User:Ignirae/Disc Original Group
Disk Original Group (ディスク・オリジナル・グループ, Disuku Orijinaru Grūpu), usually known as DOG, was a video game development collective established on 14th July 1986 at the proposal of Square. Together with six other companies that developed primarily for personal computers, they released numerous titles for the Famicom Disk System throughout the 1980s.
History[edit]
At the time of its formation, the only member with any prior involvement in the Famicom market was Square; DOG was unusual in that its other six members, all active since the early days of PC gaming, primarily developed computer role-playing games and adventure games.
These six companies handled development and managed intellectual property rights, with Square (under the DOG label) handling all sales and marketing. In-game copyright notices credit the original developer. This means that the only DOG titles that bear the Square name were developed by Square themselves.
Five of the companies (with the exception of Square and Carry Lab) had previously worked together on a large-scale development project named Session61, in addition to founding another collective known as ScapTrust. The three other companies involved in this venture — Bothtec, BPS and SystemSoft — did not join DOG as they were already active in the Famicom market.
With all seven companies having developed at least one title, the DOG brand came to a natural end in 1988, when higher-capacity cartridges and battery backup saves began to take off, and Disk System development in general fell out of favour.
Members[edit]
- Square (leader)
- Carry Lab
- XTALSOFT
- System Sacom
- Thinking Rabbit
- HummingBirdSoft (Apple Mac division)
- Microcabin
As of 2021, two of these companies — System Sacom and Microcabin — are still in existence, although all seven have withdrawn from video game development, with Square having since merged with Enix to form Square Enix.
Games developed[edit]
- Square
- Suishō no Dragon
- The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner
- JJ (released on cartridge)
- Carry Lab
- XTALSOFT
- System Sacom
- Thinking Rabbit
- HummingBirdSoft
- Microcabin
Cancelled games[edit]
- Square
- Seiken Densetsu: The Emergence of Excalibur
- Intended to release in 1987 as the first of a pentalogy, but ultimately cancelled. The Seiken Densetsu name and trademark was later reused for the entirely unrelated 1991 Game Boy game Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (known in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest), the first entry in what would come to be known as the Mana series.
References[edit]
- Hirabayashi, Hisakazu (2010-09-17). "ディスクシステム興亡史（３）－完結編－". Retrieved 2014-06-28.