Tradewest

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Tradewest, Inc.
company_
fate = Merged into Williams and later Midway
successor = Williams Entertainment (now Midway Home Entertainment)
foundation = 1986
defunct = 1994
location = Corsicana, TX, USA
industry = computer and video game industry
key_people = Leland Cook, founder Byron Cook, co-founder
products = video games
num_employees =
parent =
subsid = Leland Corporation

Tradewest is a now-defunct video game company based in Corsicana, Texas that produced numerous games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The company is best known as the publisher of the "Battletoads" and "Double Dragon" series in North America and the PAL region.

History

Tradewest was founded in 1986 in Corsicana by Leland Cook and his son Byron Cook. Tradewest started out by manufacturing SNK's "Ikari Warriors" arcade game in the United States. This would be one of the few arcade games to be released by Tradewest (along with "Victory Road", "Alpha Mission" and "Redline Racer") as the company would shift away from the coin-op business to concentrate on video games for home consoles.

In 1987, the Cooks purchased Cinematronics from El Cajon, California and renamed it Leland Corporation, which would later be merged into Tradewest in 1991. The man chosen to run the El Cajon office was John Rowe who already had a history in video games as president of SNK's American division.

Tradewest was acquired by WMS Industries (the owners of the Williams and Midway brands) in 1994, and renamed Williams Entertainment, Inc., thus signalling the end of Tradewest as a company. 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.. Like it was the case with WMS, the division served as Midway's foothold to the home console market, who could now port its video games in-house without having to rely on other publishers. Both the Corsicana and El Cajon initially remained opened within Midway and continued to employ Byron Cook (who became president of Midway Home Entertainment) and John Rowe.

Aftermath

*Midway's head office in Chicago shut down the Corsicana location and terminated its staff in late 2002.

*The El Cajon location moved to nearby San Diego, California and is now the only office for Midway Home Entertainment.

*Byron Cook has left video games for politics at the end of the year 2000. He is a Republican State Representative in Texas for the Corsicana district.

*John Rowe is the president and CEO of High Moon Studios (formerly Sammy Studios).

List of games distributed by Tradewest

Arcade

* "Alpha Mission" (1985)
* "Ikari Warriors" (1986)
* "Victory Road" (1987)

Nintendo Entertainment System

* "Double Dragon" (June 1988)
* "John Elway's Quarterback Challenge" (March 1989)
* "" (April 1989)
* "Magic Johnson's Fast Break" (March 1990)
* "Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road" (April 1990)
* "" (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

* "Double Dragon" (August 1990)
* "Sneaky Snakes" (June 1991)
* "Battletoads" (November 1991)
* "Jack Nicklaus Golf" (May 1992)
* "Super Off Road" (November 1992)
* "Battletoads in Raganarok's World" (June 1993)
* "Battletoads & Double Dragon" (December 1993)

ega Genesis

* "Championship Pro-Am" (May 12, 1992)
* "Battletoads" (July 13, 1992)
* "Pro Quarterback" (September 1992)
* "Fun 'N' Games" (August 2, 1993)
* "Battletoads & Double Dragon" (December 1993)
* "" (August 5, 1994)
* "Troy Aikman NFL Football" (August 1994)

uper Nintendo Entertainment System

* "Super Off Road" (December 1991)
* "Jack Nicklaus Golf" (May 1992)
* "Pro Quarterback" (September 1992)
* "Super Double Dragon" (October 15, 1992)
* "Battletoads in Battlemaniacs" (June 1993)
* "Super Baseball 2020" (July 1993)
* "Plok" (September 1993)
* "" (September 1993)
* "Battletoads & Double Dragon" (December 1993)
* "Fun 'N' Games" (August 1994)
* "Troy Aikman NFL Football" (August 1994)
* "" (August 5, 1994)

References

* [http://www.neoseeker.com/Companies/profiles/Tradewest/ Company profile: Tradewest] .

External links

* [http://www.mobygames.com/company/tradewest-inc "Tradewest"] profile on MobyGames