Tough call here.
Naxat brought us titles such as Coryoon, Psychosis, the Crush pinball series, W-Ring: The Double Rings, and the elusive Motteke Tamago.
IREM's library boasts such classics as R-Type, Mr. Heli, Ninja Spirit, and the infamous Vigilante.
This is a tough matchup because, in my opinion, both developers were very strong on the platform and each had an almost equal number of great games. In my eye, Naxat games always seemed to have a more "polished" feel to them. Apparently Naxat employed some very talented graphic programmers. On the other hand, IREM games all had subliminally similar qualities to each other, both graphically and musically. For me, there is something almost magical about the feel of an IREM game that just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Despite a virtual KO by Naxat in the technical superiority department, IREM wins the round on playability and fun factor alone. Not to mention there is something peculiarly charming about the light "tinkly" sound that all of IREM's library seems to share. Even Vigilante, despite being not too exciting to look at and overly easy, is still a shitload of fun to play. Don't get me wrong, Naxat titles such as the aforementioned Crush series and Psychosis are some of my favorite Turbo games to pop in on a rainy day. But nothing beats a Sunday afternoon run through Ninja Spirit.
