Tradewest was an American video game company based in Corsicana, Texas that produced numerous games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The company was the publisher of the Double Dragon and Battletoads series in North America and the PAL region.
The name was revived in August 2009 by Midway Games' former European subsidiaries which rebranded themselves as Tradewest. They inherited the name from the American parent company which had owned the Tradewest trademark since 1996.
History[]
Original company[]
Tradewest was founded in 1985 by Leland Cook and his son Byron Cook. Tradewest started out by manufacturing SNK's Alpha Mission arcade game in the United States, followed by Ikari Warriors and Victory Road before concentrating on the home console market.
In 1987, Tradewest purchased Cinematronics (video game developer and manufacturer) whose previous games included Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, and renamed it The Leland Corporation.
Tradewest operated three companies: Tradewest, Inc, Tradewest International and The Leland Corporation. It released video games in the late 1980s and early 1990s for consoles mainly from Nintendo and Sega.
Dissolution and aftermath[]
Tradewest was acquired by WMS Industries (the owner of the Williams and Midway brands) in April 1994, and a new company called Williams Entertainment, Inc. was formed with Rowe and the two Cooks as its heads, thus signaling the end of Tradewest. Williams Entertainment became WMS's official division and entrance to the video game console market.
In 1996, WMS was losing interest in video games and, as such, Williams Entertainment was transferred to Midway, who renamed the division Midway Home Entertainment, Inc. The division served as Midway's foothold to the home console market, who could now publish video games in-house without having to rely on other publishers (such as Acclaim Entertainment).
Byron Cook resigned from Midway in 2001. The following year, Midway's head office in Chicago shut down the Corsicana location.
European revival[]
15 years after the original American company dissolved, the Tradewest name was revived in Europe in 2009 by the former Midway UK and France publishing divisions following a management buyout.
On August 19, 2009, Midway Games Ltd and Midway Games SAS were sold to Spiess Media Holding UG owned by Martin Spiess (the former head of Midway Games Ltd).
A new German holding company, Tradewest Games Holding, was created to manage the French subsidiary Tradewest Games SAS (founded in 2009), and the two English subsidiaries Tradewest Games Ltd (founded in 2009) and Tradewest Digital (founded in 2010).
Tradewest Games Holding, along with its subsidiaries, vanished in 2013.
Double Dragon games published by Tradewest[]
NES[]
- Double Dragon (June 1988)
- Battletoads/Double Dragon (June 1993)
Game Boy[]
- Double Dragon (August 1990)
- Battletoads/Double Dragon (December 1993)
Super NES[]
- Super Double Dragon (October 15, 1992)
- Battletoads/Double Dragon (December 1993)
- Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls (August 5, 1994)
Sega Genesis[]
- Battletoads/Double Dragon (December 1993)
- Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls (August 5, 1994)
External links[]
- Tradewest at Wikipedia - Original version of this article.