Quintet (company)

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, as well as five elements of game design—planning, graphics, sound, programming and producing. Quintet was most active in the 1990s, when it had a strong relationship with Enix (now incorporated into Square Enix); the company was also a member of the GD-NET group of Sega Saturn developers. Quintet has not been active since the 2000s and are likely defunct.

Quintet Co., Ltd.
TypePublic
IndustryVideo games
FoundedApril 1989
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Key people
Tomoyoshi Miyazaki
Masaya Hashimoto
ProductsActRaiser
Soul Blazer
ActRaiser 2
Illusion of Gaia
Robotrek
Terranigma
Websitewww.quintet.co.jp (archived)

Company overview

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 main director, designer and programmer for the same early Ys titles, also joined Quintet with Miyazaki. Thanks to the Ys connection, composer Yuzo Koshiro (also a Ys veteran) lent his talents to the score of the company's official inaugural title, ActRaiser, a soundtrack which has since been adapted for orchestra. Koshiro's sister, Ayano Koshiro, drew 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 frequently revolve around a conflict between a being that brings destruction and a being that controls creation as symbols of duality. The world has two aspects which both oppose and complement each other, and everything in existence is built upon that relationship. Portrayals of suffering and sacrifices set Quintet games apart from other games of the era, and made the games memorable to 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 by 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 shut down.

A fan-led effort to encourage a re-release or remaster of Terranigma in 2021 led to renewed speculation on 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 this was why the rights to republish the game were complicated, that 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 at least has access to ActRaiser's rights, and might have the rest of Quintet's library as well.[4]

Works developed
Year Title Publisher Platform(s)
1990 ActRaiser Enix Super NES
1992 Soul Blazer Enix Super NES
1993 ActRaiser 2 Enix Super NES
1993 Illusion of Gaia Enix Super NES
1994 Robotrek Enix Super NES
1995 Terranigma Enix Super NES
1997 The Granstream Saga[5] Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation
1998 Solo Crisis[6] Quintet Sega Saturn
1998 Code R[7] Quintet/Entertainment Software Publishing Sega Saturn
1999 Planet Laika[8] Enix PlayStation
1999 Brightis Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation
1999 Shenmue[9] Sega Dreamcast
1999 Godzilla Generations: Maximum Impact Sega Dreamcast
2001 Simple 1500 Series vol.78 The Zeroyon D3 Publisher PlayStation
2002 Mystic Heroes Koei Game Boy Advance
2004 Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask[10] Bandai PlayStation 2

References
  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. 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
  5. Scenario, developed by Shade
  6. "Solo Crisis". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 104. Ziff Davis. March 1998. p. 48.
  7. Developed by Team Seven
  8. (co-developed with Zeque)
  9. Development support.
  10. co-developed with Kamui
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