 The original Sacnoth logo | |
Native name | アルゼグローバルトレーディング株式会社 |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Aruze Gurōbaru Torēdingu Kabushiki gaisha |
| Formerly |
|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 30 April 1997; 28 years ago (1997-04-30) |
| Founder | Hiroki Kikuta |
| Defunct | 1 February 2009; 17 years ago (2009-02-01) |
| Fate | Merged into Aruze Marketing Japan |
| Headquarters | , Japan |
Key people |
|
| Products | Shadow Hearts |
| Parent | Aruze (2002–2009) |
Sacnoth Inc.,[a] renamedNautilus Inc.[b] in 2002, was a Japanesevideo game developer based inTokyo. The company was founded in April 1997 byHiroki Kikuta with funding fromSNK; its staff, including Kikuta, were veterans ofSquare. While their first releases were theDive Alert games for theNeo Geo Pocket Color (NGPC), the company was founded to produceKoudelka, arole-playing video game for thePlayStation. The development ofKoudelka was troubled due to creative differences between Kikuta and the rest of the staff, with Kikuta resigning as CEO following the game's release and being replaced by Jun Mihara. The company also released the NGPC gameFaselei!.
FollowingKoudelka, the company went on to developthe first game in theShadow Hearts series. In 2002,Aruze acquired Sacnoth and renamed it to Nautilus. Under that name, the company developed two moreShadow Hearts games. As part of a larger reorganization within Aruze, Nautilus was renamedAruze Global Trading Corporation[c] and exited the video game business in September 2007 before being absorbed into another Aruze subsidiary in February 2009. The work of Sacnoth for the NGPC has been mentioned positively in articles on the console, while theShadow Hearts series retains a cult status and is remembered for its setting and gameplay. Multiple former employees joinedFeelplus.
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Sacnoth was founded byHiroki Kikuta, a former composer forSquare who worked onSecret of Mana,Trials of Mana andSoukaigi.[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 ofSNK. During their talk, Kikuta outlined many perceived pitfalls he saw emerging in therole-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 inTokyo.[3][5]
Sacnoth developed their first two projects in parallel:Koudelka for thePlayStation, and theDive Alert duology for the NGPC.[6] TheDive 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 fromsimulation andadventure 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 ofKoudelka 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 wasFaselei!, a tactical RPG released in 1999 for the NGPC.[7][9] During this period, SNK ran into financial troubles and was bought out byAruze 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]
FollowingKoudelka,Shadow Hearts began development for thePlayStation 2, directed and written byKoudelkaart director Matsuzo Machida (credited as Matsuzo Itakura).[18][19][20] Mihara acted as the game's producer.[13][21] Using the setting ofKoudelka, Machida created a traditional RPG that blendedLovecraftian 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 furtherShadow Hearts titles and supporting the production of Aruze'spachinko machines.[5] The company's first title under the Nautilus name wasShadow Hearts: Covenant, a sequel toShadow Hearts featuring many of the same staff.[14][26] Using feedback from the firstShadow 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 ofCovenant,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 ofCovenant instead of adding new elements.[25][27][28]From the New World is aspin-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 theShadow Hearts series were never realized.[20]
By February 2007, Nautilus had become absent from Aruze's financial statements, prompting rumours that the company had beendissolved.[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 joinedFeelplus, which helped develop games likeLost Odyssey andNinety-Nine Nights II.[33][35][36]
Sacnoth is noted as being one of a group of video game companies—alongsideMonolith Soft,Love-de-Lic andMistwalker—founded by Square staff who had worked on notable titles produced during the 1990s. Writing in a feature forAnime News Network, Todd Ciolek noted the positive responses to the studio's work onShadow Hearts, though feltKoudelka was inferior compared to their other work.[37] In an article on the NGPC forUSgamer, Jeremy Parish noted Sacnoth as one of the best developers to work with the console due to their work onDive Alert andFaselei!.[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] TheShadow 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]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Dive Alert | Neo Geo Pocket Color | Released in two editions:Becky's Version andMatt's Version[43] |
| Koudelka | PlayStation | ||
| Faselei! | Neo Geo Pocket Color | ||
| 2001 | Shadow Hearts | PlayStation 2 | Last game developed under the "Sacnoth" title[14] |
| 2004 | Shadow Hearts: Covenant | PlayStation 2 | |
| 2005 | Shadow Hearts: From the New World | PlayStation 2 |
