Tradewest, Inc. was an American

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

company based in

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important ...

that produced numerous games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The company was the publisher of the '' Battletoads'' and ''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series originally developed and published by Technōs Japan. It began with the release of the arcade game '' Double Dragon'' in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight again ...

'' series in North America and the

PAL region Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25& ...

. In 1994, the company was acquired by

WMS Industries WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. William ...

and became Midway Home Entertainment when WMS spun off its video game operations as

Midway Games Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...

. The name was revived in August 2009 when the head of Midway's European subsidiaries acquired the trademark from Midway in the latter's bankruptcy.

History

Original company

Tradewest was founded in 1985 by Leland Cook, his son Byron Cook, and John Rowe. Tradewest started out by manufacturing

SNK is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...

's '' Alpha Mission''

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, followed by ''

Ikari Warriors ''Ikari Warriors'', known as in Japan, is a vertically scrolling run and gun video game released for arcades by SNK in 1986. It was published in North America by Tradewest. At the time there were many ''Commando'' clones on the market. What d ...

'' and '' Victory Road'' before shifting away from the coin-op arcade game business to concentrate on the

home console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few game ...

market. In 1987, Tradewest purchased

Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game video game developer, developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster graphics, raster displays, early ...

, a video game developer and manufacturer based in El Cajon, California, whose previous games included ''

Dragon's Lair ''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer. The series is notable for its film-quality animation by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth, and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms. It has also been adapte ...

'' and ''

Space Ace ''Space Ace'' is a LaserDisc video game produced by Bluth Group, Cinematronics and Advanced Microcomputer Systems (later renamed RDI Video Systems). It was unveiled in October 1983, just four months after the ''Dragon's Lair'' game, followed by ...

'', and renamed it the

Leland Corporation The Leland Corporation was an American video game company formed on June 5, 1987, from the assets of Cinematronics. It was a subsidiary of arcade and home game producer Tradewest, which acquired those assets out of the former company’s bankrup ...

. John Rowe was chosen to run the El Cajon office as he already had a successful history in video games as executive vice-president of SNK's U.S division. 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 is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

and

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

. In 1994, Tradewest was unsuccessfully sued by Philips Corporation and Lockheed Sanders for an alleged patent infringement in the art of an arcade video game.

Dissolution and aftermath

Tradewest was acquired in April 1994 by

, who owned

. Tradewest was reorganized as Williams Entertainment, Inc. with Rowe and the two Cooks as its heads, thus signaling the end of Tradewest. Operating as a sister division to Midway, Williams Entertainment was used to enter the home

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...

market, allowing WMS to publish home games directly without having to rely on other publishers, such as

Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally founded by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from a storefront in Oyster Bay in 1987, the company built a global develop ...

, which had held a right-of-first-refusal license to Midway games. In 1996, Williams Entertainment was placed directly under the control of Midway, who renamed the division Midway Home Entertainment, Inc. Both the Corsicana, Texas, facility and a new R&D facility in San Diego (replacing the El Cajon location) remained open within Midway, who continued to employ Byron Cook (who became president of Midway Home Entertainment) and John Rowe (who became vice-chairman and Director of Product Development). The division developed and published games during the fifth and sixth console generation. Byron Cook resigned from Midway in 2001. The following year, Midway's

head office Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

shut down the Corsicana location. John Rowe became the president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

High Moon Studios High Moon Studios, Inc. (formerly Sammy Entertainment Inc. and Sammy Studios, Inc.) is an American video game developer initially formed in 2001. After nearly a year as an independent studio, the developer was acquired by Vivendi Games in Janua ...

(formerly Sammy Studios). On October 19, 2024, The City of Corsicana opened the Campbell Arts Plaza in Downtown Corsicana. Among its murals was an homage to the Tradewest company, depicting a photo of Billy Lee from ''Double Dragon'' and Zitz from ''Battletoads'' coming out of arcade machines. Tradewest Mural Photo

European revival

15 years after the original American company was acquired and renamed, 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 (founded in 1999 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as the English subsidiary of Midway Games Inc) and Midway Games SAS (founded in 2005 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

as the French subsidiary of Midway Games Inc) were sold to Spiess Media Holding UG, owned by Martin Spiess (the former head of Midway Games Ltd). A new German

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, Tradewest Games Holding, was created to own the former Midway subsidiaries, which also took the Tradewest name. Tradewest Games Holding, along with its subsidiaries, vanished in 2013.

List of games published

Arcade

* '' Alpha Mission'' (1985) * ''

'' (1986) * ''Redline Racer'' (1986) * '' Victory Road'' (1987)

NES

* ''

'' (June 1988) * '' John Elway's Quarterback'' (March 1989) * '' Taboo: The Sixth Sense'' (April 1989) * '' Magic Johnson's Fast Break'' (March 1990) * '' Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road'' (April 1990) * '' Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship'' (September 1990) * '' Battletoads'' (June 1991) * '' High Speed'' (July 1991) * '' Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat'' (August 1992) * '' R.C. Pro-Am II'' (December 1992) * '' Battletoads & Double Dragon'' (June 1993)

Game Boy

* ''

'' (August 1990) * '' Sneaky Snakes'' (June 1991) * '' Battletoads'' (November 1991) * '' Jack Nicklaus Golf'' (May 1992) * ''

Super Off Road ''Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road'' is an Arcade game, arcade video game released in 1989 by Leland Corporation. The game was designed and managed by John Morgan who was also lead programmer, and endorsed by professional Off-road racing, ...

'' (November 1992) * '' Battletoads in Ragnarok's World'' (June 1993) * '' Battletoads & Double Dragon'' (December 1993)

Super NES

* ''

'' (December 1991) * '' Jack Nicklaus Golf'' (May 1992) * '' Pro Quarterback'' (September 1992) * '' Super Double Dragon'' (October 15, 1992) * ''

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs ''Battletoads in Battlemaniacs'' is a beat 'em up platform game developed by Rare for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Part of the '' Battletoads'' series, the game was released in North America by Tradewest in June 1993, in Europe by N ...

'' (June 1993) * '' Super Baseball 2020'' (July 1993) * '' Plok'' (September 1993) * '' Super Off Road: The Baja'' (September 1993) * '' Battletoads & Double Dragon'' (December 1993) * '' Fun 'n Games'' (August 1994) * '' Troy Aikman NFL Football'' (August 1994) * '' Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls'' (August 5, 1994)

Genesis

* '' Championship Pro-Am'' (May 12, 1992) * '' Pro Quarterback'' (September 1992) * '' Battletoads'' (March 1993) * '' Fun 'n' Games'' (August 2, 1993) * '' Battletoads & Double Dragon'' (December 1993) * '' Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls'' (August 5, 1994) * '' Troy Aikman NFL Football'' (August 1994)

Game Gear

* '' Battletoads'' (December 1993)

External links

* Tradewest Digital * Tradewest Games SAS
''Tradewest''
profile on

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

References

Company profile: Tradewest
{{reflist 1985 establishments in Texas Corsicana, Texas Video game companies established in 1985 Defunct companies based in Texas Defunct video game companies of the United States Midway video games Software companies based in Texas Video game companies disestablished in 1994 1994 disestablishments in Texas Video game publishers