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What kind of connection did Sierra have with the Japanese game developer Game Arts? I know Sierra published several titles made by that company like Thexder and Zeliard (some originally released as video games in Japan… I think). Coming to think of it, Thexder was, in a sense, the first Sierra (well, Sierra-published) game I ever played!
From their Wikipedia entry, it turns that the company still exists today, and is pretty successful. -
Our relationship with Game-Arts was just a licensing deal. The hope was that they would help us establish our games in the Japan market, and we would help them in the US.
Perhaps someone here can refresh my memory, but I think the only Game Arts’ games we published were Thexder and Silpheed. Both were successful, although neither was a huge hit.
I don’t remember why we stopped publishing their products. My recollection is that everything we did in Japan failed. There wasn’t a PC Compatible computer that was doing well in Japan, except the NEC PC-9801, which really wasn’t very compatible, and wasn’t really used as a game machine. We weren’t in the video game business, and ultimately closed our office in Tokyo, after losing a fair amount of money there.
-Ken W
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The ‘Tenth Anniversary’ booklet that came with games like King’s Quest had a page and a half dedicated to ‘A Short History of Sierra and Japanese Games’.
It states: By the time Sierra personnel got their first look at Silpheed, the Game Arts people and Sierra had cemented thier friendship. Sierra had hired not only Ed Nagano (Ken’s shopping companion on his first Japan trip) as a Sierra U.S. Ambassador for Japan, but also a Japanese programmer, Mickie Lee, for Sierra’s U.S. offices.’
‘Silpheed, which Ken licensed, was eventually released in April of 1989 for the U.S. market.’
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I believe Zeliard (and also the sequel to Thexder) were Game Arts games, as well. Thexder was one of the first computer games I ever purchased. (Sierra’s 3-D Helicopter Simulator was also one of my other first games… I bought both around the same time.). Although I preferred the adventure game titles, Thexder was a very fun game with great graphics and music. Maybe some day I’ll get it running again and try to finish it. It was a bit challenging, and I don’t recall it having the ability to save your progress.
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This leads me to another (mirror) question: does anyone know which Sierra games were released in Japan? And for which machines?
I have King’s Quest 5 for the FM-Towns, as well as King’s Quest 8 (for PC of course).
I think KQ5 contains an ad for Mixed-up Mother Goose, and I think I’ve also seen an ad for Police Quest 2.Anything else? King’s Quest 4, earlier KQs? Space Quest? Quest for Glory? …
Vincent.
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