The Behemoth
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedMay 27, 2003 (2003-05-27)
FounderJohn Baez
Dan Paladin
Tom Fulp
Headquarters
San Diego, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
John Baez (CEO)
Dan Paladin (CFO)
Tom Fulp (secretary)
ProductsAlien Hominid
Castle Crashers
BattleBlock Theater
Pit People
Alien Hominid Invasion
Number of employees
9[1] (2008)
Websitethebehemoth.com

The Behemoth is an American video game development company that was created in 2003 by John Baez, artist Dan Paladin, and programmers Tom Fulp, Brandon LaCava, and Nick Dryburgh. Dryburgh and LaCava later left the company. The Behemoth development studio is located in San Diego, California. The company is known for producing simple games with Paladin's signature 2D style. Its games are also known for their heavy arcade inspirations, especially among their early games, emulating genres common on the Neo Geo in particular (which Tom Fulp is a noted fan of).

History

During August 2002, Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin collaborated in creating the Flash game Alien Hominid for Newgrounds. The game has since become extremely popular and generated over twenty million hits. Later in the year, Paladin was working on developing a console video game when co-worker Baez approached him. He was a fan of Alien Hominid and asked Paladin if he was interested in developing the game for consoles. When Baez offered to produce the game, Fulp and Paladin eventually agreed, recruited LaCava and Dryburgh, and formed The Behemoth in 2003. Several details in their games reveal a connected universe between all of them.

From left to right: John Baez, Dan Paladin, and Tom Fulp.

Their first console game, Alien Hominid, gained critical acclaim by the media and the members of The Behemoth quickly gained status as indie developers focused on bringing old-school styles of video games back into mainstream gaming. Some of the minigames from Alien Hominid were ported to iOS in 2011.

The Behemoth's second game, Castle Crashers, was released August 27, 2008, originally for the Xbox Live Arcade service, eventually re-releasing for the PlayStation 3 on August 31, 2010, and Microsoft Windows/OS X on September 26, 2012. Since its release on Xbox Live Arcade, Castle Crashers has become one of the most downloaded games, with over 2.6 million copies sold as of year-end 2011.

A third title, BattleBlock Theater, was released on April 3, 2013 on Xbox Live Arcade. The Windows, Linux, and macOS versions of BattleBlock Theater were released on Steam on May 15, 2014.

Pit People is a turn-based strategy game that was released for early access on Steam and was released for Xbox One on January 13, 2017. It was released on March 2, 2018.[2]

The Behemoth had long teased a "Game 5", which was announced in January 2020 as Alien Hominid Invasion, which the developers said was not a remake or remaster of the original Alien Hominid but introduces new mechanics as an arcade shooter.[3]

Games

Year Title Genre Platform(s) Additional note(s)
2004 Alien Hominid Run-and-gun PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Web (Adobe Flash Player demo)
2007 Alien Hominid 360 Run-and-gun Xbox 360 Remastered port, originally titled Alien Hominid HD
2008 Castle Crashers Side-scrolling hack-and-slash Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows, macOS
2011 Super Soviet Missile Mastar Side-scrolling shooter iOS
Alien Hominid: PDA Games Platform iOS
2013 Battleblock Theater Comedy platform Xbox 360, Windows, macOS, Linux
2015 Castle Crashers Remastered Side-scrolling hack-and-slash Xbox One, Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch Remastered port
2018 Pit People Role-playing strategy Xbox One, Windows
2023 Alien Hominid Invasion Run-and-gun Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch Re-imagination of Alien Hominid
Alien Hominid HD Run-and-gun Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch Remastered port

References

  1. ↑ Taunting The Behemoth: Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin Cry Out
  2. ↑ "At long last, The Behemoth's Pit People finally has a release date". Destructoid. February 21, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  3. ↑ Devore, Jordan (January 30, 2020). "The Behemoth's Game 5 is Alien Hominid Invasion". Destructoid. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
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