G.rev

G.rev Ltd. (有限会社グレフ, Yūgen Gaisha Gurefu), short for G.revolution, is a Japanese video game developer. The company was founded by former employees of Taito's arcade division who had worked on G-Darius and RayStorm, and is known primarily for their arcade shoot 'em up games.

G.rev
TypeYūgen gaisha
IndustryVideo games
HeadquartersJapan
ProductsArcade shoot 'em ups
Number of employees
10[1] (2011)
Websitegrev.co.jp

History

G.rev was founded with the mission of developing arcade shooters, but they realized the cost of development was more than their initial investment capital. To generate revenue, they took on contract work for Taito and Treasure, co-developing the popular shooter Ikaruga with the latter.[2] This relationship would remain fruitful, with G.rev assisting again on Gradius V, and Ikaruga director Hiroshi Iuchi assisting on G.rev's own Strania. G.rev's first independent release was a puzzle game, Doki Doki Idol Star Seeker, a Mine Sweeper-like arcade puzzle game, created with low investment and high returns in mind.

With the money in place to develop a full-fledged arcade shooter on their own, the team, under direction of president Hiroyuki Maruyama, set out to develop Border Down as a spiritual successor to the Taito arcade classic Metal Black. Border Down was met with wide acclaim among shooter fans following the release of its Dreamcast port, with particular praise paid to its unique beam mechanics and "border system", which put players on different paths if they died. They followed this success with Under Defeat, a helicopter shooter praised for its gritty wartime atmosphere. Its port to Dreamcast would be one of the last games released on the system.

Their next release was the unique hybrid game WarTech: Senko no Ronde, which combined shooter-like firing patterns and themes in a projectile-based fighting game similar to Taito's Psychic Force series. With the Dreamcast shooter support diminishing, they chose to port the Sega NAOMI game to Xbox 360, remaking the game's graphics and adding gameplay enhancements along the way. This release, Senko no Ronde Rev. X, became the first G.rev game to be released in North America as WarTech: Senko no Ronde. The American release was met with mixed reviews that praised the title's innovation but criticized the brief length and high pricepoint. Some of the gameplay enhancements of Rev. X were carried over to the arcade release Senko no Ronde SP.

Following the formation of Gulti, another small developer formed by veterans of the shooter genre, G.rev proposed a collaborative effort, as Gulti didn't have the capital needed for a full-scale shooter of their own. The two companies created Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta, an overhead-view, multi-directional shooter with a Japanese fantasy theme, initially released on the NAOMI. The title was ported to Xbox 360 and a widescreen version made it to PlayStation 3 much later.

The company's next title was Senko no Ronde DUO: Dis-United Order, a sequel to their earlier crossover title. This time, G.rev chose to develop for the more powerful Taito X2 hardware, allowing the graphical quality of the arcade version to match the later Xbox 360 port. Unlike its predecessor, the title was not released outside Japan.

G.rev continued to develop on the Taito X2 hardware, releasing Strania: The Stella Machina, a vertically scrolling shooter that allows players to arm two different selectable/upgradable weapons at once. For the first time, G.rev decided to forgo a retail release, instead releasing an Xbox Live Arcade title, and promising some of the usual bonus features like an alternate course as future downloadable content. The home version was released simultaneously across all regions, giving Western gamers their first G.rev title since Wartech.

Games developed

Arcade games

Game Year Hardware Publisher(s)
Doki Doki Idol Star Seeker 2001 Sega NAOMI G.rev
Border Down 2003 Sega NAOMI G.rev
Senko no Ronde 2005 Sega NAOMI Sega
Senko no Ronde NEW VER . 2005 Sega NAOMI Sega
Under Defeat 2005 Sega NAOMI Sega
Senko no Ronde SP 2006 Sega NAOMI Sega
Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta! 2008 Sega NAOMI G.rev
Senko no Ronde Dis-United Order 2009 Taito Type X² G.rev
Senko no Ronde Dis-United Order Ver 2.0 2009 NESiCAxLive G.rev
Seisou Kouki Strania 2011 NESiCAxLive G.rev
Under Defeat HD+ 2013 RingEdge 2 G.rev

Console games

GameYearSystemPublisher(s)JPNAEU
Doki Doki Idol Star Seeker Remix2002Sega DreamcastG.revYesNoNo
Border Down2003Sega DreamcastG.revYesNoNo
Under Defeat2006Sega DreamcastG.revYesNoNo
WarTech: Senko no Ronde / Senko no Ronde Rev. X2006 (JP)
2007 (NA & EU)
Xbox 360Sega (JP)
Ubisoft (NA & EU)
YesYesYes
Senko no Ronde DUO2010Xbox 360G.revYesNoNo
Strania2011
2015
XBLA
Microsoft Windows
G.revYesYesYes
Under Defeat HD[3]2012Xbox 360
PlayStation 3
G.rev (JP)
Rising Star Games (NA & EU)
YesYesaYes
Kokuga2012 (JP)
2013 (NA & EU)
Nintendo 3DSG.revYesYesbYes
GameCenter CX 3[4]2014Nintendo 3DSBandai Namco GamesYesNoNo
Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours[5]2016PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Microsoft WindowsKadokawa GamesYesYesYes
Senko no Ronde 22017PlayStation 4, Microsoft WindowsKadokawa GamesYesYesYes
Yurukill: The Calumniation Games c2022PlayStation 4, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft WindowsNIS AmericaYesYesYes
Notes

^a North American Xbox 360 version released in 2014.
^b Not released in Canada.
^c Shoot 'Em Up Portion only.

Mobile games

GameYearPlatformPublisher(s)
Star Seeker2002MobileTaito / G.rev
Fairyland Story2003MobileTaito
Densha De Go! 3D2003MobileTaito

Games published

GameYearSystemDeveloper(s)JPNAEU
Mamoru-kun wa Norowarete Shimatta!2009Xbox 360GultiYesNoNo
Gunhound EX2013PlayStation PortableDracueYesNoNo

Other works

  • The Kaiten Mawasunda!! mini-game in SIMPLE 1500 Series Vol 66. (2001, Sony PlayStation) - Design.
  • Ikaruga — (2001, NAOMI / Dreamcast / GameCube) - Programming and background graphic design.
  • Gradius V — (2004, PlayStation 2) - Programming and background graphic design.

References

  1. "[G.rev LTD.]グレフ公式サイト ホームページ".
  2. "Ikaruga (2001) Arcade credits". MobyGames. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  3. "Under Defeat HD coming to PS3, Xbox 360 • Eurogamer.net". Eurogamer. 26 October 2011.
  4. "Damn you, Japan! It's Game Center CX 3 on 3DS! – Destructoid". 24 August 2013.
  5. Maruyama, Hiroyuki. 突然の発表. グレフ通信 blog版 (in Japanese). G.rev. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
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