TGS: We Chat With Treasure

TOKYO – Earlier today, we had an opportunity today to speak with Masato Maegawa of Treasure. For those of you who don't know, Treasure is, to many hard core gamers, one of the finest development houses in the world. The company is known for such classics as Contra and Castlevania for the Super Famicom (SNES in the states) and titles like Gunstar Heroes for the Genesis and Radiant Silvergun for the Saturn - and it was truly an honor to meet with the company's president.

While we told Mr. Maegawa that we felt Treasure's titles rarely get promoted correctly in the US (remember the job Sega of America did with such titles as Gunstar Heroes for the Genesis?), he stated that the company is now definitely looking at the US market for its titles. In fact, he told of how most of the company's earnings have come from US sales. Treasure's current project, Bangaioh for the Dreamcast, is currently being planned for a US release next year. And regarding Bangaioh's translation to the DC, Maegawa commented that the game is going to be very different from its Nintendo 64 counterpart – while it will still be presented in the same 2D sidescrolling view, there will be different level designs and gameplay elements.

We also asked Maegawa about its Naomi shooter Gunbeat. Although the president couldn't really comment on the game, apparently it has been cancelled. We had previously heard that the lead producer of the title had left the company a few months ago, so it's likely that his absence has put a huge damper on the project.

Gunstar Heroes 2? We asked Maegawa about it. There have been rumors in the past (most likely due to Treasure's uninterest up till now) that the company does not develop sequels to its games. Maegawa said that this is definitely not true. If Treasure happens to come up with new gameplay elements for a title that it has done in the past it will definitely implement them in possible sequels. However, according to Maegawa, Treasure still has plenty of original titles that it wants to do. These will have new characters and new styles of gameplay – something that a sequel wouldn't really allow for.

As for what's coming down the road from Treasure, Maegawa says that the company is going to be focusing on more Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 development. Currently Treasure is working on a 3D shooter with a Quake style perspective that will most likely land on the PlayStation 2 platform. We can't wait to see it.