Technosoft

Founded: 1980-02^[1]

Defunct: 2001

T-series code: T-18

Merged into: Twenty-one

Headquarters:

Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan

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Technosoft Co., Ltd. (テクノソフト), was a Japanese video game development company.

Founded in February 1980 as Sasebo Micro Computer Center (佐世保マイクロコンピューターセンター) before adopting the Technosoft name in April 1982^[1], Technosoft published a wide variety of games for home computers across the 1980s, though is perhaps best known for its Thunder Force series of shoot-'em-up games, beginning with the original Thunder Force in 1988. It was one of the first Japanese companies to sign a deal with Sega to bring games to the Sega Mega Drive, after which it became purely a console developer.

While "Technosoft" is thought to have been the "official" name of the company, Techno Soft, Tecnosoft, and Tecno Soft were also treated as valid names. The missing "h" and added space are thought to have been an error caused when the original logo trademark was registered, and as such, the company's name is labeled inconsistently across its software. Earlier Mega Drive games even switch between the "Tecno Soft" and "Techno Soft" name in-game depending on the console's region.

Technosoft was bought out by pachinko maker Twenty-one in 2001 and merged into their R&D division. From this point on, the company no longer produced games, but continued to license out its properties, most notably for the 2008 game Thunder Force VI, which was developed and published by Sega. At Tokyo Game Show 2016, it was announced that Sega had acquired the rights to Technosoft's games, including Thunder Force, although Twenty-one continue to own the rights to Technosoft branding.