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Nintendo First-Party Thread: The Teams, The Games, The Future

S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
​
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With the advent of Nintendo's new console, growing mobile initiative, and continued support of the 3DS platform - it seems like there has never been a more exciting time to be a Nintendo fan. This upcoming wave of releases - across all three platforms - also officially welcomes the new era of Nintendo R&D management, that sees the largest arrangement of in-house developers working under the vision of one man - Shinya Takahashi.

Updates / Notes

* Nintendo EAD and Nintendo SPD were merged under one division titled Nintendo EPD
* Shinya Takahashi is the General Manager
* Aim is to balance the development of big and small games across platforms
* Katsuya Eguchi (Kyoto teams), Yoshiaki Koizumi (Tokyo teams), Keisuke Terasaki (External teams) are the Deputy Managers
* Takashi Tezuka and Yoshio Sakamoto are the Executive Officers
* Producers / Team Managers include Kosuke Yabuki, Hisashi Nogami, Kouichi Kawamoto, Koichi Hayashida, Eiji Aonuma.
* Co-Producers / Sub Team Managers include Takayuki Shimamura, Akio Terui, Aya Kyogoku, Hiroshi Matsunga.
* Project Leaders / Directors include Isao Moro, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Yugo Hayashi, Ryutaro Takahashi, Yuichiro Ito, Yosuke Oshino, Takaya Imamura.
* Software Group Managers listed below
* Roughly 700 game developers in-house, 100 middleware / environment developers in-house, hundreds of more assistant developers from subsidiary / external cooperation studios
* Miyamoto is an adviser / supervisor but no longer directly involved


[Nintendo R&D Game Teams]

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 1
Manager / Producer - Hitoshi Yamagami
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - ?
Project Leader: Genki Yokota (Xenoblade, Fire Emblem)

-Games-
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Holiday 2017 (with Monolith Soft)
Fire Emblem Echoes 4.20.17 (with Intelligent Systems)
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 2?
Manager / Producer - Hisashi Nogami
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - Aya Kyogoku?

-Games-
Splatoon 05.28.15
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer 06.30.15
Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo 11.02.16
Splatoon 2 07.21.17
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 3?
Manager / Producer - Eiji Aonuma
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - Makoto Miyanaga?

-Games-
The Legend of Zelda: TriForce Heroes 10.22.15
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 03.03.17
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 4?
Manager / Producer - Hiroyuki Kimura (May have been replaced)
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - Akio Terui

-Games-
New Super Lugi U 07;13.13
Pikmin 3 07.13.13
Super Mario Maker 09.10.15
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 5
Manager / Producer - Tadashi Sugiyama
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - Hiroshi Matsunaga

-Games-
Star Fox Zero 05.21.16
Star Fox Guard 05.21.16
Tank Troopers 12.21.16
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 6?
Manager / Producer - Kouichi Kawamoto
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - Takayuki Shimamura

-Games-
Rusty's Real Deal Baseball 08.08.13
Nintendo Badge Arcade 12.17.14
Miitopia 12.08.16
1-2 Switch 03.03.17
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 7
Manager / Producer - Katsuya Yamano ?
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - N/A

-Games-
Tomodachi Life 04.18.13
Rhythm Heaven Megamix 06.11.15
Miitomo 03.17.16
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 8 (Tokyo)
Manager / Producer - Koichi Hayashida
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - Kenta Motokura

-Games-
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker 11.13.14
NES Remix Pack 12.05.14
Ultimate NES Remix 11.07.14
Super Mario Odyssey 10.27.17
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 9
Manager / Producer - Kosuke Yabuki
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - Yasuyugi Oyagi?
Project Leader: Kenta Sato (Arms), Yusuke Shiraiwa (Mario Kart 8 DX)

-Games-
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 04.28.17
Arms 06,16.17
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Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 10? (Tokyo)
Manager / Producer - Takao Shimizu
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - N/A

-Games-
Nintendo DS Guide: Make It Yourself 11.17.10
Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre 12.02.13
Click to expand...

Nintendo EPD Smart Device Production Group
Manager / Producer - Hideki Konno
Sub Manager / Co-Producer - N/A
History - MyNintendo, Miitomo, Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes
Current: - Making Animal Crossing Mobile and future Mobile projects
Click to expand...

[Nintendo Game Companies]

Nintendo Software Technology
President - Shigeki Yamashiro
History - Super Mario Maker 3DS (port), Metroid Prime Hunters, Mario vs DK
Current: - Next Project? Switch Port?
Click to expand...

ND Cube
President - Hidetoshi Endo
History - Mario Party, Wii Party
Current: - Next Project?
Click to expand...

Monolith Soft
President - Tetsuya Takahashi
History - XenoBlade, Soma Bringer, Baten Kaitos
Current: - XenoBlade 2
Click to expand...

Retro Studios
President - Michael Kelbaugh
History - Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country Returns
Current: - Next Project?
Click to expand...

1-Up Studio
President - Gen Kadoi
History - Graphic Assist Studio
Current: Various
Click to expand...

Monolith Soft (Kyoto)
Rep Director - Yasuyuki Honne
History - Graphic Assist Studio
Current: Various
Click to expand...

[Nintendo Game Affiliates]

HAL Laboratory
- Recent: Kirby: Planet Robobot, Box Boy 2 and Picross 3D Round 2.
- Next: Kirby 3DS and Kirby Switch

Intelligent Systems
- Recent: Fire Emblem Fates and Paper Mario: Color Splash.Fire Emblem Echoes - Shadows of Valencia,
- Next: Fire Emblem Heroes (DLC), Fire Emblem Switch

Creatures
- Recent: Great Detective Pikachu.
- Next: N/A ????

AlphaDream
- Recent: Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
- Next: Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Minions

Arzest
- Recent: StreetPass Games DLC and Mario & Sonic Olympics (3DS)
- Next: Hey! Pikmin

Camelot
- Recent: Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, and Golden Sun series.Mario Sports Superstar
- Next: ???

Chunsoft (of Spike-Chunsoft)
- Recent: StreetPass Games DLC, Mario & Sonic (3DS)
- Next: N/A???

DeNa
- Recent: Cooperation with MyNintendo and Nintendo Mobile Games
- Next: (read above)

Eighting
- Recent: Mini-game support for Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo (Animal Crossing Puzzle League)
- Next: N/A???

Genius Sonority
- Recent: Pokemon Shuffle 3DS / iOS
- Next: N/A???

Good-Feel
- Recent: Poochie & Yoshi's Woolly World and StreetPass Games DLC
- Next: Yoshi Switch

Game Freak
- Recent: Pokemon Sun / Pokemon Moon
- Next: Pokemon Ultra Sun / Pokemon Ultra Moon, Pokemon Switch

Grezzo
- Recent: The Legend of Zelda: TriForce Heroes (with Nintendo EPD)
- Next: Ever Oasis

Grounding
- Recent: Nintendoji and Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword
- Next: N/A???

Headstrong Games
- Recent: Disney Art Academy and Pokemon Art Academy.
- Next: N/A???

Indies Zero
- Recent: Realistic Escape Game and Co-Developed NES Remix (with Nintendo EPD).
- Next: Co-Developing Sushi Striker for Nintendo 3DS with Nintendo EPD (2018)

Jamworks -
- Recent: Culdcept Revolt and Nintendo Pocket Football.
- Next: N/A???

Jupiter
- Recent: MyNintendo Picross and Quiz Travel Nicky.
- Next: N/A???

Mercury Steam
- Recent:
- Next: Metroid: Samus Returns for Nintendo 3DS with Nintendo EPD (2017)

Next Level Games
- Recent: Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Luigi's Mansion:
Dark Moon.
- Next: Metroid Prime 4??

Prope
- Recent: StreetPass Games DLC
- Next: N/A???

Sora
- Recent: Super Smash Bros. For Wii U / 3DS (planning)
- Next: N/A???

Skip
- Recent: Chibi Robo - Zip Lash (co-developed)
- Next: N/A???

Syn Sophia
- Recent: Style Savvy 3
- Next: N/A???

Tantalus Media
- Recent: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
- Next: N/A??? (Projects for 3 party publishers on Switch)

Valhalla Games
- Recent: Devil's Third and developing Momotaro Dentetsu.
- Next: N/A???

Vanpool
- Recent: Chibi Robo: Zip Lash (Co-developed) and Dillon's Roling Western.
- Next: N/A???

Vitei
- Recent: Tank Troopers (with Nintendo EPD), Steel Diver: Sub Wars (with Nintendo EPD)
- Next: N/A???

Pauta-9-Games-2014.png
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The Games

- 2018-
Dillon: Dead Heat Breakers | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Vanpool)
Sushi Striker | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD / Indies Zero)
Fire Emblem | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Intelligent Systems)
Kirby | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / HAL Laboratory)
Yoshi | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Good-Feel)
Metroid Prime 4 | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / ?)
Pokemon | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / The Pokemon Company / Game Freak)


- 2017-
Poochie & Yoshi's Woolly World | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Good-Feel)
BoxBoy 3 | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / HAL Laboratory)
Mario Sports Superstar | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Bandai-Namco / Camelot)
Ever Oasis | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Grezzo)
Hey Pikmin! | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Arzest)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
1 2 Switch | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
Snipperclips | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / SF Games / Nintendo Software Technology)[/b]
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valencia | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Intelligent Systems)
Mario Kart 8 DX | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
ARMS | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
Splatoon 2 | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
Metroid: Samus Returns | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Mercury Steam / Nintendo EPD)
Pokken | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / The Pokemon Company / Bandai-Namco Games)
Mario & Luigi: Super Star Saga + Minions | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Alpha Dream)
Fire Emblem Warriors | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Tecmo-Koei / Omega Force / Team Ninja)
Mario Party: The Top 100 | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Nd Cube)[
Super Mario Odyssey | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
Style Savvy 4 | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Syn Sophia)
Kirby Battle Royale | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / HAL Laboratory)
Xenoblade 2 | Nintendo Switch (Nintendo / Monolith Soft)


- 2016-
BoxBoy 2 | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / HAL Laboratory)
Culdcept Revolt | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Omiya Soft / Jamsworks)
Miitomo | IOS/Android (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD | Wii U (Nintendo / Tantalus Media)
Star Fox Zero | Wii U (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD / Platinum Games)
Star Fox Guard | Wii U (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD / Platinum Games)
Disney Art Academy | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Headstrong-Games)
Metroid Prime: Federation Force | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Next Level Games)
Kirby: Planet Robobot | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / HAL Laboratory)
Mario Party: Star Rush | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / ND Cube)
Paper Mario: Color Splash | Wii U (Nintendo / Intelligent Systems)
Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
Swapdoodle Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / ?)
Miitopia | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
Momotaro Dentetsu: 2017: Tachiagare Nippon!! | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Valhalla Game Studios)
Super Mario Run | IOS (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD)
Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD / Nintendo Software Technology)
Tank Troopers | Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo / Nintendo EPD / Vitei)

This can be a great thread for game and staff updates for Nintendo first-party works in the next coming months.
 
N

NinjaCoachZ

Member
Excellent writeup as per usual, Shika.

Forgive me, what exactly is the role of a Deputy Manager? Koizumi being one is a good sign. Directing Galaxy means he's cool in my book.

Production Group 2, being the Splatoon devs, will be the one to watch for those young developers' new IPs, right? Or is that an EPD-wide initiative?
 
D

DecoReturns

Member
Exciting times for sure.

I'm wondering about Fire Emblem, Fates had a ton of cutscenes with the character models (zoom in and closes up)and it looked really goofy. Wonder how they are gonna improve on that.
 
C

Cerium

Member
Ooooh a Shikamaru Ninja thread, lovely, thanks for making it. I'm going to pour a nice whiskey to sip while I read.
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
Cerium said:
Ooooh a Shikamaru Ninja thread, lovely, thanks for making it. I'm going to pour a nice whiskey to sip while I read.
Click to expand...

Make that a double mate!

NinjaCoachZ said:
Excellent writeup as per usual, Shika.

Forgive me, what exactly is the role of a Deputy Manager? Koizumi being one is a good sign. Directing Galaxy means he's cool in my book.

Production Group 2, being the Splatoon devs, will be the one to watch for those young developers' new IPs, right? Or is that an EPD-wide initiative?
Click to expand...

The Deputy Managers basically manage departments (which kind of means multiple groups). I updated the above with a bit more info on what they do.
 
A

AntMurda

Member
Hopefully Nintendo picks up another western developer to make first-party games. Losing Monster Games is going to hurt.
 
N

NinjaCoachZ

Member
Shikamaru Ninja said:
Make that a double mate!



The Deputy Managers basically manage departments (which kind of means multiple groups). I updated the above with a bit more info on what they do.
Click to expand...

Oh okay, so the structure goes something like

Takahashi --> Deputy Managers --> Individual group managers?

That makes sense.

KingBroly said:
Oh

...
Click to expand...

TBF my understanding is that Sakamoto has mainly been working on the more "experimental" games like Tomodachi Life, WarioWare, and Rhythm Heaven. Other M... I'm not going to excuse that at all but I don't think he's going to be helming a project like that again.
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
NinjaCoachZ said:
Oh okay, so the structure goes something like

Takahashi --> Deputy Managers --> Individual group managers?

That makes sense.
Click to expand...

GM (Takahashi) --> Deputy Manager (Eguchi or Koizumi or Terasaki) ---> Executive Officer / Group Manager & Producer --> Director / Team
 
J

jjonez18

Member
Always wondered why there wasn't one of these for any of the other big three besides Sony. This one should be interesting to watch and speculate.
 
SinCityAssassin

SinCityAssassin

Member
jjonez18 said:
Always wondered why there wasn't one of these for any of the other big three besides Sony. This one should be interesting to watch and speculate.
Click to expand...

Mostly because there wasn't a real need to as Nintendo development groups were fairly known. Even after the merger between the major dev segments. Sony's staff, first party development, and closer partners weren't really that clear cut in the first place, so a thread was created to parse through what it actually had involvement with.


Now that a new console is on the horizon finally, it's time to see what Nintendo's internal group and their partners will be doing, had been doing recently, and updating one what we could possibly expect with the current management set up.
 
R

Refyref

Member
Toad.T said:
Tose (Starfy) and Noise (Custom Robo) are mostly dead, right?
Click to expand...

TOSE definitely aren't. They're still working on games for a variety of publishers. However, as they usually operate as a shadow developer, they rarely take credit for their games.
 
A

AntMurda

Member
Refyref said:
TOSE definitely aren't. They're still working on games for a variety of publishers. However, as they usually operate as a shadow developer, they rarely take credit for their games.
Click to expand...

They assisted on Fire Emblem Fates. So they are still a relevant Nintendo subcontractor.
 
T

TreasureHunterG

Banned
Shikamaru Ninja said:
1-Up Studio
AlphaDream
Creatures
Camelot
Genius Sonority
Prope
Vanpool
Click to expand...

Please, Nintendo, allow these guys to work on bigger, ambitious projects rather than smaller, niche or spin off titles. There are talented people in there able to handle it.

Nintendo needs to make a sequel to The Last Story with Mistwalker.
 
S

sfried

Member
Toad.T said:
Tose (Starfy) and Noise (Custom Robo) are mostly dead, right?
Click to expand...

TOSE is a contracted developer. Their mission statement is to not have a mission statement, and are mostly ninja developers that work on and off various other (and non-Nintendo) Japanese titles.

The rights to Starfy are co-owned by Nintendo and TOSE.
 
I

Instro

Member
TreasureHunterG said:
Please, Nintendo, allow these guys to work on bigger, ambitious projects rather than smaller, niche or spin off titles. There are talented people in there able to handle it.

Nintendo needs to make a sequel to The Last Story with Mistwalker.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems pretty wasteful for devs like Camelot and 1up to not being working on more interesting titles.
 
S

Some Nobody

Junior Member
This is a pretty neat, informative thread. Although it really just reminds me...since they fucked up Star Fox and won't bring Metroid back, and I care about as much about platformers as the average Nintendo core fan cares about Call of Duty, you'd think Nintendo would have nothing for me.

And yet: as soon as Fire Emblem comes to Switch and Monolith Soft does whatever their next game is, I'll be making myself get their system. >_< And that's before we even get to Pokemon.

But if Xenoblade Chronicles X looked like it did on basically last-gen hardware...what's their NEXT major title looking like? O_O
 
W

watershed

Banned
Even though a great deal will continue to be the same, it also feels like Nintendo is entering a new era with this new game development structure, change in positions, and new hardware.
 
M

MoonFrog

Member
Jan. 12th I want to be floored tbh. Drought's been too long. I really hope a) something is reaching fruition behind the curtain and b) it is awesome. It just feels it needs to happen at this point but it's been that way for a while now and it keeps not happening so maybe it won't again :p.

But yeah I believe 2017 will be huge beyond Zelda. There'll at least be a big Holiday game and if either Retro or 3D Mario miss 2017 I'd imagine it is not by too much.
 
D

doop_

Banned
I hope we get to explore worlds as detailed and interesting as some of the race track locations og mk8 in the new 3D Mario.
 
G

Genio88

Member
Now take all that power and put it in work into just one console, the Nintendo Switch....that would be awesome, I love my 3DS, though I hope after next year Nintendo will focus all their main development on Switch leaving 3DS behind, it's time to move on and Switch could get so much goodness if it was the only their sole platform, also would be good for us not having to buy additional hardware to play Nintendo portable games
 
P

Peru

Member
Genio88 said:
Now take all that power and put it in work into just one console, the Nintendo Switch....that would be awesome, I love my 3DS, though I hope after next year Nintendo will focus all their main development on Switch leaving 3DS behind, it's time to move on and Switch could get so much goodness if it was the only their sole platform, also would be good for us not having to buy additional hardware to play Nintendo portable games
Click to expand...

I'm sure no major team is working on 3DS anymore, or at least just finishing up. They'll release software for 3DS next year but it'll be resource-cheap stuff.
 
K

KingBroly

Banned
Peru said:
I'm sure no major team is working on 3DS anymore, or at least just finishing up. They'll release software for 3DS next year but it'll be resource-cheap stuff.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, I think Nintendo wants a smaller, more portable Switch device out there as soon as they can. Same architecture, but smaller screen/form factor/no dock/same specs as the Switch Hybrid.
 
H

Hero of Legend

Member
KingBroly said:
In my opinion, I think Nintendo wants a smaller, more portable Switch device out there as soon as they can. Same architecture, but smaller screen/form factor/no dock/same specs as the Switch Hybrid.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this can be their supposed 3DS successor (who said this and where, Kimishima or a rep?) that's very Japan-focused. I don't think Japanese gamers will care at all for the dock. Just make sure all Japanese games are still made for the dock in mind which I think is the point.
 
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