15 Games You Didn’t Know Were Made by Famous Developers
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood – Bioware
Slow Down, Bull – Insomniac Games
Pocket Card Jockey – Game Freak
The Matrix Online – Monolith Productions
Shrek(2001) – DICE
Pushmo – Intelligent Systems
Justice League Task Force(SNES) – Blizzard
NHL 2K3 – Treyarch
Oni – Bungie
Tenchu – From Software
The Punisher – Volition
Wayne Gretzky Hockey- Bethesda
Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Conspiracy – High Moon Studios
Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock – Supermassive Games
Urban Chaos: Riot Response – Rocksteady Studios
Bioware is one of the premier RPG developers around, and believe it or not they developed a Sonic RPG on the Nintendo DS. The title featured a world to explore and turn based combat, that let you boost damage by tapping the touch screen at the right time. There was also a fairly length story that took about 15 hours to complete.
Insomniac Games is, of course, best known for creating the dynamic duo Ratchet & Clank. However, there are quite a few side projects the team has developed in between their big titles. One of those is Slow Down, Bull which is billed as an “action collecting” game with a whimsical art style. The title has you controlling an overachieving bull to collect crafty pieces in an area, but he gets more stressed out an unwieldy the more you control him.
Pokemon is without a doubt the most well known games developed by Game Freak, and one of the biggest franchises of all time. Every once in a while, however, the developer will come out with an incredibly strange little title. First Harmo Knight, then Tembo the Badass Elephant, and now Pocket Card Jockey. A game with a wacky art style that combines solitaire and horse racing. What more needs to be said?
The Matrix Online would move onto be developed by Sony Online Entertainment after launch, but the initial build of the game was actually constructed by Monolith Productions. Yep the same company that made F.E.A.R. and Shadow of Mordor. The MMORPG title put players directly into the Matrix in the shoes of a human trapped within the simulation from the films.
It’s hard to imagine the team behind one of the biggest shooter franchises around making a Shrek game, but it sure happened. DICE handled development for the companion game of the first Shrek movie, that has the ogre completing “Good Deeds” for other fairytale creatures. It actually featured a separate plot from the film too.
From Software has a huge portfolio of titles from across their history, with the Dark Souls series being the most well known. You might be surprised to hear, however, that From has also assisted with development on a number of Tenchu titles. They haven’t necessarily been the primary developer but have assisted with titles in the series like Wrath of Heaven, Fatal Shadows, and Dark Secret.
Before giving the Saints Row series a superpowered makeover, Volition worked with one other hero, The Punisher. The PS2 and Xbox title blended elements of stealth, exploration, and combat together in loose adaption of the 2004 film. There was even a system that allowed The Punisher to interrogate and torture enemies in certain areas. How fitting.
Rocksteady Studios has developed one game outside of their Batman titles, and that’s Urban Chaos: Riot Response. It released in 2006 and followed Nick Mason, a member of the newly formed “T-Zero” riot response team. Mason has to engage members of the dangerous Burners and save who he can as they attack civilians, police officers, firefighters, and anyone else.
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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood - Bioware
Bioware is one of the premier RPG developers around, and believe it or not they developed a Sonic RPG on the Nintendo DS. The title featured a world to explore and turn based combat, that let you boost damage by tapping the touch screen at the right time. There was also a fairly length story that took about 15 hours to complete.
Slow Down, Bull - Insomniac Games
Insomniac Games is, of course, best known for creating the dynamic duo Ratchet & Clank. However, there are quite a few side projects the team has developed in between their big titles. One of those is Slow Down, Bull which is billed as an "action collecting" game with a whimsical art style. The title has you controlling an overachieving bull to collect crafty pieces in an area, but he gets more stressed out and unwieldy the more you control him.
Pocket Card Jockey - Game Freak
Pokemon is without a doubt the most well known game series developed by Game Freak, and one of the biggest franchises of all time. Every once in a while, however, the developer will come out with an incredibly strange little title. First Harmo Knight, then Tembo the Badass Elephant, and now Pocket Card Jockey. A game with a wacky art style that combines solitaire and horse racing. What more needs to be said?
The Matrix Online - Monolith Productions
The Matrix Online would move onto be developed by Sony Online Entertainment after launch, but the initial build of the game was actually constructed by Monolith Productions. Yep the same company that made F.E.A.R. and Shadow of Mordor. The MMORPG title put players directly into the Matrix in the shoes of a human trapped within the simulation from the films.
Shrek (2001) - DICE
It's hard to imagine the team behind one of the biggest shooter franchises around making a Shrek game, but it sure happened. DICE handled development for the companion game of the first Shrek movie, that has the ogre completing "Good Deeds" for other fairytale creatures. It actually featured a separate plot from the film too.
Pushmo - Intelligent Systems
Pushmo was a cute puzzle-based 3DS eShop title that flew a bit under the radar for a while, but still managed to accrue quite a fan following. The interesting part, though, is that the title was developed by one of Nintendo's biggest developers, Intelligent Systems. You might know them for developing the Fire Emblem and Advance Wars series, as well as helping with titles like Super Metroid.
Justice League Task Force - Blizzard
Blizzard has been making games for quite a while, and they've built an impressive portfolio. One title you may not know about, however, is Justice League Task Forces on the SNES. This DC brawler let players duke it out as their favorite superheroes including Aquaman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow. Unfortunately, it wasn't met with very good critical reception.
NHL 2K3 - Treyarch
Before being brought onboard as one of the main Call of Duty developers, Treyarch made a myriad of titles for Activision. That included quite a few sports titles like Triple Play Baseball, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer, and NHL 2K3. They also brought us the movie companion games of Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3. Talk about a well-rounded developer.
Oni - Bungie
Bungie has brought us some of the most popular shooters in video game history, first with Marathon, then the gargantuan Halo series, and now Destiny. Oni is definitely an overlooked title by the company on the PS2, boasting a slick anime art style and futuristic setting. The game was also impressive in 2001 for the way it managed to blend third-person shooting and hand-to-hand combat.
Tenchu Series - From Software
From Software has a huge portfolio of titles from across their history, with the Dark Souls series being the most well known. You might be surprised to hear, however, that From has also assisted with development on a number of Tenchu titles. They haven't necessarily been the primary developer but have assisted with titles in the series like Wrath of Heaven, Fatal Shadows, and Dark Secret.
The Punisher - Volition
Before giving the Saints Row series a superpowered makeover, Volition worked with one other hero, The Punisher. The PS2 and Xbox title blended elements of stealth, exploration, and combat together in a loose adaption of the 2004 film. There was even a system that allowed The Punisher to interrogate and torture enemies in certain areas. How fitting.
Wayne Gretzky Hockey- Bethesda
Bethesda has been around since 1986, but they weren't always building fantasy and sci-fi epics. The company's first title in 1988 was Wayne Gretzky Hockey on Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, and Mac OS. The top-down sports game was received fairly well, and Bethesda would go on to make two sequels.
Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - High Moon Studios
High Moon Studios is best known for bringing us stellar adaptions of the Transformers series with the Cybertron games, but there's another famous series they've adapted. The 2008 PS3 and Xbox 360 title, The Bourne Conspiracy, tells a story that takes place before and during the first film. The game is done in a third-person shooter stealth style, although it doesn't actually use the likeness of Matt Damon from the films.
Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock - Supermassive Games
Suppermasive Games brought us one of the most innovative horror titles in years with 2015's Until Dawn. Three years earlier though, they put out quite a different experience with Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock. It focused on puzzle solving and platforming, while following the journey of Matt Smith's Doctor and River Song. The title released on PC, PS3, and Vita.
Urban Chaos: Riot Response - Rocksteady Studios
Rocksteady Studios has developed one game outside of their Batman titles, and that's Urban Chaos: Riot Response. It released in 2006 and followed Nick Mason, a member of the newly formed "T-Zero" riot response team. Mason has to engage members of the dangerous Burners and save who he can as they attack civilians, police officers, firefighters, and anyone else.
About the author
Hayes Madsen
A connoisseur of all things RPG related, and always looking for the artistic expression in gaming. His love of Gundam is only matched by his love of Pizza. Playing Games Since: 1991 Favorite Genres: RPGs, JRPGs, Strategy,
