Nex Entertainment
Nex Entertainment (ネクスエンタテインメント), known as Nextech (ネクステック) between 1994 and 2005, was a game development studio that developed Ragnacënty (originally Shining Rogue), Shining Soul, Shining Tears, and Shining Wind.
Company History
Nex Entertainment was originally founded as EMAG (エマーグ) in September 1992 with investment from Sega and Yomiuri Planning (株式会社読売企画). EMAG changed its name to Nextech in March 1994 and acquired Gau Entertainment, who was developing Ragnacënty, in April 1994. Gau Entertainment had been a studio founded by former staff from Telenet's Wolf Team. In August 1997, Nextech became a fully owned subsidiary of Sega, whose investment in the company then totaled one hundred million yen. In April 1998, Sega merged its forty million yen in stock in Sonic! Software Planning into Nextech. After a management buyout in November 2003, Nextech became independent from Sega, and the company changed its name to Nex Entertainment in 2005.[1]
At some point, Nex Entertainment became a subsidiary of Tsubaraya Fields Holdings, who announced the studio's closure in 2016.[2]
Games Developed
After Sega's merger of Sonic into Nextech and the release of Camelot's final scenario of Shining Force III in 1998, the Shining brand fell into disuse as the Dreamcast entered and exited the console market. The series would make a comeback when Sega tasked Nextech with creating the first Shining game since Sega's transition to third-party software publisher. The game would be 2002's Shining Soul, a Game Boy Advance action RPG developed alongside Goichi Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture. The handheld game was made by a core team of not many more than a dozen people. Original series artist Yoshitaka Tamaki returned to design the characters and monsters for the first time since the first Shining Force.
Nextech's first Shining game for home consoles was Shining Tears, an action RPG for the PlayStation 2, which retained Tamaki for the design of monsters and some characters but featured character designs by Tony Taka. Following its Japanese release in 2004, Shining Tears was the last Shining game from Nextech to receive an English localization, which released in North America in 2005.
The final Shining game to be made by Nextech was 2007's Shining Wind, an action RPG sequel to Shining Tears that drew connections between the series' new continuity and the classic games. Although Nextech did not develop any more Shining games, the continuity that they established would be maintained in later games by Media.Vision and Studio Saizensen.
As Nextech often played a supporting role in the production of games for which it was not the primary developer, the list below is incomplete and requires additional research.
| Release | Title | Publisher | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-06 | Ragnacënty | Sega Atlus |
Mega Drive |
| 1995-05 | Gran Chaser | Sega | Saturn |
| 1995-08 | Pro Striker Final Stage | Sega | Mega Drive |
| 1995-11 | Toshinden S | Sega | Saturn |
| 1996-03 | Linkle Liver Story | Sega | Saturn |
| 1996-09 | Toshinden URA | Takara Sega |
Saturn |
| 1996-09 | Sakura Taisen | Sega | Saturn |
| 1997-05 | D-Xhird | Takara | Saturn |
| 1997-07 | Bio Hazard | Capcom Sega |
Saturn |
| 1997-07 | Full Cowl Mini 4WD Super Factory | Media Quest | Saturn |
| 1998-03 | Choro Q Park | Takara | Saturn |
| 1998-05 | MeltyLancer Re-inforce | Imadio | Saturn |
| 2000-02 | Biohazard Code: Veronica | Capcom Eidos |
Dreamcast |
| 2000-09 | Dino Crisis | Capcom Virgin |
Dreamcast |
| 2000-11 | Dreamstudio | Sega | Dreamcast |
| 2001-03 | Biohazard Code: Veronica 完全版 | Capcom | Dreamcast |
| 2002-03 | Shining Soul | Sega Atlus |
Game Boy Advance |
| 2002-12 | Shin Megami Tensei Nine | Atlus | Xbox |
| 2004-11 | Shining Tears | Sega | PlayStation 2 |
| 2006-03 | Children of Mana | Square Enix | Nintendo 3DS |
| 2006-06 | Time Crisis 4 | Bandai Namco | Arcade |
| 2007-05 | Shining Wind | Sega | PlayStation 2 |
| 2007-11 | Time Crisis 4 | Bandai Namco | PlayStation 3 |
| 2008-03 | Dramatic Dungeon Sakura Taisen | Sega | Nintendo DS |
| 2009-03 | Razing Storm | Bandai Namco | Arcade |
| 2009-10 | Bayonetta | Sega | PlayStation 3 |
| 2010-10 | Time Crisis: Razing Storm | Bandai Namco | PlayStation 3 |
| 2011-01 | Music GunGun! 2 | Taito | Arcade |
| 2012-11 | Weapon Shop de Omasse | Level-5 | Nintendo 3DS |
| 2012-11 | Crimson Shoud | Level-5 | Nintendo 3DS |
| 2014-04 | Sailor Zombie: AKB Arcade Edition | Bandai Namco | Arcade |
References
- ↑ "Historical Record", Nex Entertainment. [Archived] February 5, 2012.
- ↑ フィールズ、ゲーム開発子会社ネクスエンタテインメントを解散…スマホゲームでは『殉職刑事』シリーズで知られる, gamebiz. July 29, 2016. [Archived] July 29, 2021.
Studio Directory
- See alsoː Who Made the Shining Series?
| Shining Studios | |
|---|---|
| Game Studios | Climax Entertainment・Sonic! Software Planning・Camelot Software Planning・Nex Entertainment・Grasshopper Manufacture・Amusement Vision・Neverland Company・Flight-Plan・Sega AM2・Studio Saizensen・Media.Vision |
| Supporting Studios | Rit's・R.I.S.・Seraphic・Winds・Treasure |
| Art Studios | Salamander Factory・Swallowtails・Studio 4°C |
| Publishers | Sega・Atlus |
| Related Studios | |
| Game Studios | Chunsoft・Enix・Max Entertainment・Matrix Software |
| Publishers | Yanoman Corporation |