Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development
Native name | 任天堂 情報開発 |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Nintendo Information Development |
| Division | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor |
Nintendo R&D4 (1989) Nintendo R&D1, R&D2 (2003) |
| Founded |
Kyoto, Japan (1983, as Nintendo R&D4) (1989, as Nintendo EAD) |
| Founder | Hiroshi Yamauchi |
| Headquarters | Kyoto, Japan |
Number of locations | 2 (Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan) |
Key people |
Shigeru Miyamoto (General Manager) Takashi Tezuka (Executive Officer) Hideki Konno (Group Manager) Eiji Aonuma (Group Manager) Yoshiaki Koizumi (Group Manager) Koji Kondo (Sound Manager) |
| Products | List of games developed |
Number of employees | ~720[1] (EAD Kyoto) |
| Parent | Nintendo |
| Divisions |
Software Development Tokyo Software Development Technology Development |
The Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development (Japanese: 任天堂 情報開発本部 Hepburn: Nintendō Jōhō Kaihatsu Honbu, lit. Nintendo Information Development Division) (or Nintendo EAD) division, formerly Nintendo Research & Development 4 (or Nintendo R&D4), is the largest division inside Nintendo. It was preceded by the Creative Department (クリエイティブ課 Kurieitibu Ka), a team of designers with an art background responsible for many different tasks, to which Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka originally belonged.[2][3] Both developers currently serve as managers of the EAD studios and are credited in each game developed by the division, with varying degrees of involvement. EAD is best known for its work on games in the Mario, The Legend of Zelda, F-Zero, Star Fox, Animal Crossing, and Pikmin franchises.
History
Background
During the 1970s, when Nintendo was still predominantly a toy company, the company decided to expand into the interactive entertainment and video game industry and hired several designers to work under the Creative Department, which at the time was then the only development department at Nintendo. Among these new designers was Makoto Kano, which went on to design various Game & Watch games, and Shigeru Miyamoto, which would create various Nintendo franchises in the future. In 1972, the department was renamed to Research & Development Department and had about 20 employees. The department was later consolidated into a division and separated into three departments, Nintendo R&D1, R&D2 and R&D3.
1983–1989: Creation as Research & Development 4
After the success of Donkey Kong, a game designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, the then Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi decided that in addition to the already existing research and development departments he would create a new development department focused around Miyamoto, who would later become one of the most recognized video game designers in the world. In 1983, the Nintendo Research & Development 4 (abbreviated to Nintendo R&D4) department was officially created, appointing Hiroshi Ikeda, former president of Toei Animation, as General Manager with Shigeru Miyamoto acting as chief producer. Nintendo also drafted a couple of key graphic designers to the department including Takashi Tezuka and Kenji Miki. With the arcade market dwindling, Nintendo R&D1's former focus, the department concentrated most of their software development resources on the emerging handheld video game console market, primarily thanks to the worldwide success of Nintendo's Game Boy. This catapulted the R&D4 department to become the lead software developer for Nintendo home video game consoles, developing a myriad of games for the Family Computer home console (abbreviated to Famicom, known as Nintendo Entertainment System in the North America, Europe and Australia).
Hiroshi Ikeda’s creative team had many video game design ideas, but was lacking the necessary programming power to make it all happen. Toshihiko Nakago and his small company Systems Research & Development (abbreviated to SRD) had its expertise in computer-aided design (CAD) tools and was very familiar with the Famicom chipset, and was originally hired to work with Masayuki Uemura’s Nintendo R&D2 to internally develop software development kits. When Nintendo R&D2 and SRD jointly began porting over R&D1 arcade games to the Famicom, Shigeru Miyamoto took the opportunity to lure Nakago away from R&D2, to help Miyamoto create his first Nintendo R&D4 video game, Excitebike. And so the original R&D4 department became composed of Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Kenji Miki, and Minoru Maeda handling design; Koji Kondo, Akito Nakatsuka, and Hirokazu Tanaka handling sound and music; and Toshihiko Nakago and SRD became the technology and programming core.
One of the first games developed by the R&D4 department was Mario Bros., produced and directed by Miyamoto. The department was, however, unable to program the game with such an inexperienced team, and so counted with programming assistance from Gunpei Yokoi and the R&D1 department. One of the first completely self-developed games was Super Mario Bros., the sequel to Mario Bros. The game set standards to the platform genre and went on to be both a critical and commercial success. In 1986 R&D4 developed, among others, The Legend of Zelda for which Miyamoto again served as a director. The phenomenal sales of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda fueled the expansion of the department with young game designers such as Hideki Konno, Katsuya Eguchi, Kensuke Tanabe, Takao Shimizu, who would later become producers themselves, as well as several other designers.
1990–2002: Renamed to Entertainment Analysis & Development
In 1989, during the Super Nintendo Entertainment System era, the Nintendo R&D4 department expanded and was renamed Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development (abbreviated to Nintendo EAD). The department spun off its development duties into two groups: the Software Development Group, which focused on video game development and was led by Shigeru Miyamoto; and Technology Development Group, which focused on programming and developing tools and was led by Takao Sawano. The technology group was born out of several R&D2 engineers that were assisting SRD with software libraries. The group later helped Argonaut Games develop the Super FX chip technology for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, first used in Star Fox. This venture allowed the Technology Development Department to become more prominent in the 3D era, where they programmed and coprogrammed several of Nintendo EAD’s 3D games with SRD.
In 1997, Miyamoto explained that about twenty to thirty employees were devoted to each Nintendo EAD title during the course of its development.[4] It was then that he also disclosed the existence of the SRD programming company within the division, formally Nintendo R&D2's software unit, which was composed of about 200 employees with proficiency in software programming.[4]
In 2002, Nintendo opened a Nintendo EAD studio in Tokyo, appointing Takao Shimizu as manager of the branch. The studio was created with the goal of bringing in fresh new talent from the capital of Japan who wouldn't be willing to travel hundreds of miles away to Kyoto. Their first project was to work on a new Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the GameCube which made use of the DK Bongos, initially created for Donkey Konga.
2003–present: Restructure and new managers
On September 30, 2003, as a result of a corporate restructure Nintendo was undergoing, in which several members of the Nintendo R&D1 and R&D2 were reassigned under Nintendo EAD, the department was consolidated into a division and began welcoming a new class of managers and producers.[5] Hideki Konno, Katsuya Eguchi, Eiji Aonuma, Hiroyuki Kimura, and Tadashi Sugiyama were appointed project managers of their own groups within the Software Development Department; Takao Shimizu was appointed project manager of the Tokyo Software Development Department; and Keizo Ota and Yasunari Nishida were appointed project managers of their own groups in the Technology Development Department.
In 2013, Katsuya Eguchi was promoted Department Manager of both Software Development Departments in Kyoto and Tokyo. As such, he abandoned his role as Group Manager of the Kyoto Software Development Group No. 2 and was replaced by Hisashi Nogami.
On June 18, 2014, the EAD Kyoto branch was moved from the Nintendo Central Office (Nintendo's corporate headquarters) to the new Nintendo Development Center in Kyoto, Japan. The building is seven floors high and has a one floor basement, and currently houses more than 1100 developers from all of Nintendo's internal research and development divisions, which include the Nintendo EAD, SPD, IRD and SDD divisions.
Chronology
- 1983 – The creative department was created and named Nintendo Research & Development 4, and Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned manager and producer.
- 1989 – The department was renamed to Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development.
- 2002 – The Nintendo EAD Tokyo branch was created.
- 2004 – The department was consolidated into a division and several development groups were created, each with its own manager.
- 2007 – A second development group in the EAD Tokyo branch was created, assigning Yoshiaki Koizumi as Group Manager.
- 2013 – Katsuya Eguchi was promoted Department Manager of both Software Development Departments.
- 2014 – The EAD Kyoto branch was moved from the Nintendo Central Office to the Nintendo Development Center.
Structural hierarchy
The General Manager of the Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development Division is Shigeru Miyamoto, assisted by both Keizo Kato, the Assistant Manager and Takashi Tezuka, the Executive Officer. The division is split into three different departments: the Kyoto Software Development Department, which is split into five separate groups, and the Tokyo Software Development Department, which is split into two separate groups, both supervised by Deputy Manager Katsuya Eguchi; and the Technology Development Department which is split into two separate teams in Kyoto, supervised by Deputy Manager Takao Sawano. All of these groups work concurrently on different projects.[6] Collectively these officers are responsible for green lighting software titles and hardware peripherals, managing prototypes, allocating development resources, and managing budgets.
Below is a schematic overview of the internal structure of the Nintendo EAD division after the restructuring process made on September 30, 2003.
| Entertainment Analysis & Development Division | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology Development Department | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Software Development Department | TDG | DEG | SRD Co., Ltd | Tokyo Software Development Department | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SDG No. 1 | SDG No. 2 | SDG No. 3 | SDG No. 4 | SDG No. 5 | SDG No. 1 | SDG No. 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sound Department | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Software Development Department
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Deputy Manager: Katsuya Eguchi
The Nintendo EAD Kyoto Software Development Department is the largest and also one of the oldest research and development departments within Nintendo, housing more than 700 video game developers. It is located in Kyoto, Japan, formerly in the Nintendo Central Office, but on June 28, 2014 it was relocated to the new Nintendo Development Center, which houses all of Nintendo's internal research and development divisions.
The development department consists of five different groups: the Software Development Group No. 1, which is managed by Hideki Konno and responsible for developing and maintaining the Nintendogs series and Mario Kart series; the Software Development Group No. 2, which is managed by Hisashi Nogami and responsible for developing most Wii series and maintaining the Animal Crossing series; the Software Development Group No. 3, which is managed by Eiji Aonuma and responsible for developing and maintaining The Legend of Zelda series; the Software Development Group No. 4, which is managed by Hiroyuki Kimura and responsible for developing and maintaining the Big Brain Academy series, the New Super Mario Bros. series and the Pikmin series; and the Software Development Group No. 5, which is managed by Tadashi Sugiyama and responsible for developing and maintaining the Wii Fit series and coproducing the Steel Diver series.
As of 2013, the department is managed by Nintendo veteran game developer Katsuya Eguchi, which also oversees development operations in the Tokyo Software Development Department. As such, he abandoned his role as Group Manager of the Kyoto Software Development Group No. 2 and was replaced by Hisashi Nogami.
Software Development Group No. 1
Group Manager: Hideki Konno
The group is primarily responsible for developing titles from the Nintendogs series and Mario Kart series.
| Title | Genre(s) | Platform(s) | Year | Producer(s) | Director(s) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendogs | Simulation, digital pet | Nintendo DS | 2005 | Hideki Konno | Kiyoshi Mizuki | Hajime Wakai |
| Mario Kart DS | Racing | Nintendo DS | 2005 | Hideki Konno | Makoto Wada Yasuyuki Oyagi |
Shinobu Tanaka |
| Mario Kart Wii | Racing | Wii | 2008 | Hideki Konno | Yasuyuki Oyagi | Asuka Ohta Ryo Nagamatsu |
| Nintendo DSi Sound | Audio player | Nintendo DSi | 2008 | Hideki Konno | Yusuke Akifusa | N/A |
| Nintendogs + Cats[7] | Simulation, digital pet | Nintendo 3DS | 2011 | Hideki Konno | Yasuyuki Oyagi | Asuka Hayazaki |
| Mario Kart 7[codeveloped 1] | Racing | Nintendo 3DS | 2011 | Hideki Konno | Kosuke Yabuki | Kenta Nagata Satomi Terui |
| Mario Kart 8 | Racing | Wii U | 2014 | Hideki Konno | Kosuke Yabuki | Shiho Fujii Atsuko Asahi Ryo Nagamatsu Yasuaki Iwata |
- Notes
- ↑ Codeveloped with Retro Studios.
Software Development Group No. 2
Group Manager: Hisashi Nogami
The group is primarily responsible for developing most Wii series games and titles from the Animal Crossing series. In 2013, Hisashi Nogami became the Group Manager, effectively taking Katsuya Eguchi's place as he was promoted to Department Manager.
| Title | Genre(s) | Platform(s) | Year | Producer(s) | Director(s) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Crossing: Wild World | Social simulation | Nintendo DS | 2005 | Katsuya Eguchi | Hisashi Nogami | Kazumi Totaka Asuka Ohta |
| Star Fox Command[codeveloped 1] | Scrolling shooter | Nintendo DS | 2006 | Takaya Imamura | Dylan Cuthbert | Hajime Wakai |
| Mii Channel[codeveloped 2] | Wii | 2006 | Katsuya Eguchi Yoshio Sakamoto |
Hisashi Nogami Ryutaro Takahashi |
Kazumi Totaka | |
| Wii Sports | Sports | Wii | 2006 | Katsuya Eguchi | Keizo Ohta Takayuki Shimamura Yoshikazu Yamashita |
Kazumi Totaka |
| Wii Play | Party | Wii | 2006 | Katsuya Eguchi | Motoi Okamoto | Shinobu Tanaka Ryo Nagamatsu |
| Wii Music | Music | Wii | 2008 | Takashi Tezuka Katsuya Eguchi |
Kazumi Totaka | Kenta Nagata Toru Minegishi Mahito Yokota |
| Animal Crossing: City Folk | Social simulation | Wii | 2008 | Katsuya Eguchi | Hisashi Nogami | Manaka Tominaga Shiho Fujii |
| Wii Sports Resort | Sports | Wii | 2009 | Katsuya Eguchi | Takayuki Shimamura Yoshikazu Yamashita |
Ryo Nagamatsu |
| Animal Crossing: New Leaf | Social simulation | Nintendo 3DS | 2012 | Katsuya Eguchi | Isao Moro Aya Kyogoku |
Manaka Kataoka Atsuko Asahi |
| WaraWara Plaza | Operating system (Miiverse) | Wii U | 2012 | Katsuya Eguchi Kiyoshi Mizuki Kouichi Kawamoto |
Hisashi Nogami | Toru Minegishi |
| Nintendo Land | Party | Wii U | 2012 | Katsuya Eguchi | Takayuki Shimamura Yoshikazu Yamashita |
Ryo Nagamatsu |
| Animal Crossing Plaza | Application (Miiverse) | Wii U | 2013 | Hisashi Nogami | Unknown | Unknown |
| Wii Sports Club[codeveloped 3] | Sports | Wii U | 2013 | Katsuya Eguchi | Takayuki Shimamura | Kazumi Totaka |
| Splatoon | Third-person shooter | Wii U | 2015 | Hisashi Nogami | Yusuke Amano Tsubasa Sakaguchi |
Toru Minegishi |
| Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer | Social simulation | Nintendo 3DS | 2015 | Katsuya Eguchi | Unknown | Unknown |
- Notes
- ↑ Development cooperation for Q-Games.
- ↑ Codeveloped by Nintendo Software Planning & Development.
- ↑ Codeveloped by Namco Bandai Studios.
Software Development Group No. 3
Group Manager: Eiji Aonuma
The group is responsible for developing titles from The Legend of Zelda series.
- Notes
- ↑ Codeveloped by Nintendo Software Technology.
Software Development Group No. 4
Group Manager: Hiroyuki Kimura
The group is primarily responsible for developing titles from the Big Brain Academy series, the New Super Mario Bros. series and the Pikmin series.
- Notes
Software Development Group No. 5
Group Manager: Tadashi Sugiyama
The group is primarily responsible for developing title from the Wii Fit series and overseeing the Steel Diver series.
| Title | Genre(s) | Platform(s) | Year | Producer(s) | Director(s) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wii Fit[codeveloped 1][17] | Exergaming | Wii | 2007 | Tadashi Sugiyama | Hiroshi Matsunaga | Toru Minegishi Manaka Tominaga Shiho Fujii |
| Wii Fit Plus[codeveloped 1][18] | Exergaming | Wii | 2009 | Tadashi Sugiyama | Hiroshi Matsunaga | Asuka Ohta |
| Steel Diver[codeveloped 2][19] | Simulation | Nintendo 3DS | 2011 | Tadashi Sugiyama | Takaya Imamura | Atsuko Asahi Toru Minegishi |
| Star Fox 64 3D[codeveloped 3] | Shoot 'em up | Nintendo 3DS | 2011 | Tadashi Sugiyama | Dylan Cuthbert | Satomi Terui |
| Wii Fit U[codeveloped 4] | Exergaming | Wii U | 2013 | Tadashi Sugiyama Chikako Yamakura |
Hiroshi Matsunaga Hirofumi Irie |
Takayuki Kobara |
| Steel Diver: Sub Wars[codeveloped 2][20] | Simulation | Nintendo 3DS | 2014 | Tadashi Sugiyama | Takaya Imamura | Kenta Nagata Atsuko Asahi Toru Minegishi |
| Project Giant Robot (tentative title) | Vehicle simulation, fighting | Wii U | 2015 | Shigeru Miyamoto | Unknown | Unknown |
| Project Guard (tentative title) | Real-time strategy | Wii U | 2015 | Shigeru Miyamoto | Yugo Hayashi | Unknown |
| Star Fox | Shoot 'em up | Wii U | 2015 | Shigeru Miyamoto | Takaya Imamura | Unknown |
- Notes
Tokyo Software Development Department
Deputy Manager: Katsuya Eguchi
The Nintendo EAD Tokyo Software Development Department was created in 2002 with the goal of bringing in fresh new talent from the capital of Japan who wouldn't be willing to travel hundreds of miles away to Kyoto. It is located in Tokyo, Japan, in the Nintendo Tokyo Office.
The development department consists of two different groups: the Software Development Group No. 1, which is managed by Takao Shimizu and responsible for developing Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, the original Super Mario Galaxy and maintaining the Nintendo DS Guide series of virtual guides, as well as coproducing The Legend of Zelda remakes with Grezzo; the Software Development Group No. 2, which was created in 2007 and is managed by Yoshiaki Koizumi, is responsible for developing an maintaining the Flipnote Studio series and the Super Mario 3D series.
The department is managed by veteran game developer Katsuya Eguchi, which also oversees development operations for the Kyoto Software Development Department.
Software Development Group No. 1
Group Manager: Takao Shimizu
Responsible for developing titles from the Super Mario Galaxy series and overseeing The Legend of Zelda remakes.
| Title | Genre(s) | Platform(s) | Year | Producer(s) | Director(s) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donkey Kong Jungle Beat | Platform | GameCube | 2004 | Takao Shimizu | Yoshiaki Koizumi | Mahito Yokota |
| Super Mario Galaxy | Platform | Wii | 2007 | Shigeru Miyamoto Takao Shimizu |
Yoshiaki Koizumi | Mahito Yokota Koji Kondo |
| Nintendo DS Guide: Ikspiari[codeveloped 1] | Tour guide | Nintendo DS | 2009 | Takao Shimizu Takao Sawano |
N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo DS Guide: Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art[codeveloped 1] | Tour guide | Nintendo DS | 2009 | Takao Shimizu Takao Sawano |
N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo DS Guide: Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan[codeveloped 1] | Tour guide | Nintendo DS | 2009 | Takao Shimizu Takao Sawano |
N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo DS Guide: Make It Yourself![codeveloped 1] | Tour guide | Nintendo DSi (DSiWare) |
2010 | Takao Shimizu Takao Sawano |
N/A | N/A |
| The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D[codeveloped 2] | Action-adventure | Nintendo 3DS | 2011 | Takao Shimizu Eiji Aonuma Koichi Ishii (Grezzo) |
Shun Moriya Mikiharu Ooiwa Hiroyuki Kuwata |
Mahito Yokota Takeshi Hama |
| The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition[codeveloped 2] | Action-adventure | Nintendo DSi (DSiWare) |
2011 | Takao Shimizu Eiji Aonuma Koichi Ishii (Grezzo) |
Hidetomo Saito | Yoshitaka Fujita (Grezzo) |
| Photos with Mario | Augmented reality | Nintendo 3DS | 2013 | Takao Shimizu | N/A | N/A |
| Wii U Panorama View | Panorama viewer | Wii U | 2013 | Takao Shimizu | N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre[codeveloped 3][codeveloped 1] | Tour guide | Nintendo 3DS | 2013 | Takao Shimizu | Daisuke Tsujimura | Daisuke Matsuoka |
| The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D[codeveloped 2] | Action-adventure | Nintendo 3DS | 2015 | Eiji Aonuma Koichi Ishii (Grezzo) |
Mikiharu Ooiwa (Grezzo) | Mahito Yokota Naoto Kubo |
- Notes
Software Development Group No. 2
Group Manager: Yoshiaki Koizumi
Responsible for developing titles from the Flipnote Studio series and the Super Mario 3D series.
| Title | Genre(s) | Platform(s) | Year | Producer(s) | Director(s) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Play Control: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat | Platform | Wii | 2008 | Yoshiaki Koizumi | Futoshi Shirai | Mahito Yokota |
| Flipnote Studio | Animation | Nintendo DSi (DSiWare) |
2008 | Yoshiaki Koizumi | Hideaki Shimizu | N/A |
| Super Mario Galaxy 2 | Platform | Wii | 2010 | Yoshiaki Koizumi Takashi Tezuka |
Koichi Hayashida | Mahito Yokota Ryo Nagamatsu Koji Kondo |
| Super Mario 3D Land | Platform | Nintendo 3DS | 2011 | Yoshiaki Koizumi | Koichi Hayashida | Asuka Hayazaki Takeshi Hama Mahito Yokota |
| Flipnote Studio 3D | Animation | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo eShop) |
2013 | Yoshiaki Koizumi | Hideaki Shimizu Yasuhiko Matsuzaki |
N/A |
| Super Mario 3D World | Platform | Wii U | 2013 | Yoshiaki Koizumi | Koichi Hayashida Kenta Motokura |
Mahito Yokota Toru Minegishi Yasuaki Iwata Koji Kondo |
| NES Remix[codeveloped 1] | Compilation | Wii U | 2013 | Yoshiaki Koizumi Masanobu Suzui (Indieszero) |
Koichi Hayashida Hirotaka Watanabe (Indieszero) |
Toshiyuki Sudo |
| NES Remix 2[codeveloped 1] | Compilation | Wii U | 2014 | Yoshiaki Koizumi Masanobu Suzui (Indieszero) |
Koichi Hayashida Hirotaka Watanabe (Indieszero) |
Toshiyuki Sudo |
| Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker | Platform, puzzle | Wii U | 2014 | Koichi Hayashida | Kenta Motokura Shinya Hiratake |
Mahito Yokota |
- Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Codeveloped by indieszero.
Sound Department
Group Manager: Koji Kondo
The group is primarily responsible for creating music and sound effects for the various projects of Nintendo EAD and its many departments.
List of composers:
- Koji Kondo - Super Mario series, The Legend of Zelda series
- Kazumi Totaka - Animal Crossing series, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Yoshi's Story
- Kenta Nagata - Mario Kart series, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Hajime Wakai - Star Fox 64, Pikmin series, Nintendogs
- Toru Minegishi - Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Splatoon
- Mahito Yokota - Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Super Mario Galaxy series, Super Mario 3D World
- Asuka Hayazaki (née Ohta) - Yoshi Touch & Go, New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart Wii
- Manaka Tominaga - Wii Fit, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Animal Crossing: City Folk
- Ryo Nagamatsu - Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo Land, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- Shiho Fujii - New Super Mario Bros. Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Mario Kart 8
- Atsuko Asahi - Steel Diver, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Mario Kart 8
- Yasuaki Iwata - Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8
List of sound designers:
- Taro Bando - F-Zero X, Steel Diver, Mario Kart 7
- Takahiro Watanabe - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Mario Kart 8
- Yohei Miyagawa - The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Pikmin 3
- Masato Mizuta - Nintendogs, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Shigetoshi Gohara - Super Mario Galaxy series, Super Mario 3D World
- Yuya Takezawa - Super Mario Galaxy series, Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World
- Natsuko Yokoyama - New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, Mario Kart 8
Technology Development Department
Deputy Manager: Takao Sawano
A separate department that provides prototype engines, tool programs, and library environments throughout the development of several EAD software projects. Programmers may also be dispensed to the EAD Software Development Departments for specific game projects. The technological forefront from Nintendo usually stems from the experimentation and research derived by this group of software engineers.
Technology Design Group
Group Manager: Keizo Ota
Responsible for developing Software Development Kits (SDK's) and their respective development tools for Nintendo home and handheld consoles.
- List of products developed
- GameEye (2003)
- Shigureden Navi (2006)
- Wii Fit Balance Board (2007)
Development Environment Group
Group Manager: Yasunari Nishida
| Title | Platform | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Mario Artist: Polygon Studio | 64DD | 2000 |
| Mario Artist: Talent Studio | 64DD | 2000 |
| Super Mario 128 Demonstration | GC | 2000 |
| Super Mario Sunshine | GC | 2002 |
| Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat | GC | 2004 |
| Super Mario Galaxy | Wii | 2007 |
| Super Hint Guide | Wii | 2008 |
| Wii Motion Plus | Wii | 2008 |
| Jibun de Tsukuru Nintendo DS Guide | DSiWare | 2010 |
| AR Games | 3DS | 2011 |
Systems Research & Development
President: Toshihiko Nakago; Deputy Manager: Kazuaki Morita
Systems Research & Development (officially abbreviated as SRD) is a Japanese company that specializes in software programming and the development of computer-aided design tools (CAD). Established in 1979, the company is based in Osaka. However, the Kyoto branch is housed inside Nintendo's headquarters, under the Technology Development Department in the Nintendo EAD division. The President of SRD is Toshihiko Nakago, one of the cofounders of the company, and the manager of the Kyoto branch is Kazuaki Morita, both veteran programmers of Nintendo games.
In 1982, the SRD began working with the Nintendo Research & Development 2 department, which at the time was responsible for hardware development. The company was responsible for programming ports of arcade games to the Nintendo Entertainment System (Family Computer in Japan). One of the first games the company was responsible for was Shigeru Miyamoto's Donkey Kong. It was then that Miyamoto became aware of the SRD's potential and instructed the company to work with him in Excitebike. While Miyamoto developed Excitebike in cooperation with Toshihiko Nakago and the rest of the SRD team, he worked simultaneously with Takashi Tezuka on Devil World, Nintendo R&D4's first game. The next project of the department was Super Mario Bros., which marked the first time that Miyamoto, Tezuka and Nakago worked together. SRD also coprogrammed The Legend of Zelda. Since then, Miyamoto and his R&D4 team have worked very closely with SRD and Nakago.
The cooperation between SRD and R&D4, now Nintendo EAD, is still present today. SRD has been responsible, among other things, for the programming of the other Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda titles in cooperation with Software Development Group No. 4 and Software Development Group No. 3, respectively. Because of the longstanding cooperation Miyamoto, Tezuka and Nakago are considered the golden triangle.
References
- ↑ 任天堂の新開発棟が始動 ゲーム機、ソフト生む拠点. http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/'' (in Japanese). Kyoto NP. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ↑ "Using the D-pad to Jump". Iwata Asks: Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary Vol. 5: Original Super Mario Developers. Nintendo. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
- ↑ "I'd Never Heard Of Pac-Man". Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii Vol. 2. Nintendo. 11 December 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Takao Imamura, Shigeru Miyamoto (1997). Nintendo Power August, 1997 - Pak Watch E3 Report "The Game Masters". Nintendo. pp. 104–105.
- ↑ N-Sider. Nintendo Revolution FAQ
- ↑ Cassidy, Kevin. NCL Team Structure work in progress. June 7, 2006. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 1 (2011-02-26). "Nintendogs + Cats". Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Hideki Konno / Director: Yasuyuki Oyagi [...] Music Composition: Asuka Hayazaki
- ↑ "Four Swords + 10 Answers". http://uk.ign.com/''. IGN. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
While NOA has yet to announce the feature set of the US version of Four Swords, it's safe to assume that Tetra's Trackers, which was shown as a standalone title at E3, is no longer slated for release.
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2007-04-26). "Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree". Wii. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Hiroyuki Kimura / Director: Tomoaki Yoshinobu [...] Music Composition: Ryo Nagamatsu
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2008-12-25). "New Play Control! Pikmin". Wii. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Hiroyuki Kimura / Director: Shigefumi Hino [...] Music Composition: Hajime Wakai
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2008-12-25). "New Play Control! Pikmin 2". Wii. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Hiroyuki Kimura / Director: Shigefumi Hino [...] Music Composition: Hajime Wakai
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2009-11-11). "New Super Mario Bros. Wii". Wii. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura (Nintendo) / Director: Shigeyuki Asuke (Nintendo) [...] Program Director: Makoto Sasaki (SRD) [...] Music Composition: Shiho Fujii, Ryo Nagamatsu (Nintendo)
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2012-07-28). "New Super Mario Bros. 2". Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura (Nintendo) / Director: Yusuke Amano (Nintendo) [...] Program Director: Kenji Higashiyama (SRD) [...] Sound Director: Kenta Nagata (Nintendo)
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2012-11-18). "New Super Mario Bros. U". Wii U. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura (Nintendo) / Director: Masataka Takemoto (Nintendo) [...] Player Program: Keigo Nakanishi (SRD) [...] Music Composition: Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota (Nintendo)
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2013-06-19). "New Super Luigi U". Wii U. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura (Nintendo) / Director: Masataka Takemoto (Nintendo) [...] Player Program: Keigo Nakanishi (SRD) [...] Music Composition: Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota (Nintendo)
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 (2013-07-13). "Pikmin 3". Wii U. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Hiroyuki Kimura (Nintendo) / Director: Shigefumi Hino, Yuji Kando (Nintendo) [...] Music Composition: Asuka Hayazaki, Atsuko Asahi, Hajime Wakai (Nintendo) [...] Monolith Soft Inc.
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 5 (2007-12-01). "Wii Fit". Wii. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Tadashi Sugiyama (Nintendo) / Director: Hiroshi Matsunaga (Nintendo) / Hardware Producer: Takao Sawano / Hardware Director: Takeshi Nagareda [...] Main Program: Shigehiro Kasamatsu (SRD) [...] Music Composition: Toru Minegishi, Manaka Tominaga, Shiho-Fujii (Nintendo)
- ↑ Nintendo EAD Group No. 5 (2009-10-01). "Wii Fit Plus". Wii. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Tadashi Sugiyama (Nintendo) / Director: Hiroshi Matsunaga (Nintendo) [...] Program Chief: Nobuhiro Sumiyoshi (SRD) [...] Music Composition: Asuka Ohta (Nintendo)
- ↑ Vitei, Nintendo EAD Group No. 5 (2011-05-12). "Steel Diver". Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Tadashi Sugiyama (Nintendo) / Director: Takaya Imamura (Nintendo) [...] Design Director: Takao Kurebayashi (Vitei) [...] Music Composition: Atsuko Asahi, Toru Minegishi (Nintendo)
- ↑ Vitei, Nintendo EAD Group No. 5 (2014-02-13). "Steel Diver: Sub Wars". Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
Producer: Tadashi Sugiyama (Nintendo) / Director: Takaya Imamura (Nintendo) [...] Design Director: Takao Kurebayashi (Vitei) [...] Music Composition: Kenta Nagata, Atsuko Asahi, Toru Minegishi (Nintendo)
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