Tose Software 『株式会社トーセ』 is Japanese game developer who you've probably never heard of, but whose games you've probably played at least once.
TOSE (pronounced "toe-seh") is a "ninja developer," designing games behind the scenes for larger publishers, while the publisher takes the credit, aside from a few exceptions such as TOSE openly working on The Legendary Starfy for Nintendo, with the two companies sharing the copyright. Aside from such exceptions, not even members of TOSE's staff get listed in the credits. So why work for them? Many people who work at TOSE end up being hired by other game companies later on, so TOSE is widely known in Japan as a good place to enter the industry when you get right out of college.
Their many clients include Capcom, Jaleco, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Nintendo, SNK (in its earliest years), Square Enix, Taito, and tons of other big name companies, including some US ones. They're often involved in ports, or the handhelds versions of console games, such as the handheld version of WWE Smackdown or the PSX and DS ports of Chrono Trigger. They've also been hired to make spinoffs of popular franchises, such as Super Princess Peach, or Resident Evil: Gun Survivor.
They don't always totally develop games. Sometimes they're outsourced for specific functions, such as artwork. Tose's US website (now defunct) had shown examples of their artwork along with the time it took to make.
Games known to be developed by TOSE:
- Chubby Cherub
- Dragon Quest IX (sound programming only; the rest was handled by Level-5)
- Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
- Dragon Quest Monsters
- Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D
- Famicom Detective Club
- Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
- The Legendary Starfy series (as mentioned above, this is an exception to TOSE's "ninja developer" tendencies, as its copyright notice is right next to Nintendo's)
- Magical Taruruto-kun series (all of the games released on Nintendo consoles, including Magical Taruruto-kun and Magical Taruruto-kun 2: Rivar Zone Panic for the Game Boy, Magical Taruruto-kun: Fantastic World!! and Magical Taruruto-kun 2: Madou Daibouken for the Famicom, and Magical Taruruto-kun: Magic Adventure for the Super Famicom.
- Maru's Mission
- NES Playaction Football and its Super NES sequel Super Play Action Football, for Nintendo
- Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos and Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos for Banpresto
- Super Princess Peach
- Super Robot Wars Advance Portable for Banpresto
