Jeff Spangenberg

Jeffery Spangenberg is an American retired video game producer and entrepreneur who founded video game developers Punk Development, Iguana Entertainment, Retro Studios, and Topheavy Studios.

Biography

Spangenberg skipped college to learn computer programming,^[1][2] and later served as lead designer and president for Punk Development, the development team of publisher RazorSoft, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.^[3] In 1991, Spangenberg founded his own company in Santa Clara, Iguana Entertainment, and hired 20 staff, including friends of his.^[1][2] Iguana, who would later move to Austin, Texas due to the elevated costs of living in Silicon Valley, wound up bought by Acclaim Entertainment in 1995, and Spangenberg was promoted to an executive position in which he overlooked all of Acclaim's software studios.^[1] Spangenberg was fired from Acclaim in 1998, leading him to sue the company for breach of contract and fraud.^[4] The suit was settled in 2000.^[5]

Following his dismissal, Spangenberg launched a new company, Retro Studios, in October 1998.^[6] He then approached Nintendo of America to establish a partnership. Nintendo accepted to fund the studio, hoping the new developer could provide games aimed at mature audiences for their upcoming console, the GameCube, just like Iguana did with the Nintendo 64 title Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.^[7][8] The studio immediately began work on four projects for the GameCube. Shigeru Miyamoto was impressed with the studio's Action-Adventure game engine and suggested that Retro could use it to develop a new title in the Metroid series. All titles were eventually cancelled so Retro could focus all their effort onto Metroid Prime.^[9] On May 2, 2002, months before Prime was released, Nintendo bought out Spangenberg's $1 million worth of Retro Studios, and reclassified the company as a first party developer and division of Nintendo.^[10] Spangenberg's departure was attributed to frequent absenteeism and using Retro's servers to host a website that featured pictures of scantily clad women.^{[2][7][11][12]}

Spangenberg would then create Topheavy Studios, who developed The Guy Game, released in 2004.^[13] The game would result in a lawsuit from one of the featured women who was underage, leading to a temporary injunction prohibiting the further production of copies of the game.^[14][15] The game was later re-released as an interactive DVD with the woman from the lawsuit's scenes dropped.^[15] The Guy Game was the only game developed by Topheavy Studios.^[16]

Credits

Programming

• Advanced Basketball Simulator/Slam-Dunk (1988, Commodore 64)
• Space Harrier (1988, Amiga port)
• After Burner (1989, Amiga port)
• After Burner II (1989, Amiga port)
• Death Duel (1992, Sega Genesis)
• Side Pocket (1993, Super Nintendo Entertainment System port)
• Aero the Acro-Bat (1993, SNES and Genesis)
• NFL Quarterback Club (1994, SNES and Genesis)

Producer

• Rampart (1991, Master System port)
• Aero the Acro-Bat (1993)
• Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel (1994, SNES and Genesis)
• Aero the Acro-Bat 2 (1994, SNES and Genesis)
• The Pirates of Dark Water (1994, SNES and Genesis)
• NFL Quarterback Club (1994)
• Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (1997, Windows and Nintendo 64)
• The Guy Game (2004, Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2)

References

1. I. G. N. Staff (October 19, 2000). "Making Games Fun Again". ign.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
2. "A Retrospective: The Story of Retro Studios". ign.com. December 17, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
3. "Techno Cop – Hardcore Gaming 101". www.hardcoregaming101.net. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
4. Iguana founder sues after firing, Austin Business Journal
5. 10-K SEC Filing, filed by ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT INC on 11/29/2000.
6. Iguana founder goes Retro with new company , Austin Business Journal
7. Hester, Blake (May 29, 2018). "The rocky story of Retro Studios before Metroid Prime". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
8. Wade, Kenneth Kyle (December 17, 2004). "A Retrospective: The Story of Retro Studios". IGN. Archived from the original on November 8, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
9. Varney, Allen (April 6, 2006). "Metroid Primed". The Escapist. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
10. Satterfield, Shane (May 2, 2002). "Nintendo makes Retro Studios a full subsidiary". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 25, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
11. Varney, Allen (April 4, 2006). "Metroid Primed". The Escapist. Archived from the original on May 29, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
12. Robinson, Andy (October 15, 2007). "The History of Metroid". GamesRadar+. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
13. TOPHEAVY Studios' and Gathering's, 'The Guy Game' in Stores Now
14. Thorsen, Tor (December 23, 2004). "Topless teen sues over 'The Guy Game'". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
15. "The Guy Game banned, goes straight to video". GameSpot. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
16. Games Database - The Guy Game

External links

• Jeff Spangenberg at MobyGames