History

Before foundation

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 and director of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga; Norio Hanzawa (aka NON), primary music composer; and Tetsuhiko Kikuchi (aka Han), primary character designer. The team behind the NES version included: Masato Maegawa, CEO and founder; Kaname Shindoh, graphic designer; Hideyuki Suganami, programmer; and Kouichi Kimura, graphic designer.

Contrary to popular belief, no significant employees were involved in the development of Contra: Hard Corps, Super Castlevania IV, or Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose. However, one to three identifiable employees were involved in the following Konami 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 (Mega Drive/Genesis)
• The Simpsons (Arcade)
• Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (Game Boy)

This issue is important and confusing because some critics consider the 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 Super Castlevania IV deceptively seem to have been made by Treasure employees while still at Konami.

 

After foundation

Treasure is known for intense action games, with a lot of creative work put into the gameplay. Their design aesthetic 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 almost always 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 apparently explicit policy that forbade themselves to develop sequels of their games, although Treasure employees have said on numerous occasions that no such policy existed.

Games developed by Treasure

Items marked with a '*' were not released in North America/Europe/Australasia.

• Gunstar Heroes (1993, Sega. Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis; Unknown date, unknown publisher, Sega Game Gear)
• McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (1994, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
• Dynamite Headdy (1994, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis; Unknown date, unknown publisher, Game Gear)
• Yu Yu Hakusho Makyo Toitsusen  (1994, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis*)
• Alien Soldier (1995, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
• Light Crusader (1995, Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis)
• Guardian Heroes (1996, Sega, Sega Saturn)
• Mischief Makers (yuke-yuke! Trouble Makers) (1997, Enix (JP)/Nintendo (US), 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 (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 (2000, Nintendo, Nintendo 64*)
• Stretch Panic (hippa linda) (2001, Conspiracy Entertainment (US)/Swing! Games (EU)/Kadokawa Shoten (JP), PlayStation 2)
• Ikaruga (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 (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*)