Tradewest


Tradewest, Inc. 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 Battletoads and Double Dragon series in North America and the PAL region. In 1994, the company was acquired by WMS Industries and became Midway Home Entertainment when WMS spun off its video game operations as Midway Games.
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.
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History

Original company

Tradewest was founded in 1985 by Leland Cook, his son Byron Cook, and John Rowe. Tradewest started out by manufacturing SNK's Alpha Mission arcade game in the United States, followed by Ikari Warriors and Victory Road before shifting away from the coin-op arcade game business to concentrate on the home console market.
In 1987, Tradewest purchased Cinematronics, a video game developer and manufacturer based in El Cajon, California, whose previous games included Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, and renamed it the Leland Corporation. 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 and Sega.
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 WMS Industries, who owned Midway Games. 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 market, allowing WMS to publish home games directly without having to rely on other publishers, such as Acclaim Entertainment, 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 remained open within Midway, who continued to employ Byron Cook and John Rowe. 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 in Chicago shut down the Corsicana location. John Rowe became the president and CEO of High Moon 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.

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 and Midway Games SAS were sold to Spiess Media Holding UG, owned by Martin Spiess. A new German holding company, 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 Ikari Warriors Redline Racer

NES

Double Dragon John Elway's Quarterback Taboo: The Sixth Sense Magic Johnson's Fast Break Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship Battletoads High Speed Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat R.C. Pro-Am II

Game Boy

Double Dragon Sneaky Snakes Battletoads Jack Nicklaus Golf Super Off Road Battletoads in Ragnarok's World

Super NES

Super Off Road Jack Nicklaus Golf Pro Quarterback Super Double Dragon Battletoads in Battlemaniacs Super Baseball 2020 Plok Super Off Road: The Baja Battletoads & Double Dragon Fun 'n Games Troy Aikman NFL Football

Genesis

Championship Pro-Am Pro Quarterback Battletoads Fun 'n' Games Battletoads & Double Dragon Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls

Game Gear