Favorite HudsonSoft franchise?

[Jeckidy]

Lately I've been playing some of the Bomberman and Star Soldier games and thinking that Hudson is somewhat of an underdog, at least in the west. Of course, I think that Bomberman, being the longest running franchise of theirs, has a tendency to slump a bit more than their other franchises, but is good nonetheless.

They have several other long-running franchises which are mostly only known to japanese audiences, such as Tengai Makyo (Far East of Eden) and Momotaru Densetsu, which later spawned a spinoff series called Momotaru DenTetsu (which are actually boardgames and not RPGs).

[Honey the Cat]

Bonk!


...Nah It's seriously Bomberman cause I've played it more.

[Karakasa-Obake]

Adventure Island, possibly Air Zonk as well.

[Zz Badnusty]

I answered "Other" = all of the above.

Seriously I could never choose just one series from Hudson.
Bonk, Star Soldier, Adventure Island are certainly tops, but how can I compare them against Milon's Secret Castle and DoReMe Fantasy?

Games like Air Zonk (and CD Denjin ~ Rockabilly Paradise ~ Punkic-Cyborg ~ Pithecanthoropus-Computerurus Series) and Star Parodia are real jewels in the Bonk and Star Soldier series. And even though they could've been better, the GameCube & PS2 remakes of Bonk and Star Soldier are pretty cool!

[Jeckidy]

The Milon games have always been a favorite of mine too! And yes I agree, all those series are good. It says that the second Tengai Makyo game is considered one of the all time greatest RPGs, according to Famitsu magazine. Unfortunately I don't think it has ever had an english release, but I might look into it.

[Joe Redifer]

I don't really care much for Hudson. They make an occasional good game, but certainly not in any form of consistency.

Bonk 1 was decent, but grew old before the game ended. Bonk 2 and 3 were just rehashes of the original with next to no effort put in to making it a new or better game. As a system mascot he was a complete failure and lacked appeal.

The Star Soldier series is OK, but they seem too repetitive for me.

The Adventure Island series is awful with the exception of Super Adventure Island on the SNES.

I could never get in to Bomberman for more than 10 minutes before becoming bored.

Overall I'd rank Hudson waaaaay lower than the likes of Sega, Nintendo, Konami, Capcom, or Electronic Arts.

[MrMatthews]

I guess Bomberman, but overall I'd say Hudson kinda blows.

[Iron Lizard]

Years ago we used to have 10 player Bomberman night. After that experience I have to go with Bomberman.

[Black_Tiger]

I don't really care much for Hudson. They make an occasional good game, but certainly not in any form of consistency.

I guess Bomberman, but overall I'd say Hudson kinda blows.

I think that you guys just aren't very familiar with Hudson's 16-bit efforts, which is understandable since most of it was japan-exclusive and much was gaijin-unfriendly.

During the 16-bit generation, they were on par with Sega and Nintendo. Of course it depends on what any one person qualifies as a real Hudson game, but the same goes for Sega and Nintendo.

Tengai Makyou is my favorite Hudson series, even though I think of it as more of a RED game. Some of Hudson and the PC Engine's best games were made with or by RED, but the Hudson collaborations are as much Hudson games as Sega games like Vectorman, Beyond Oasis and even Shining Force are Sega games.

The games listed in the poll might be misleading to people not familiar with Hudson Soft, but as classic as those series are, there are many more individual games as well as series by Hudson that deserve as much respect as classic Sega and Nintendo games and are likely cherished in Japan.

[old man]

Most of Hudson's good games were made by RED.

[Knuckle Duster]

Hudson is awesome. Soldier Blade's one of my favorites, Gate of Thunder, Bomberman, Adventure Island, Bonk.

How this thread can exist so far without mention of:
'Lords of Thunder' & 'Nectaris:Military Madness' is unbelievable.

[j_factor]

I voted "other", but I didn't have one specific thing in mind. I do like the Bonk series a lot, as well as Adventure Island. I liked the "Soldier" games on the Turbo, but I didn't care for the original Star Soldier, or the one on N64. Bomberman is good, but there are way too many of them, and they're kind of hit and miss.

Other franchises:

Nectaris / Military Madness - Love it. Maybe my favorite.
Dungeon Explorer - Not a huge fan, but I did have fun with these on Turbografx and Sega CD, which is kind of saying something, as I generally dislike dungeon crawls. I don't know about the new one though, I heard it was crap.
Milon - I liked the Super Famicom one, but not the NES one.
Neutopia - Love it, but there's only two. Maybe my favorite anyway.
Thunder (Gate/Lords) - Ditto.
Kororinpa - Ditto again.
Air Zonk - Good, but I've played better.
Ninja Five-O - Not a franchise, but I adore this game.

[Jesse813]

I went w/ Star soldier though Bomberman was a close 2nd place

[Jeckidy]

I liked the "Soldier" games on the Turbo, but I didn't care for the original Star Soldier, or the one on N64. Bomberman is good, but there are way too many of them, and they're kind of hit and miss.

I agree and was expressing the same point about Bomberman, but as for Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth on N64, I am really enjoying it. I can understand not liking the original on NES as its very simplistic but its not like the worst oldschool shmup I've ever played. I also recently got my hands on the awesome Soldier Collection for PSP, which includes all of the SS games on TG16/PCE, including Star Parodier!

Nectaris / Military Madness - Love it. Maybe my favorite.
Air Zonk - Good, but I've played better.
Ninja Five-O - Not a franchise, but I adore this game.

Nectaris was great but I only played the free PC version that Hudson offered for download, but it was good. Air Zonk was fun, but way too easy and only challenging in any sense when played on the hardest mode. A bit of a disappointment personally, but again not that bad. I only played a little bit of Ninja Five-O via emulation, but haven't gotten too into it yet, though it seemed good.

[Joe Redifer]

Ah yes! Gate o' Thunda and Lords o' Thunda were both extremely awesome. Gingoo Fuseki Dinga Sapphire or whatever it is called is also awesome, but way short and easy. Was Military Madness also by Hudson? Air Zonk wasn't very good. Technically it was decent, but I just didn't care much for it. I also found it very hard. I think I have only beaten the first level a couple of times. One level seems like 20 minutes long, I just get bored and turn it off. The CD sequel is much better but still only mediocre.

I never really understood the fascination with Star Parodia (I refuse to call it Parodier because that just sounds fucking retarded). Sure, one of the ships is a PC Engine, but I have never owned a PC Engine so I feel very distanced from it. It would be much better in my book if it had a TurboGrafx-16 instead of a PC Engine.

Dungeon Explorer is decent though not outstanding. I did not like the she-male lead warrior character in part 2 and the weirdly drawn intro.