Atelier Double

Atelier Double at a Glance

Atelier Double was a Japanese developer founded in 1986 by Toshiro Inoue that operated for nearly two decades before closing its doors in 2004. While the company existed since the mid-eighties, its active development period on PlayPile spans from 1990 to 2003, during which it released 29 titles entirely under its own name as a developer rather than a publisher. The studio's output was concentrated heavily in the 1990s with 19 games, compared to only 10 releases in the 2000s before operations ceased. The company focused primarily on role-playing games, releasing eight titles in that genre. They also had significant presence in sports and adventure categories with six games each, followed by puzzle and fighting games with six and four releases respectively. Their catalog was built around Nintendo hardware, particularly the Super Famicom which hosted ten of their projects. The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 platforms saw eight and three titles respectively, indicating a shift toward newer systems as the decade progressed. They also supported legacy formats like the Game Boy Color and original Game Boy with three and two games each. Quality trends for Atelier Double show a mix of decent to average reception rather than critical acclaim. Across five rated titles on PlayPile, the studio holds an average score of 63.1 out of 100. There are no games rated as great or poor in this sample, but four titles fall into the good range while one sits at mixed quality. The highest-rated entry is Ranma ½: Chougi Ranbu-hen from 1994 with a score of 70. Other notable efforts include the fighting game Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle and the RPG Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, which scored 66.7 and 64.1 respectively in their respective release years. Later works like Freestyle Boardin' '99 and Street Sk8er received scores of 60 and roughly 55. In their final years leading up to the 2004 shutdown, the developer released a string of titles including Shissou and Yankee Damashii in late 2003. The early 2000s also saw them produce entries for the Simple 2000 Hello Kitty Series and racing games like Snowboard Racer 2. While they maintained a steady presence across multiple platforms, their lack of high-scoring titles suggests their output did not reach the top tier of industry standards during their active years.

Release Timeline

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