G.rev

, short for G.revolution, is a Japanese video game developer. The company was founded by former employees of Taito's arcade division who had worked on '' G-Darius'' and ''RayStorm'', and is known primarily for their arcade shoot 'em up games.

History

G.rev was founded with the mission of developing arcade shooters, but they realized the cost of development was more than their initial investment capital. To generate revenue, they took on contract work for Taito and Treasure, co-developing the popular shooter ''Ikaruga'' with the latter. This relationship would remain fruitful, with G.rev assisting again on ''Gradius V'', and Ikaruga director Hiroshi Iuchi assisting on G.rev's own '' Strania.'' G.rev's first independent release was a puzzle game, '' Doki Doki Idol Star Seeker'', a '' Mine Sweeper''-like arcade puzzle game, created with low investment and high returns in mind.

With the money in place to develop a full-fledged arcade shooter on their own, the team, under direction of president Hiroyuki Maruyama, set out to develop ''Border Down'' as a spiritual successor to the Taito arcade classic ''Metal Black''. ''Border Down'' was met with wide acclaim among shooter fans following the release of its Dreamcast port, with particular praise paid to its unique beam mechanics and "border system", which put players on different paths if they died. They followed this success with '' Under Defeat'', a helicopter shooter praised for its gritty wartime atmosphere. Its port to Dreamcast would be one of the last games released on the system.

Their next release was the unique hybrid game '' WarTech: Senko no Ronde'', which combined shooter-like firing patterns and themes in a projectile-based fighting game similar to Taito's '' Psychic Force'' series. With the Dreamcast shooter support diminishing, they chose to port the Sega NAOMI game to Xbox 360, remaking the game's graphics and adding gameplay enhancements along the way. This release, '' Senko no Ronde Rev. X,'' became the first G.rev game to be released in North America as ''WarTech: Senko no Ronde.'' The American release was met with mixed reviews that praised the title's innovation but criticized the brief length and high pricepoint. Some of the gameplay enhancements of ''Rev. X'' were carried over to the arcade release ''Senko no Ronde SP.''

Following the formation of ''Gulti,'' another small developer formed by veterans of the shooter genre, G.rev proposed a collaborative effort, as ''Gulti'' didn't have the capital needed for a full-scale shooter of their own. The two companies created '' Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta'', an overhead-view, multi-directional shooter with a Japanese fantasy theme, initially released on the NAOMI. The title was ported to Xbox 360 and a widescreen version made it to PlayStation 3 much later.

The company's next title was '' Senko no Ronde DUO: Dis-United Order'', a sequel to their earlier crossover title. This time, G.rev chose to develop for the more powerful Taito X2 hardware, allowing the graphical quality of the arcade version to match the later Xbox 360 port. Unlike its predecessor, the title was not released outside Japan.

G.rev continued to develop on the Taito X2 hardware, releasing ''Strania: The Stella Machina,'' a vertically scrolling shooter that allows players to arm two different selectable/upgradable weapons at once. For the first time, G.rev decided to forgo a retail release, instead releasing an Xbox Live Arcade title, and promising some of the usual bonus features like an alternate course as future downloadable content. The home version was released simultaneously across all regions, giving Western gamers their first G.rev title since ''Wartech''.

Games developed

Arcade games

Console games

;Notes
North American Xbox 360 version released in 2014.

Not released in Canada.

Shoot 'Em Up Portion only.

Mobile games

Games published

Other works

* ''The Kaiten Mawasunda!!'' mini-game in SIMPLE 1500 Series Vol 66. (2001, Sony PlayStation) - Design.
* ''Ikaruga'' — (2001, NAOMI / Dreamcast / GameCube) - Programming and background graphic design.
* ''Gradius V'' — (2004, PlayStation 2) - Programming and background graphic design.

References

External links

* {{in lang, ja
Developer interview

Entertainment companies of Japan
Video game companies of Japan
Video game development companies