TECHNOLOGY : Sunsoft to Create Nintendo, Sega Games Based on Popular Comic Book Heroes

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Sunsoft Inc. is starting the new year with a bang.

The video-game developer, a subsidiary of Japan’s Sun Electronics Corp., said it signed a five-year contract with DC Comics to create Nintendo and Sega video games based on DC’s popular super heroes. Sunsoft will develop video games for a variety of platforms based on well-known comic-book characters Batman, Superman, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow.

Sunsoft plans to release its first game, “Justice League,” for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis machines in January, 1995. Sunsoft has already created games based on Batman and Superman, but the latest deal is the first in which DC has licensed its team of super heroes, who are known as Justice League America.

Sunsoft has also signed a deal to promote its Looney Tunes character video games on packages of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran cereal. The promotion, which offers a discount on the games, runs through April.

Such alliances have helped Sunsoft expand in the United States. The company, based in Cypress, projects sales of $80 million this year, up from an estimated $50 million for 1993. In addition to its 40 employees, Sunsoft is using more than 600 independent contractors to develop its games.