Spidersaurs

Founded in March 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, WayForward started by developing games for consoles such as the Super NES and Genesis, as well as TV games and PC educational software. In 1997, they relaunched their video games arm, placing the company as a contractor for publishers and working on a variety of licensed assets. The company has created a variety of original game properties such as their flagship Shantae series, including the first title in the series which appeared on the Game Boy Color and was published by Capcom. WayForward Technologies has since worked on games for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita handheld consoles, WiiWare games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U, Nintendo Switch consoles, games for personal computer, mobile phones, and other licensed titles for PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Apple Arcade. WayForward Technologies was founded in 1990 by Voldi Way as an independent videogame design company, following on from a previous company he started that specialised in software for sheet metal fabrication. Early on, the company focused on producing software for the Super NES, Genesis, Game Gear and Game Boy Color. During this time, many of the staff were doing other jobs in order to support their ambition to become game developers. In 1994, WayForward Technologies entered into a partnership with American Education Publishing in order to focus on developing further educational computer games. During this time, WayForward focused on licensed assets such as the Muppets for their educational games. WayForward restarted their videogame development business in April 1997, working as a "developer for hire" by providing services to software publishers. Later in 2004, the company was contracted by THQ to produce a new chat game called Ping Pals for the Nintendo DS. Despite the tight timescales involved in developing the game, WayForward used the opportunity to obtain development kits for the platform. The game was received unfavourably by the majority of critics and gained only a single positive review. A new game in the Shantae series was also considered for the platform. According to the Spring 2009 entry of the Shantae Fan Club online newsletter, WayForward introduced a new character named Alta, who is a pink-haired girl that wields a scepter.