Hudson Soft
Encyclopedia
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation
is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka
, Minato
, Tokyo
, Japan
, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973. Initially, Hudson dealt with personal computer
products, but has expanded to the development and publishing of video games, mobile content
, and video game peripherals. As of 2003, the company employs over 500 people, with offices in Sapporo, Tokyo
, and California
. Hudson Soft is owned by Konami Corporation
.
on May 18, 1973 by brothers Yuji and Hiroshi Kudo. The founders grew up admiring train
s, and named the business after their favorite, the Hudson locomotives
(especially Japanese C62). Hudson began as a shop selling telecommunication
s devices and art
photograph
s. In September 1975, Hudson Soft began selling personal computer
-related products, and in March 1978 started developing and selling computer game packages.
Hudson became Nintendo
's first third-party software vendor for its Family Computer
. Hudson's second title for this console, Lode Runner
, sold 1.2 million units after its 1984 release. The business continued developing video games on the Famicom and other platforms (NEC PC-8801
MSX
, ZX Spectrum
), and was reorganized as Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. in November 1984. In July 1985, a "caravan" was held at sixty venues throughout Japan, a first for the video game industry. Bomberman
was released in December of this year on the Famicom and was considered a "big hit" by Hudson Soft.
In July 1987, Hudson developed the "C62 System" and collaborated with Nippon Electric Corporation to develop the PC Engine
video game console. It achieved a second-best success to Famicom in Japan, but its release as the TurboGrafx-16
in North America had less market-share than Nintendo's new Super Nintendo
and Sega
's new Genesis. Throughout 1990, Hudson Soft developed and published video games for an array of systems. In 1994, the 32-bit semiconductor chip "HuC62" was independently developed by Hudson and used in NEC's PC-FX
video game console.
In December 2000, Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. entered the stockmarket, listing on Nippon New Market Hercules, formerly known as NASDAQ Japan Exchange. This led to Konami purchasing a stock allocation of 5.6 million shares in August 2001, becoming the company's largest shareholder. Within the terms of this purchase, Hudson acquired the Sapporo division of Konami Computer Entertainment Studio, renaming it Hudson Studio.
In April 2005, capital was increased via an allocation of 3 million shares from a third party. Konami Corporation, holding 53.99% of all Hudson stock, became Hudson's majority shareholder and parent company. Hudson continue to self publish, although works closely with Konami.
In January 2011, Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. was acquired by and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Konami.
On 2001-07-26, Hudson Soft announced the acquisition of the Sapporo division of Konami Computer Entertainment Studio.
, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
and Game Boy
.
Hudson Soft USA subsequently closed down in 1995 before being replaced by Hudson Entertainment, Inc. in 2003.
. On July 23, 2003, Hudson Soft announced it had started its North American mobile phone Java game service, GameMaster, for AT&T's mMode
, effective on July 28, 2003.
Hudson Entertainment ceased operations on March 31, 2011.
, Bonk, and Adventure Island
.
Hudson continues to release long-running video game series in Japan. Tengai Makyou (Far East of Eden)
is a classic RPG set in a fictional era with Japanese themes. The series is up to number 4, and is considered a hit in Japan. The second version of the game was widely regarded as one the best RPGs ever released, ranked 12th by Famitsu
among all games released in Japan. Hudson Soft also created the long-running and critically acclaimed game Momotaro Dentetsu
, a board game with locomotive themes. The comical game is already up to version 16 in Japan. Hudson has recently re-released some of their first hit games for the Nintendo GameCube
in Japan, including Adventure Island, Star Soldier, and Lode Runner.
Hudson has a long history of creating games for other publishers. The most notable of these is the Mario Party series, created for Nintendo. They developed installments one through eight of the series, however Mario Party 9
is currently being developed exclusively by Nintendo. Hudson also developed Fuzion Frenzy 2
for Microsoft, which was released for the Xbox 360
in January 2007.
, it was announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
that Nintendo
would offer virtual backward compatibility of the TurboGrafx-16
with their game console, the Wii
.
During an interview with IGN
on May 11, 2006, Hudson Soft stated that they were currently in the process of acquiring the rights to games developed by now-defunct game developers.
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka
Akasaka, Tokyo
is a residential and commercial district of Minato, Tokyo, located west of the government center in Nagatachō and north of the Roppongi nightlife district....
, Minato
Minato, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 1 March 2008, it had an official population of 217,335 and a population density of 10,865 persons per km². The total area is 20.34 km².Minato hosts 49 embassies...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973. Initially, Hudson dealt with personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
products, but has expanded to the development and publishing of video games, mobile content
Mobile content
Mobile content is any type of media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, like ringtones, graphics, discount offers, games, movies, and GPS navigation. As mobile phone use has grown since the mid 1990s, the significance of the devices in everyday life has grown accordingly...
, and video game peripherals. As of 2003, the company employs over 500 people, with offices in Sapporo, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Hudson Soft is owned by Konami Corporation
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
.
History
Hudson Soft Ltd. was founded in Sapporo, JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on May 18, 1973 by brothers Yuji and Hiroshi Kudo. The founders grew up admiring train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s, and named the business after their favorite, the Hudson locomotives
4-6-4
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles .Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification:...
(especially Japanese C62). Hudson began as a shop selling telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s devices and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s. In September 1975, Hudson Soft began selling personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
-related products, and in March 1978 started developing and selling computer game packages.
Hudson became Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's first third-party software vendor for its Family Computer
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
. Hudson's second title for this console, Lode Runner
Lode Runner
Lode Runner is a 1983 platform game, first published by Brøderbund. It is one of the first games to include a level editor, a feature that allows players to create their own levels for the game. This feature bolstered the game's popularity, as magazines such as Computer Gaming World held contests...
, sold 1.2 million units after its 1984 release. The business continued developing video games on the Famicom and other platforms (NEC PC-8801
NEC PC-8801
The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88"....
MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
, ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
), and was reorganized as Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. in November 1984. In July 1985, a "caravan" was held at sixty venues throughout Japan, a first for the video game industry. Bomberman
Bomberman (1983 game)
is an arcade-style maze-based video game developed by Hudson Soft. It was first released in 1983 for the MSX, NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-6001, Sharp MZ-700 and FM-7 in Japan, and for the ZX Spectrum in Europe...
was released in December of this year on the Famicom and was considered a "big hit" by Hudson Soft.
In July 1987, Hudson developed the "C62 System" and collaborated with Nippon Electric Corporation to develop the PC Engine
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
video game console. It achieved a second-best success to Famicom in Japan, but its release as the TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
in North America had less market-share than Nintendo's new Super Nintendo
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
and Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
's new Genesis. Throughout 1990, Hudson Soft developed and published video games for an array of systems. In 1994, the 32-bit semiconductor chip "HuC62" was independently developed by Hudson and used in NEC's PC-FX
PC-FX
The is a video game console released in Japan on December 23, 1994 by NEC Corporation. It is the 32-bit successor to NEC's PC Engine ....
video game console.
In December 2000, Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. entered the stockmarket, listing on Nippon New Market Hercules, formerly known as NASDAQ Japan Exchange. This led to Konami purchasing a stock allocation of 5.6 million shares in August 2001, becoming the company's largest shareholder. Within the terms of this purchase, Hudson acquired the Sapporo division of Konami Computer Entertainment Studio, renaming it Hudson Studio.
In April 2005, capital was increased via an allocation of 3 million shares from a third party. Konami Corporation, holding 53.99% of all Hudson stock, became Hudson's majority shareholder and parent company. Hudson continue to self publish, although works closely with Konami.
In January 2011, Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. was acquired by and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Konami.
Hudson Studio
It was a division made by acquiring Konami Computer Entertainment Studio's Sapporo division.On 2001-07-26, Hudson Soft announced the acquisition of the Sapporo division of Konami Computer Entertainment Studio.
Hudson Soft USA
With headquarters in South San Francisco, Hudson Soft USA was Hudson Soft's previous North American publishing division operated from 1988 to 1995. It had published video games for the Nintendo Entertainment SystemNintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
and Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
.
Hudson Soft USA subsequently closed down in 1995 before being replaced by Hudson Entertainment, Inc. in 2003.
Hudson Entertainment, Inc.
It was Hudson Soft's North American publishing division from 2003 to 2011. In November 2003, Hudson established Hudson Entertainment, Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary in San Mateo, CaliforniaSan Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
. On July 23, 2003, Hudson Soft announced it had started its North American mobile phone Java game service, GameMaster, for AT&T's mMode
MMode
mMode is the brand name for the wireless data service offered by the former AT&T Wireless. Based on NTT DoCoMo's i-mode, it was available to any AT&T Wireless subscriber with a WAP-capable phone. Operating over GPRS, EDGE, and UMTS, mMode was the successor to AT&T's unsuccessful CDPD-based...
, effective on July 28, 2003.
Hudson Entertainment ceased operations on March 31, 2011.
Video game releases
Hudson Soft has released video games since 1978, with series such as BombermanBomberman
Bomberman is a strategic, maze-based computer and video game franchise originally developed by Hudson Soft. The original game was published in 1983 and new games in the series are still being published to this day. Today, the commercially successful Bomberman is featured in over 70 different games...
, Bonk, and Adventure Island
Adventure Island (video game)
Hudson's Adventure Island, also known simply as Adventure Island and released in Japan as , is a side-scrolling platform game produced by Hudson Soft that was first released in Japan for the Family Computer and MSX on September 12, 1986...
.
Hudson continues to release long-running video game series in Japan. Tengai Makyou (Far East of Eden)
Tengai Makyou
is a widely popular series of traditional console RPGs that are available in Japan and Taiwan.Though originally intended to be only three games, it has grown to encompass a number of remakes, gaidens and genre spin-offs across a variety of platforms...
is a classic RPG set in a fictional era with Japanese themes. The series is up to number 4, and is considered a hit in Japan. The second version of the game was widely regarded as one the best RPGs ever released, ranked 12th by Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
among all games released in Japan. Hudson Soft also created the long-running and critically acclaimed game Momotaro Dentetsu
Momotetsu
is a long-running board game-style video game series in Japan; in which players travel by rail, ship, and airplane; attempting to acquire wealth through business transactions buying properties; and dealing with rival entrepreneurs and nemeses such as the...
, a board game with locomotive themes. The comical game is already up to version 16 in Japan. Hudson has recently re-released some of their first hit games for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
in Japan, including Adventure Island, Star Soldier, and Lode Runner.
Hudson has a long history of creating games for other publishers. The most notable of these is the Mario Party series, created for Nintendo. They developed installments one through eight of the series, however Mario Party 9
Mario Party 9
Mario Party 9 is an upcoming party video game for the Nintendo Wii. It was officially announced at E3 2011 and is currently under development....
is currently being developed exclusively by Nintendo. Hudson also developed Fuzion Frenzy 2
Fuzion Frenzy 2
Fuzion Frenzy 2 was universally not as well received as its predecessor. Many felt that Hudson had taken the series in an unwelcome direction, providing a "value title" at nearly full price...
for Microsoft, which was released for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
in January 2007.
Virtual Console
On March 23, 2006, at the GDC Conference in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, it was announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata
is the fourth president of Nintendo, succeeding the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. He was responsible in great part for defining Nintendo's strategy both before and during the release of its Nintendo GameCube video game console in 2001, a vision which...
that Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
would offer virtual backward compatibility of the TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
with their game console, the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
.
During an interview with IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
on May 11, 2006, Hudson Soft stated that they were currently in the process of acquiring the rights to games developed by now-defunct game developers.