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Hudson Soft is a Japanese publisher and developer, founded on May 18, 1973. Over the years, Hudson has grown from company that created PC-related products, to creating video games, mobile content, to gaming technology. As of 2003, the company employs a staff of more than 500, with offices in Sapporo, Tokyo, and California.
History Although it began selling PC-related products in 1975, it wasn't until 1984, when Hudson began to produce video games for the Famicom (NES), that the company enjoyed notable success. Hudson was the first 3rd party publisher to publish on the Famicom. Hudson's Famicom title, Lode Runner, sold 1.2 million units. However, the Bomberman series is their most successful, and has appeared at least once on all major platforms to date, with over 60 versions of the game in existence. In 1987, Hudson lead a joint venture with NEC to develop the family of PC Engine (Japan) and Turbografx-16 (North America) consoles. The PC Engine was successful in Japan, second only to Nintendo's Famicom. The PC Engine was launched in North America in 1989 under the name TurboGrafx-16. While the system garnered considerable interest among gamers, the system soon went up against the might of Nintendo and Sega during the 16-bit console wars, and ultimately finished third in marketshare. After a long history of producing games for Nintendo's consoles, Hudson teamed up with Nintendo's Japanese arm and founded the joint venture Manegi Corporation in May of 1998. Hudson continues to release long running video game series in Japan.Tengai Makyou (Far East of Eden) is a classic RPG set in a fictional era with Japanese themes. The series is up to number 4, and is considered a hit in Japan. The second version of the game was widely regarded as one the best RPGs ever released, ranked 12th by Famitsu among all games released in Japan. Hudson Soft also created the long running and critically acclaimed game Momotaro Dentetsu, a board game with locomotive themes. The comical game is already up to version 16 in Japan. Hudson has recently re-released some of their first hit games for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan, including Adventure Island, Star Soldier, and Lode Runner. Hudson also has a long history of creating games for other publishers. Most notable include the Mario Party series, created for Nintendo. The game series is up to version 7. Hudson is also creating Fusion Frenzy for Microsoft, another party game series, to be launched on the Xbox 360. Hudson is considered a pioneer in mobile gaming, and was the first video game company to showcase product at the Tokyo Game Show. Today, Hudson is the second largest games provider in the mobile space, and their mobile business is now about half of their overall revenue. Their mobile business has expanded to include games, music, and mobile applications. In April 2005, Hudson Soft became a subsidiary of Konami. Hudson continue to self publish, though works closely with Konami in various capacities. On March 23, 2006, at the GDC Conference in California, it was announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata that Nintendo will offer virtual backward compatibility of the TurboGrafx-16 with their upcoming game console, the Wii.[1] During an interview with IGN on May 11, 2006, Hudson Soft stated that they were currently in the process of acquiring the rights to games developed by now-defunct game developers. In North America While Hudson is considered a major publisher in Japan, their North American presence has been minimal since the days they launched the TurboGrafx system. The latest iteration, Hudson Entertainment, has a renewed presence in North America, and runs three distinct businesses - Console games, mobile games, and mobile music. Hudson is one of the largest music content providers in the mobile space in North America, with specific focus in the hip hop genre. Their current US operations is located in Redwood City, California. About the name The Hudson name was created by the founders of the company, the Kudo brothers, who as children growing up in Japan, had always admired trains. Their favorite being the Hudson locomotive. Their love of this particular train was ingrained into the company, as one of its original manufacturing plants had a small scale replica of the actual train, that would run throughout the factory, and people could actually ride it. Hudson at one point even purchased a Hudson locomotive in Japan, which was earlier decommissioned. The train was restored, and became a tourist attraction. In the lobby of the Hudson headquarters, in Sapporo, a front panel of a Hudson train can be seen. 
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