Genius Sonority Explained

Genius Sonority, Inc.
ジニアス・ソノリティ株式会社
Type:Private
Foundation:June 2002[1]
Location:Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan
Key People:Manabu Yamana (president, CEO)
Industry:Video games
Products:Games for Nintendo video game consoles
Num Employees:22[2]
Homepage:Genius Sonority

is a Japanese video game development studio, whose staff consists of programmers who have previously worked on the Dragon Quest series of video games.

History

Genius Sonority was incorporated in June 2002 for the original purpose of developing Pokémon games for home consoles, with funding provided by Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi’s Q Fund, a cash reserve used for Nintendo game company start-ups.[3] Current shareholders of the company include Yamana Satoru, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company.[1] The company's founder and current president, Manabu Yamana, is best known as a key person at Heartbeat, a company that developed games in the Dragon Quest series for Enix.[4] Yamana was joined in his efforts by members of Creatures Inc., the second-party Nintendo affiliate, which jointly owns the Pokémon Company and IP along with Nintendo and Game Freak.[4]

As well as developing various Pokémon-related titles, they also co-developed for the Wii with Eighting.[5] The game was released in Japan in July 2007, and the rest of the world within ten months.

Genius Sonority's current flagship franchise is The Denpa Men, an RPG franchise revolving around forming a party by catching creatures known as "Denpa Men", who are randomly generated based on nearby Wi-Fi signals. The first game in the franchise, , was released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012, and several games followed, including a mobile title and an entry for Nintendo Switch.

Titles

YearTitlePlatformPublisherNotes
2003Pokémon ColosseumNintendo GameCubeNintendo/The Pokémon Company
2005Nintendo GameCube
2006Pokémon Trozei!
Pokémon Battle Revolution
2007Square EnixCo-developed with Eighting
100 Classic Book CollectionNintendo
2008Disney Interactive
2010Otona no Renai Shōsetsu: Harlequin Selection [6] Nintendo
2011Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
2012Nintendo 3DSGenius Sonority
The Denpa Men 2: Beyond the WavesNintendo 3DS
2013The Denpa Men 3: The Rise of DigitollNintendo 3DS
2014Pokémon Battle TrozeiThe Pokémon Company
The Denpa Men RPG Free!Nintendo 3DSGenius Sonority
2015Pokémon ShuffleNintendo/The Pokémon Company
2017The New Denpa MenGenius Sonority
2020Pokémon Café ReMix[7] Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
2024The New Denpa Men RPG Free!Genius Sonority

Notes and References

  1. Web site: April 1, 2008 . 会社紹介 (About Us) . GeniusSonority.jp . ja . 2009-07-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20090310040924/http://www.geniussonority.jp/en/index.html. 2009-03-10. dead.
  2. Web site: ジニアス・ソノリティ. 2020-02-23. 2009-03-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20090310040924/http://www.geniussonority.jp/en/index.html. dead.
  3. Web site: 2002-08-08. Yamauchi Q Fund sees Dragon Quest start-up. Spong.com. 2009-07-27.
  4. Web site: Long. Andrew. 2002-08-07. Nintendo Lures RPG Talent. https://web.archive.org/web/20020813195256/http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q3-2002/080702d.html. dead. 2002-08-13. RPGamer.com. 2009-07-27.
  5. Web site: Gantayat . Anoop . Dragon Quest Swords Update . . 2007-01-23 . 2016-04-01.
  6. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/bhqj/ Nintendo.co.jp
  7. Web site: Pokémon Café Mix for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details . 17 June 2020 . Nintendo.