Tengen

United States Founded 1987

Tengen was a subsidiary of Atari Games Corporation under which home conversions of Atari Games' arcade games were developed and published. Tengen also published conversions of other manufacturers' arcade games, including Sega, Namco and Toaplan. Most of Tengen's NES releases were not licensed by Nintendo and Tengen faced a lawsuit because of this. In the early 1990s, Tengen also published several original games from various developers. The Tengen division was renamed to Time Warner Interactive (California) Inc. after Time Warner bought Atari Games Corporation in 1993. After the business was sold to WMS Industries, the name was reverted to Tengen, Inc. However, the company was inactive until it was finally dissolved in 1999.

Tengen at a Glance

Tengen operated as a United States based publisher from 1987 until it dissolved in 1993 under its original banner before being renamed and eventually ceasing operations. This entity started as a subsidiary of Atari Games Corporation to handle home conversions of arcade titles for various platforms. The company also published ports from other manufacturers like Sega, Namco, and Toaplan. Their output grew significantly over time with only four games released in the 1980s compared to fourteen titles in the 1990s. Most of their work appeared on the Sega Mega Drive where they released ten games. The Nintendo Entertainment System saw five releases while arcade cabinets hosted another four projects. They also pushed content to systems like the Super Nintendo, Amiga, and DOS computers. The catalog spans several genres with a heavy focus on Arcade titles which account for six of their total entries. Shooter games make up four releases while Racing, Puzzle, and Sport each have three titles. Their rating history shows a mixed performance across the few titles that received scores on IGDB. The average rating sits at 61.3 out of 100. No title reached the great category above 80 points. Three games landed in the good range between 60 and 79 while another three fell into the mixed bracket from 40 to 59. Tetris released in 1989 holds the top spot with a score of 72.8 followed by RoadBlasters from 1987 at 68.4. Robo Aleste from 1992 scored 61.8. Later releases like Awesome Possum Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt and Ms. Pac-Man received lower scores in the mid-50s range. Tengen faced legal issues regarding their NES releases because many were not licensed by Nintendo. They also published original games from third party developers during the early 1990s. The division changed names to Time Warner Interactive after Time Warner acquired Atari Games Corporation in 1993. The Tengen name was reused later after WMS Industries bought the business but the company remained inactive until it was fully dissolved in 1999. Their final years saw a steady stream of releases including Slap Fight MD, Dragon's Revenge, and Grind Stormer before the entity shut down its operations.

Total Games

61.3

Avg Rating

1987

First Release

1993

Latest Release