was a Japanese video game developer, best known for the ''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series originally developed and published by Technōs Japan. It began with the release of the arcade game '' Double Dragon'' in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight again ...

'' and '' Kunio-kun''

franchises Franchise may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Media franchise, a collection of related creative works, such as films, video games, books, etc., particularly in North American usage * "Franchise" (short story), a 1955 short story ...

(the latter including '' Renegade'', ''

Super Dodge Ball ''Super Dodge Ball'' is a dodgeball-based sports game produced by Technos Japan Corp. originally released as an arcade game in 1987. In Japan, it was the second game starring Technos Japan's video game character Kunio-kun, following ''Nekkets ...

'' and ''

River City Ransom , released as ''River City Ransom'' in North America and ''Street Gangs'' in PAL regions, is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure beat 'em up video game developed and published by Technōs Japan for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is ...

'') as well as ''

Karate Champ , originally known as , is a fighting game developed by Technōs Japan and released in arcades by Data East in 1984. A variety of moves can be performed using the dual-joystick controls using a best-of-three matches format like later fighting ga ...

'', '' The Combatribes'' and '' Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer''. As of June 2015,

Arc System Works , commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear ...

owns the intellectual properties of Technōs Japan.

History

Initially operating from a single-room

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

, Technōs was founded in 1981 by three staff members of

Data East , also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game, pinball and electronic engineering company. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, and released 150 video game titles. At one time, the company had annual sales of 20 billion yen in ...

. Their first game was ''Minky Monkey'', released in 1982. A few months after their foundation, a lawsuit was brought up against the company by Data East under allegations that Technos had stolen data from Data East's arcade game ''Pro Tennis'' with the intent of producing and selling a bootleg of it. The two companies settled in August 1983 and Technos would go on to create two arcade games published by Data East, '' Tag Team Wrestling'' and ''

''. Technōs Japan's earlier games were published by other companies, as Technōs at the time did not have the economical resource to distribute their own games. '' Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun'' ("Hot Blooded Tough Guy Kunio"), a side-scrolling beat-em-up released in 1986 about a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

student who fought thugs and delinquents from other schools, was the company's first big hit in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. ''Kunio-kun'' was released in the west as '' Renegade'' with the game's graphics changed to make the game marketable in the overseas market. Technōs would then produce a

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

version of the game, which would be Technōs' first game for the home console market. Technōs Japan's subsequent arcade beat-em-up, ''

'', was a big success worldwide when it was released in 1987, leading to the production of an NES version of the game, as well as licensed versions by other companies for various platforms. The success of ''Kunio-kun'' led to the production of numerous

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

s and

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

s starring the same character produced for the 8-bit Family Computer platform in Japan and later for the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

and

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

, resulting in more than twenty games starring Kunio by the mid-1990s, many of which were rule-bending

sports game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with video games, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize playing the sport (such ...

s. A few ''Kunio-kun'' games were localized for the North American market; namely ''

'', ''

'' and '' Nintendo World Cup'', but none maintain any connection with each other. Technōs would attempt to remedy this by attempting to localize several ''Kunio-kun'' under the ''Crash 'n the Boys'' label, but only '' Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge'' was released (the game's ending features a teaser for ''Ice Challenge'', which was unreleased). Technōs also released two arcade sequels to ''Double Dragon'': '' Double Dragon II: The Revenge'' in 1988 and '' Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone'' in 1990 (the latter was developed by an external development team at East Technology), and produced the respective NES versions of those games, as well as '' Super Double Dragon'' in 1992, an original installment for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

. An American-produced ''Double Dragon'' animated series and a live-action film were also made as well. Outside the ''Double Dragon'' and ''Kunio-kun'' games, Technōs produced a few original games for the arcade and home markets such as '' U.S. Championship V'Ball'', '' The Combatribes'' and ''Shadow Force'', as well as two '' WWF'' arcade games ('' WWF Superstars'' and '' WWF Wrestlefest''), but most of these games (aside from the WWF arcade games) did not achieve the same kind of success that ''Kunio-kun'' and ''Double Dragon'' achieved. The company's last games were produced for the

Neo Geo The , stylized as NEO•GEO, is a video game platform released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was initially released in two ROM cartridge-based formats: an arcade system board (Multi Video System; MVS) and a home video gam ...

hardware, which include a ''

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

based on the movie, their second and last fighting game '' Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer'', and a Neo Geo sequel to ''Super Dodge Ball''. By 1996, Technōs Japan declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. Some of the developers who worked on the Neo Geo titles (including Kengo Asai) briefly worked at Face, a former affiliate of

SNK is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...

Post-bankruptcy

Following the closure, a licensing company named Million Co., Ltd was formed to purchase the former intellectual properties of Technōs Japan. Million continued to produce new games such as '' Super Dodge Ball Advance'', '' Double Dragon Advance'' and '' River City Ransom EX'' for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

, '' Super Dodgeball Brawlers'' for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

, as well as reissuing older titles via the

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

and other services. In June 2015, Arc System Works acquired all intellectual properties of Technōs Japan from Million Co., Ltd.

U.S. subsidiary

Technōs Japan had a subsidiary in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

called American Technōs Inc., which was originally located in

Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...

until 28th of February 1991 then at

Cupertino, California Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose, California, San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The ...

. American Technōs was formed in 1987, shortly after the release of ''Double Dragon'' at the arcades and published all of Technōs Japan's arcade games in North America beginning with ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge''. While the majority of Technōs Japan's console games were still licensed to other companies such as Tradewest (''Double Dragon'' and ''Super Double Dragon''),

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally founded by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from a storefront in Oyster Bay in 1987, the company built a global develop ...

(''Double Dragon II'' and ''III''), CSG Imagesoft (''Super Dodge Ball'') and even

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

(''Super Spike V'Ball'' and ''Nintendo World Cup''), American Technōs also managed to publish a few console games, namely ''River City Ransom'' and ''Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge'' for the NES, ''Super Double Dragon'' (co-published with Tradewest) and ''The Combatribes'' for the Super NES, and ''Geom Cube'' for the PlayStation. American Technōs also published '' Super Bowling'' (developed by Athena) and ''Super Pinball: Behind the Mask'' (developed by Meldac/KAZe) for the Super NES and the helicopter game ''Strike Point'' for the PlayStation. American Technōs was still operating after Technōs Japan's demise until sometime during the late 1990s. Its former president was Keiichi Iwamoto.

List of games by platforms

All games are listed by original Japanese titles unless otherwise noted.

games are listed separately from the other arcade games. This list does not take account licensed versions that were released by other companies (such as the

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

port of ''

'' and the

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

ports of the Kunio games published by Naxat Soft) or games that were produced by Million, the subsequent copyrights holder of Technōs Japan's former properties. Also, all of the following games are listed by their original Japanese release date.

Arcade

* '' Minky Monkey'': 1982 * '' Zeroize'': 1983 * '' Eggs'' (Japanese: ''Scrambled Eggs''): 9/1983 * '' Dommy'': 1983 * '' Tag Team Wrestling'' (Japanese: ''The Big Pro-Wrestling!''): 12/1983 * ''

'': 7/1984 * '' Shusse Ōzumō'': 1984 * '' Mysterious Stones'': 11/1984 * '' Acrobatic Dog-Fight'' (Japanese: ''Dog-Fight: Batten O'Hara no Sucharaka Kuuchuu-sen''): 1984 * '' Bogey Manor'': 1985 * '' Mat Mania'' (Japanese: ''Exciting Hour''): 1985 * '' Mania Challenge'': 1986 * '' Battle Lane Vol. 5'': 1986 * '' Renegade'' (Japanese: ''Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun''): 5/1986 * '' Xain'd Sleena'' (American title: ''Solar Warrior''; European title: ''Soldier of Light''): 11/1986 * ''

'': 6/1987 * ''

'' (Japanese: ''Nekketsu KōKō Dodgeball Bu''): 11/1987 * '' China Gate'' (Japanese: ''Sai Yu Gou Ma Roku''): 3/1988 * '' Double Dragon II: The Revenge'': 6/1988 * '' U.S. Championship V'Ball'': 12/1988 * '' WWF Superstars'': 7/1989 * '' Block Out'': 10/1989 * '' The Combatribes'': 6/1990 * '' Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone'' (developed by East Technology): 11/1990 * '' WWF Wrestlefest'': 7/1991 * '' Shadow Force'': 6/1993

Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System

* '' Renegade'' (Japanese: ''Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun''): 4/17/1987 * ''

'': 4/8/1988 * ''

'' (Japanese: ''Nekketsu KōKō Dodgeball Bu''): 7/26/1988 * ''

'' (Japanese: ''Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari'';

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

version: ''Street Gangs''): 4/25/1989 * '' Super Spike V'Ball'' (Japanese: ''U.S. Championship V'Ball''): 11/10/1989 * '' Double Dragon II: The Revenge'': 12/22/1989 * '' Nintendo World Cup'' (Japanese: ''Nekketsu KōKō Dodgeball Bu Soccer Hen''): 5/18/1990 * '' Downtown Nekketsu Kōshinkyoku Soreyuku Daiundōkai'': 10/12/1990 * '' Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones'' (Japanese: ''Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone''): 2/22/1991 * '' Sugoro Quest'': 6/28/1991 * '' Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki dayo Zen'in Shūgō'': 7/26/1991 * '' Ike Ike! Nekketsu Hockey Bu: Subette Koronde Dairantō'' (announced in the U.S. as ''Crash 'n the Boys: Ice Challenge'', but was unreleased): 2/7/1992 * '' Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge'' (Japanese: ''Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Harukanaru Kin Medal''): 6/26/1992 * '' Nekketsu Kakutō Densetsu'': 12/23/1992 * '' Kunio-kun no Nekketsu Soccer League'': 4/23/1993 * ''Nekketsu Street Basket: Ganbare Dunk Heroes'': 12/17/1993 * ''Block Out '': Unreleased * ''Nekketsu Kunio-Kun Zukan'': Unreleased * ''Nekketsu Yakyuu Kozou'': Unreleased * ''Xain'd Sleena'': Unreleased * ''China Gate'': Unreleased * ''Double Dragon IV: Renegade'': Unreleased

Game Boy

* ''

'': 7/20/1990 * '' Double Dragon II'' (Japanese: ''Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun: Bangai Rantō Hen'') 12/7/1990 * '' Nintendo World Cup'' (Japanese: ''Nekketsu Kōkō Soccer Bu: World Cup Hen''): 4/26/1991 * ''Nekketsu Kōkō Dodgeball Bu: Kyōteki! Dodge Soldier no Maki'' (Game Boy version of ''Super Dodge Ball'' released only in Japan): 11/8/1991 * '' Downtown Nekketsu Kōshinkyoku: Dokodemo Daiundōkai'': 7/24/1992 * '' Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Dokodemo Kin Medal'': 7/16/1993 * '' Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki dayo Zen'in Shūgō'': 12/22/1993 * '' Taiyō no Tenshi Marlowe: Ohana Batake no Dai Panic!'': 5/27/1994 * '' Nekketsu! Beach Volley dayo: Kunio-kun'': 7/29/1994

Super NES/Super Famicom

* '' Shodai Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun'': 8/7/1992 * '' Super Double Dragon'' (Japanese: ''Return of Double Dragon''): 10/16/1992 * '' The Combatribes'': 12/23/1992 * '' Kunio-kun no Dodgeball dayo Zen'in Shūgō'': 8/6/1993 * '' Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Challenge'': 12/17/1993 * '' Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka'' (developed by Almanic): 4/29/1994 * '' Kunio no Oden'': 5/27/1994 * '' Popeye: Ijiwaru Majo Sea Hag no Maki'': 8/12/1994 * '' Funaki Masakatsu no Hybrid Wrestler: Tōgi Denshō'': 10/21/1994 * '' Sugoro Quest ++: Dicenics'': 12/9/1994 * '' Dun Quest: Mashin Fūin no Densetsu'': 7/21/1995 * ''Kunio no Bike Racing: Nekketsu Bari Bari Kouttotai'': Unreleased

Game Gear

* '' Popeye: Beach Volleyball'': 8/12/1994

PlayStation

* '' Geom Cube'' (3D puzzle game similar to '' Blockout''): 12/22/1994

Neo Geo

* ''

'': 2/1995 * '' Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer'' (Japanese: ''Chōjin Gakuen Gowcaizer''): 9/1995 * ''

'' (Japanese: ''Kunio no Nekketsu Dodgeball Densetsu''): 1996 * ''High Voltage 12+1'': Unreleased * ''Death Match'': Unreleased * ''DarkSeed''/''Dragon's Heaven'' (co-developed with Face): Unreleased

References

External links

Technōs Japan Portal Website
official website
Polish Nekketsu Community
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Technos Japan Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Japan Video game companies established in 1981 Video game companies disestablished in 1996 Defunct video game companies of Japan Japanese companies established in 1981 Japanese companies disestablished in 1996 Software companies based in Tokyo Video game development companies