Quintet (company)

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Quintet Co., Ltd.
Type Public
Industry Video game industry
Founded July 1987 / April 1989
Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
Key people Tomoyoshi Miyazaki
Masaya Hashimoto
Products Legacy of the Wizard
ActRaiser
Soul Blazer
Illusion of Gaia
Terranigma
The Granstream Saga
(See release history for full listing.)
Website www.quintet.co.jp (defunct - Internet Archive link)

Quintet Co., Ltd. (株式会社クインテット Kabushiki gaisha Kuintetto), is a Japanese video game developer, founded in April 1989. The company name is derived from musical terminology, as well as 5 elements of game design — planning, graphics, sound, programmers and producers. Quintet was most active in the 1990s, when it had a strong relationship with Enix (now incorporated into Square Enix); the company was also a member of GD-NET group of Sega Saturn developers. The current status of Quintet is unclear but it is believed to be defunct around 2000-2002.

Company background

The director and president of Quintet is Tomoyoshi Miyazaki, the scenario writer for the first three entries of Nihon Falcom's classic Ys series. Masaya Hashimoto, the main director, designer and programmer for those same Ys titles, is also a member. The first game that the company was credited for was Falcom's Dragon Slayer action role-playing game title Legacy of the Wizard (Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family), released in July 1987, despite the company's official founding in 1989.[1] Nevertheless, thanks to the Ys connection, composer Yuzo Koshiro (also an Ys veteran) lent his talents to the score of the company's official inaugural title, ActRaiser, a soundtrack which has since been adapted for orchestra. Koshiro's sister, Ayano Koshiro, drew the character designs.

The later releases of Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma, known to fans as the Soul Blazer Trilogy, established a defining feature of Quintet games — the strong, sometimes dark themes addressed in their titles. Quintet's games frequently revolve around a conflict between a being that brings destruction and a being that controls creation as symbols of duality. The world has two aspects which both oppose and complement each other, and everything in existence is built upon that relationship. Unflinching portrayals of the suffering and sacrifices that are a part of life set Quintet games apart, and have attracted many fans. However, around 2000, release of games that contained characteristic Quintet themes declined. Currently, the company appears to have been inactive since 2002.[1]

Mysterious silence

There was an active bulletin board on the official site until March 29, 2002 (the release date of the Game Boy Advance action RPG Magical Houshin, the counterpart to the Gamecube-title Battle Houshin (Mystic Heroes in North America)). In response to angry comments from fans made impatient by the lack of news, Quintet staff posted: "As we cannot currently release any information, we will close this bulletin board." (現在は外部に提供できる情報がなく、また掲示板は閉鎖する Genzai wa gaibu ni teikyō dekiru jōhō ga naku, mata keijiban wa heisa suru) Afterward, the bulletin board was shut down. In March 2008, Quintet's website was also shut down.

Recent activity

Since 2002, games have been released that credit Quintet staff members, but make no mention of Quintet as a company. Tomoyoshi Miyazaki is credited on Mystic Heroes (GBA) from Koei, and another Quintet staff member worked as a sound designer on four Game Boy Advance installments of Banpresto's Super Robot Wars series. In 2004 Miyazaki was also credited in InuYasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask on PlayStation 2.

Fans are sighting the names of Quintet staff members in the ending credits of numerous games. This provides evidence that currently, staff members are contracting specialized work on a wide variety of games that are dissimilar from their work with Quintet.

Furthermore, the "Quintet" name as a company has appeared in the credits for Gust's Atelier Iris series, specifically for item design, and in the credits for Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia.

Works developed

Main article: List of Quintet games

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Szczepaniak, John (7 July 2011). "Falcom: Legacy of Ys". GamesTM (111): 152–159 [155]. Retrieved 2011-09-08.  (cf. Szczepaniak, John (July 8, 2011). "History of Ys interviews". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 8 September 2011. )

References

External links

List of Quintet games
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