Hudson Soft · RetroWeb

Hudson Soft was a Japanese development and publishing studio from Sapporo that ranked among the pioneers of the home gaming industry, and its name is still tied above all to the Bomberman series. The company also co-created the PC Engine console together with the electronics giant NEC, and in the nineties and the early two-thousands it was one of the most prolific Japanese studios of all — developing its own brands such as Adventure Island and Bomberman while also becoming a key external partner for Nintendo on the Mario Party series. For the generation of players who grew up with the NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy Advance and GameCube, Hudson Soft is synonymous with accessible, party-style, cooperative games that could be played with the whole family or a group of friends around a single television.

History

Hudson Soft was founded in the early seventies as a small company dealing in computer software and radio broadcasting, and it gradually shifted toward video games, first on Japanese home computers and later on game consoles. A turning point came with its collaboration with the electronics company NEC on the development of the PC Engine console, launched in Japan in the mid-eighties — Hudson Soft became one of its main supporters and game suppliers, which helped the platform build a strong position on the domestic market despite its limited success abroad under the name TurboGrafx-16. In the same period the studio launched the Bomberman series, whose simple yet immensely addictive concept of explosive mazes and multiplayer duels became one of the longest-running brands in the entire industry, along with the Adventure Island series, a popular platformer also available on the NES and later on handhelds. For the PC Engine console itself, Hudson Soft even created its own mascot character, the cave boy Bonk, who became one of the faces of the platform much as Sonic represented Sega or Mario represented Nintendo.

In the nineties Hudson Soft expanded its activities to handhelds as well, collaborating on a number of titles for the Game Boy and Virtual Boy, including action puzzle games like Panic Bomber or the localization of the Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color. A major shift came with the turn of the millennium, when the studio became the lead developer of the Mario Party series for the Nintendo GameCube and later for the Nintendo DS and Wii — meaning it stood behind one of the most successful party-game concepts ever, even though it was an intellectual property owned by Nintendo rather than the studio's own. At the same time, Hudson Soft kept developing its own IP, for instance Bomberman spin-offs for the Game Boy Advance such as Bomberman Tournament, which added new game modes and expanded the multiplayer options.

The ongoing consolidation of the Japanese gaming market meant that, over the course of the two-thousands, Konami built up a significant stake in the studio and gradually acquired Hudson Soft outright. After several years of operating as a subsidiary, the studio was formally merged into Konami in 2012 and ceased to exist as an independent brand, closing the nearly forty-year history of one of the oldest Japanese game publishers.

Today

Hudson Soft as an independent studio ceased to exist when it was absorbed into Konami. Its best-known brand, Bomberman, however lives on under the Konami banner, which regularly releases new entries and remasters for current consoles, while the legacy of its collaboration on the Mario Party series continues in the hands of Nintendo and its other development partners. The name Hudson Soft today mainly remains a memory of an era when Japanese studios were still finding the rules of the genres that continue to shape family and party games to this day.

Games by the studio (35)

Adventure Island · 1986

An endurance platformer by Hudson Soft based on Wonder Boy; your energy burns like a fuse.

NES

Bomberman '93 / '94 · 1987

Bombs, mazes, last one standing wins — the formula refined to one of its finest forms.

PCE

Faxanadu · 1987

A distinctive side-view action RPG with spells and an economy on the branches of the World Tree.

NES

Legendary Axe · 1989

A tough barbarian platformer with an axe; early proof that the TurboGrafx could handle serious action.

PCE

Military Madness (Nectaris) · 1989

A turn-based strategy game on a hexagonal grid; the battle for the Moon is deeper than you'd expect.

PCE

Neutopia · 1989

A top-down action RPG; dungeons, puzzles, and a vast fantasy world to discover.

PCE

Chew Man Fu · 1990

A goofily-named, addictive arcade puzzler about matching up colored balls.

PCE

Palamedes · 1990

A puzzle game with falling dice, where the sum of the pips decides which pair vanishes from the playing field.

Gate of Thunder (CD) · 1991

A horizontal shooter, bundled in America right with the TurboDuo console as its calling card.

PCE

Bomberman GB · 1994

Pocket-sized Bomberman; cross-shaped blasts, collectible bonuses, and a maze full of destructible blocks.

Super Bomberman 2 · 1994

An explosive multiplayer brawl where you plant bombs and blow away opponents in a maze.

SNES

Super Bomberman 3–5 · 1994

The pinnacle of the series on SNES; a couch, a couple of controllers, and a bomb-blasted evening guaranteed.

SNES

Wario Blast Featuring Bomberman! · 1994

Unusual crossover: classic Bomberman from Hudson Soft with Wario instead of the second little guy.

Panic Bomber · 1995

A puzzle game from the Bomberman universe; instead of rows like in Tetris, you assemble whole bombs from symbols.

Vertical Force · 1995

A vertically scrolling shooter with two tiers of battlefield you switch between mid-flight.

Mario Party 1–3 · 1996

The trilogy that founded the party-game genre and broke up more friendships than any other game.

N64

Bomberman 64 · 1997

The iconic explosive series in 3D for the first time, a bold step for a series built on a 2D grid.

N64

Bomberman Hero · 1998

Instead of arenas and boss fights, it offers a linear 3D platformer — the series' second, story-driven face.

N64

Mario Party · 1998

The game that breaks friendships. Four players, a die, and a pile of devious minigames.

N64

Pokémon Trading Card Game · 1998

The paper collectible card game goes digital, with surprising depth of rules.

GBC

Mario Party 2 · 1999

A polished sequel with themed boards; many consider it the peak of the series.

N64

Bomberman Max: Red / Blue Challenger · 2000

Classic bombs in a maze, enriched with collectible Charabom creatures and adventure elements.

GBC

Bomberman Quest · 2000

A departure from arenas toward a Zelda-style action RPG; bombs double as puzzle-solving tools.

GBC

Mario Party 3 · 2000

The final N64 entry in the trilogy, adding one-on-one and two-on-two duels.

N64

Sonic Shuffle · 2000

Sonic's answer to Mario Party; a board game with minigames spiced up with the series' lore.

Bomberman Tournament · 2001

Bomb-laying meets adventure; Bomberman collects companions on an island of rivals.

GBA

Mario Party 4 · 2002

The series' first GameCube entry, which fully embraced the leap to more detailed 3D graphics.

GCN

Mario Party 5 · 2003

New game boards and over seventy minigames; items were replaced by a tactical capsule system.

GCN

Mario Party 6 · 2004

The first entry to truly innovate the formula - the day/night cycle changes both rules and strategy.

GCN

Mario Party 7 · 2005

The last GameCube entry and the first to support eight players thanks to the cooperative duo mode.

GCN

Mario Party Advance · 2005

Over sixty minigames without the classic game board; exploring Shroom City in between.

GBA

Mario Party 8 · 2007

A social board game with minigames adapted to the console's motion controls.

Wii

Mario Party DS · 2007

Chaotic, unfair, and fun competition for stars, brought to a handheld console.

Deca Sports DS · 2009

A compilation of ten sports controlled with the stylus; quick fun over simulation depth.

Star Soldier R · 2009

A vertical shmup continuing the Star Soldier tradition from the NES; it's mainly about score-attack.

Wii