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Genki Co. Ltd. (元気株式会社) is a Japanese videogame developer founded in October of 1990 by two men: Hiroshi Hamagaki and Tomo Kimura, the latter of whom left Sega in order to found his own company.

Genki was always characterized by being willing to develop absolutely anything, a trait that was brought on by the studio's desire to find its' niche during its' very early years. As such, you might've found them involved in the development of the last videogame you would've expected. Arkanoid-inspired block breakers? First-person mecha shooters? Sure, why not.

It wouldn't be until 1994, however, that Genki found its' true calling: racing games. In that year, in collaboration with a certain Keiichi Tsuchiya, Genki would release Shutokō Battle '94 Keichii Tsuchiya Drift King for the SNES, the game that would, retroactively, become the first entry in the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series. So great would Genki's success be in that genre, that in 2003, they'd establish the GPR — Genki Racing Project — division of their company to focus exclusively on that. In the meantime, Genki would also continue developing games in other genres, most famously the Kengo fighting games series. In 2009, Genki replaced Jupiter Corporation as developers of Spectrobes, and were the ones behind the last game in the trilogy, Spectrobes: Origins.

Fun fact: Genki likely holds the record for "youngest logo designer", as the famous scribbly smiley face was drawn by Hamagaki's young child when he needed a temporary logo for his new company. The logo stuck, and the rest, as they say, is history.


Videogames developed by Genki include:


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