Gaijin Games
Gaijin Games is an independent video game development studio, best known for their Bit.Trip series of video games. The studio was founded in 2007 by Alex Neuse, Mike Roush, and Chris Osborn and is located in Santa Cruz, California.
History
Gaijin Games initially emerged in 2004. The founder, Alex Neuse, had been employed at LucasArts since 1997, but after the project he had been working on was cancelled, Neuse decided that he wanted greater creative freedom, which spurred him to create his own studio. However, the company was unable to acquire sufficient funds or support from a publisher, and all of its development endeavours were halted indefinitely when Neuse was offered the position of creative director at Santa Cruz Games. While working there, he became friends with artist Mike Roush and programmer Chris Osborn. Neuse was involved in the development of several games tied in to licensed properties, but he became dissatisfied with the restrictions on his creativity. He found that Roush and Osborn shared his philosophies of game design, particularly his affinity for Atari 2600 software. Subsequently, the trio quit their jobs at Santa Cruz to start up Gaijin Games again.[1]
Neuse had a variety of game ideas that he had sketched out in a notebook, which he pitched to Roush and Osborn. Eventually, they settled on their favourite six concepts and formed the idea of a series called '8-Bit: A series of six new classics in the 8-bit style for humans who enjoy fun'. Gaijin signed a publishing deal with Aksys Games, then ditched the previous title in favour of BIT.TRIP and began development on the first title. Danny Johnson joined Gaijin during the fifth game in the series, and after all six games in the series were completed, Osborn left Gaijin Games to join another independent studio known as Tracer. Between the fifth and sixth games, Gaijin collaborated with Different Cloth to bring an iPhone/iPod Touch game, lilt line, to the WiiWare service.
Following the climax of the BIT.TRIP series, Gaijin Games announced that they are very interested in developing games for the Nintendo 3DS and have since obtained development kits for the handheld device. Their first 3DS title was released in 2011 and was revealed to be a compilation of the six BIT.TRIP games called Bit.Trip Saga.[2] In February of 2011, the studio also absorbed the small-time developer Robotube, founded by Jason Cirillo[3] - Roush explained this move as an effort to branch out into "more experimental, casual games." The first game under the Robotube brand, "Destructamundo", will be released in early 2014.[4]
Games
Bit.Trip series
| Game Title | Release | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bit.Trip Beat | March 16, 2009 | Linux, Android, iPad, iPhone, OS X, WiiWare, Windows | |
| Bit.Trip Core | July 6, 2009 | OS X, WiiWare, Windows | |
| Bit.Trip Void | October 27, 2009 | OS X, WiiWare, Windows | |
| Bit.Trip Runner | May 14, 2010 | Linux, OS X, WiiWare, Windows | |
| Bit.Trip Fate | October 25, 2010 | OS X, WiiWare, Windows | |
| Bit.Trip Flux | February 25, 2011 | WiiWare | |
| Bit.Trip Saga[5] | September 13, 2011 | Nintendo 3DS | Enhanced compilation of the six original Bit.Trip games |
| Bit.Trip Complete[6] | September 13, 2011 | Nintendo Wii | Enhanced compilation of the six original Bit.Trip games |
| Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien[7] | February 26, 2013[8] | Linux, OS X, PlayStation Network, Wii U, Windows, Xbox Live Arcade | A HD sequel to Runner |
Other
| Game Title | Release | Platform | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lilt Line | December 13, 2010 | WiiWare | Published WiiWare version, developed by Different Cloth |
| Bloktonik | June 15, 2011 | iPad | Published iOS version, developed by Robotube Games |
Reference list
- ↑ Wahlgren, Jon. "The History of BIT.TRIP, Part 1". Nintendo Life.
- ↑ by JC Fletcher on Apr 28th 2011 8:02PM (2011-04-28). "Bit.Trip Saga brings all six of CommanderVideo's adventures together on 3DS". Joystiq. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
- ↑ North, Dale. "Gaijin Games acquires Robotube Games".
- ↑ Hinkle, David. "Destructamundo is a game about interplanetary destruction from Robotube Games".
- ↑ Tiny Cartridge. "Bit.Trip Saga announced for Nintendo 3DS,... - Tiny Cartridge - Nintendo 3DS, DSi, & DS News, Media, Videos, Imports, Homebrew, & Retro Junk". Tiny Cartridge. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
- ↑ Klepek, Patrick. "Bit.Trip Saga, Bit.Trip Complete Get Bit.Trippy in September". Giant Bomb.
- ↑ "Bit.Trip Runner is getting a strange-looking HD sequel". Destructoid. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
- ↑ Jackson, Perry (2012-08-03). "Bit.Trip Presents: Runner 2 slides into 2013". xblafans.com. Retrieved 2012-12-03.