HOT-B

HOT-B at a Glance

HOT-B was a Japanese company founded in 1983 that operated until it closed in 1993, though data on PlayPile lists activity through the year 2000. The publisher released 27 games in total, with 24 titles credited to their publishing arm and 14 to their development side. Their catalog covers a wide range of genres, but sports games dominate their output with nine entries. Strategy, shooter, and role-playing games each account for four titles, while simulators make up three releases. They also dabbled in arcade, adventure, puzzle, fighting, and real-time strategy games. The company had a strong presence on older home consoles. Seven of their games appeared on the Family Computer, followed by six on the Sega Mega Drive and four on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Smaller numbers of titles landed on the Super Famicom, PC-8800 Series, and various Game Boy systems. Between 1984 and 2000, they released ten games in the 1980s and sixteen in the 1990s, with only one release in the 2000s. During their active years, they also released several MSX games under the GAMU brand from 1986 to 1989. Quality on PlayPile is inconsistent for HOT-B. The average IGDB rating across five rated titles sits at 53.3 out of 100. Their best-rated game is Over Horizon from 1991, which holds a score of 69.9. Spy vs Spy from 1984 and Steel Empire from 1992 follow with scores of 62.6 and 61.1 respectively. These three titles fall into the good range, while one game is rated as mixed and another as poor. The poor rating belongs to Super Black Bass from 1998, which scored only 33 out of 100. Recent releases in their catalog show a heavy focus on fishing simulations. Titles like Black Bass: Lure Fishing from 1992, Big Bass World Championship from 1997, and The Blue Marlin from May 2000 fill out their later years. Despite the variety of genres they touched, the high volume of sports titles and the low average rating suggest a company that produced a lot of work without consistently hitting critical marks. Their output slowed significantly after 1993, even as data lists releases continuing into 2000.

Release Timeline

Rating Distribution