This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.

Treasure Co. Ltd
Type	Public
Founded	June 19, 1992
Headquarters	Japan
Key people	Masato Maegawa, CEO
Products	video games
Employees	about 30 industry = Video games
Website	www.treasure-inc.co.jp

Treasure Co. Ltd (トレジャー) is a Japanese video game developer, founded by former employees of Konami on June 19, 1992. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... Treasure Co. ... A public company is a company owned by the public rather than by relatively few individuals. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Treasure Co. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... This article is about computer and video games. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Pac-Man is one of the most recognizable video games ever created. ... This page as shown in the AOL 9. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Konami Corporation (コナミ) TYO: 9766 (NYSE: KNM) (SGX: K20) is a leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling computer and video games. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

History

Before foundation

A great deal of mythology exists surrounding the role Treasure employees had in the development of many Konami games. Many of these have their roots in the writing of overzealous journalists, eager to give them credit for work which might seem similar in style. Despite these claims, Treasure employees were never a real "team" at Konami; they were mostly fairly young, had only been with the company for 2 or 3 years, and no more than 4 of them ever worked on any one game while at Konami. Konami Corporation (コナミ) TYO: 9766 (NYSE: KNM) (SGX: K20) is a leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling computer and video games. ...

The core founding members came from various development teams within Konami Tokyo; the most notable being the teams behind the arcade and NES Bucky O'Hare games. The team behind the arcade version included: Hiroshi Iuchi, primary background artist for most of Treasure's early work and director of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga; Norio Hanzawa (aka NON), primary music composer; and Tetsuhiko Kikuchi (aka Han), enemy character designer. The team behind the NES game (which was entirely different) included: Masato Maegawa, CEO and founder; Kaname Shindoh, graphic designer; Hideyuki Suganami, programmer; and Kouichi Kimura, graphic designer. At the time of Treasure's formation, they had around 20 employees, a number which has swelled only slightly to around 30 (though they frequently work with many freelancers who are not employees) Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Nes is: A municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway, see Nes, Akershus. ... Bucky OHare and crew in the comic book (art by Michael Golden) Bucky OHare was created by comic writer Larry Hama in the late 1970s. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Radiant Silvergun is a vertically-scrolling shooter video game, developed by Treasure Co. ...

Contrary to popular belief, no significant employees were involved in the development of Contra: Hard Corps, or Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose. However, one to three identifiable employees were involved in the following Konami games: Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose is a video game for the Super Nintendo console that is based off of Tiny Toon Adventures. ... Konami Corporation (コナミ) TYO: 9766 (NYSE: KNM) (SGX: K20) is a leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling computer and video games. ...

• Aliens (Arcade)
• Axelay (SNES)
• Bucky O'Hare (Arcade/NES)
• The Castlevania Adventure (Game Boy)
• Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy)
• Contra (Game Boy)
• Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
• Rocket Knight Adventures (Sega Mega Drive)
• The Simpsons (Arcade)
• Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
• Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (Game Boy)

This issue is important and confusing because some critics consider the style and quality of Treasure's games to be inconsistent. For example, games like Silpheed, Stretch Panic, and Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting appear to share the design aesthetics of other game companies, not Treasure, while games like Contra: Hard Corps deceptively seem to have been made by Treasure employees while still at Konami. Aliens is a run and gun shoot em up arcade game by Konami released in 1990, based on the Aliens movie. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Axelay is a 2D shooter game developed by Konami of Japan for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... Bucky OHare is an arcade game produced by Konami in 1992. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Nes is: A municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway, see Nes, Akershus. ... Castlevania: The Adventure (ドラキュラ伝説; Dracula Densetsu) (sometimes incorrectly called The Castlevania Adventure) is the first Castlevania game for the Game Boy. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ... Contra ) is an arcade game released in 1987 by the Konami corporation. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... Rocket Knight Adventures is a 16-bit generation side scrolling platform video game produced and released in 1993 by Konami for the SEGA Genesis console, and designed by Nobuya Nakazato, creator of the Contra series. ... The Sega Mega Drive ) was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world. ... The Simpsons is an arcade game produced by Konami in 1991. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Super Castlevania IV ) was the first Castlevania game released on the Super NES console. ... The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ...

After foundation

Treasure is known for intense action games, with a lot with creative gameplay mechanics and flashy boss encounters. Their design ethic usually involves taking the basic elements of a genre, adding something new to the play mechanics or controls, as well as adding many new and varied elements into the level design. They are also known for their boss levels, which are very often the focus of the game. On older systems, these featured larged multijointed sprite bosses (using a technique where each arm or appendage was a still picture that was rotated for movement instead of the entire boss being one picture). They were also once notorious for their apparent policy that forbade developing sequels of their games, although Treasure employees have said on numerous occasions that no such policy existed. In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene. ...

Treasure's games are very similar to the ones they produced when they first started. Because of this, while their early games were considered very progressive, and praised for their innovation and graphics which pushed the hardware to its limit, their later games were perceived as old-fashioned or "retro." To this day, only five of their games have had true 3D gameplay, and of them two (Wario World and Sin and Punishment were noted for their gameplay conventions that echoed many 2D games, and two others (Dragon Drive: D Masters Shot and Stretch Panic) were major critical failures (Treasure has never acknowledged Dragon Drive on their website, and their name was removed from the box, although it appears in the credits, leading many to believe that they were particularly unhappy with this release). Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth (罪と罰 tsumi to batsu) is a video game by Treasure Co. ... Stretch Panic is a game designed by Treasure Co. ...

Although they are perhaps best known for their creative and humorous original franchises, they have also produced many licensed games, including McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure, Hajime no Ippo: THE FIGHTING and Wario World. At the time of this writing, licensed games and sequels have made up their last 11 releases, with Stretch Panic being their most recent original (Advance Guardian Heroes and Gunstar Super Heroes were sequels). Wario World is a video game developed by Treasure Co. ...

Treasure is often called a "cult developer" because, while they have a dedicated and loyal following among fans and critics, they very seldom experience mainstream financial success. In the west, their best selling games were Mischief Makers and Wario World, while critical darlings like Gunstar Heroes and Gradius V were financial disappointments. Mischief Makers (or Yuke Yuke! Troublemakers in Japan) is a side-scrolling 2D platform/puzzle video game developed by Treasure, and published by Enix (in Japan) and Nintendo (in America and Europe) for the Nintendo 64 released in 1997. ... Wario World is a video game developed by Treasure Co. ... Gunstar Heroes ) is a run and gun video game released in 1993 by Treasure Co. ... Gradius V ) is a 2004 video game by Konami of the scrolling shooter variety, and the latest title in the Gradius series of games. ...

Games developed by Treasure

Items marked with a '*' were not released in North America/Europe/Australia. World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ...

• Gunstar Heroes (1993, Sega, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis; 1995, Sega, Sega Game Gear)
• McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (1993, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
• Dynamite Headdy (1994, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis; 1994, Sega, Game Gear)
• Yu Yu Hakusho Makyo Toitsusen (幽☆遊☆白書 魔強統一戦) (1994, Sega, Mega Drive*)
• Alien Soldier (1995, Sega, Mega Drive)
• Light Crusader (1995, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
• Guardian Heroes (1996, Sega, Sega Saturn)
• Mischief Makers (ゆけゆけ！トラブルメーカーズ yuke-yuke! Trouble Makers) (1997, Enix (JP)/Nintendo (US/EU), Nintendo 64)
• Silhouette Mirage (1997, ESP, Saturn*; 1998, ESP (JP)/Working Designs (US), Sony PlayStation)
• Radiant Silvergun (1998, self-published, Arcade*; 1998, ESP, Saturn*)
• Rakugaki Showtime (1999, Enix, PlayStation*)
• Bangai-O/Bakuretsu Muteki Bangaioh (爆裂無敵バンガイオー) (1999, ESP, N64*; 1999 (JP)/2000 (EU)/2001 (US), ESP (JP)/Swing! Games (EU)/Conspiracy Entertainment (US), Sega Dreamcast)
• GunBeat (Cancelled, unknown publisher, Arcade)
• Silpheed: The Lost Planet (2000 (JP)/2001 (US/EU), Capcom (JP)/Swing! Games and Conspiracy Entertainment (EU)/Working Designs (US), Sony PlayStation 2)
• Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Earth (罪と罰～地球（ほし）の継承者～) (2000, Nintendo, Nintendo 64*)
• Stretch Panic (ひっぱリンダ hippa linda) (Freak Out) (2001, Conspiracy Entertainment (US)/Swing! Games (EU)/Kadokawa Shoten (JP), PlayStation 2)
• Ikaruga (斑鳩) (2001, self-published, Arcade*; 2002, ESP, Dreamcast*; 2003, Atari, Nintendo GameCube)
• Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Bad Dream (2002, Swing! Games (EU), Nintendo Game Boy Advance)
• Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting (Game Boy Advance)
• Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Looniverse (cancelled, unknown publisher, PlayStation 2)
• Wario World (2003, Nintendo, GameCube)
• Dragon Drive D-Masters Shot (2003, Bandai, GameCube*)
• Astro Boy: Omega Factor (2004, Sega, Game Boy Advance; developed in collaboration with the Sega team, Hitmaker)
• Gradius V (2004, Konami, PlayStation 2)
• Advance Guardian Heroes (2004, Ubisoft, Game Boy Advance)
• Gunstar Super Heroes (Gunstar Future Heroes) (2005, Sega, Game Boy Advance)
• Bleach DS: Souten ni Kakeru Unmei (2006, Sega, Nintendo DS*)
• Bleach DS 2nd: Kokui Hirameku Chinkon Uta (2006, Sega, Nintendo DS*)

Gunstar Heroes ) is a run and gun video game released in 1993 by Treasure Co. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... The Sega Mega Drive was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... The Sega Game Gear was Segas first portable gaming system. ... Dynamite Headdy is a video game released in 1994 by Sega and produced by Treasure Co. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... YuYu Hakusho logo (English manga) YuYu Hakusho (幽★遊★白書 YūYū Hakusho, literally The Playful Ghost White Paper, meaning Ghost Files/Poltergeist Report) is a manga and anime series by Yoshihiro Togashi. ... Alien Soldier is a side-scrolling run and gun video game developed by Treasure Co. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Light Crusader is an adventure game developed by Treasure Co. ... Guardian Heroes was a 2D side-scrolling, beat em up video game in the vein of Double Dragon. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Sega Saturn ) is a 32-bit video game console, first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America and July 8, 1995 in Europe. ... Mischief Makers (or Yuke Yuke! Troublemakers in Japan) is a side-scrolling 2D platform/puzzle video game developed by Treasure, and published by Enix (in Japan) and Nintendo (in America and Europe) for the Nintendo 64 released in 1997. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Enix, or more formally Enix Co. ... Nintendo Company, Limited (任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 usually referred to as simply Nintendo, or Big N ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889[1] in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. ... The Nintendo 64 ) is Nintendos third home video game console for the international market. ... Silhouette Mirage is a video game that was developed by Treasure Co. ... Entertainment Software Publishing (エンターテインメント・ソフトウェア・パブリッシング), or ESP, is a computer game publisher. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Working Designs was a US-based video game publisher that specialized in the localization of Japan-native RPGs, strategy games, and top-down shooters for various video game platforms. ... The original PlayStation was produced in a light grey colour; the more recent PSOne redesign sports a smaller more rounded case. ... Radiant Silvergun is a vertically-scrolling shooter video game, developed by Treasure Co. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Bangai-O is a shoot em up video game produced by Treasure Co. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... This article is about the year 2001. ... Conspiracy Games is a video game publisher, publishing games from smaller companies that would have a much harder time trying to get the game they developed out on the market themselves. ... The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト; code-named Dural and Katana during development) was Segas fifth and final video game console and the successor to the Sega Saturn. ... Capcom Co. ... The two versions of the PS2 with an Eye Toy camera The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, after the PlayStation. ... Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth (罪と罰 tsumi to batsu) is a video game by Treasure Co. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Stretch Panic is a game designed by Treasure Co. ... This article is about the year 2001. ... Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Nintendo GameCube , GCN) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the sixth generation era. ... The Game Boy Advance is a best-selling handheld. ... Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Looniverse is an as of yet unreleased Tiny Toon Adventures video game, originally announced in 2001. ... Wario World is a video game developed by Treasure Co. ... This article is about the Japanese toy manufacturer. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hitmaker (originally AM3) is a former second-party developer for Sega Corporation. ... Gradius V ) is a 2004 video game by Konami of the scrolling shooter variety, and the latest title in the Gradius series of games. ... Konami Corporation (コナミ) TYO: 9766 (NYSE: KNM) (SGX: K20) is a leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling computer and video games. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ubisoft Entertainment (formerly Ubi Soft) is a computer and video game publisher and developer with headquarters in Montreuil, France. ... Gunstar Super Heroes (Japanese: ガンスタースーパーヒーローズ; Gunstar Future Heroes in Europe) is a Game Boy Advance title created by Treasure Co. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Nintendo DS, sometimes abbreviated NDS or DS, is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo, and first released in 2004. ...

External links

• Treasure HomePage (Japanese)
• Treasure Co. Ltd profile on MobyGames
• SF Kosmo - comprehensive fan site
• Treasure Entry at the gaming wiki, Encyclopedia Gamia
• An illustrated history of Treasure