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Quintet (company)

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Quintet Co., Ltd.
Company typePublic
IndustryVideo games
FoundedApril 1989
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Key people
Tomoyoshi Miyazaki, Masaya Hashimoto
Products
WebsiteArchived official website

Quintet Co., Ltd. (株式会社クインテット, Kabushiki gaisha Kuintetto) was a Japanese video game developer founded in April 1989. The company name is derived from musical terminology, representing the five elements of game design: planning, graphics, sound, programming, and production. Quintet was most active during the 1990s, maintaining a strong relationship with Enix (now part of Square Enix). It was also a member of the GD-NET group of Sega Saturn developers. Quintet has not been active since the 2000s and is presumed to be defunct.

Company overview

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The director and president of Quintet is Tomoyoshi Miyazaki, the scenario writer for the first three entries of Nihon Falcom's Ys series. Masaya Hashimoto, who served as the main director, designer, and programmer for the same early Ys titles, also joined Quintet alongside Miyazaki. Thanks to the Ys connection, composer Yuzo Koshiro (also a Ys veteran) contributed to the score of the company's inaugural title, ActRaiser, a soundtrack that has since been adapted for orchestra. Koshiro's sister, Ayano Koshiro, created the character designs.

The releases of Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma, also known as the "Soul Blazer Trilogy," were well-received by some fans for the broad philosophical and sometimes dark themes addressed in the titles. Quintet's games often revolve around a conflict between a being that brings destruction and a being that controls creation, symbolizing duality. The world has two aspects that both oppose and complement each other, with everything in existence built upon that relationship. The portrayal of suffering and sacrifice set Quintet's games apart from other titles of the era and left a lasting impression on fans.

The company appears to have been inactive since 2002.[1] There was an active bulletin board on the official site until March 29, 2002 (the release date of the Game Boy Advance action RPG Magical Houshin, the counterpart to the GameCube title Battle Houshin, released as Mystic Heroes in North America). In response to comments from fans impatient with the lack of news, Quintet staff posted: "As we cannot currently release any information, we will close this bulletin board". (現在は外部に提供できる情報がなく、また掲示板は閉鎖する, Genzai wa gaibu ni teikyō dekiru jōhō ga naku, mata keijiban wa heisa suru.) Afterwards, the bulletin board was shut down. In March 2008, Quintet's website was also taken offline.

A fan-led effort to encourage a re-release or remaster of Terranigma in 2021 led to renewed speculation about the status of the rights to Quintet's games. According to Terranigma artist Kamui Fujiwara, Quintet president Tomoyoshi Miyazaki had "disappeared" to his knowledge; he speculated that this was the reason the rights to republish the game were complicated, as Miyazaki was not available for contact.[2][3] A remaster of ActRaiser entitled ActRaiser Renaissance was released in September 2021 by Square Enix, suggesting that Square Enix has access to ActRaiser's rights, and possibly the rest of Quintet's library as well.[4] In December 2023, Yuzo Koshiro directly urged Square Enix to bring Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma to modern platforms.[5]

Games developed

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Year Title Publisher Platform(s) Notes
1990 ActRaiser Enix Super Nintendo
1992 Soul Blazer Enix Super Nintendo
1993 ActRaiser 2 Enix Super Nintendo
Illusion of Gaia Enix Super Nintendo
1994 Robotrek Enix Super Nintendo
1995 Terranigma Enix Super Nintendo
1997 The Granstream Saga Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation Credited to Shade, an internal team
1998 Solo Crisis[6] Quintet Sega Saturn
Code R Quintet Sega Saturn
1999 Planet Laika Enix PlayStation Co-developed with Zeque
Brightis Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation
Shenmue Sega Dreamcast Developed by Sega AM2; Quintet credited with development support[7]
Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact Sega Dreamcast
2001 Simple 1500 Series vol.78 The Zeroyon D3 Publisher PlayStation
2002 Magical Houshin Koei Game Boy Advance

References

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  1. ^ Szczepaniak, John (7 July 2011). "Falcom: Legacy of Ys". GamesTM (111): 152–159 [155]. Archived from the original on December 9, 2012. Retrieved 2011-09-08. (cf. Szczepaniak, John (July 8, 2011). "History of Ys interviews". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2011.)
  2. ^ McFerran, Damien (July 22, 2021). "Some Of The Original Terranigma Team Want To Revive The Classic SNES RPG - Digital re-release or remaster, we don't mind..." Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on 2021-07-22. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  3. ^ blay (August 8, 2021). "Feature: Artist Kamui Fujiwara Talks Terranigma Amid Drive To Resurrect Classic SNES RPG". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on 2021-08-08. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  4. ^ "ActRaiser got a remake, so now it's time for a Soul Blazer trilogy revival". Archived from the original on 2021-12-23. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  5. ^ @yuzokoshiro (December 16, 2023). "Actraiser has luckily come back as Renaissance, but other Quintet classics like Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma are still awaiting their revival. Despite the original dev team having disbanded, we're eager to see remakes of these masterpieces and would like to voice our enthusiasm, urging Square Enix to bring them to modern consoles" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ "Solo Crisis". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 104. Ziff Davis. March 1998. p. 48.
  7. ^ "Shenmue credits". Archived from the original on 2023-10-30. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
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