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Arcade
Gururin [Neo Geo MVS] (Manufacturer: Face)
Zunzunkyou no Yabou (Manufacturer: Sega)

Game Gear
Baku Baku Animal / Baku Baku (game program, under subcontract from SIMS) (JP/US Publisher: Sega)
Crayon Shin-chan: Taiketsu! Quantum Panic!! (under subcontract from SIMS) (JP Publisher: Bandai)
Dynamite Headdy (JP/US/EU Publisher: Sega)
Kaitou Saint Tail (under subcontract from SIMS) (JP Publisher: Sega)
Quiz Gear Fight!!, The (JP Publisher: Sega)
Sonic Labyrinth (under subcontract from SIMS) (JP/US Publisher: Sega)
Yuu Yuu Hakusho II: Keikitou! Nanakyou no Tatakai (JP Publisher: Sega)

Master System
Baku Baku (game program, under subcontract from SIMS) (BR Publisher: Tec Toy)
Dynamite Headdy (BR Publisher: Tec Toy)

PlayStation
Super Robot Shooting (JP Publisher: Banpresto)

Super Famicom/Super NES
Akagawa Jirou: Majotachi no Nemuri (JP Publisher: Pack-In-Video)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

How did you come up with the name "Minato Giken?"

Whoa, hold on there, Sparky. Let's go back. You may remember me saying in the Sanritsu/SIMS thread that "Baku Baku" (GG) and "Sonic Labyrinth" (SMS) looked to be by the same team, but it did not look to be a SIMS team (though it was obvious to me that SIMS produced and designed these games). Now, take a look at these credits. Learn them. Bathe with them. Make love to them.

Baku Baku Animal / Baku Baku (GG/SMS)

Producer Kimberly Rogers
Executive Director Noboru Machida
Director Hideki Katagiri
Planner Tsutomu Morishita
Designer Hiroko Katou (Hiroko Katoh)
Tsutomu Morishita
Programmer Kenichi Iwanaga
Noboru Honda
Sound Masahiro Itou (Masaharu Ito)
Advisor Hideo Yamaguchi
Nobuo Matsushita
Lead Tester John Jansen
Assistant Lead
Testers George Sandoval
John James
Roger DeForest
Ward Farris
Testers Dave Paniagua
Eddie Ramirez
Jack Amato
Janine Cook
Joe Rousseu
Rick Greer
Scott Crisostomo
Squidlo
Tony Lynch
Special Thanks Akira Inoue
Akitatsu Saitou (Akitatsu Saito)
Atsuko Iwanaga
Bill Onderdonk
Chizuka Gotou (Chizuka Goto)
Cindy Hardgrave
Kaori Hijiya
Kazuhiro Tanaka
Keiko Sueyoshi
Keiko Tamura
Masako Araki
Masayuki Oota (Masayuki Ota)
Michiya Kameda
Michiyo Morohoshi
Noriyuki Tabata
Shuuichi Sekimoto (Syuichi Sekimoto)
Takashi Ueshima
Vy Nong
Youko Yanagisawa (Yoko Yanagisawa)
and You

Gururin (AC)

Planning / Producer Kenichi Iwanaga (K. Iwanaga)
Programmers Kenichi Iwanaga (K. Iwanaga)
Noriyuki Tabata (N. Tabata)
Kaori Hijiya (K. Hiziya)
Graphic designers Michiyo Morohoshi (M. Molohosi)
Kenichi Kumakura (K. Kumakura)
Masako Araki (M. Araki)
Sound K. Sugai
Atsuko Iwanaga (A. Iwanaga)
Sound programmer Junya Kozakai (J. Kosakai)

Sonic Labyrinth (GG)

Director Noboru Machida (N. Machida)
Hideki Katagiri (H. Katagiri)
Planner Kazuhiro Tanaka (K. Tanaka)
Programmer Kenichi Iwanaga (K. Iwanaga)
Y. Kataoka
Programmer Akira Inoue (A. Inoue)
Takashi Ueshima (T. Ueshima)
Designer K. Kayajima
Designer Kazuhiro Tanaka (K. Tanaka)
Keiko Tamura (K. Tamura)
Sound Programmer Atsuko Iwanaga (A. Iwanaga)
Special Thanks Nobuo Matsushita (N. Matsushima)
S. Yoshihara
Kenichi Kumakura (K. Kumakura)
Noriyuki Tabata (N. Tabata)
Masako Araki (M. Araki)
Naoki Gotou (N. Gotoh)
Youko Yanagisawa (Y. Yanagisawa)
Akemi Matsumoto (A. Matsumoto)
Michiyo Morohoshi (M. Morohoshi)
Noboru Honda (N. Honda)
Kaori Hijiya (K. Hijiya)
Masayuki Oota (M. Ohta)
Kouhei Mine (K. Mine)
H. Ozaki
T. Takinoue

While you're still burping these credits up, I digested them months ago. Comparing "Sonic Labyrinth" to "Gururin," I initially figured it was done by Face. But later, I found that Face likely outsourced their development to other companies (see Sankindo). So I backed off of that notion and was now at a dead end.

Until about 2 days ago...As I was doing some hard-nosed game developer-type research, I found the credits for a PC Engine game called "Zipang" (here), developed by Arc Co., Ltd. I saw Kenichi Iwanaga! I saw Noriyuki Tabata! I saw Atsuko Iwanaga! Yes, I had finally found the mystery SIMS/Face subcontractor.

I was pretty sure of myself...but not for long. Shortly after, I found the credits to 1997's Banpresto-published "Super Robot Shooting" (SRS) for the PS1 (here). These were certainly interesting. And they were awfully similar to the credits in "Sonic Labyrinth" and "Baku Baku." So I thought this was done by Arc.

Then came another wrinkle. It turns out that Arc became Arc System Works. A colleague and I looked at the credits from a 1995 PS1 game it developed, "Exector." They weren't recognizable at all. So we agreed; surely, Arc System Works couldn't have made SRS, or lukewarm GG games.

So was I at a dead end again? Well, not quite. The credits to SRS had special thanks to four companies:

MINATOGIKEN
DEWS
STUDIO STAT
BANPRESTO CONSUMER
DIVISION STAFF

Process of elimination. Banpresto was the publisher. Studio Stat is a debugging company. I couldn't find anything on Dews. But I did find something interesting when I searched for Minato Giken. It turns out it had created the arcade game "Zunzunkyou no Yabou" for Sega. Says so right on the title screen.

With that bit of information, I fingered Minato Giken as our mystery developer.

I don't know. That seems like a bit of a stretch!

Just for fun, let's compare the high score initials in "Zunzunkyo no Yabou" to those in "Gururin."

Zunzunkyou no Yabou:
IWA - Iwanaga?
MOR - Michiyo Morohoshi?
OTA - Masayuki Ota?

Gururin:
IWA - Iwanaga?
MOR - Michiyo Morohoshi?

Added:
Crayon Shin-chan: Taiketsu! Quantum Panic!! (Game Gear)
Kaitou Saint Tail (Game Gear)
Akagawa Jirou: Majotachi no Nemuri (Super Famicom/NES)

Kaitou Saint Tail (GG)

Original Work Megumi Tachikawa
Director Noboru Machida
Planner Kazuhiro Tanaka
Programmer Noboru Honda
Kenichi Iwanaga
Kouhei Mine
Graphic Kazuhiro Tanaka
Keiko Tamura
Sound Effect Atsuko Iwanaga
Sound Compose Mika Nozawa
Special Thanks Hideki Katagiri
Nobuo Matsushima
Tetsuya Takei
Kengo Arai
Tsutomu Morishita
Hiroko Katou
Kouichi Yoshinaga
Yasuhisa Nakagawa
Noriyuki Tabata
Masako Araki
Youko Yanagisawa
Akemi Matsumoto
Keiko Sueyoshi
Naoki Gotou
Michiyo Morohoshi
Yuuki Satou
Kaori Hijiya
Masayuki Oota
Takashi Ueshima
Michiya Kameda
Kenichi Kumakura
Shuuichi Sekimoto
Chizuka Gotou
Akitatsu Saitou
Hideo Saitou
Akira Inoue

Amazing.

- Further proof that Sonic Labyrinth was by Minato Giken: You'll actually find the word "MINATO" in the ROM.

- Also, it looks like "Yuu Yuu Hakusho II: Keikitou! Nanakyou no Tatakai" for the Game Gear is a Minato Giken game, or it at least sounds like it. The Video Game Museum has the ending with some credits. The staffers you can see don't look to be Minato Giken people, but the most important ones are missing - namely the programmers and sound people. There's no mistaking the sound (for example, it shares the same "press start" sound effect as Minato's other GG games).

"Quiz Gear Fight!!, The" (GG) and "Dynamite Headdy" (GG/SMS) added to the list

CRV wrote

"Quiz Gear Fight!!, The" (GG) and "Dynamite Headdy" (GG/SMS) added to the list

Aw, no explanation of the weird convoluted process that brought Headdy into the fray? I have to say I was particuarly impressed with that bit of detective work. :)

DJ Squarewave wrote

Aw, no explanation of the weird convoluted process that brought Headdy into the fray? I have to say I was particuarly impressed with that bit of detective work. :)

Okay...One of the programmers on "Dynamite Headdy" is Ken Matudaira. The sound person is Ako Matudaira. One of the programmers from Minato Giken is Kenichi Iwanaga. Usually, the sound person on Minato games is Atsuko Iwanaga.

Ken Matudaira = Kenichi Iwanaga
Ako Matudaira = Atsuko Iwanaga

It helps that "Headdy" came up in one of DJSW's code comparisons of Minato games. Also helps that "Headdy" shares sound effects with other Minato games.

Does anybody have the PS2 SDI/Quartet collection...thing? According to this page, Ken'ichi Iwanaga (who turns up on many Minato games) was the main programmer on AC Quartet. Whatever it is they're talking about apparently has comments from the people on that list. I'd like to know what Iwanaga said...

Thanks.

Found former Minato graphic artist Kazuhiro Tanaka's profile:
http://homepage3.nifty.com/tanakazu/NEW/profile01.html

He worked on a few Game Gear games there:
Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Horobishi Mono no Gyakushuu
Yuu Yuu Hakusho II: Gekitou! Nanakyou no Tatakai
Crayon Shin-chan: Taiketsu! Quantum Panic!!
Sonic Labyrinth
Kaitou Saint Tail

An older work history with additional comments:
http://homepage3.nifty.com/tanakazu/hp1/shokureki_x1.htm

Author	Message
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Whodunit: Minato Giken Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:12 pm Last edited by CRV on Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:48 am; edited 3 times in total
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Arcade Gururin [Neo Geo MVS] (Manufacturer: Face) Zunzunkyou no Yabou (Manufacturer: Sega) *Game Gear* Baku Baku Animal / Baku Baku (game program, under subcontract from SIMS) (JP/US Publisher: Sega) Crayon Shin-chan: Taiketsu! Quantum Panic!! (under subcontract from SIMS) (JP Publisher: Bandai) Dynamite Headdy (JP/US/EU Publisher: Sega) Kaitou Saint Tail (under subcontract from SIMS) (JP Publisher: Sega) Quiz Gear Fight!!, The (JP Publisher: Sega) Sonic Labyrinth (under subcontract from SIMS) (JP/US Publisher: Sega) Yuu Yuu Hakusho II: Keikitou! Nanakyou no Tatakai (JP Publisher: Sega) *Master System* Baku Baku (game program, under subcontract from SIMS) (BR Publisher: Tec Toy) Dynamite Headdy (BR Publisher: Tec Toy) PlayStation Super Robot Shooting (JP Publisher: Banpresto) Super Famicom/Super NES Akagawa Jirou: Majotachi no Nemuri (JP Publisher: Pack-In-Video) ----------------------------------------------------------------- How did you come up with the name "Minato Giken?" Whoa, hold on there, Sparky. Let's go back. You may remember me saying in the Sanritsu/SIMS thread that "Baku Baku" (GG) and "Sonic Labyrinth" (SMS) looked to be by the same team, but it did not look to be a SIMS team (though it was obvious to me that SIMS produced and designed these games). Now, take a look at these credits. Learn them. Bathe with them. Make love to them. Baku Baku Animal / Baku Baku (GG/SMS) Producer Kimberly Rogers Executive Director Noboru Machida Director Hideki Katagiri Planner Tsutomu Morishita Designer Hiroko Katou (Hiroko Katoh) Tsutomu Morishita Programmer Kenichi Iwanaga Noboru Honda Sound Masahiro Itou (Masaharu Ito) Advisor Hideo Yamaguchi Nobuo Matsushita Lead Tester John Jansen Assistant Lead Testers George Sandoval John James Roger DeForest Ward Farris Testers Dave Paniagua Eddie Ramirez Jack Amato Janine Cook Joe Rousseu Rick Greer Scott Crisostomo Squidlo Tony Lynch Special Thanks Akira Inoue Akitatsu Saitou (Akitatsu Saito) Atsuko Iwanaga Bill Onderdonk Chizuka Gotou (Chizuka Goto) Cindy Hardgrave Kaori Hijiya Kazuhiro Tanaka Keiko Sueyoshi Keiko Tamura Masako Araki Masayuki Oota (Masayuki Ota) Michiya Kameda Michiyo Morohoshi Noriyuki Tabata Shuuichi Sekimoto (Syuichi Sekimoto) Takashi Ueshima Vy Nong Youko Yanagisawa (Yoko Yanagisawa) and You Gururin (AC) Planning / Producer Kenichi Iwanaga (K. Iwanaga) Programmers Kenichi Iwanaga (K. Iwanaga) Noriyuki Tabata (N. Tabata) Kaori Hijiya (K. Hiziya) Graphic designers Michiyo Morohoshi (M. Molohosi) Kenichi Kumakura (K. Kumakura) Masako Araki (M. Araki) Sound K. Sugai Atsuko Iwanaga (A. Iwanaga) Sound programmer Junya Kozakai (J. Kosakai) Sonic Labyrinth (GG) Director Noboru Machida (N. Machida) Hideki Katagiri (H. Katagiri) Planner Kazuhiro Tanaka (K. Tanaka) Programmer Kenichi Iwanaga (K. Iwanaga) Y. Kataoka Programmer Akira Inoue (A. Inoue) Takashi Ueshima (T. Ueshima) Designer K. Kayajima Designer Kazuhiro Tanaka (K. Tanaka) Keiko Tamura (K. Tamura) Sound Programmer Atsuko Iwanaga (A. Iwanaga) Special Thanks Nobuo Matsushita (N. Matsushima) S. Yoshihara Kenichi Kumakura (K. Kumakura) Noriyuki Tabata (N. Tabata) Masako Araki (M. Araki) Naoki Gotou (N. Gotoh) Youko Yanagisawa (Y. Yanagisawa) Akemi Matsumoto (A. Matsumoto) Michiyo Morohoshi (M. Morohoshi) Noboru Honda (N. Honda) Kaori Hijiya (K. Hijiya) Masayuki Oota (M. Ohta) Kouhei Mine (K. Mine) H. Ozaki T. Takinoue While you're still burping these credits up, I digested them months ago. Comparing "Sonic Labyrinth" to "Gururin," I initially figured it was done by Face. But later, I found that Face likely outsourced their development to other companies (see Sankindo). So I backed off of that notion and was now at a dead end. Until about 2 days ago...As I was doing some hard-nosed game developer-type research, I found the credits for a PC Engine game called "Zipang" (here), developed by Arc Co., Ltd. I saw Kenichi Iwanaga! I saw Noriyuki Tabata! I saw Atsuko Iwanaga! Yes, I had finally found the mystery SIMS/Face subcontractor. I was pretty sure of myself...but not for long. Shortly after, I found the credits to 1997's Banpresto-published "Super Robot Shooting" (SRS) for the PS1 (here). These were certainly interesting. And they were awfully similar to the credits in "Sonic Labyrinth" and "Baku Baku." So I thought this was done by Arc. Then came another wrinkle. It turns out that Arc became Arc System Works. A colleague and I looked at the credits from a 1995 PS1 game it developed, "Exector." They weren't recognizable at all. So we agreed; surely, Arc System Works couldn't have made SRS, or lukewarm GG games. So was I at a dead end again? Well, not quite. The credits to SRS had special thanks to four companies: MINATOGIKEN DEWS STUDIO STAT BANPRESTO CONSUMER DIVISION STAFF Process of elimination. Banpresto was the publisher. Studio Stat is a debugging company. I couldn't find anything on Dews. But I did find something interesting when I searched for Minato Giken. It turns out it had created the arcade game "Zunzunkyou no Yabou" for Sega. Says so right on the title screen. With that bit of information, I fingered Minato Giken as our mystery developer. I don't know. That seems like a bit of a stretch! Just for fun, let's compare the high score initials in "Zunzunkyo no Yabou" to those in "Gururin." Zunzunkyou no Yabou: IWA - Iwanaga? MOR - Michiyo Morohoshi? OTA - Masayuki Ota? Gururin: IWA - Iwanaga? MOR - Michiyo Morohoshi?

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:18 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Added: Crayon Shin-chan: Taiketsu! Quantum Panic!! (Game Gear) Kaitou Saint Tail (Game Gear) Akagawa Jirou: Majotachi no Nemuri (Super Famicom/NES) Kaitou Saint Tail (GG) Original Work Megumi Tachikawa Director Noboru Machida Planner Kazuhiro Tanaka Programmer Noboru Honda Kenichi Iwanaga Kouhei Mine Graphic Kazuhiro Tanaka Keiko Tamura Sound Effect Atsuko Iwanaga Sound Compose Mika Nozawa Special Thanks Hideki Katagiri Nobuo Matsushima Tetsuya Takei Kengo Arai Tsutomu Morishita Hiroko Katou Kouichi Yoshinaga Yasuhisa Nakagawa Noriyuki Tabata Masako Araki Youko Yanagisawa Akemi Matsumoto Keiko Sueyoshi Naoki Gotou Michiyo Morohoshi Yuuki Satou Kaori Hijiya Masayuki Oota Takashi Ueshima Michiya Kameda Kenichi Kumakura Shuuichi Sekimoto Chizuka Gotou Akitatsu Saitou Hideo Saitou Akira Inoue

idrougge Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Posts: 360 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:34 pm
	Amazing.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:25 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	- Further proof that Sonic Labyrinth was by Minato Giken: You'll actually find the word "MINATO" in the ROM. - Also, it looks like "Yuu Yuu Hakusho II: Keikitou! Nanakyou no Tatakai" for the Game Gear is a Minato Giken game, or it at least sounds like it. The Video Game Museum has the ending with some credits. The staffers you can see don't look to be Minato Giken people, but the most important ones are missing - namely the programmers and sound people. There's no mistaking the sound (for example, it shares the same "press start" sound effect as Minato's other GG games).

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 11:55 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	"Quiz Gear Fight!!, The" (GG) and "Dynamite Headdy" (GG/SMS) added to the list

DJ Squarewave Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 4 Location: California	Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:02 pm
	CRV wrote "Quiz Gear Fight!!, The" (GG) and "Dynamite Headdy" (GG/SMS) added to the list Aw, no explanation of the weird convoluted process that brought Headdy into the fray? I have to say I was particuarly impressed with that bit of detective work. :)

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:13 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	DJ Squarewave wrote Aw, no explanation of the weird convoluted process that brought Headdy into the fray? I have to say I was particuarly impressed with that bit of detective work. :) Okay...One of the programmers on "Dynamite Headdy" is Ken Matudaira. The sound person is Ako Matudaira. One of the programmers from Minato Giken is Kenichi Iwanaga. Usually, the sound person on Minato games is Atsuko Iwanaga. Ken Matudaira = Kenichi Iwanaga Ako Matudaira = Atsuko Iwanaga It helps that "Headdy" came up in one of DJSW's code comparisons of Minato games. Also helps that "Headdy" shares sound effects with other Minato games.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:50 am
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Does anybody have the PS2 SDI/Quartet collection...thing? According to this page, Ken'ichi Iwanaga (who turns up on many Minato games) was the main programmer on AC Quartet. Whatever it is they're talking about apparently has comments from the people on that list. I'd like to know what Iwanaga said... Thanks.

CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:32 pm
CRV Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 668	Found former Minato graphic artist Kazuhiro Tanaka's profile: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tanakazu/NEW/profile01.html He worked on a few Game Gear games there: Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Horobishi Mono no Gyakushuu Yuu Yuu Hakusho II: Gekitou! Nanakyou no Tatakai Crayon Shin-chan: Taiketsu! Quantum Panic!! Sonic Labyrinth Kaitou Saint Tail An older work history with additional comments: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tanakazu/hp1/shokureki_x1.htm

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