Sacnoth

Hiroki Kikuta founded Sacnoth in 1997.

Sacnoth was founded by Hiroki Kikuta, a former composer for Square who worked on Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana and Soukaigi.[1] While at Square, Kikuta wanted to direct his own game but, due to the strict hierarchical structure at the company, could not move beyond his role as a composer.[2] Searching for a means of expanding his role, he was introduced by a business advisor to the chairman of SNK. During their talk, Kikuta outlined many perceived pitfalls he saw emerging in the role-playing game (RPG) genre.[1] The company was founded on 30 April 1997, with Kikuta as its CEO.[3] While SNK provided funding for the company, it had little involvement in its products and creative direction, with SNK's Norimasa Hirano describing Sacnoth as an independent developer.[4] Sacnoth's headquarters were based in Tokyo.[3][5]

Sacnoth developed their first two projects in parallel: Koudelka for the PlayStation, and the Dive Alert duology for the NGPC.[6] The Dive Alert games were their first releases in Japan and were promoted as part of the portable's early line-up.[7][8] It was also one of the last NGPC games released in North America.[9] Koudelka was born from Kikuta's wish to create a "horror RPG", beginning development of the title following the company's foundation.[1][2] Kikuta acted as the game's director, producer, writer and composer.[1] His original plan for the gameplay and combat was to combine mechanics from simulation and adventure games, breaking away from RPG trends.[10] The rest of the staff were reluctant to do this, and they instead created a traditional turn-based battle system without his involvement.[1]

Kikuta resigned as Sacnoth's CEO following the release of Koudelka in 1999, later founding the music label Norstrilia.[11][12] Kikuta was replaced as CEO by Jun Mihara.[13] The last game developed by Sacnoth under SNK was Faselei!, a tactical RPG released in 1999 for the NGPC.[7][9] During this period, SNK ran into financial troubles and was bought out by Aruze in January 2000.[14][15][16] Faselei! was one of the last games produced for the NGPC, as Aruze pulled the console from sale in June 2000.[9][17]

Following Koudelka, Shadow Hearts began development for the PlayStation 2, directed and written by Koudelka art director Matsuzo Machida (credited as Matsuzo Itakura).[18][19][20] Mihara acted as the game's producer.[13][21] Using the setting of Koudelka, Machida created a traditional RPG that blended Lovecraftian horror with alternative history.[19][20] Released in 2001, Shadow Hearts was the first RPG published by Aruze.[22][23] Shadow Hearts was the last game developed by Sacnoth under that name.[14]

In November 2002, Sacnoth was acquired by Aruze and renamed Nautilus, carrying over its original staff.[14][24][25] The responsibilities of Nautilus were divided between developing further Shadow Hearts titles and supporting the production of Aruze's pachinko machines.[5] The company's first title under the Nautilus name was Shadow Hearts: Covenant, a sequel to Shadow Hearts featuring many of the same staff.[14][26] Using feedback from the first Shadow Hearts, Machida added more comedic elements.[20] Covenant was released in Japan in 2004.[19] The team also created a director's cut of the game.[14]

After the release of Covenant, Shadow Hearts: From the New World entered into production. The game was completed on a very tight schedule and focused on refining the battle system of Covenant instead of adding new elements.[25][27][28] From the New World is a spin-off featuring new characters to reach a wider audience.[28] The game was released in Japan in 2005, coming to Western countries through third-party publishers over the next two years.[29][30][31] Plans to continue the Shadow Hearts series were never realized.[20]

By February 2007, Nautilus had become absent from Aruze's financial statements, prompting rumours that the company had been dissolved.[29] The studio was renamed Aruze Global Trading on September 21, 2007, during large-scale structural changes within Aruze.[32] Under its new name, Aruze Global Trading was not involved in game development.[33] The company was merged into another Aruze subsidiary, Aruze Marketing Japan, on February 1 2009. Aruze Marketing Japan was itself merged into Aruze in June of that year.[34] Several of Sacnoth's staff eventually joined Feelplus, which helped develop games like Lost Odyssey and Ninety-Nine Nights II.[33][35][36]

Sacnoth is noted as being one of a group of video game companies—alongside Monolith Soft, Love-de-Lic and Mistwalker—founded by Square staff who had worked on notable titles produced during the 1990s. Writing in a feature for Anime News Network, Todd Ciolek noted the positive responses to the studio's work on Shadow Hearts, though felt Koudelka was inferior compared to their other work.[37] In an article on the NGPC for USgamer, Jeremy Parish noted Sacnoth as one of the best developers to work with the console due to their work on Dive Alert and Faselei!.[38] Faselei! has been remembered or ranked as one of the best NGPC games of all time, and become a collector's item.[9][39][40] The Shadow Hearts series has also seen a positive reception over time and maintained a cult following, with many noting its gameplay design and combination of alternate history and Lovecraftian horror in its setting.[41][42]