Sacnoth, is a small Japan based video games developer. Computer and video games A screenshot of Tetris for the Nintendo Game Boy A console game (better known as a video game) is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment, which consists of a moveable image displayed on a screen that is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld...

Sacnoth’s higher profile games are the original Shadow Hearts game for the PlayStation 2, Koudelka for PlayStation and Faselei! for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Shadow Hearts is a series of role playing games for the PlayStation 2. ... The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. ... Shadow Hearts is a small series of role-playing games for the Sony PlayStation 2. ... The PlayStation is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... Neo Geo Pocket Color The Neo Geo Pocket Color (or NGPC) was released in 1998 in Japan. ...

History

Sacnoth was created in 1997 by Hiroki Kikuta, best known for composing the music to Secret of Mana series while working at Squaresoft and was set up with funding from the video game company SNK.

The company suffered after their first major project, the RPG Koudelka, received poor critical reviews and little word of mouth. It was also soon revealed that internal quarrels within Sacnoth had led to a compromised product. Kikuta had wanted to develop an action-based battle system, citing Resident Evil as a source of inspiration. However, his employees were adamant about releasing something closer to the kind of games that Square had been making.

Most people agreed that the game showed some promise, but had serious flaws, particularly in the combat system. Disheartened by the political friction within Sacnoth, as well as the financial condition of SNK, Kikuta resigned.

Aruze Entertainment took control of Sacnoth after SNK folded in 2000. Sacnoth became Nautilis for the development of the sequel Shadow Hearts: Covenant and future games.

Games

Faselei! is one of the most popular, and technically impressive games for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Its timing was unfortunate and the game was released just weeks before the Neo Geo Pocket Color and associated stock was recalled after SNK’s bankruptcy. Outside of Japan the game was only released in the United Kingdom in 'clamshell' case format during the lifespan of the NGPC as a viable system.

Neo Geo fan sites and ebay sellers put the number of copies released into circulation at about 10,000 with only 5000 being sold due to the recall. This rarity, along with its technical superiority in terms of graphics and sound when compared to its peers on the same system has made the game very sought after and has resulted in high prices on internet auction sites. However, when recalled NGPC systems were resold in game stores in 2004, the lost stock of the US version of Faselei! was included in one of the add-on game packages available, and helped to drive prices down.

See Shadow Hearts for details of Sacnoth's other games Shadow Hearts is a series of role playing games for the PlayStation 2. ...

Links

Gamespot's Sacnoth Page[1]

An excellent review of Faselei! with screenshots[2]