Treasure

Treasure Co. Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer founded by former employees of Konami on June 19, 1992. Though their staff is and always has been small in number when compared to better-known game developers, they remain to be a popular development team among seasoned gamers because of their reputation for unique and action-packed games.

Foundation
The individuals that formed Treasure had up until that time been employed under Konami. It is said that these individuals had decided to leave the company because they wished to create games without being restricted to developing cookie-cutter sequels and clones of existing types of games. Though Treasure has developed games in a variety of familiar genres, they are most-often praised for their innovation in high action games such as Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Radiant Silvergun, Sin and Punishment, and Ikaruga.

The Early Years
After their foundation, Treasure began developing titles for the Sega Genesis. Treasure's first 7 games were all published by Sega and appeared exclusively on Sega hardware. Moreover, Sega appears to hold the copyrights for all of Treasure's original franchises created during this time, as their Game Boy Advance sequel to Guardian Heroes has "ORIGINAL GAME (C) SEGA CORPORATION" slapped onto the title screen and most promotional material. It can be assumed that whatever publishing deal Treasure made with Sega during their first 4 years as an independent company had them serving as a 2nd party to Sega for this period of time. Though they have developed games for a variety of consoles and publishers since then, they have retained a friendly relationship with Sega and continue to publish a number of their new games through them. In what appears to be a move to exploit, or simply poke fun at, Sega's holdings on their original franchises, Treasure has included in Gunstar Super Heroes multiple throwbacks to classic Sega games that they had nothing to do with, including segments based on Afterburner, Galaxy Force, and Flicky.

Though their early games never benefited from much of an advertising push or mainstream hype, their first game, Gunstar Heroes, was an instant hit with many video game fans of the era and has been praised as a top-tier game for the Sega Genesis and an experience in many ways unique to this day. Their following games, though not always as highly acclaimed, built on their reputation of taking familiar genres and concepts and adding in quirky features and mechanics to make a unique final product.

Myths
As the years passed by, Treasure began to solidify a small but fanatic fanbase. In a magazine interview concerning Radiant Silvergun, CEO Masato Maegawa was asked why Treasure had not expressed any interest in creating a sequel to any of their previous games. Maegawa explained that Treasure intends to make each of their games "a complete piece of work." This response, coupled with the accepted notion that Treasure was founded because they didn't want to constantly make Konami sequels, led many fans to believe that it was a company policy of theirs to never make a sequel at all. This caused some to be upset with the announcements of Advance Guardian Heroes and Gunstar Super Heroes, which they perceived to be an abandonment of principle. Maegawa had stated in the previously mentioned interview, however, that he would not be opposed to revisiting past games if he thought a sequel could offer something new and worthwhile.

Games
MD = Sega Mega Drive (aka Sega Genesis) GG = Sega Game Gear SAT = Sega Saturn DC = Sega Dreamcast STV = Sega Titan arcade board (based on Saturn hardware) NAOMI = Sega Naomi arcade board (based on Dreamcast hardware) NES = Nintendo Entertainment System (aka Famicom) SNES = Super Nintendo Entertainment System (aka Super Famicom) N64 = Nintendo 64 GCN = Nintendo GameCube GB = Game Boy GBA = Game Boy Advance PSX = PlayStation PS2 = PlayStation 2 ARC = unspecified arcade hardware

JP = Japan NA = North America PAL = PAL regions (includes Europe and Australia)

Format: "title [alternate title] (year of first publication - platform - region)"

Games developed by Treasure
The following is a complete list of all games developed by Treasure from their founding through the year 2005.


 * Gunstar Heroes (1993 - MD/GG - JP/NA/PAL)
 * McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (1993 - MD - JP/NA)
 * Dynamite Headdy (1994 - MD/GG - JP/NA)
 * Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen (1994 - MD - JP)
 * Alien Soldier (1995 - MD - JP/PAL)
 * Light Crusader (1995 - MD - JP/NA)
 * Guardian Heroes (1996 - SAT - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Mischief Makers [Yuke Yuke!! Troublemakers] (1997 - N64 - JP/NA)
 * Silhouette Mirage: Reprogrammed Hope (1997 - SAT/PSX - JP/NA)
 * Radiant Silvergun (1998 - STV/SAT - JP)
 * Rakugaki Showtime (1999 - PSX - JP)
 * Bangai-O [Bakuretesu Muteki Bangaioh] (1999 - N64/DC - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Magical Hearts: The GunBeat (2000 - NAOMI - cancelled)
 * Silpheed: The Lost Planet (2000 - PS2 - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (2000 - N64 - JP)
 * Stretch Panic [Freak Out / Hippa Linda] (2001 - PS2 - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Ikaruga (2001 - NAOMI/DC/GCN - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Bad Dream (2002 - GBA - PAL)
 * Hajime no Ippo: THE FIGHTING (2002 - GBA - JP)
 * Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Universe (2002 - ??? - cancelled)
 * Wario World (2003 - GCN - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Dragon Drive D-Masters Shot (2003 - GCN - JP)
 * Astro Boy: Omega Factor (2003 - GBA - JP/NA)
 * Gradius V (2004 - PS2 - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Advance Guardian Heroes (2004 - GBA - JP/NA/PAL)
 * Gunstar Super Heroes (2005 - GBA - release pending)

Games developed in-part by Treasure employees (before foundation)
The following games were developed by Konami prior to the founding of Treasure. At least one Treasure employee has been confirmed to have worked on each of these games. Contrary to popular belief, however, Treasure employees were not responsible for the majority of the work in any of these games, except possibly Bucky O'Hare.


 * Castlevania: The Adventure (1989 - GB)
 * Aliens (1990 - ARC)
 * Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (1991 - GB)
 * Contra (1991 - GB)
 * The Simpsons (1991 - ARC)
 * Super Castlevania IV (1991 - SNES)
 * Thunder Cross II (1991 - ARC)
 * Axelay (1992 - SNES)
 * Bucky O'Hare (1992 - ARC/NES)
 * Contra 3: The Alien Wars (1992 - SNES)
 * Tiny Toons: Babs' Big Break (1992 - GB)
 * Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa (1992 - ARC)

Games developed in-part by Treasure employees (after foundation)
Treasure staff members that would join at later dates had previously worked on these titles.


 * Cybernator (1993 - SNES)
 * Rocket Knight Adventures (1993 - MD)
 * Classic Collection* (199? - MD)
 * Magic Knight Rayearth (1995 - SAT)
 * NiGHTS into dreams (1996 - SAT)
 * Shining Wisdom (1996 - SAT)
 * Sonic Jam (1997 - SAT)

"Classic Collection" is a PAL-only Megadrive compilation that includes Gunstar Heroes.

Games unrelated to Treasure
Some of the following Konami games are sometimes attributed to Treasure staff, but no Treasure employees past or present are known to have worked on any of them.


 * Gyruss (1983 - ARC)
 * Lifeforce (1986 - ARC)
 * Ajax (1987 - ARC)
 * Contra (1988 - NES)
 * Super Contra (1988 - ARC)
 * Super C (19?? - NES)
 * Thunder Cross (1988 - ARC)
 * Crime Fighters (1989 - ARC)
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989 - ARC)
 * Parodius DA! (1990 - ARC)
 * Sunset Riders (1991 - ARC)
 * G.I. Joe (1992 - ARC)
 * X-Men (1992 - ARC)
 * The Adventures of Batman and Robin (199? - SNES)
 * Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! (1993 - SNES)
 * Contra: Hard Corps (1994 - MD)

Employee Information
The following is a partial list of noteworthy Treasure employees, along with their common alias and primary roles. Since Treasure is often signed on to do licensed work and collaborative efforts with other companies, it can be difficult to determine whether certain staff members are employed by Treasure or under another company that they happen to be working with at the time.


 * Hisashi Fujita - graphics, designer
 * Norio Hanzawa [Non] - music
 * Kazuhiko Ishida* [Knig Ishida] - assistant programmer
 * Hiroshi Iuchi - director, background art
 * Tetsuhiko Kikuchi [Han] - graphics, art direction
 * Kouichi Kimura - designer
 * Naoki Kitagawa [Naokiman] - designer
 * Masato Maegawa - CEO, producer, programmer
 * Yoshiyuki Matsumoto [Yaiman] - programmer
 * Satoshi Murata - sound effects
 * Atsutomo Nakagawa - programmer
 * Satoshi Nakai - background designer
 * Makoto Ogino [Dad Onigon] - graphics
 * Kaname Shindoh* - graphics assistance
 * Hideyuki Suganami* [Nami] - enemy/boss programmer
 * Nazo Suzuki* - music
 * Yasushi Suzuki* [E-Suzuki] - art direction, designer

An asterisk (*) denotes somebody who no longer appears to be employed by Treasure.