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[Cygnus X-1]

Hi everyone. I have decided to start a series of threads regarding video gaming companies of the past to trigger some nostalgic, constructive and fun discussions.

The first company I would like to discuss is JALECO (1973 - 2009 [de facto]). Here below there are the old and newer logos.

As there is a very extensive history page on Wikipedia, instead of copy-paste it here (ha), I prefer to bring some notable games as examples. Of course feel free to add more games to the list as it is not intended to be exhaustive.

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1) Bases Loaded (1988, Nintendo Entertainment System)

Bases Loaded had simple controls and solid gameplay, including great base stealing and pitching control, but was also aided by an impressive advance in graphics. The game featured twelve different teams, each with around thirty players, and was the first game where players were complete with individual statistics. If you hit a player enough time, it would start a brawl, which is an interesting feature that has failed to come up in future games. Jaleco added the Hardball behind-the-pitcher view, and game included a scrolling field which much more realistically followed the ball instead of switching between predefined shots or a static field.

2) Totally Rad (1990, Nintendo Entertainment Systems)

Totally Rad is a late Jaleco release that suffers from a lack of polish.[...] Ignore the cut scenes and you are left with a game that certainly looks like it could rub shoulders with the likes of Castlevania and Shatterhand. Unfortunately Totally Rad lacks that master stroke that comes from an expert game designer. What you are left with is a solid game that is badly balanced and at times feels straight up broken. [...] While the gameplay came up short the presentation doesn’t. In this regard Totally Rad is on equal footing with some of the best the NES has to offer. Parallax scrolling is used pretty extensively, sometimes 3-4 levels deep. Beyond the level of detail in the backgrounds are the massive bosses. These giant monstrosities take up nearly a third of the screen, an impressive feat.

3) The Ignition Factor - Fire Fighting (JP) (1994-1995, Super Nintendo Entertainment System)

The Ignition Factor is a top-down action game in which the player takes on the role of a firefighter. The game aims to simulate realistic situations, tasking players with the job of saving civilians, subduing flames, and ultimately discovering the source of the fire.

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Hope this helps! Enjoy!

 

[Champion of the Wild]

Wow that firefighter Game looks like a cool concept

 

[wondermega]

Jaleco were an interesting company, back in the day Bases Loaded was regarded rather highly as probably the premiere representation of the sport on the NES - I think they tried following sit by building off that goodwill with some other sports titles, but nothing really stuck. I am fairly certain they came out of left field with an amazing rendition of Atari's Rampart of all things, which looked pretty lackluster but played really well.

Last thing I remember, early 2000s they gave Ron Millar a bunch of money to do whatever he liked - one of the early Blizzard dudes, and I believe he contributed significantly to the design of Starcraft which was still quite huge. He made a game for then-flagging Jaleco called Goblin Commander, after which I don't remember hearing anything more about either the studio or him..

 

[Malcolm9]

I remember playing Rival Turf on the SNES, which was a fun but crappy Final Fight clone.

 

[RoddlesRodpad]

Don't forget Saint Dragon which was an excellent Arcade side scrolling shooter from 1989 that was ported to a large amount of home computers at the time.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

Back in the SNES days, I really wanted to play Tuff E Nuff. I read that the fighters got bloody, when their health got low. That was pretty exciting for a 12 year old.

 

[TwiztidElf]

When I think of Jaleco, I just think of the arcade racer Big Run.

 

[Arturo]

Great idea, OP. Looking forward for the next ones

 

[120v]

kind of funny you could release Totally Rad today as an ironic nostalgia grab indie and nobody would blink twice

 

[pswii60]

Don't forget Saint Dragon which was an excellent Arcade side scrolling shooter from 1989 that was ported to a large amount of home computers at the time.

I got the C64 version but the free badge was broken and poster badly creased, so my dad kindly sent the publishers a letter to complain. I then received free replacements.

Now I look back and wonder why I cared about a shitty badge and poster lol

 

[Alebrije]

There were great arcade games from Jaleco, that's where hey shined.

F1grand prix

 

[Dunan]

Loved Bases Loaded as a kid and only much later did I discover that the player stats and uniform colors come directly from the two Japanese major leagues, where the game had an official license.

My team, Boston, was the Hanshin Tigers. The game is actually a little racist -- all the players who charge the mound when you hit them with pitches are foreign imports except one, and that guy (Hiromitsu Ochiai, or Fendy of Washington D. C.) was famous for being American-like in his behavior.

 

[theclaw135]

Jaleco tried everything it feels like. Many would call R-Type III a good pick.
Tetris Plus is decent too.

On the negative side, there's Urusei Yatsura Lum's Wedding Bell.
A frustratingly inferior conversion of Momoko 120%. Featuring one of the best anime songs ever can't save it.

 

[fvng]

Didn't they do the Vampire Hunter D game for PS1

Edit: yes

 

[Blam]

Seems like Jaleco had their hands in anything they could get it into.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Who remembers Cisco Heat? I remember getting that for the Amiga! That's the only Jaleco game I brought..

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Back in the SNES days, I really wanted to play Tuff E Nuff. I read that the fighters got bloody, when their health got low. That was pretty exciting for a 12 year old.

Humorously enough, the US version cut out most of the dialog and story and also cut out the blood on the characters. So if you play Dead Dance (Super Famicom) it has all of it intact.

It's also one of my favorite Jaleco games along with Rushing Beat Ran (Brawl Brothers) and Rushing beat Shura (The Peace Keepers). For some reason they had this obsession with making significant changes when they brought games over, too.

 

[oldergamer]

Ahhahaha I used to work for Jaleco. This thread amused me. Note the difference between the old and new logo, they were literally separate companies. When Jaleco came back they had nothing to do with the original Japanese company. Only link was in name.

 

[wyvern_bloodfist]

Ougon No Kizuna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jibW6aKQDCY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5qmSnxD7A0

This was there last game released ; a fun little game (imo)

 

[Valonquar]

The best strip mahjong the Saturn ever did see.

 

[jufonuk]

Back in the SNES days, I really wanted to play Tuff E Nuff. I read that the fighters got bloody, when their health got low. That was pretty exciting for a 12 year old.

That’s game was the shit, I loved it. A great SF2 clone

 

[Futaleufu]

I remember 2 decent arcade games they made: Cisco Heat, an Out Run clone inside a city (San Francisco) with a lot of scaling sprites, and Game Tengoku, a 32 bit vertical shooter in the vein of Parodius. They lacked a franchise that could carry them past the mid 90s.

 

[palpabl_purpura]

I was a big bases load fan!

 

[ThatStupidLion]

oh man, just seeing this! awesome thread and idea.

played bases loaded on the gameboyOG on the airplane SO much.

could never beat the second match, would jsut get pummled

also - since this is the first of your history threads some constructive crit, i know you say there is a wikipedia onthe company, but you should either copy and paste some highlights from there that tells the general story of the company or paraphrase in your own words

 

[EdgeXL]

Out of curiosity, if Jaleco is defunct who holds their IPs? I have Bases Loaded and City Connection on my 3DS.

 

[pramod]

What? No mention of Bio Senshi Dan?

 

[pramod]

Or how about Carrier series (DC/PS2), it's still one of my favorite survival horror games. Like a precursor to Resident Evil Revelations.

 

[Sp3eD]

Probably not a big part of game in anyway, but their names on the box so they gave me my favorite NES game of all time

So many memories playing thst game!!

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Rival Turf....to put it mildly it wasn't as good as Final Fight or Streets of Rage..

 

[TaroYamada]

Jaleco were an interesting company, back in the day Bases Loaded was regarded rather highly as probably the premiere representation of the sport on the NES - I think they tried following sit by building off that goodwill with some other sports titles, but nothing really stuck. I am fairly certain they came out of left field with an amazing rendition of Atari's Rampart of all things, which looked pretty lackluster but played really well.

Last thing I remember, early 2000s they gave Ron Millar a bunch of money to do whatever he liked - one of the early Blizzard dudes, and I believe he contributed significantly to the design of Starcraft which was still quite huge. He made a game for then-flagging Jaleco called Goblin Commander, after which I don't remember hearing anything more about either the studio or him..

I forgot about Goblin Commander, I remember the ads for it when gaming mags were still a serious thing.

Rival Turf....to put it mildly it wasn't as good as Final Fight or Streets of Rage..

Owned Rival Turf. Great name but it was garbage compared to either of those franchises.

 

[Scopa]

Who remembers Cisco Heat? I remember getting that for the Amiga! That's the only Jaleco game I brought..

Oh man, I loved that in the arcades. I remember hanging it around hard corners.

 

[xxRONN1Nxx]

Very interesting OP. You tapped my nostalgia pretty well. I remember playing a lot of these on my NES. Looking forward to your next thread.

 

[caffeware]

Thank you for this.

 

[stranno]

Didnt know about Ignition Factor. It looks like Human's The Firemen.

Carrier was a great game. I think it was the first survival horror ever to feature plant-zombies, later copied by Resident Evil.

 

[JP]

A wonderful idea for a thread, thanks. Looking forward to future threads also.

Oh man, I loved that in the arcades. I remember hanging it around hard corners.

I've not even heard of this but in this shot it looks a little like an early Crazy Taxi style game only not as open.

 

[atpbx]

Had a look through their history as even though ive been gaming for 35 years or so, i homestly couldnt remener ever playing anything they had made.

Then I saw Rod Land, which if i remeber rightly was a fun little platformer where you played as a fairy amd used your magic wand to smash fuck out of the cute badies.

 

[El Sabroso]

I remember playing Rival Turf on the SNES, which was a fun but crappy Final Fight clone.

Rushing Beat series is interesting, you can see how it evolves in each title, and the last one (The Peace Keepers) is really good in its Japanese version (Rushing Beat Shura), the conversion to Peace Keepers has some missing enemies and effects but is worth also checking out if there is no access to the japanese release

 

[Link1110]

I still play bases loaded 3 whenever I get together with my cousin. Definitely my favorite baseball game ever

 

[1morerobot]

I had no idea Jaleco lasted until 2009.

Bases Loaded and BL2 were favorites of mine as a kid. Absolutely loved them. Especially the pitching which for the time was just stellar.

Totally Rad looks like it has some very cool boss designs!

And that firefighting game looks interesting also.

 

[EightBit Man]

City Connection opens Jaleco License Catalog website

City Connection has launched the Jaleco License Catalog, a website where developers can apply to use Jaleco intellectual properties for their games, events, or products.

www.gematsu.com

The list of titles available for licensing includes the following:

Title	Genre	First Release
64th Street: A Detective Story	Action	1991
Aeroboto / Formation Z	Shooter	1984
Argus	Shooter	1986
Avenging Spirit / Phantasm	Action	1991
Bases Loaded	Sports	1987
Bashi Bazook: Morphoid Masher / Bio Senshi Dan	Action	1987
Battle Unit Zeoth	Action Shooter	1990
Best Bout Boxing	Sports	1993
Big Run	Racing	1989
Brawl Brothers / Rushing Beat Ran	Action	1992
Butasan	Action	1987
Captain Flag	Action	1993
Carrier	Action Adventure	2000
Chimera Beast	Shooter	Unreleased
Cisco Heat	Racing	1990
City Connection / Cruisin	Action	1985
Cybattler	Shooter	1993
Desert War	Shooter	1995
Dragon Seeds	Simulation	1998
E.D.F. Earth Defense Force	Shooter	1991
Earth Defense Force / Super E.D.F.	Shooter	1991
Exerion	Shooter	1983
Field Combat	Shooter	1985
Fortified Zone	Action Shooter	1993
Game Paradise / Game Tengoku	Shooter	1995
Goal!	Sports	1989
Hoops	Sports	1988
Ignition Factor / Fire Fighting	Action	1994
Kick Off	Sports	1988
MetalMech: Man & Machine	Action Shooter	1990
Ninja JaJaMaru-kun	Action	1985
Ninja Kazan	Action	1988
Operation: Logic Bomb	Action Shooter	1993
P-47 Aces	Shooter	1988
P-47 The Phantom Fighter	Shooter	1995
Pinball Quest	Pinball	1989
Pizza Pop	Action	1992
Plus Alpha	Shooter	1989
Psychic 5	Action	1987
Racket Attack	Sports	1988
Rival Turf / Rushing Beat	Action	1992
Rock’n Tread	Music	1999
Rodland	Action	1990
Saint Dragon	Shooter	1989
Second Earth Gratia	Shooter	1996
Sky Fox / Exerizer	Shooter	1987
Soldam	Puzzle	1992
Stepping Stage	Music	1999
The Astyanax / The Road Of King	Action	1989
The Peace Keepers / Rushing Beat Shura	Action	1993
Totally Rad / Magic John	Action	1990
Tuff E Nuff / Dead Dance	Fighting	1993
Valtric	Shooter	1986
Whomp ‘Em / Saiyuki World 2	Action	1990
Wild Pilot	Shooter	1993
Yokai Club	Action	1987

 

[Deft Beck]

Holy necro, Batman.

I'll always remember Jaleco's wonderful Beatmania ripoff VJ: Hit and Music Slap.

 

[Lionel Richie]

This thread is right up my alley, thanks for bumping it up. I absolutely love these random late 80's, early 90's devs out of Japan. Operation Logic Bomb is a very underrated title, it's pure 16-bit magic.

 

[Alexios]

Most of their stuff seemed to be copy cats that didn't quite achieve the original greatness but this is a gem of a shmup.

I only discovered it recently then wondered what the massively expanded story of the Saturn port is about with so much talking.

Then I saw that version has been localized and released on Steam and other platforms relatively recently by City Connection. Awesome!

But yeah their games tend to look just a bit behind the times and riff off classics like Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Rastan, Wonder Boy, Contra, Mega Man, even Out Run & Ridge Racer (though this video in particular has pretty bad looking emulation on the later 3D stuff so look for better).