Genki (company)
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is a Japanese
video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
. It was founded in October 1990 by Hiroshi Hamagaki and Tomo Kimura, who left
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
to form the company. The company is best known for its
racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...
titles.


History

In its early years, Genki released games in different genres, looking for its niche. On one end of the spectrum, there was '' Devilish'', a game similar to '' Arkanoid'' that was released for
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's Game Gear and Mega Drive systems in 1991. On the other end, there was '' Kileak: The DNA Imperative'', a first-person mecha shooting game for the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
which was released in 1995 and received a sequel, ''
Epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...
''. They developed two
MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...
video games for the
SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...
: '' GP-1'' (1993) and '' GP-1 RS: Rapid Stream'' (1994). Genki found its niche in 1994 with the release of ''Shutokō Battle '94 Keichii Tsuchiya Drift King'' for the SNES—the first in a long-running series of racing games. ''Shutokou Battle 2'' followed one year later, in 1995, and was also for the SNES. Within the same year, Genki shifted towards developing 3D games, continuing the ''
Shutokou Battle ''Tokyo Xtreme Racer'' is an arcade racing video game series created by Genki and inspired by street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Its first installment, ''Shutokō Battle '94: Drift King'', released in 1994 for the Super Famicom. In 20 ...
'' series with ''Highway 2000'' (released in Japan as ''Wangan Dead Heat'') on the
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...
. Genki also produced major titles for both the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 consoles in the following two years, including another ''Shutokou Battle'' game for the PlayStation (known in Western markets as ''
Tokyo Highway Battle ''Tokyo Highway Battle'' is a video game developed by Genki and published by Jaleco in 1996 for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It was released in Japan as ''Shutokou Battle: Drift King'' for the Playstation, and ''Drift King: Shutokou Battle '97 ...
'') and ''
Multi-Racing Championship ''MRC: Multi-Racing Championship'', also known as simply , is a racing video game developed by Genki and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997. It was published in North America and Europe by Ocean and in Japan by Imagineer. The game is compatible ...
'' for the N64. They also developed ''
Jade Cocoon is a role-playing video game developed by Genki exclusively for PlayStation. The game combines elements of role-playing video games and virtual pet management. It was developed by Genki in collaboration with Katsuya Kondō, character designer ...
'' for the PlayStation in 1998.


Shutokou Battle

Continuing with the genre that is consistently the most rewarding for them, Genki continued the ''
Shutokou Battle ''Tokyo Xtreme Racer'' is an arcade racing video game series created by Genki and inspired by street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Its first installment, ''Shutokō Battle '94: Drift King'', released in 1994 for the Super Famicom. In 20 ...
'' series, releasing a title for Sega's Dreamcast console in 1999. This game was released in Western markets, where it came to be known as '' Tokyo Xtreme Racer'' (U.S.) and ''Tokyo Highway Challenge'' (Europe). The Dreamcast version of ''Shutokou Battle'' enjoyed much greater success than any of its predecessors, and was followed by ''Shutokou Battle 2'', also for the Dreamcast, and ''Shutokou Battle Zero'' for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
. In 2002,
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
partnered with Genki to produce a game based on
Michiharu Kusunoki is a Japanese manga artist from Tosa, Kōchi. He is most known for the street racing series ''Wangan Midnight'' serialized in Kodansha's weekly ''Young Magazine'' and which has been adapted into a 26 episode anime series, a series of video games, ...
's racing manga, '' Wangan Midnight''.
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
developed the arcade version (based largely on Genki's gameplay mechanics), which was imported to the U.S., while Genki developed the Japan-only PlayStation 2 version. In 2003, Genki released ''Shutokou Battle 01'' ('' Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3'') for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
.
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
partnered with
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
to continue its arcade game series with the release of '' Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune'' in 2004 that shifted away from the Shutoko Battle style. It is still developed today and receives regular updates across Japan, Asia, Oceania, China, and North America remaining as an Arcade Exclusive with Genki still featuring in its credits. Genki continued to produce the Japan-only '' Wangan Midnight'' games for the
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
(with online mode) and
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
in June and of September 2007. These games stuck to the gameplay of the original PS2 game and were not ports of the arcade versions, something that
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
had success with in their ''
Initial D is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 ''ta ...
'' series of games.


GRP: Genki Racing Project

In response to the success of their racing titles, particularly the Shutokou Battle series, Genki established a division dedicated to that genre in 2003 called the Genki Racing Project, or GRP. The GRP's first title was Shutokou Battle Online for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, which tried to apply an MMO-like aspect to the existing gameplay of the series. The game and its update version were sold only in Japan but were playable from anywhere as free online trial versions (with free registration) were available for download on the game's website. Less than two months later, the GRP released the
touge A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both human and animal migrati ...
-based drifting/racing game ''
Kaido Battle ''Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift'' (known as ''Kaidō Battle: Nikko, Haruna, Rokko, Hakone'' in Japan) is the third racing game published by Crave Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth main installment in '' Shutokō Battle'' series. ...
'', which was a rather stark departure from the Tokyo-highway-based ''Shutokou Battle'' series. ''Kaido Battle'' was followed by Kaido Battle 2: Chain Reaction in 2004 and '' Kaido Battle: Touge No Densetsu'' in 2005. All three titles were released for the PS2. ''Kaido Battle'' and ''Kaido Battle: Touge no Densetsu'' were both released in North America, under the titles '' Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift'' and '' Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2'', respectively. By comparison, European markets received ''Kaido Battle 2: Chain Reaction'' and ''Kaido Battle: Touge no Densetsu'', under the names ''Kaido Racer'' and '' Kaido Racer 2''. In 2005, Genki released ''Shutokou Battle: Zone of Control'' for PlayStation Portable. It was translated and released in the US as ''Street Supremacy''. Among the various other adaptations of ''Shutokou Battle'' lies another unique title marketed as a "Car Tuning RPG", called ''Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix'', which was released for the PS2 in 2005. Racing Battle departed from highway and mountain racing, focusing on real-life tracks such as
Tsukuba Circuit is a motorsport race track located in Shimotsuma, a neighboring city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, about north of central Tokyo. It is long, with 32 pit garages and a long back straight. There is a small chicane used only for moto ...
, Suzuka Circuit, and
TI Circuit Okayama International Circuit (岡山国際サーキット), formerly known as TI Circuit Aida (TIサーキット英田) before 2005, is a private motorsport race track in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. TI was the abbreviation of "Tanak ...
. The last Shutokou Battle game at the time of this writing is Shutokou Battle X for the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
, which was released in 2006 and is known in western markets as ''
Import Tuner Challenge ''Import Tuner Challenge'' is the international title for ''Shutokō Battle X'' (or Shutokou Battle X) (首都高バトル X), a racing game published by Ubisoft and developed by Genki for the Xbox 360. It is the final main installment in the dec ...
''. In late 2006, Genki announced they would end the ''Shutokou Battle'' series, and eventually shut down the Genki Racing Project, as a part of the cost-cutting operation. But now, on July 22, 2016, after 10 years, Genki announced that the Project would be rebooted, hoping to have new ''Shoutoku'' and/or ''Kaido Battle'' games for the Next Generation. On December 27, 2016, they release the countdown for the new racing project. The countdown ended up being for the 2017 ''Shoutoku Battle'' Mobile Game, ''Shoutoku Battle Xtreme'', which servers went offline in November of that year.


Kengo

Kengo (剣豪) is the name of a series of fighting video games developed by Genki. Kengo is considered a spiritual successor to the Bushido Blade game series for the PlayStation. Genki released four games in the series, between 2000 and 2006, for the Playstation 2 and Xbox 360: Kengo: Master of Bushido, Kengo 2, Kengo 3 and Kengo Zero (Kengo: Legend of 9 in North America).


Recent works

In 2010, Genki created an alternate reality game division called Genki ARG, to replace the discontinued Genki Racing Project. This division was closed in late of March 2012. The Shutokou Battle series was revived with a Mobage version for
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s released on January 27, 2017. This is the first Shutokou Battle game after GRP was discontinued. On September 28 of the same year, however, Genki announced that they were discontinuing the service, to be shut down in end-November.


References


External links

*
MobyGame's entry on Genki
{{Authority control Software companies based in Tokyo Video game companies established in 1990 Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Video game publishers Japanese companies established in 1990 Genki (company) games