Company

Technos Japan

Technōs Japan Corp. was a Japanese video game developer, best known for the Double Dragon and Kunio-kun (which includes Renegade, Super Dodge Ball and River City Ransom) franchises. As of June 2015, Arc System Works owns the intellectual properties of Technōs Japan. Initially operating from a single-room apartment, Technōs was founded in 1981 by three staff members of Data East. Their first game was Minky Monkey, released in 1982. A few months after their foundation, a lawsuit was brought up against the company by Data East under allegations that Technos had stolen data from Data East's arcade game Pro Tennis with the intent of producing and selling a bootleg of it.[3] The two companies settled in August 1983 and Technos would go on to create two arcade games published by Data East, Tag Team Wrestling and Karate Champ. Technōs Japan's earlier games were published by other companies, as Technōs at the time did not have the economical resource to distribute their own games. Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun ("Hot Blooded Tough Guy Kunio"), a side-scrolling beat-em-up released in 1986 about a high school student who fought thugs and delinquents from other schools, was the company's first big hit in Japan. Kunio-kun was released in the west as Renegade with the game's graphics changed to make the game marketable in the overseas market. Technōs would then produce a Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game, which would be Technōs' first game for the home console market. Technōs Japan's subsequent arcade beat-em-up, Double Dragon, was a big success worldwide when it was released in 1987, leading to the production of an NES version of the game, as well as licensed versions by other companies for various platforms. The success of Kunio-kun led to the production of numerous spin-offs and sequels starring the same character produced for the 8-bit Family Computer platform in Japan and later for the Game Boy and Super Famicom, resulting in more than twenty games starring Kunio by the mid-1990s, many of which were rule-bending sports games. A few Kunio-kun games were localized for the North American market; namely Super Dodge Ball, River City Ransom (considered by critics to be a cult classic[citation needed]) and Nintendo World Cup, but none maintain any connection with each other. Technōs would attempt to remedy this by attempting to localize several Kunio-kun under the Crash 'n the Boys label, but only Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge was released (the game's ending features a teaser for Ice Challenge, which was unreleased). Technōs also released two arcade sequels to Double Dragon: Double Dragon II: The Revenge in 1988 and Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone in 1990 (the latter was developed by an external development team at East Technology), and produced the respective NES versions of those games, as well as Super Double Dragon in 1992, an original installment for the Super NES. An American-produced Double Dragon animated series and a live-action film were also made as well. Outside the Double Dragon and Kunio-kun games, Technōs produced a few original games for the arcade and home markets such as U.S. Championship V'Ball, The Combatribes and Shadow Force, as well as two WWF arcade games (WWF Superstars and WWF Wrestlefest), but most of these games did not achieve the same kind of success that Kunio-kun and Double Dragon achieved. The company's last games were produced for the Neo Geo hardware, which include a Double Dragon fighting game based on the movie, their second and last fighting game Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, and a Neo-Geo sequel to Super Dodge Ball. By 1996, Technōs Japan declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. Some of the developers who worked on the Neo Geo titles (including Kengo Asai) briefly worked at Face, a former affiliate of SNK. Following the closure, a licensing company named Million Co., Ltd was formed to purchase the former intellectual properties of Technōs Japan. Million continued to produce new games such as Super Dodge Ball Advance, Double Dragon Advance and River City Ransom EX for the Game Boy Advance, Super Dodgeball Brawlers for the Nintendo DS, as well as reissuing older titles via the Virtual Console and other services. On June 11, 2015, Arc System Works announced they had acquired all intellectual properties of Technōs Japan from Million Co., Ltd.


101 Games
Technos Arcade 1
Technos Arcade 1

Dec 08, 2021

Technos Collection 1
Technos Collection 1

Jun 08, 2020

Return of Double Dragon
Return of Double Dragon

Jul 19, 2018

Arcade Archives: Double Dragon II - The Revenge
Arcade Archives: Double Dragon II - The Revenge

Feb 26, 2016

Arcade Archives: Super Dodge Ball
Arcade Archives: Super Dodge Ball

Jul 31, 2015

Arcade Archives: Shusse Ozumo
Arcade Archives: Shusse Ozumo

Jan 22, 2015

Arcade Archives: Double Dragon
Arcade Archives: Double Dragon

Nov 27, 2014

Arcade Archives: Renegade
Arcade Archives: Renegade

Jul 24, 2014

Arcade Archives: Mat Mania Exciting Hour
Arcade Archives: Mat Mania Exciting Hour

Jun 12, 2014

Arcade Archives: Karate Champ
Arcade Archives: Karate Champ

Mar 16, 2010

Super Dodge Ball
Super Dodge Ball

Jun 01, 1996

Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer
Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer

Oct 18, 1995

DunQuest: Majin Fuuin no Densetsu
DunQuest: Majin Fuuin no Densetsu

Jul 21, 1995

Double Dragon
Double Dragon

Mar 03, 1995

Geom Cube
Geom Cube

Feb 01, 1995

Sugoro Quest++ Dicenics
Sugoro Quest++ Dicenics

Dec 09, 1994

Funaki Masakatsu Hybrid Wrestler: Tougi Denshou
Funaki Masakatsu Hybrid Wrestler: Tougi Denshou

Oct 21, 1994

Popeye
Popeye

Aug 12, 1994

Nekketsu! Beach Volley Da yo: Kunio-kun
Nekketsu! Beach Volley Da yo: Kunio-kun

Jul 29, 1994

Kunio no Oden
Kunio no Oden

May 27, 1994

Shin Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun: Kunio-tachi no Banka
Shin Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun: Kunio-tachi no Banka

Apr 29, 1994

Renegade
Renegade

Dec 31, 1993

Double Dragon
Double Dragon

Dec 31, 1993

Double Dragon
Double Dragon

Dec 31, 1993

Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Da yo Zenin Shuugou!
Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Da yo Zenin Shuugou!

Dec 22, 1993

Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes
Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes

Dec 22, 1993

Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari: Yakyuu de Shoubu Da! Kunio-kun
Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari: Yakyuu de Shoubu Da! Kunio-kun

Dec 17, 1993

Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Double Dragon II: The Revenge

Dec 03, 1993

Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Da yo Zenin Shuugou!
Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Da yo Zenin Shuugou!

Sep 06, 1993

Kunio-kun no Dodgeball Da yo Zenin Shuugou!: Tournament Special
Kunio-kun no Dodgeball Da yo Zenin Shuugou!: Tournament Special

Aug 06, 1993

Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Dokodemo Kin Medal
Bikkuri Nekketsu Shinkiroku: Dokodemo Kin Medal

Jul 16, 1993

Shadow Force
Shadow Force

Jun 30, 1993

Kunio-kun's Nekketsu Soccer League
Kunio-kun's Nekketsu Soccer League

Apr 23, 1993

Nekketsu Fighting Legend
Nekketsu Fighting Legend

Dec 23, 1992

Super Double Dragon
Super Double Dragon

Oct 08, 1992

Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge
Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge

Oct 01, 1992