The Japanese version, not surprisingly, did not have these changes (except the logo change). The most egregious example was the change of who had the lead role: the character who Western fans see as the lead note King Candy was actually the Final Boss of the 1991 original, while Japanese fans see a side character in the West note Taffyta as the lead. Several changes were made for the franchise to better appeal to girls, among which were several character designs, several characters removed entirely, and a fresh new logo, which many current Western fans would most recognize. but not in a way those nascent importer fans of the series in the West would like. It was here that the series would finally get released to the West. Two more platformer games and several spin-offs were developed over the years, and among these spin-offs was Sugar Rush Speedway, better-abbreviated to "Sugar Rush", at least in the West note In Japan, "Sugar Rush" refers almost solely to the 1991 platformer for the Game Boy, the 1997 arcade kart-racing game. The richly-developed back stories of the characters were a huge contributing factor to the game's popularity, especially for a platformer. Sugar Rush was a Cult Classic among Japanese gamers, and was not known in the West save for import circles, who thought, despite the Sugar Bowl setting and the stigma that these cute settings were almost exclusively for young girls, the game and its backstory were respected. Later on, HAL released Kirby's Dream Land in the West, a game with a similar Level Ate setting, further quashing any chances of this game to be released Stateside. Unexpected success at launch did not reverse Tobikomi's decision. The producers at Tobikomi intended to keep it to Japan, a decision that was because of a low production budget. The result was Sugar Rush, a hit 1991 platformer with a Level Ate Sugar Bowl setting that never got released Stateside note and with it, several premises that alienate Western fans from the Japanese. Shortly after the success of Target Fox, AKI decided to create a game that was the antithesis to it: a game that was both accessible and overall light-hearted. The game was ridiculously hard, especially with the subsequent run-throughs that significantly up the number of enemies compared to the initial run. Another AKI hit, Target Fox, came from this stage, as an attempt to add a plot (with an ending) to a game in the vein of the Tobikomi hit endless shooter Target Bravo. The company have been developing games for Tobikomi note on most of their titles, this is where the "Licensed to Tobikomi Inc." subtitle below the copyright comes from on arcade platforms and the Famicom earlier, but these early titles were crude compared to their current titles - let alone what was trending at the time. ![]() In 1989, a company called AKI Laboratory note their name is purportedly stated to come from "them being two seasons ahead" of Friendly Rival company HAL Laboratory, founded in 1980, fully transitioned from creating hardware for Tobikomi and other game corporations to actual game development. This page's tropes cover the 1997 racing game hit Sugar Rush Speedway, but the opening paragraph covers the series as a whole.
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