Sega’s Secret Weapon
Climax Entertainment was a Japanese game development company responsible for the ‘Stalker’ series of games, not to be confused with the British Climax Studios which produced Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Climax Entertainment was based in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, founded in April 1990. It was a small company, with just 20 staff in 1996. Climax got its start during the 16-bit era, primarily developing games for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console.
Climax would open with an immensely popular start by pioneering Sega’s iconic ‘Shining’ series, beginning with Shining in the Darkness, before co-developing the original Shining Force with Sonic! Software Planning. The team’s third game would be a new IP, Landstalker, a popular action role-playing game which concluded the team’s outstanding trilogy of Mega Drive games.
A Place To Call Home
Many of the employees of Climax Entertainment had formerly worked for Enix. An initial pitch for their next game was to create a spin-off of the 1990 Famicom game, Dragon Quest IV, featuring Princess Alena and her two companions. After this proposal was rejected, the game was made into its own intellectual property instead, and became the second game in the Stalker series, named Lady Stalker. The possibly misleading title of the game was largely responsible for it not being released outside of Japan, while the game’s initial design would see it moved to the Famicom.
During the 32-bit era, some members of the team left to create Matrix Software. Following the development of Dark Savior for the Sega Saturn in 1996, a group of staff members from the company’s CGI division formed an independent company, Climax Graphics, initially described as a “brother company”, while the main studio would juggle projects for Sega while also considering Sony’s new PlayStation player-base.
The company would contribute to three final games for Sega’s declining consoles, all on the Dreamcast. The first Dreamcast title would be the third game in the Stalker trilogy, Time Stalkers, a crossover game featuring characters from previous properties Landstalker, Lady Stalker and Shining in the Darkness. The game’s repetitive dungeon-crawler gameplay and unusual mechanics landed the game with generally negative reviews. Climax would also support Hitmaker with the development of Virtua Athlete 2K.
Welcome To The World Of PlayStation
With PlayStation offering a slightly older age demographic of devoted players, Climax would use this opportunity to showcase many of their action-heavy driving games, initially beginning as the ‘Felony’ series, before changing the series branding to the international version, ‘Runabout’. Felony 11-79/Runabout and sequel Runabout 2 would release on the original PlayStation.
With a promising new IP on their hands, two more sequels were commissioned for next-generation consoles, Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition would be the studios final game for Sega’s Dreamcast, while Runabout 3: Neo-Age would make its way to PlayStation 2. The increase in power available for the PlayStation 2 would see an increase in demand for higher-quality graphics, which would prove incredibly difficult for such a small team.
In order to keep production costs low, Climax would shift its focus to lower-resolution handheld gaming and develop three games for Sony’s PSP. The first would be Kingdom of Paradise, also known internationally as Key of Heaven. A prequel, Tenchi no Mon 2: Busouden, was released in Japan after the success of the first game. Another Japan exclusive, Ore no Dungeon, would be their third and final PSP title.
…And Then Came Nintendo
Hoping to continue its mission of lower-budget production following the discontinuation of the PSP, Climax would switch to Nintendo consoles, releasing Miburi & Teburi for the Wii, before returning to handheld gaming and developing exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Some of these games would also be Japan-only releases.
Climax would develop Steal Princess, Dinosaur King, Hottarake no Shima: Kanata to Nijiiro no Kagami, Element Hunters, and SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors: Shin Mirisha Taisen, all for the NDS. The arrival of the 3DS would allow Climax to return to more vibrant 3D graphics in their games, and the studio would create Crash City Mayhem, and LBX: Little Battlers eXperience for the handheld console.
The Climax Of Our Story
Neratte! Tobashite! Rilakkuma GuraGura Sweets Tower on the Nintendo 3DS was the last game to be developed by Climax. Though the company had managed to keep its production costs low, declining sales had resulted in many of their later titles failing to generate a profit. The company would wind down activity throughout 2014 and, without any official announcement, Climax was closed due to financial troubles in 2015.
Former members of Climax Entertainment would gradually scatter throughout 2014 and 2015, with some staff documented as taking positions with Matrix Software and Cavia, among other studios. Fans of classic JRPGs would lament the loss of Climax, crediting the studio with bringing top-tier JRPGs to Sega consoles, games which once defined a generation.
