Most creative and diverse devs in their prime

[Segata]

Developers come and go,some we were sad to see go. Some still around but their prime is long gone. Some remain making good games but not quite what they once were. So what developer at their peak do you feel had not only the most diverse but creative games for you?

[Exhuminator]

The first two that come to mind for me are Looking Glass and CiNG.
I miss both of those studios tremendously.

[Xeogred]

[Segata]

From Outrun to Sonic. Phantasy Star to Thunder Force. Burning Rangers to Jet Set Radio and Seaman. Hundreds if not thousands of games. ToeJam and Earl,Comix Zone. SEGA created amazing games in about every single genre and games like Seaman or Jet Set defied genres. They pumped out a new IP every 15 seconds and often creative and unique. Were they always great? No. Just you could never fault them for trying.




Fighting games to shmups to survival horror to RPGs to Platformers and more. Capcom was an IP machine in the 80s and 90s. From really original stuff to taking an est genre and making one of the defining games in it. Capcom's IPs were so strong I firmly believe they could have had their own console in the 16 bit era.

[Sarge]

I miss the old Enix, pre-merger. We especially got some offbeat stuff from them then. I remember how disappointed I was when they closed their American branch. Those were dark days for us Dragon Warrior/Quest fans.

Like Xeogred, I also miss SNES-era SquareSoft. SquareSoft was exhibited signs of their malaise pre-merger, but I'm not on the train that they're awful now. They're just not quite as magical as they once were. The SNES/PSX era was phenomenal, the PS2 was still very, very good, and after that has been hit or miss.

[Xeogred]

I was going to joke about Capcom too, I miss the days when they made non-Resident Evil games. Even if it was one of my top favorite franchises. They were quite possibly my favorite publisher/dev from the NES-PS2. As a kid, none of us could have known the difference behind a publisher or developer and all the other details, all I needed to see was that "Capcom" stamp on a game and I knew it was good.

Konami still hasn't really sunk in much since I think most of us have accepted it by now. They haven't really done anything that noteworthy in the last decade or so outside of Metal Gear Solid. Frankly they've been dead and went out on such a sour, sad, depressingly slow note, it's just bizarre. Unlike Capcom and others though, they were a company decades before getting into gaming, so I guess it apparently doesn't really flow in their blood. Good riddance.

Looking Glass were great but their DNA still resides in some companies, like Arkane. But I certainly miss some of the old B-grade guys from just a gen or two back. Like Ion Storm, the older incarnations of Eidos branches, THQ, etc. Basically anyone that isn't Activison, EA, Ubisoft, or Bethesda.

Yeah I don't hate Square Enix, but they certainly aren't the workhorses and risk takers that Square Soft were. The amount of IP's Square Soft punched out on the PSX is crazy!

One weird one is Sunsoft. They were on fire on the NES, but after that nothing comes to mind.

Also, I know I'm not the only one here on this, but I wish Quintet were still around. Man, they put out some awesomely weird RPG's.

[Segata]

Soft were. The amount of IP's Square Soft punched out on the PSX is crazy!

One weird one is Sunsoft. They were on fire on the NES, but after that nothing comes to mind.

Albert Odyssey games were really good RPGs on SNES and Saturn.
Final Fantasy Legend series on Game Boy
Firepower 2000 was alright.
Flashback on SNES
Galaxy Fight was fun.
Contributed on Waku Waku 7

[Jagosaurus]

Kenji Eno's Warp always sticks out to me:

D
Enemy Zero
D2

All extremely creative and ahead of their time.

He was pissed at Sony for not printing enough copies of D, so at a freaking Sony conference he does this...

Enemy Zero began life on Sony's PlayStation. Its unveiling at the 1996 PlayStation Expo in Tokyo was described by journalists as the highlight of the show.[5] Irritated by Sony's failure to meet even a third of preorders for the PlayStation version of D, at a Sony conference Kenji Eno made a shocking move. Eno showed a preview of Enemy Zero. At the end of the clip the PlayStation logo appeared, but slowly transitioned into the Sega Saturn logo.[6] Despite popular opinion that the Saturn cannot handle 3D games as well as the PlayStation, Eno commented "...the PlayStation and the Saturn aren't that different, so moving it [Enemy Zero] to Saturn wasn't too difficult."

This always fascinated me regarding D2:

20 copies of a limited edition of the Saturn version were produced and sold for a price roughly equal to 2,000 US dollars. These special copies were hand-delivered to recipients by Kenji Eno himself.

Read up more on him (RIP) and WARP. Andddd I want to play D again.

[Sarge]

Oh, yeah, Sunsoft used to be amazing. They just lost their way in the 16-bit era. Along with them, I miss Natsume's NES output. They put out some great, great games then, and they also happened to continue their success in the SNES era.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Rare was just insane during the NES era. From Wizards and Warriors to Battletoads and Anticipation to Cobra Triangle, Rare's output during that era is unmatched, IMO, with regard to both creativity and diversity.