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List of Nintendo development teams

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List of Nintendo development teams
Number of locations
5 (Japan, United States, France, China, Canada)
ServicesNintendo Switch Online
ParentNintendo
Divisions
Subsidiaries
List of subsidiaries

Nintendo is one of the world's biggest video game development companies, having created several successful franchises. Because of its storied history, the developer employs a methodical system of software and hardware development that is mainly centralized within its offices in Kyoto and Tokyo, in cooperation with its division Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington. The company also owns several worldwide subsidiaries and funds partner affiliates that contribute technology and software for the Nintendo brand.[1][2]

Main offices

[edit]
Nintendo Central Office
The old Nintendo Tokyo Office

Nintendo (NCL) has a central office located in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′11.89″N 135°45′22.33″E / 34.9699694°N 135.7562028°E / 34.9699694; 135.7562028) and a nearby building, its pre-2000 headquarters, now serving as a research and development building, located in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′29.00″N 135°46′10.48″E / 34.9747222°N 135.7695778°E / 34.9747222; 135.7695778). Its original Kyoto headquarters can still be found at (34°59′30.03″N 135°45′58.66″E / 34.9916750°N 135.7662944°E / 34.9916750; 135.7662944). Additionally, Nintendo has a third operation in Tokyo, Japan, where research and development and manufacturing are conducted. All three offices are interconnected and have video conferences often for communication and presentation purposes.

In 2009, it was revealed that Nintendo was expanding both its Redmond and Kyoto offices. The new office building complex of Nintendo of America in Redmond is 275,250 square feet (25,572 m2) and would expand its localization, development, debugging, production, and clerical teams. Nintendo announced the purchase of a 40,000 square-meter lot that would house an all new research and development (R&D) office that would make it easier for the company's two other Kyoto R&D offices to collaborate as well as expand the total work force on new upcoming console development and new software for current and future hardware. Additionally, Nintendo has various subsidiaries and offices worldwide that contribute to the company's global operations.[3][4]

Nintendo owns several buildings throughout Kyoto and Tokyo housing subsidiary and affiliated companies. One of the more famous buildings was the Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo building – previously known as the Nintendo Tokyo Prefecture Building – was jokingly called The Pokémon Building, accommodates the complete Pokémon family which included The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc., and Genius Sonority.[5]

In 2020, Nintendo revealed that they were going to unify all four of their buildings in Tokyo into just one. With this, several divisions and affiliated companies came to be together in the same building, including Game Freak, Nintendo's subsidiary 1-Up Studio and after 13 years, HAL Laboratory with its Tokyo studio and headquarters.[6]

In 2021, it was revealed Nintendo was planning to expand internal development by renting offices in facilities and building new development offices. In April 2022, it was revealed Nintendo had acquired land next to their headquarters to be used as another development office, which was slated to open in 2027,[7] but was later moved to 2028.[8]

Buildings

[edit]
Nintendo Research & Development Buildings
Name Location Developer(s)
Asia
Nintendo Central Office Kyoto, Japan formerly Nintendo EAD, Systems Research & Development (SRD)
Nintendo Kyoto Research Institute Kyoto, Japan formerly Nintendo SPD, Intelligent Systems (moved into a new building next near Nintendo Central Offices in 2013),[9] currently Mario Club
Nintendo Kyoto Development Complex Kyoto, Japan Was originally scheduled to open at the end of December 2013,[10] but did not until June 2014.[11] Currently houses the Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD), Platform Technology Development (PTD), and Business Development divisions. An additional office for SRD is also located here.
Nintendo "Corporate Headquarters Development Center, Building No. 2" (tentative) Kyoto, Japan Located next to their headquarters, the building was originally scheduled to open in 2027,[12] but has since been delayed to 2028.[13] It will be used as another development office.
Kyoto City Water Supply and Sewerage Bureau Kyoto, Japan Office building finished in May 2022. The building currently has its 6th office for Monolith Soft Kyoto and the 7th office for Mario Club.[14]
Nintendo Tokyo Office Tokyo, Japan Located in a new office building named Kanda Square,[15] that now contains divisions from Nintendo and different companies from four different locations in Tokyo, now reunited in one place to boost efficiency, with Nintendo themselves occupying the 8th, 20th and 21st floors.[16] Replaced the former Nintendo Tokyo Office and the Nintendo Tokyo Prefecture Building, the latter of which contained The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc., Genius Sonority, HAL Laboratory and Warpstar (Warpstar and the development center of HAL Laboratory were moved to the HAL's main office building in Tokyo in 2003 until 2020, when HAL Laboratory moved their head offices again to this building). Currently home to Nintendo EPD Tokyo, Nintendo PTD Tokyo, Nintendo Pictures Head Office, HAL Laboratory Head Office and Tokyo R&D Center, 1-Up Studio and Game Freak.[5][17][18][19][20]
America
Nintendo of America Headquarters Redmond, Washington, US Nintendo Software Technology (NST)
Nintendo Technology Development Seattle, Washington, US Nintendo Technology Development (NTD)
Europe
Nintendo European Research & Development Paris, France Nintendo European Research & Development (NERD)

Former offices

[edit]
  • Nintendo Sapporo Office – Sapporo, Japan – closed
  • Nintendo Fukuoka Office – Fukuoka, Japan – closed
  • Nintendo Tokyo Prefecture Building – Tokyo, Japan – closed
  • Nintendo Tokyo Office (previous) – Tokyo, Japan – closed

Divisions

[edit]

Entertainment Planning and Development (EPD)

[edit]
Main article: Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development

The Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development division was created on 16 September 2015, as part of a company-wide organizational restructure that took place under Nintendo's then newly appointed president, Tatsumi Kimishima. The division was created after the merger of two of its largest divisions, Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD) and Software Planning & Development (SPD).[21]

The division assumed both of its predecessors' roles, focusing on the development of games and software for Nintendo platforms and mobile devices; it also manages and licenses the company's various intellectual properties. Shinya Takahashi, formerly general manager of the SPD division, serves as general manager of the new division, as well as supervisor for both the Business Development and Development Administration & Support divisions. Katsuya Eguchi and Yoshiaki Koizumi maintained their positions as Deputy General Managers of EPD, which they previously held under EAD.[21]

Platform Technology Development (PTD)

[edit]
Main article: Nintendo Platform Technology Development

The Nintendo Platform Technology Development division was created on 16 September 2015, as part of a company-wide organizational restructure that took place under Nintendo's then newly appointed president, Tatsumi Kimishima. The division was created after the merger of two Nintendo's divisions, the Integrated Research & Development (IRD), which specialized in hardware development, and System Development (SDD), which specialized operating system development and its development environment and network services.[21]

The new division assumed both of its predecessors' roles. Ko Shiota, formerly Deputy general manager of the IRD division, serves as the general manager (GM), while Takeshi Shimada, formerly Deputy general manager of the Software Environment Development Department of the SDD division, serves the same role.[21]

Business Development Division (BDD)

[edit]

The Nintendo Business Development division was formed following Nintendo's foray into software development for smart devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, in March 2014.[22] They are responsible for refining Nintendo's business model for dedicated game system business, and for furthering Nintendo's venture into development for smart devices.

Game development subsidiaries

[edit]

While most external first-party software development is done in Japan, Nintendo owns several overseas development subsidiaries, those being Nintendo Software Technology, Retro Studios, and Shiver Entertainment in the United States, Nintendo European Research & Development in France, and Next Level Games in Canada.

Although these studios are all subsidiaries of Nintendo, they are often referred to as external resources when being involved in joint development processes with Nintendo's internal developers by the Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development division, while the division itself oversees and is involved in the production of the games developed under the studios that lead their own games.

Name Location Works
1-Up Studio Tokyo, Japan Magical Vacation series, Mother 3 and A Kappa's Trail. Currently, a development support studio for Nintendo EPD in titles such as Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Odyssey and Ring Fit Adventure.[23]
iQue Suzhou, China Previously, a manufacturer of Chinese versions of Nintendo consoles. Since 2016 it has handled Simplified Chinese translation/localization, and - since 2019 - has moved from console manufacture to become a development support studio, hiring programmers and testers to support Nintendo EPD games.
Mario Club Kyoto, Japan Debugging, quality control and testing.
Monolith Soft Tokyo, Japan Xenoblade Chronicles series, Baten Kaitos series and Disaster: Day of Crisis.[24] Development support for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Kyoto, Japan Development support studio for Monolith Soft Tokyo and Nintendo EPD. Development support with art and designs for Splatoon, Splatoon 2, Pikmin 3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon 3 and other Nintendo EPD titles, alongside support for Monolith Soft Tokyo games such as the Xenoblade Chronicles series.[25]
Next Level Games Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Luigi's Mansion series, Super Mario Strikers series, Punch-Out!! and Metroid Prime: Federation Force.
Nintendo Cube Sapporo, Japan; Tokyo, Japan[26] Wii Party series, Mario Party series and Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics.
Nintendo European Research & Development Paris, France Formerly known as Mobiclip, doing various software technologies such as console emulation, video compression, and middleware, including the emulators for Nintendo Switch Online and the video player of the Wii U Internet Browser.[27]
Nintendo Pictures Tokyo, Japan Animation studio specialized in animation, design, and cinematic work for Nintendo EPD.
Nintendo Software Technology Redmond, Washington, US Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, Wii Street U and other games and apps, helped with WebKit's JavaScript JIT[27]
Nintendo Technology Development Video game console development and software technology.
Retro Studios Austin, Texas, US Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country series.
Shiver Entertainment Miami, Florida, US Porting video games to Nintendo platforms.
SRD Kyoto, Japan Development support for Nintendo EPD (and previously Nintendo EAD).
Nintendo Systems Kyoto, Japan; Tokyo Japan Joint venture between Nintendo and DeNA. Works on multiple services for Nintendo systems, including the Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Accounts.

1-Up Studio

[edit]
Main article: 1-Up Studio

1-Up Studio Co., Ltd. (１‐UPスタジオ株式会社), formerly Brownie Brown Inc. (ブラウニーブラウン, Buraunī Buraun), is a Japanese Nintendo-funded and owned video game development studio opened on 30 June 2000 and based in Tokyo, Japan. On 1 February 2013, Brownie Brown announced on their official website that due to their recent co-development efforts with Nintendo, Brownie Brown are undergoing a change in internal structure, which includes changing the name of their company to 1-Up Studio.[28]

The studio is known for the development of the Magical Vacation series, Mother 3 and A Kappa's Trail. Since 2013, it stands as a development support studio for Nintendo EPD.

iQue

[edit]
Main article: iQue

Originally a Chinese joint venture between its founder, Wei Yen, and Nintendo, manufactures and distributes official Nintendo consoles and games for the mainland Chinese market, under the iQue brand. The product lineup for the Chinese market is considerably different from that for other markets. For example, Nintendo's only console in China is the iQue Player, a modified version of the Nintendo 64. In 2013, the company became a fully owned subsidiary of Nintendo.[29][30]

It became a translation and localization company for simplified Chinese since 2016 for Nintendo games. In 2018, it stopped to be a manufacturer for consoles at China and in 2019 began to hire programmers and testers to transition to be a supporting development company for Nintendo EPD.[31]

Mario Club

[edit]

Originally a team within Nintendo itself, Mario Club Co., Ltd. was separated into a subsidiary in July 2009. The company handles testing, quality control and debugging for Nintendo published titles and as of September 2022, has 355 employees.[32]

Monolith Soft

[edit]
Main article: Monolith Soft

Monolith Soft, Inc. (株式会社モノリスソフト, Kabushiki-Gaisha Monorisu Sofuto) is a Japanese video game development company that has created video games for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, and cell phones. The company currently has two main studios, its Tokyo Software Development Studio, which is housed in the company's headquarters, and the recently opened Kyoto Software Development Studio. The company was previously owned by Namco Bandai Games, until 2007 when Namco Bandai transferred 80% of its 96% stake to Nintendo. At a later date the remaining 16% was sold so the company is currently 96% Nintendo owned and 4% third parties. A majority of Monolith Soft's staff are former employees of Square Co., who transferred to the new company shortly after the creation of Chrono Cross. They were previously involved with the creation of Xenogears, from which the Xenosaga series is derived.

Monolith Soft's Tokyo Software Development Studio is usually associated with the Xeno series, the Baten Kaitos series and Disaster: Day of Crisis,[24] while its Kyoto Software Development Studio is currently a development co-operation studio.[citation needed]

Next Level Games

[edit]
Main article: Next Level Games

Next Level Games is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver. The company has been working with Nintendo since 2005 with Super Mario Strikers, while since 2014, the company began to work exclusively under contract with Nintendo. In January 2021, Nintendo revealed they had purchased Next Level Games, after over a decade working with the developer per contract basis and 6 years having them working exclusively.

Next Level Games has worked on the two most recent entries in the Luigi's Mansion series, the Mario Strikers series, Punch-Out!! for the Wii, and Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the Nintendo 3DS.

Nintendo Cube

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Main article: Nintendo Cube

Nintendo Cube Co., Ltd. (エヌディーキューブ株式会社 NintendōKyūbu Kabushiki Gaisha), formerly NDcube, is a Nintendo subsidiary and Japanese video game developer based in Japan with offices in Tokyo and Sapporo. The company was founded on 1 March 2000, through a joint venture between Nintendo and advertising firm Dentsu, hence the Nd in the name.[33] In 2010, Nintendo decided to buy out 96% of the shares, with ad partner Dentsu stepping aside.[34] Since Nintendo Cube was founded, they have kept a low profile, working on various Japanese GameCube and Game Boy Advance titles. Two notable games that have reached western shores are F-Zero: Maximum Velocity and Tube Slider. As seen in the credits for Mario Party 9, Nintendo Cube indeed houses many ex-Hudson Soft employees, some vary between folks who have focused primarily on many other entries in the Mario Party series.

The company is currently best known for the Wii Party series and for taking over the Mario Party series, after Hudson Soft was absorbed into Konami.

Nintendo European Research and Development (NERD)

[edit]
Main article: Nintendo European Research & Development

Nintendo European Research & Development SAS (or NERD), formerly known as Mobiclip, is a Nintendo subsidiary, located in Paris, France. The team currently focuses on developing software technologies, such as console emlation, video compression, and middleware for Nintendo platforms.[35] While an independent company, Mobiclip was responsible for licensing video codecs for Sony Pictures Digital, Fisher-Price and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii and Nintendo 3DS.

The team has been involved in the development of the Wii U Chat application, in co-operation with Vidyo, and has since contributed to developing emulators for prior Nintendo consoles, such as those for Nintendo Switch Online.

Nintendo Pictures

[edit]
Main article: Nintendo Pictures

The company was founded by Hiroshi Hirokawa on March 18, 2011, in Tokyo, Japan under the name of Dynamo Pictures. Nintendo announced their intent to acquire Dynamo Pictures and change its name to Nintendo Pictures on July 14, 2022, citing the focus of the company to strengthen the planning and production structure of visual content. The deal closed on October 3, with the company becoming a full subsidiary of Nintendo, as well as adopting its new name. Since being acquired by Nintendo in 2022, they have functioned as a support studio specializing in animation, design, and cinematic work for video games developed by Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development.

Nintendo Software Technology (NST)

[edit]
Main article: Nintendo Software Technology

Nintendo Software Technology Corp. (or NST) is an American video game developer located inside of Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The studio was created by Nintendo as a first-party developer to create games for the North American market, though their games have also been released in other territories such as Europe and Japan, exclusively for Nintendo consoles.

The studio's best known projects include the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, F-Zero 99, Crosswords series, Wii Street U and other video games and applications.

Nintendo Technology Development (NTD)

[edit]

Nintendo Technology Development Inc. (or NTD) is a Washington-based hardware focused Research & Development group for Nintendo. The group focuses on the creation of various software technologies, hardware tools, and SDKs for first-party use and third-party licensing across Nintendo platforms, in collaboration with the Nintendo Integrated Research & Development division led by Genyo Takeda. Several side projects and unreleased prototypes are commonly linked to this Washington based subsidiary. NTD is also responsible for some low-level coding.

Retro Studios

[edit]
Main article: Retro Studios

Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in October 1998 by Nintendo and the video game veteran Jeff Spangenberg after leaving Acclaim Entertainment, as an independent studio making games exclusively for Nintendo. The studio started with four GameCube projects which had a chaotic and unproductive development, and did not impress Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto, but he suggested they create a new game in the Metroid series. Eventually the four games in development were cancelled so Retro could focus only on Metroid Prime, which was released for the GameCube in 2002, the same year Nintendo acquired the studio completely by purchasing the majority of Spangenberg's holding stock.

Retro Studios is now one of the most renowned Nintendo first-party developers thanks to the development of the Metroid Prime series, assisting in Mario Kart 7, and for reviving the Donkey Kong Country series.

Shiver Entertainment

[edit]

Shiver Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Miami, Florida. It was founded in 2012 and was acquired by Embracer Group in 2021, who placed the studio under Saber Interactive.[36] Following Saber Interactive's sale to Beacon Interactive, the company was moved under Embracer Group until Nintendo acquired them in May 2024.[37] They are best known for developing the Nintendo Switch ports for Hogwarts Legacy, Mortal Kombat 11 and Mortal Kombat 1; they had also previously developed Scribblenauts Showdown and Scribblenauts Mega Pack.

SRD

[edit]

SRD Co., Ltd. (trade name SRD Corporation),[38] also known as Systems Research and Development, is a Nintendo subsidiary located in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, with an additional office in Nintendo's development headquarters in Minami-ku, Kyoto. The company was founded on 22 January 1979 and began working with Nintendo in 1983, programming games such as Donkey Kong (1981) and Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System.[39][40] They built an early test version of Super Mario Bros.[41] SRD became a prolific Nintendo partner. It exclusively programmed games for Nintendo and worked on around one hundred of them.[40] SRD contributed to the Mario and Animal Crossing franchises, most of The Legend of Zelda,[42][43] and some of Nintendo's more experimental projects, such as Nintendo Labo and Game Builder Garage.[44] On 1 April 2022, SRD became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo.[45][46] Toshihiko Nakago is the Representative Director and President of the company.[39]

Affiliate companies

[edit]
Major and minor affiliate development companies, per contract or under significant owned stake
Name Works
Arika Endless Ocean series, Dr. Mario series, 3D Classics series, Tetris 99, Super Mario Bros. 35.
Bandai Namco Studios Mario Kart (with Nintendo EPD), Mario Super Sluggers, Wii Sports Club (with Nintendo EAD), Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (with Sora Ltd.), Pokkén Tournament, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (with Sora Ltd.), New Pokemon Snap
Camelot Software Planning Golden Sun series, Mario Tennis series, Mario Golf series, Mario Sports Superstars.
Creatures Mother series, Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Ranger series, PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure, Detective Pikachu series, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket (with DeNA)
Cygames Dragalia Lost (defunct in 2022).
DeNA Service infrastructure, My Nintendo integration and development cooperation on mobile applications of the partnership with Nintendo like Miitomo (defunct in 2018), Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Mario Kart Tour. Outside of games in the Nintendo Mobile branding, DeNA also developed Pokémon Masters EX and Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, the latter with Creatures.
Eighting Kuru Kuru Kururin series, Master of Illusion, Pikmin series (with Nintendo EPD from Pikmin 3 Deluxe onwards), Nintendo Switch Sports basketball update co-development (with Nintendo EPD)
Game Freak Mainline Pokémon series, Pocket Card Jockey, HarmoKnight, Drill Dozer, Mario & Wario.
Genius Sonority Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Pokémon Trozei!, Pokémon Battle Revolution, Pokémon Shuffle, Pokémon Café ReMix.
Good-Feel Wario Land: Shake It!, Kirby's Epic Yarn (with HAL Laboratory), Yoshi's Woolly World, Yoshi's Crafted World, Princess Peach: Showtime!.
Grezzo The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (with Nintendo EPD), Ever Oasis, Luigi's Mansion (3DS), The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch), Miitopia (Switch), The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (with Nintendo EPD)
HAL Laboratory Kirby series, BoxBoy! series, Part Time UFO, Picross 3D, Pokémon Stadium series, Super Smash Bros. series (until Brawl), Mother series.
indieszero Sennen Kazoku, Sutte Hakkun, Electroplankton, Personal Trainer: Cooking, NES Remix series (with Nintendo EAD), Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch (with Nintendo EPD), Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain (with Nintendo EPD), Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (with Nintendo EPD).
Intelligent Systems Fire Emblem series, Wars series, Paper Mario series, Pushmo series, WarioWare series.
Koei Tecmo Fatal Frame series, Metroid: Other M (with Nintendo SPD), Hyrule Warriors series, Fire Emblem Warriors series, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Fire Emblem: Three Houses (with Intelligent Systems).
MAGES Famicom Detective Club series (with Nintendo EPD for Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club)
MercurySteam Metroid: Samus Returns, Metroid Dread (both with Nintendo EPD)
Niantic Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom
PlatinumGames Bayonetta series, The Wonderful 101, Star Fox Zero, Astral Chain.
Sega F-Zero GX, F-Zero AX, Mario & Sonic series, Bayonetta series (2014-present), Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE (developed by Atlus)
Square Enix Super Mario RPG, Mario Sports Mix, Itadaki Street
Sora Ltd. Kid Icarus: Uprising (with Project Sora), Meteos (with Q Entertainment and Bandai), Super Smash Bros. Brawl (with HAL Laboratory, Game Arts and Monolith Soft), Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (with Bandai Namco Studios), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (with Bandai Namco Studios).
Tantalus Media The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD
Tose Famicom Detective Club series, The Legendary Starfy series, Game & Watch Gallery series, Super Princess Peach.
Ubisoft Mario + Rabbids series

Former divisions and subsidiaries

[edit]
Name Active Additional details Fate
Nintendo Research & Development 1
(Nintendo R&D1) 		1970–2002 The original game development team at Nintendo. Originally created in the 1970s by Hiroshi Imanishi as the games division of Nintendo Co., Ltd. Gunpei Yokoi was the original engineer and inventor designated to create electronic toys and arcade coin-operated software. With the conception of the Famicom (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the West), the Virtual Boy, and Game Boy, the group was reassigned to concentrate on developing the premier software for console and portable gaming straying away from its original toys, Game & Watch, and arcade roots. Nintendo EAD
Nintendo SPD
Nintendo RED
Nintendo Research & Development 2
(Nintendo R&D2) 		1972–2002 This group mainly concentrated on hardware technology and system operating tools. Masayuki Uemura was hired away from Sharp Corporation where he specialized in solar cell technology. The solar technology fueled the original bean gun games which Nintendo introduced to huge success. The team would go on to develop several peripherals and eventually even some video game software. The team generally assisted Nintendo R&D1 and Nintendo R&D3 with their arcade games, but it also became the first team to specialize in software ports at Nintendo with the task of porting all the original arcade titles like Donkey Kong to the Famicom.[47] Nintendo EAD
Nintendo SPD
Nintendo Research & Development 3
(Nintendo R&D3) 		1974–1996 Originally created as a hardware engineering division, Genyo Takeda managed to diversify his group and create software on the same arcade boards being designed for Gunpei Yokoi's R&D1 team. After developing the arcade hits like Sheriff, Punch-Out!! and Arm Wrestling, the team was involved in developing a variety of unique software for the NES that was mainly aimed at the Western market, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and StarTropics to name a few. The team also helped create bank switching and the MMC chips in the NES cartridges. Nintendo IRD
Nintendo Research & Development 4
(Nintendo R&D4) 		1983–1989 In 1984, Hiroshi Yamauchi, former president of Nintendo, rewarded Shigeru Miyamoto his own development studio after proving himself his ability to consistently produce both critically acclaimed and successful video games with the original Donkey Kong and Mario Bros.. Although the team didn't have as many resources as Nintendo R&D1, R&D4 also focused on developing NES games. It ended up creating Nintendo's two most enduring franchises: Mario and The Legend of Zelda. During the development of the Super NES, Nintendo R&D4 was renamed Nintendo EAD. Takashi Tezuka joined Shigeru Miyamoto in developing R&D4 games, with music composition being handled by Koji Kondo. Nintendo EAD
Nintendo Tokyo R&D Products 1987–1989 In the early 1980s, Nintendo planned to expand software R&D into the Tokyo manufacturing branch building to operate alongside its overcrowded Kyoto headquarters. The initial plans became delayed and shortly after the development of the original Mother, the group ceased development. —
Nintendo of America (NOA) Special-Projects 1990–1997 The first development branch at Nintendo of America. Nintendo wanted to deliver more software based at the U.S. market following the trails of the Sega Genesis marketing blitz. Nintendo of America appointed product analysts Jeff Hutt and Don James to head the division. The group initially concentrated on sports games, which led to the NES Play Action and Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball franchises. —
Project Sora 2009–2012 The company was solely created to develop Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS. The president and director of the team, Masahiro Sakurai later joined forces with Bandai Namco Studios to create Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U with Nintendo SPD.[48] —
Nintendo Research & Engineering Department
(Nintendo RED) 		2003–2013 The original hardware development team responsible for all of Nintendo's portable and hand held systems. The manager Satoru Okada and most of the chief engineers originate from the old Nintendo R&D1 hardware division that created all the Game & Watch and hand held LCD cabinets.[49] On 16 February 2013, Nintendo RED was combined with the Nintendo Integrated Research & Development (or IRD) division.[50][51] Nintendo IRD
Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development
(Nintendo EAD) 		1989–2015 Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development was the premier development arm at Nintendo. The group had the largest concentration of R&D, housing more than 800 engineers and designers. The division was split into seven different subdivisions, each led by a designated producer and group manager. The overseeing managers were Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Five divisions were located in the central Kyoto R&D building under the Software Development Department, while two divisions resided in the Tokyo offices under the Tokyo Software Development Department. Nintendo EPD
Mobile21 1999-2002 A joint venture with Konami which concentrated on developing Game Boy Advance games with connectivity to mobile phones.
Nintendo Software Planning & Development
(Nintendo SPD) 		2003–2015 Nintendo Software Planning & Development was the development group that included several of the original development officers from the old software and hardware development sectors. The division was broken up into two departments; Software Planning & Development Department and Software Design & Development Department. Nintendo EPD
Nintendo Integrated Research & Development
(Nintendo IRD) 		2003–2015 Nintendo Integrated Research & Development was Nintendo's hardware group that specialized in all engineering and technological aspects of Nintendo's home console and handheld development. The division also housed industrial designers who design peripherals such as the WaveBird, Wii Zapper, and Wii steering wheel. The group was originally known as Research and Development Department 3 (R&D3),[52] with the same primary functions, with the exception that manager Genyo Takeda enjoyed moonlighting by developing console and arcade games. On 16 February 2013, Nintendo IRD combined with Nintendo Research & Engineering Department (or RED), the former hardware group that specialized in all engineering and technological aspects of Nintendo's handheld development.[50][51] Nintendo PTD
Nintendo Network Business & Development
(Nintendo NBD) 		2003–2015 The Nintendo Network Business & Development division, which used to be centered in peripheral and software development, was a hybrid development group with several distinct duties. The development team originated from Nintendo Research & Development 2 and was mainly responsible for ports and inhouse development for low profile hardware like the Pokémon Mini and the Super Famicom Satellaview service. The department handled most Nintendo Network programming and server maintenance inside Nintendo's in-house projects and throughout various other external Nintendo software, in cooperation with Nintendo Network Services. The department also cooperated in software development.[53] Nintendo PTD
Nintendo Network Service Database
(NSD) 		2009–2018 Nintendo Network Service Database Inc. (or NSD), formerly known as Wii no Ma, was originally created by Nintendo to provide digital entertainment as a service for Wii owners, with the company later renamed when its role changed.[54] After the name change, Nintendo Network Services handled all Nintendo Network operations, including programming and server maintenance inside Nintendo's in-house projects through the Nintendo Network Business & Development division and throughout various other external online software infrastructures. Lastly, the company also cooperated in developing third party online infrastructures compatible with Nintendo consoles and Nintendo Network. —

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