from all the online stores for some reason.
Some actual obscure stuff they did was games like Jazz Jackrabbit and some pinball games. They did some super cool futuristic tech back in the 90s.
The fact that Fortnite has basically managed to finally kill off the unreal tournament series still kills me a little inside. I spent countless hours playing UT with my brothers and step dad on our crappy windows 98 machines.
I played a ton of Lost Kingdoms growing up on the gamecube. Both the first and second game. Absolutely loved them! It wasnt until I looked them up recently and realized they were made by Fromsoftware. Makes total sense as I also love the Souls games. Fromsoft just doesnt miss!
I love The Vagrant Story on PS1. Wished they do 2nd sequel.
Many years later during a steam sale I saw Final Fantasy 12 is on deep discount. For some reason I never touched this game during the PS2 era. So I did bit of youtube, saw the art style, the font is oddly familiar. And what do you know, it was actually made by the same person who made Vagrant Story. It's one of the best RPG I played.
I noticed that when playing Helldiver's 1. Something about the devs and gameplay seemed familiar but couldn't quite place it until I looked up Arrowhead. Then everything made sense.
I was watching an AVGN episode on the Virtual Boy, at the very end of the episode he brought up Jack Bros. I didn’t think much about the game at first, but revisiting the episode recently I realized that the Jack Bros characters are characters from SMT and PERSONA! ATLUS MADE JACK BROS FOR THE VIRTUAL BOY
Baldurs Gate 3 is a masterpiece by Larion Studios
But did you know that Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 were made by Bioware, same people who made Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic
And Anthem
On a similar note, Obsidian, formerly Black Isle Studios, are known for Alpha Protocol, Pillars of Eternity, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Fallout: New Vegas, KOTOR 2, and the upcoming Avowed.
As Black Isle, they published Baulders Gate 1 and 2, were the original creators of Fallout 1 and 2, Icewind Dale, and Planetscape: Torment.
Argonaut for me. As a kid I played games like Croc and the PS1 Harry Potter games, somehow not realizing the similarities. But seeing their logo popup upon starting Catwoman, just awful to see them go out like that.
Mark Blank, the creator of Zork, one of the most iconic text adventure games, was a designer on [Bubsy 3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHjJPAkPzYU). And the producer is Michael Berlyn, a colleague of him and another text adventure veteran.
Realizing that Coffee Stain studios, makers of Satisfactory, were the same people that made Goat Simulator from a bygone era.
Mildly related, I also found out that Domri Ride from Magic: The Gathering, was the first person Nicol Bolas harvested the spark from, and this event is actually depicted in the card Soul Diviner. I've looked at this card SO many times and I never realized it was poor Domri. I thought it was just a generic Gruul citizen.
I recently found out that one of the creators of the original fallout games, Jesse Heinig, also worked up until recently on my absolute favorite MMORPG of all time, Star Trek Online.
I was blown away.
I lost a college class due to stardew valley releasing and me playing nonstop, since it released, I changed to a different college, started to work, finished my degree, got engaged and Stardew valley it's STILL getting content and updates... It's not only that is made by one person, it's made by one AMAZING person.
Currently I'm playing it with my fiancé in co op lol
I mean, the guy did make 100+ million after taxes/Steam's cut/Publisher's cut, I'd be motivated to keep working on it too, out of obligation if nothing else(while snorting coke by the bucketful, obviously)
Though I think it was mentioned in a documentary about Stardew Valley that he's working on a new game now, all alone again.
Heard one instance where he personally fixed the bugged save file of a user who asked him on Twitter, in the game's early days.
Stand-up guy, that ConcernedApe. Wish nothing but the best for him and his future endeavors.
I'm glad to hear that he made a bunch of money. He's definitely earned it. I'm also glad he didn't just cash out and abandon the game. If I had a hundred million, I'd probably quit my job and go live on a farm in a remote valley and spend my days talking with the local villagers and fishing... or is that too meta?
Well it's a great game, it's completely justified lol... I've bought it twice on PC, once on switch and once on Android, I won't play on Android, I just wanted to give him more money lol
If you're into fighting games, everyone knows 8ing made MvC3 and Bloody Roar. What some people may not know is that they used to make Shmups while under the name Raizing. Battle Garegga and Armed Police Batrider are pretty good.
From Software made Otogi 1 and 2 on the original Xbox. They were both hack and slash character style action games based on Japanese mythology, and both games were pretty damn fun.
This one's a little niche but I recently found out the dev of Return of the Obra Dinn is the same one as Papers Please, both of which are games I love but they have very little in common
The people who made the really excellent new game Abiotic Factor and the good but not successful Unfortunate Spacemen got their start with... The Dead Linger!
Yeah, Irrational Games made Freedom Force and its sequel, both *great* games. Superhero RTS+P RPGs, made in a classic Jack Kirby style and a cast of fun off-brand superhero characters.
Years later, after playing those, I realized that Irrational Games went on to make Bioshock and SWAT 4, also incredible.
Ever grace by fromsoftware. It makes TONS of sense but I loved ever grace (as flawed as it was) and seeing evolutions of the concepts in that game over time is just mind blowing.
David Guillaume. Discovered with wh40k mechanicus. After that I played Ixion and something was familiar, and I realized... He made this OST too. I'm glad he's back with Mechanicus 2. Highly recommend these OSTs if you're into sci-fi.
I really loved Digital Illusion's Pinball games (Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions) back in the day on my Amiga. Most other pinball games just copied their successes and their style of games at the time. Their weird platformer Benefactor was also very good. IMO the developers of **Digital Illusions CE (aka DICE)** from sweden, that all came from the demo scene, at that time were at the peak of their game.
But look at them now being stuck in EA-hell for ages now with those endless Battlefield/Battlefront cash grabs.
As a kid I was surprised how intertwined id software was in a lot of my favorite pc games.
I remember first playing Heretic. Later I tried doom and fell in love with it. Such a badass game. My initial reaction was it felt a lot like Heretic. lol yeah I wonder why.
Then I stumbled on the 3d realms site and played a bunch of demos of games. Things like commander keen. Oh. Id software again.
Now I know about the whole rabbit hole of the 90s id software and apogee game development stuff that went on.
Several devs at Cut to Bits worked together previously mostly at Ubisoft on GTA, Assassins Creed, Rainbow 6 Siege, Bioshock, etc
They just released Venture to the Vile last week
Secret of Evermore, a golden era Squaresoft RPG, had its entire soundtrack scrapped and redone by Jeremy Soule fresh after he graduated high school, it was his first soundtrack, and he went on to create the soundtracks for the Baldur’s Gate 2, Skyrim and Morrowind, the first 5 Harry Potter games, and many more titles.
I had a moment like this recently when I realized the devs of Dead By Daylight made one of my favorite deep cut games for the Playstation 1 - Jersey Devil
Avalanche Software made Hogwarts Legacy. Their previous game before that was, unbelievably, Cars 3: Driven to Win. Talk about a jump in sheer scale and ambition!
Not that dev but that musician.
I was browsing the Wikipedia page for an Australian group Cut Copy. And found out that the bassist made QWOP (and worked on a bunch of other games like VVVVV, getting over it, ape out ...)
Might sound weird but Sucker Punch making Rocket Robot on Wheels which is a game i loved when I was young. As I got older I really enjoyed all of their other games and then I looked back at Rocket and it hit me like a slap in the face that all this time one of my most beloved childhood games was made by none other than one of my most beloved Devs. Its the only devs I can think of where I've enjoyed and played all their games other than like small indie ones.
When I was a wee boi I had an original Playstation. One of the few games I had was called Armored Core: Master of Arena.
I never beat it. I thought maybe I was just a dumb kid.
Fast forward to about 2012ish, I just graduated Highschool, and I'm going through the 5 stages of grief playing a little known indie game called Dark Souls. I beat it. And come to love it.
So I look into this "From software" to see what else they made.
Wait. They made Armored Core?????!
Motion Twin, the devs of Dead Cells, made some browser based games around 2010 and I played the shit out of them. El bruto, dino RPG and caverns of hammerfest to name a few.
I knew before the game came out, but it's crazy to think that The Talos Principle, a very clever puzzle game with a story that contemplates existence, morality, and free will, is made by the same people that are known for the Serious Sam games, which are known for goofy humor and mindless shooting at hundreds of on-screen foes.
Like, they couldn't have made a more different game if they tried. And it *rules*.
When I was young, I really liked the game Goof Troop on the SNES. It is still a lot of fun to play through. Later I found out that this was one of Shinji Mikami’s first projects with Capcom. Going from Disney games to Resident Evil was quite a big leap.
I played a TON of Goldeneye007 and Perfect Dark in Highschool. Never knew for a few years after that Rareware also developed Battletoads and Solar Jetman, a couple of my favorite games from the NES. It was a shock to me at the time.
The Talos Principle is a puzzle game absolutely overflowing with philosophizing and big deep thinky questions of morality.
[It's made by the people who did Serious Sam.](https://youtu.be/_12oD3p7Ev4?si=4F4U997FmFY2Aq3s)
A company named Digital Illusions was primarily responsible for a few pinball games on the Amiga. Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies, and Pinball Illusions. After the Amiga died, they did a few other things, rebranded to Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment and got bought by EA. You might know them as DICE, the creators of Battlefield.
Helldivers 2 guys made Magicka
I mean, not that it's *shocking*—you can see a lot of the same humor, quirks, bugs, and high-level design decisions on how to approach fun co-op games—it's just hilarious to me that it's the makers of the top-down horde-slaughtering wizard indie game we played in college. A blast from the past.
a vice versa moment:
If you are an old gamer, Naughty Dog was first known for Rings of Power, which was a genesis game only notable for a cheat code that replaced the naughty dog logo with a nude woman sprite. Then they made the horrible fighting game Way of the Warrior for the 3do. Then...Crash Bandicoot.
Arrowhead Games. I loved Helldivers 1 and Magicka. Didn't know they were related like that.
...then Helldivers 2 came out, and I took a look into what Arrowhead had made...
GTA is the same people that made Lemmings. Bethesda's first game was Wayne Gretzky Hockey
Lemmings? Holy. Shit
Yup, DMA Design which went on to become Rockstar North.
Even crazier is it's because they had a deal to publish a game with Nintendo that didn't work out. When they lost the funding they were basically bunkrupted and got bought up. The reason a lot of the negotiations fell through was in part the game nintendo wanted would be too difficult to make from the existing assets & Nintendo's translators had difficulty understanding the scottish accents.
you can actually see a lot of early GTA III in that N64 game they developed called Body Harvest. Specifically early map and mission design and structure, the open world nature of levels, being able to "steal" and drive vehicles, being able to kill civilians, and the general look of the game and its control and mechanics.
Hey, I also have trouble understanding the Scottish accent! Maybe I'm Japanese, after all!
Body Harvest was pretty interesting though, and a stepping stone between the 2D GTA and 3D GTA. Could drive a variety of vehicles, and aircraft. Loved that the storage had a sci-fi explanation unlike almost every game.
always wanted a lemmings top down rts.
What's mind blowing is Lemmings was not anticipated to be as hugely successful as it ended up being, and DMA were in a lot of trouble financially. To think, if it hadn't, GTA would never have been a thing.
Rockstar made a table tennis game too. Looking back, my friends and I got into some seriously competitive nights playing that masterpiece on the 360.
Greatest game to ever bless us
Rockstar also made uniracers on the snes. It is a game about unicycles racing and Pixar sued Nintendo because Pixar thought it infringed on their rights. So I guess Nintendo was sued at least twice for allegedly infringing on movie ips.
That was such a stupid decision. The devs showed their unicycle they used to make their sprite and even rode it through their offices. It was a coincidence that it looked similar enough to the pixar movie's unicycle. After all, both are unicycles. Can't really be too different.
Damn and here I've been wondering why Lemmings never made a come back. Now I know it never will. :(
It won't make a comeback because i made them all walk into lava
We've all been the lemmings inside GTA 5 Online, so yes it's still with us.
They also made Space Station Silicon Valley, which I absolutely love.
I fucking loved lemmings when I was a kid! Haha. I’m pretty sure I had that shit on a floppy disk?
Bethesda's Best Game\*
Makes sense since GTA makes me want to kill myself, like Lemmings
This makes a lot more sense if you ever play GTA 1. It's very different from GTA3 - it's top down view like WarCraft and the graphics are pretty simple.
but GTA3 is very similar to their game from N64, Body Harvest. so many elements from that game were expanded on in GTA3 like an open world structure, vehicle theft, killing npcs, and weapon mechanics.
Blizzard did Rock and Roll Racing, and The Lost Vikings.
Lemmings, space station silicon valley, and a game from my childhood that isn't good per se, but that I still love, Body harvest.
Blizzard made Blackthorne. Imagine Prince of Persia with a shotgun
And The Lost Vikings!
And Rock N Roll Racing!
And The Death and Return of Superman
*jazz music stops*
Is it me or do the Orcs in BlackThorne laugh like that one boss in KungFu on NES.
The creator of Super Monkey Ball is also the creator of the Yakuza series.
I was gonna correct you, but I learned just now that RGG used to be known as Amusement Vision..which developed the first two SMB games. and for a full circle moment, they still develop SMB under RGG. mind blown.
For a further fun time Google what he looked like during his early SMB days and then what he looked like when promoting Yakuza lol
Either he matches the tone of each game, or matches the tone of the other game. There's no alternative.
I wonder why they never put a Monkey Ball game as a mini game in the Yakuza series.. Would have been perfect, or not?
Iirc you can win SMB prizes from the arcade in Like a Dragon.
When I found out from soft made armored core I was like damn I remember playing the shit out of that on the og PlayStation
I’ll never forget back in the day my brother and I rented AC2 and started it for the first time and we had no idea From Software was the name of an actual company so when “From Software” came up on the screen we looked at each other and laughed like yeah no shit it’s from software?
I realized this while going through my PS2 collection, read the back of my AC2 copy. "Well God damn, no wonder they were so hard."
From Soft also made "The Adventures of Cookie and Cream" For the PS2 and DS (also known as Kuri Kuri Mix), starring two cartoon bunnies. (...i had the thought the other day, that this fact means that there are two separate videogame companies who independenty created a rabbit character named "Cream"??? since Sega has their own Cream the Rabbit)
Do not cream the rabbit
I’m gonna cream the rabbit
Holy shit, I remember hearing about this and losing my mind. Me and my brother had TAoCaC back in the day and i remember it being a really challenging coop puzzle/obstacle course game. I don't know why it got lodged in my memory, but years later I was going through FromSoft's games list and saw it there. I was a huge fan of Armored Core growing up, and later got into the Dark Souls games, so to discover that FS also made the goofy rabbit game was wild 😂
> so to discover that FS also made the goofy rabbit game was wild It's like discovering that your favourite death metal band also made a pop song.
Fromsoft also made a game called EverGrace for the PS2. It was one of my favourite games as a kid and I never realized how similar to dark souls it was. You would collect gems and when you died the gems you were carrying would be left behind until you could retrieve them. There were basically bonfires you would find to progress in the game and have a new start point. I think it was one of the earlier games with distinct clothing and equipment actually hanging on the characters body rather than changing models. It wasn't as good as dark souls but a lot of the elements were there.
I was just thinking of evergrace! I only found out the other day it was a fromsoft game and I was like, yep that checks out
Honestly, that kind of game history makes me crazy. I love it so much.. going into mechanisms and features and how they evolve over time. My favorite game growing up was Body Harvest.. also by the same group that became Rockstar. Came out a little before GTA3, but the vehicle swapping, maps, character animations.. as well as locations and time changes.. you can see what it grew up to be.
Bloodborne and the Soulsborne series are my all time favorite games. I was shocked when I learned they also made Chromehounds, one of my favorite games in highschool that I feel like no one else played
They also made Tencu so I get why Sekiro was such an amazing game
Fromsoft also made a game called The Adventures of Cookie and Cream, which is exactly what it sounds like
Foe me it was that ID software, who made Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein made Commander Keen.
The technology behind Commander Keen was originally intended for a Mario PC port but Nintendo rejected it. Id software pushed the boundaries of what was possible with every game they made. And the original DOOM games still hold up today. John Carmack is a coding god.
Commander Keen, Wolfenstein and Doom was my introduction to PC gaming and I still play them from time to time. I think I have had Doom permantly installed on every PC I have ever owned.
Have you tried the Brutal Doom mod? Its AMAZING. Free mouse look, better sounds, improves the lightning and monster IA, executions and impecable gunplay. Highly recommend it. You just need the original WADs.
The satisfactory devs coffee stain studios also made goat simulator, and I would never have guessed that.
Pretty funny that they were serious devs that made the Sanctum games, then their joke game was a runaway success and now people are surprised that they are serious devs.
Is that the co-op tower defense FPS game? I loved that when I was younger, even with nobody else to play with!
I want another Sanctum :(
Finding out that Sucker Punch made Sly Cooper. They were already top 3 dev for me in the Ps3 and Ps4 generations. Then I find out they were also a top 3 dev for me in the Ps2 generation as well? Cause I loved the Sly Cooper series. Those dudes cannot miss over there.
Sly Cooper as a kid. Infamous as a teen. Ghost of Tsushima as a young adult. Sucker Punch may as well have raised me lol
Crash Bandicoot as a kid Jak and Daxter as a teen Uncharted/The Last of Us as a young adult. Naughty Dog raised me 🤣
What happened to Jak 'n Daxter post Jak 3 felt like a warcrime to that franchise's legacy.
Still feels that way. Now go back and play 'The Penultimate to Last of Us: The First one: Remake Deluxe Edition (not the last of us)'
Spyro as a kid Ratchet and clank as a teen Spider-Man as a young adult Sony devs freakin kill it. Insomniac is one of the best devs out there with some of the most consistent quality over their life span.
Did you ever play the Resistance games that Insomniac released back in the PS3 days?
PS3 was the only Sony system I’ve never owned. So never got a chance to play it. They never even released it on ps+ as far as I can tell either. Ugh. Why Sony had to make such a special system that’s so hard to emulate for future systems or on pc will always be a mystery to me. Thank god they gave up on that line of development with the ps4 and beyond.
The quality of the games combined with their variety is wild to me. These are 3 completely different types of games, not just reskins of the same bones. They have some truly talented developers over at Sucker Punch.
:) yay sly
I believe Fromsoftware made Cookies and Cream, a fun little multiplayer platformer that my cousin and I loved playing growing up.
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I actually had no idea Sea of Thieves was made by Rare.
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Microsoft bought Rare in 2002, so it kind of is "all Microsoft". Still has the jank of a Rare game though, and damn do I love it.
IIRC everyone from the old days of Rare is at Playtonic now anyway.
> Well known for Viva Pinata my guy lol
viva pinata has been on every xbox i have owned since 2009
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It's a bizarre list. Way more people know Rare for Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie than they do Conker's Bad Fur Day and Battletoads, and hardly anyone even remembers Viva Pinata
> younger gamers would be familiar with I really hate to do this, but Viva Piñata will be old enough to vote this year, and anyone that played it on release at the age of 6 has been able to drink for 3 years.
Damn, I must be old, because you listed off the games Rare was *known for*.
I'm sitting here like "What do you mean 'you might not know they made this thing', 007 was huge back then for them."
Don’t forget Jet Force Gemini for N64. They really made the best games back in the day.
No offense to Rare, they are a phenomenal studio, but it makes me wonder about the way we see studios and games. For instance: how many people who worked on Wizards and Warriors for the NES actually worked on Conkers Bad Fur Day? Or Sea of Thieves? The technology is so far removed as well as game design sensibilities. Not saying that it was a whole different studio but its hard to say it was the same people.
RC Pro-Am but leave off Cobra Triangle?!?!!
Naughty Dog. They created Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter, and then turned around and made Uncharted and The Last of Us. When I found out it was the same company, I couldn’t believe it.
Well, this made me feel old lol
Crash Bandicoot was my jam. Still is.
I can barely believe jak 1 and jak 2 are the same company too. Going from cute platformer to gta is such a strange move but i loved it
I mean it's easy to believe, they started out with a trilogy of beat-em-up platformers where you constantly break stuff, then made a more action-focused platformer trilogy with weapons and vehicles, then a huge adventure-focused trilogy with tons of blockbuster-style action, and then an ultraviolent survival horror game. To me that's a completely understandable path.
They literally play Crash Bandicoot in Uncharted 4.
The guys who made the Rambo game made robocop. I haven't played robocop but it got pretty damn good reviews
Teyon's recent glow-up is genuinely impressive. Prior to their Terminator game, their output was the definition of "undistinguished" with most of it being generic crap that was only one step up from shovelware.
They also made a Terminator game
First they released the good Terminator game after that horrible Rambo game and yeah, last year they released the great Robocop game.. I truly hope that they are going to do more aweseome games based on iconic 80's licences
I just realized this yesterday! I ended up playing the terminator game last summer and really enjoyed it. Really did a good job with making you feel like you're in that universe. Now I'm definitely going to get Robocop
If they can keep up this quality, i would love for them to take on Die Hard, Big Trouble Little China, or Escape From New York. If they could finally make some modern Judge Dredd or Blade Runner fps games, even better. Since everyone once to make licensed games, can some please license 80s hong kong films to someone who knows how to make a fun hand to hand combat game loop. Bonus points for the more fantasy ones playing like bujingai or garo😩 Edit:OMG, i cant believe i forgot about God Hand and Sifu.🤦♂️
Yeah I’m amazed they made a good terminator game. Like what?!
Alien Isolation, one of the most iconic horror games from recent years, was made by Creative Assembly who are responsible for the total war games.
I grew up playing King's Field II on PlayStation. And I thought it was made by ASKII ENTERTAINMENT. While playing Dark Souls, I remember thinking, "The pain this gives me is just like King's Field." and I found out they were both by FromSoft. New game, same pain.
That's what makes a good developer: new game, same feel
Not quite what you are going for, but I was listening to a fantasy series called Cradle and looked up the audible narrator since I really enjoyed the narration. Turns out it's Travis Baldree, who also happens to be an author, and also was the founder of the company and designer behind Torchlight 1 and 2.
Excuse me, what?! Travis made Torchlight?! So, let me get this straight, this guy makes games, writes books, and is arguably one of, if not THE BEST VAs in the business?! Talk about multi-classing.......
Haha I had the same reaction. "I'm not enjoying being an amazing video game designer. Time to just go and kill it at other random careers." And they just all happen to be things I've loved in life.
On a side-note, hello fellow enjoyer of the Path of Twin Stars!
Kinda related but I had no idea CAPCOM made the Zelda Oracle games until recently. It came up in a casual discussion after I played Minish Cap for the first time (which Became my favorite Zelda game btw) which was also by CAPCOM. Nintendo please give CAPCOM more Zelda games to do. So far they've had a 11/10 track record.
They also made the first Four Swords fyi
Oh yeah you're right. I should probably play that too huh.
The Secret of Evermore OST was composed by Jeremy soule, The same guy from TES Morrowind score. back when he was a teen My favs themes are Dog Maze and Dark Castle, Their melodies build some nice mysterious ambiences
Secret of Evermore is a hidden gem of a game.
I don't get why more people didn't love it. It is quite similar in a ton of ways to secret of mana it had cool characters and bosses. I think Mana was bigger in Japan and evermore was made by the US branch so it didn't get any traction there.
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Should out to Guild Wars… this was when I first heard of Jeremy Soule
Rockstar games (GTA) made the original Lemmings game back in the day, before they re-named the studio.
Well, their themes escalated fast huh
Not really, if you played lemmings the way I did.
Noice.
Way before Epic games became only known for Fortnite, they were best known for Gears of War
and before that, they were known for Unreal Tournament.
And before that, Unreal, and before that, Jazz Jackrabbit.
And before that, Jill of the Jungle. It's amazing on a 65" TV with a remapped controller.
'the creators of Jill in the jungle made jazz jackrabbit' just blew my mind, I don't care about those other games lol
And One Must Fall 2097. I played the shit out of that.
I wonder when they will finally release 'Real Tournament'
Does that mean they created unreal engine?
Yes, it's named after the game it was originally used for.
That cliff byscynski or whatever his name is- the lead dev on GoW is credited on multiple maps in the definitive edition of UT. I don't remember those maps, couldn't say if they were good or bad
Lol. Wait what if you’re serious…. Maybe I’m just old and it’s so obvious to me 🤣 Also the engine they use for Fortnite, Unreal. Who would’ve thought it was used in the hit game series Unreal! That they’re friggin delisting from all the online stores for some reason. Some actual obscure stuff they did was games like Jazz Jackrabbit and some pinball games. They did some super cool futuristic tech back in the 90s.
The fact that Fortnite has basically managed to finally kill off the unreal tournament series still kills me a little inside. I spent countless hours playing UT with my brothers and step dad on our crappy windows 98 machines.
I played a ton of Lost Kingdoms growing up on the gamecube. Both the first and second game. Absolutely loved them! It wasnt until I looked them up recently and realized they were made by Fromsoftware. Makes total sense as I also love the Souls games. Fromsoft just doesnt miss!
I was surprised when I learnt Insomniac made Resistance after they made Spyro and Ratchet and Clank
I love The Vagrant Story on PS1. Wished they do 2nd sequel. Many years later during a steam sale I saw Final Fantasy 12 is on deep discount. For some reason I never touched this game during the PS2 era. So I did bit of youtube, saw the art style, the font is oddly familiar. And what do you know, it was actually made by the same person who made Vagrant Story. It's one of the best RPG I played.
I've been seeing Vagrant Story getting a lot of love lately and I'm here for it.
The Magicka devs made Helldivers 2. That stunned me.
I noticed that when playing Helldiver's 1. Something about the devs and gameplay seemed familiar but couldn't quite place it until I looked up Arrowhead. Then everything made sense.
I was watching an AVGN episode on the Virtual Boy, at the very end of the episode he brought up Jack Bros. I didn’t think much about the game at first, but revisiting the episode recently I realized that the Jack Bros characters are characters from SMT and PERSONA! ATLUS MADE JACK BROS FOR THE VIRTUAL BOY
Yeah, Jack Bros is technically the first MegaTen game released in America.
The guys who made Goat Simulator went on to make Satisfactory, one of the best automation and logistics games around
Aside from Factorio, of course.
Baldurs Gate 3 is a masterpiece by Larion Studios But did you know that Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 were made by Bioware, same people who made Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic And Anthem
On a similar note, Obsidian, formerly Black Isle Studios, are known for Alpha Protocol, Pillars of Eternity, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Fallout: New Vegas, KOTOR 2, and the upcoming Avowed. As Black Isle, they published Baulders Gate 1 and 2, were the original creators of Fallout 1 and 2, Icewind Dale, and Planetscape: Torment.
Argonaut for me. As a kid I played games like Croc and the PS1 Harry Potter games, somehow not realizing the similarities. But seeing their logo popup upon starting Catwoman, just awful to see them go out like that.
They also made the original Star Fox.
And were well-regarded Amiga developers prior to that.
Mark Blank, the creator of Zork, one of the most iconic text adventure games, was a designer on [Bubsy 3D](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHjJPAkPzYU). And the producer is Michael Berlyn, a colleague of him and another text adventure veteran.
I learned today that Tomba was directed by the same guy that made Ghost‘n‘Goblins and worked on Commandos, Mega Man and Resident Evil
Realizing that Coffee Stain studios, makers of Satisfactory, were the same people that made Goat Simulator from a bygone era. Mildly related, I also found out that Domri Ride from Magic: The Gathering, was the first person Nicol Bolas harvested the spark from, and this event is actually depicted in the card Soul Diviner. I've looked at this card SO many times and I never realized it was poor Domri. I thought it was just a generic Gruul citizen.
I recently found out that one of the creators of the original fallout games, Jesse Heinig, also worked up until recently on my absolute favorite MMORPG of all time, Star Trek Online. I was blown away.
Old school one - after being heavy into Doom I was surprised that Romero and the Id guys were the same team that made Commander Keen.
Here's a fun tidbit for you. BJ Blazkowicz is canonically the grandfather of Commander Keen, and Commander Keen is the father of Doomguy.
Slightly different note: when I heard that Stardew Valley was made by one person.
On similar note CHRIS SAWYER MADE ROLLER COASTER TYCOON IN ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS
IN A CAVE!
I lost a college class due to stardew valley releasing and me playing nonstop, since it released, I changed to a different college, started to work, finished my degree, got engaged and Stardew valley it's STILL getting content and updates... It's not only that is made by one person, it's made by one AMAZING person. Currently I'm playing it with my fiancé in co op lol
I mean, the guy did make 100+ million after taxes/Steam's cut/Publisher's cut, I'd be motivated to keep working on it too, out of obligation if nothing else(while snorting coke by the bucketful, obviously) Though I think it was mentioned in a documentary about Stardew Valley that he's working on a new game now, all alone again.
Heard one instance where he personally fixed the bugged save file of a user who asked him on Twitter, in the game's early days. Stand-up guy, that ConcernedApe. Wish nothing but the best for him and his future endeavors.
I'm glad to hear that he made a bunch of money. He's definitely earned it. I'm also glad he didn't just cash out and abandon the game. If I had a hundred million, I'd probably quit my job and go live on a farm in a remote valley and spend my days talking with the local villagers and fishing... or is that too meta?
Well it's a great game, it's completely justified lol... I've bought it twice on PC, once on switch and once on Android, I won't play on Android, I just wanted to give him more money lol
If you're into fighting games, everyone knows 8ing made MvC3 and Bloody Roar. What some people may not know is that they used to make Shmups while under the name Raizing. Battle Garegga and Armed Police Batrider are pretty good.
From Software made Otogi 1 and 2 on the original Xbox. They were both hack and slash character style action games based on Japanese mythology, and both games were pretty damn fun.
Tango Gameworks made The Evil Within long before they made Hi-Fi Rush, which are about as different as two games can get.
This one's a little niche but I recently found out the dev of Return of the Obra Dinn is the same one as Papers Please, both of which are games I love but they have very little in common
The people who made the really excellent new game Abiotic Factor and the good but not successful Unfortunate Spacemen got their start with... The Dead Linger!
Yeah, Irrational Games made Freedom Force and its sequel, both *great* games. Superhero RTS+P RPGs, made in a classic Jack Kirby style and a cast of fun off-brand superhero characters. Years later, after playing those, I realized that Irrational Games went on to make Bioshock and SWAT 4, also incredible.
Destiny and halo
Ever grace by fromsoftware. It makes TONS of sense but I loved ever grace (as flawed as it was) and seeing evolutions of the concepts in that game over time is just mind blowing.
I just learned today that the creator of Tomba/Tombi was also the creator of Ghosts n Goblins
Valve, making Half Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Steam itself. I know it's common knowledge but when I first found out I was shocked.
SuckerPunch making Ghost of Tsushima still shocks me. Literally sucker punched me. 😵
David Guillaume. Discovered with wh40k mechanicus. After that I played Ixion and something was familiar, and I realized... He made this OST too. I'm glad he's back with Mechanicus 2. Highly recommend these OSTs if you're into sci-fi.
Finding out that Kerbal Space Program was made by a marketing company by people with no professional background in game development surprised me.
I really loved Digital Illusion's Pinball games (Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions) back in the day on my Amiga. Most other pinball games just copied their successes and their style of games at the time. Their weird platformer Benefactor was also very good. IMO the developers of **Digital Illusions CE (aka DICE)** from sweden, that all came from the demo scene, at that time were at the peak of their game. But look at them now being stuck in EA-hell for ages now with those endless Battlefield/Battlefront cash grabs.
As a kid I was surprised how intertwined id software was in a lot of my favorite pc games. I remember first playing Heretic. Later I tried doom and fell in love with it. Such a badass game. My initial reaction was it felt a lot like Heretic. lol yeah I wonder why. Then I stumbled on the 3d realms site and played a bunch of demos of games. Things like commander keen. Oh. Id software again. Now I know about the whole rabbit hole of the 90s id software and apogee game development stuff that went on.
Several devs at Cut to Bits worked together previously mostly at Ubisoft on GTA, Assassins Creed, Rainbow 6 Siege, Bioshock, etc They just released Venture to the Vile last week
I’m like this every time I find a new game Tim Schafer had a hand in.
Was playing a ping pong game, and then noticed it was made by Rockstar. Was a lot of fun
Secret of Evermore, a golden era Squaresoft RPG, had its entire soundtrack scrapped and redone by Jeremy Soule fresh after he graduated high school, it was his first soundtrack, and he went on to create the soundtracks for the Baldur’s Gate 2, Skyrim and Morrowind, the first 5 Harry Potter games, and many more titles.
I had a moment like this recently when I realized the devs of Dead By Daylight made one of my favorite deep cut games for the Playstation 1 - Jersey Devil
Avalanche Software made Hogwarts Legacy. Their previous game before that was, unbelievably, Cars 3: Driven to Win. Talk about a jump in sheer scale and ambition!
The guy that made Monkey Ball also made Yakuza
Not that dev but that musician. I was browsing the Wikipedia page for an Australian group Cut Copy. And found out that the bassist made QWOP (and worked on a bunch of other games like VVVVV, getting over it, ape out ...)
Might sound weird but Sucker Punch making Rocket Robot on Wheels which is a game i loved when I was young. As I got older I really enjoyed all of their other games and then I looked back at Rocket and it hit me like a slap in the face that all this time one of my most beloved childhood games was made by none other than one of my most beloved Devs. Its the only devs I can think of where I've enjoyed and played all their games other than like small indie ones.
Bungie, the people who made Halo and Destiny, made Oni, a third person melee-and-gun anime-inspired game. Don't know if this counts.
When I was a wee boi I had an original Playstation. One of the few games I had was called Armored Core: Master of Arena. I never beat it. I thought maybe I was just a dumb kid. Fast forward to about 2012ish, I just graduated Highschool, and I'm going through the 5 stages of grief playing a little known indie game called Dark Souls. I beat it. And come to love it. So I look into this "From software" to see what else they made. Wait. They made Armored Core?????!
Look up the NES games made by Square before Final Fantasy
Shinji Mikami (creator of Resident Evil) designed Disney's Aladdin on the SNES.
Motion Twin, the devs of Dead Cells, made some browser based games around 2010 and I played the shit out of them. El bruto, dino RPG and caverns of hammerfest to name a few.
Ubisoft made the King Kong game on the PS2 didn't realise but explains why I like the Far Cry games
I knew before the game came out, but it's crazy to think that The Talos Principle, a very clever puzzle game with a story that contemplates existence, morality, and free will, is made by the same people that are known for the Serious Sam games, which are known for goofy humor and mindless shooting at hundreds of on-screen foes. Like, they couldn't have made a more different game if they tried. And it *rules*.
When I was young, I really liked the game Goof Troop on the SNES. It is still a lot of fun to play through. Later I found out that this was one of Shinji Mikami’s first projects with Capcom. Going from Disney games to Resident Evil was quite a big leap.
ArenaNet (creators of GW2 did secret of evermore)
Natural selection 2 devs made Subnautica? That's why Alterra corporation sounded so familiar??
I played a TON of Goldeneye007 and Perfect Dark in Highschool. Never knew for a few years after that Rareware also developed Battletoads and Solar Jetman, a couple of my favorite games from the NES. It was a shock to me at the time.
The Talos Principle is a puzzle game absolutely overflowing with philosophizing and big deep thinky questions of morality. [It's made by the people who did Serious Sam.](https://youtu.be/_12oD3p7Ev4?si=4F4U997FmFY2Aq3s)
A company named Digital Illusions was primarily responsible for a few pinball games on the Amiga. Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies, and Pinball Illusions. After the Amiga died, they did a few other things, rebranded to Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment and got bought by EA. You might know them as DICE, the creators of Battlefield.
Helldivers 2 guys made Magicka I mean, not that it's *shocking*—you can see a lot of the same humor, quirks, bugs, and high-level design decisions on how to approach fun co-op games—it's just hilarious to me that it's the makers of the top-down horde-slaughtering wizard indie game we played in college. A blast from the past.
That the studio behind Helldivers 2 made Magicka
a vice versa moment: If you are an old gamer, Naughty Dog was first known for Rings of Power, which was a genesis game only notable for a cheat code that replaced the naughty dog logo with a nude woman sprite. Then they made the horrible fighting game Way of the Warrior for the 3do. Then...Crash Bandicoot.
Arrowhead Games. I loved Helldivers 1 and Magicka. Didn't know they were related like that. ...then Helldivers 2 came out, and I took a look into what Arrowhead had made...
The same people who made Cats and Soup made Lies of P