# Sun Corporation

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sun_Corporation
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sun_Corporation.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Corporation
> Source revision: 1349573386
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Japanese electronics company

"Sunsoft" redirects here. For the unrelated former division of Sun Microsystems, see [SunSoft, Inc.](/source/SunSoft%2C_Inc.)

Sun Corporation Native name サン電子株式会社 Romanized name Sansofuto Type Public KK Traded as TYO: 6736 ISIN JP3336450006 Industry Electronics, Video games Founder Masami Maeda Key people Ryusuke Utsumi (CEO) Products List of Sunsoft video games Brands Sunsoft Number of employees 209 Divisions Sunsoft

**Sun Corporation**[a] is a Japanese [electronics manufacturer](/source/Electronics_manufacturer), [video game developer](/source/Video_game_developer) and [publisher](/source/Video_game_publisher). It is known for its video games under the **"Sunsoft"** division.

## History

In April 1971, Sun Electronics Corporation (alternatively called Sun Denshi) was founded in [Kōnan](/source/K%C5%8Dnan%2C_Aichi), [Aichi](/source/Aichi_Prefecture) as a [manufacturer](/source/Manufacturer) and [vendor](/source/Vendor) of electronics equipment.[1][2] Electronic products, especially [personal computers](/source/Personal_computers) by the company with no relation to video games were initially released under the Suntac brand. The company went public on [JASDAQ](/source/JASDAQ) on March 20, 2002. The company moved their headquarters to [Nagoya](/source/Nagoya) in 2018, while an office remained at Kōnan to handle its video games business.[3][4] It still manufactures electronics equipment to this day, with products utilizing [Internet of things](/source/Internet_of_things), [machine-to-machine](/source/Machine-to-machine) and [business intelligence](/source/Business_intelligence) technology.

### Video games

Sun Corporation's video game brand

Sun Corporation's history in video games began in October 1978 in arcades with two titles: *Block Challenger* and *Block Perfect*.[1][2] Sun Corporation had several arcade hits in the early 1980s such as *[Arabian](/source/Arabian_(video_game))*, *[Ikki](/source/Ikki_(video_game))* and *[Kangaroo](/source/Kangaroo_(video_game))*. At the time, its arcade video games were released under its own corporate name of Sun Electronics Corporation.[1][5] Sun Corporation purchased American arcade game publisher Kitkorp in 1985, rebranding it as Sun Corporation of America to release its games internationally.[6]

The Sunsoft brand first appeared in the latter of the 1980s when Sun Corporation began developing original games and technology for the home [video game console](/source/Video_game_console) market, with emphasis mostly on [Nintendo](/source/Nintendo)'s [Famicom](/source/Nintendo_Entertainment_System).[5] Sunsoft had gone international at that time, and it was reputable enough to secure major licenses of the era (such as *[Batman](/source/Batman)* and *[The Addams Family](/source/The_Addams_Family)*).[5] In the 1990s, Sun Corporation of America joined forces with [Acclaim Entertainment](/source/Acclaim_Entertainment) to handle ad sales rights to Sunsoft's video games for game consoles. Additionally, a number of [Sega](/source/Sega) games, including *[Fantasy Zone](/source/Fantasy_Zone)*, *[Fantasy Zone II](/source/Fantasy_Zone_II)* and *[After Burner](/source/After_Burner)*, were ported for [Nintendo](/source/Nintendo) consoles by Sunsoft. From 1994 to 1998, Sunsoft attempted to join the fighting game craze by releasing four fighting games: *[Sugoi Hebereke](/source/Sugoi_Hebereke)* for the Super Famicom (1994), *[Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors](/source/Galaxy_Fight%3A_Universal_Warriors)* for the [Neo Geo](/source/Neo_Geo_(system)) (1995), *[Waku Waku 7](/source/Waku_Waku_7)* for the Neo Geo (1996), and *[Astra Superstars](/source/Astra_Superstars)* for [Sega ST-V](/source/List_of_Sega_arcade_system_boards#Sega_ST-V)-based arcades (1998).

In 1995, Sun Corporation of America heavily restructured in the face of bankruptcy, and all the company's pending projects were either sold to other companies or cancelled.[7] Former Sunsoft producer René Boutin spoke on Sunsoft's problems before he left the company. Boutin explained in an interview that

it was around this time our Director of Development, David Siller, suddenly announced he was leaving to work for [Universal Interactive](/source/Universal_Interactive). Then a short time later, in February 1995, the entire staff was called in for a meeting where Sunsoft's president announced that the company was shutting down effective immediately. They kept on a skeleton crew of four or five people to wrap up operations and facilitate transfer of IP over to Acclaim, but that was it for production, QA, and marketing. By this time, *[Looney Tunes B-Ball](/source/Looney_Tunes_B-Ball)* was in QA at Nintendo and we had just gotten *[Speedy Gonzales](/source/Speedy_Gonzales%3A_Los_Gatos_Bandidos)* to beta, so it was about to go as well. It turned out that Sun Corporation had lost millions on some golf course investment in Palm Springs and it cost us all our jobs.[8]

Sun Corporation of America resurfaced with rereleases of old [Game Boy](/source/Game_Boy) titles and new video games for the [PlayStation](/source/PlayStation_(console)) and the [Game Boy Color](/source/Game_Boy_Color). Citing several factors, like yet-another "next generation" console transition, and high overhead production costs, Sunsoft eventually closed its offices in America and Europe, and initiated a re-organization. Sunsoft has continued to operate out of its corporate headquarters in Japan, developing and publishing [role-playing video games](/source/Role-playing_video_game), [pachinko](/source/Pachinko) games and [mahjong](/source/Mahjong) games, and mobile platform titles in partnership with other companies such as [NTT DoCoMo](/source/NTT_DoCoMo) and [Yahoo!](/source/Yahoo!).

On September 14, 2006, Nintendo announced that Sunsoft was a partner on the [Wii](/source/Wii)'s [Virtual Console](/source/Virtual_Console).[9] Although this relationship with Nintendo took more than three years to release any games, on December 4, 2009, Sunsoft announced[10] that it was partnering with GaijinWorks to bring *[Blaster Master](/source/Blaster_Master)* to [Virtual Console](/source/Virtual_Console) that month for 500 Wii Points. Also as of December 10, 2009, the company has also acquired [Telenet Japan](/source/Telenet_Japan)'s entire game library.[11] On February 6, 2010, Sunsoft announced the release of *[Blaster Master: Overdrive](/source/Blaster_Master%3A_Overdrive)* for [WiiWare](/source/WiiWare), 2 days prior to its release. Afterwards, Sunsoft also released *[Aero the Acro-Bat](/source/Aero_the_Acro-Bat)*, *[Aero the Acro-Bat 2](/source/Aero_the_Acro-Bat_2)*, and *[Ufouria: The Saga](/source/Ufouria%3A_The_Saga)* on Virtual Console.

On December 24, 2021, Sunsoft tweeted to its fans asking for suggestions to remake their old games, after a period of relative inactivity in the gaming space.[12] They have since released games based on past IPs as well as licensed some to external developers to revive the brand.

In March 2024, Sunsoft released *[Ufouria: The Saga 2](/source/Ufouria%3A_The_Saga_2)* on all [9th generation consoles](/source/Ninth_generation_of_video_game_consoles) ([Microsoft Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows), [PlayStation 5](/source/PlayStation_5), [Xbox Series X/S](/source/Xbox_Series_X%2FS), and [Nintendo Switch](/source/Nintendo_Switch)).[13]

On September 5, 2024, a sequel of the [1992's *Gimmick!*](/source/Gimmick!), *[Gimmick! 2](/source/Gimmick!_2)* was developed by Bitwave Games was released on [8th](/source/Eighth_generation_of_video_game_consoles) and 9th gen consoles (Microsoft Windows, [PlayStation 4](/source/PlayStation_4), [Xbox One](/source/Xbox_One), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch).[14][15] That same September, Sunsoft released a selection of retro titles under the collection *SUNSOFT is Back!*.[16]

## See also

- [Video games portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Video_games)

- [List of Sunsoft video games](/source/List_of_Sunsoft_video_games)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Japanese](/source/Japanese_language): サン電子株式会社, [Hepburn](/source/Hepburn_romanization): *Sun Denshi Kabushikigaisha*

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-part_1_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-part_1_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-part_1_2-2) Gancer, Stefan (April 8, 2017). ["The History of Sunsoft – Part I: Before Sunsoft"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190326111316/http://www.vgarc.org:80/vgarc-originals/the-history-of-sunsoft-part-i-before-sunsoft/). *VGArch*. Archived from [the original](http://www.vgarc.org/vgarc-originals/the-history-of-sunsoft-part-i-before-sunsoft/) on March 26, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-history_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-history_3-1) ["History｜Sun Corporation"](https://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/eng/company/history/). *www.sun-denshi.co.jp*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["History | SUNCORPORATION"](https://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/eng/company/history/). *SUNCORPORATION*. Retrieved July 17, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["SUNSOFT"](https://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/soft/en/#contact). *www.sun-denshi.co.jp*. Retrieved July 17, 2024.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-part_2_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-part_2_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-part_2_6-2) Gancer, Stefan (April 14, 2017). ["The History of Sunsoft – Part II: Going consumer"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190404040921/http://www.vgarc.org:80/vgarc-originals/the-history-of-sunsoft-part-2/). *VGArc*. Archived from [the original](http://www.vgarc.org/vgarc-originals/the-history-of-sunsoft-part-2/) on April 4, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:0_7-0)** Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). *アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005)* [*Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)*] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 136. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-4990251215](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-4990251215).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?". *[GamePro](/source/GamePro)*. No. 70. [IDG](/source/International_Data_Group). May 1995. p. 138.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Interview: René Boutin discusses Sunsoft, licensed games, and the 16-Bit era"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170220180635/http://www.dromble.com/2012/10/11/interview-rene-boutin-discusses-sunsoft-licensed-games-and-the-16-bit-era/). Dromble.com. Archived from [the original](https://www.dromble.com/2012/10/11/interview-rene-boutin-discusses-sunsoft-licensed-games-and-the-16-bit-era/) on February 20, 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-VC_10-0)** ["NCL Wii Event"](https://gonintendo.com/?p=5586). GoNintendo.com. September 14, 2006.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-BM_VC_11-0)** ["Blaster Master Coming to VC in December"](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/20482/blaster-master-coming-to-vc-in-december). NintendoWorldReport.com.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Sunsoft Acquires Nihon Telenet Game Library - News"](https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/20526/sunsoft-acquires-nihon-telenet-game-library). *Nintendo World Report*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-TW_13-0)** ["Sunsoft is looking to re-make its retro games catalogue"](https://realotakugamer.com/sunsoft-is-looking-to-re-make-its-retro-games-catalogue/76963/). realotakugamer.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Hebereke"](https://filmstories.co.uk/news/ufouria-the-saga-2-revives-a-nes-cult-classic-in-fluffy-style/). *Film Stories*. Retrieved October 7, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** rawmeatcowboy (September 1, 2024). ["IGN video mini-doc takes a deep dive into Gimmick! and Gimmick! 2"](https://www.gonintendo.com/contents/39768-ign-video-mini-doc-takes-a-deep-dive-into-gimmick-and-gimmick-2). *GoNintendo*. Retrieved May 15, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Thorn, Ed (September 5, 2024). ["Gimmick! 2 is out now, which is great news for fans of difficult platformers starring fun lil' green guys"](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/gimmick-2-is-out-now-which-is-great-news-for-fans-of-difficult-platformers-starring-fun-lil-green-guys). *[Rock Paper Shotgun](/source/Rock_Paper_Shotgun)*. Retrieved May 15, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["Sunsoft is Back!"](https://www.gematsu.com/2024/08/sunsoft-is-back-retro-game-selection-coming-west-on-september-6-for-ps5-xbox-series-and-switch). *Gematsu*.

## External links

- [Official website](https://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/eng/)

- [Former website of Sunsoft](https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.sunsoftgames.com/)

v t e Sunsoft Franchises Aero the Acro-Bat Albert Odyssey Blaster Master Clock Tower Gimmick! Hebereke Ikki Other games Astra Superstars Atlantis no Nazo Batman Fester's Quest Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors Gremlins 2: The New Batch Journey to Silius Lemmings Route-16 Spy Hunter Super Fantasy Zone Trip World Waku Waku 7 Related Naoki Kodaka

Authority control databases International VIAF 2 National United States Japan

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sun Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Corporation) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Corporation?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.