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Early Preview: Complete NCL Team Structure

S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
NCLDeveloperBranch.jpg



EAD Software Development Group No.1 - Hideki Konno / Manager & Producer
Mario Kart: Double Dash!
Nintendogs
Mario Kart: DS
Cooking Simulator

EAD Software Development Group No.2 - Katsuya Eguchi / Manager & Producer
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Star Fox DS (co-developed with Q-Games)
Wii Sports
Wii Music
Animal Crossing Wii

EAD Software Development Group No.3 - Eiji Aonuma / Manager & Producer
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition
The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past (co-developed with Capcom)
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

EAD Software Development Group No.4 - Hiroyuki Kimura / Manager & Producer
Super Mario Advance
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario 64 DS
Yoshi Touch N' Go
Big Brain Academy
New Super Mario Bros.

EAD Software Development Group No.5 - Takao Shimizu / Manager & Producer
Super Mario Sunshine
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat
Super Mario Galaxy

Task Force Development Group - Shinya Takahashi / Manager & Producer
Band Bros.
Brain-Age
English Trainer DS
Traveling Guide DS (co-developed with Tose)
Kanji Training DS (co-developed with Intelligent Systems)

SPD Production Group No.1 - Yoshio Sakamoto / Manager & Producer
Metroid Fusion
Wario Ware: Mega Microgames Inc.
Metroid: Zero Mission
Wario Ware: Mega Party Games (co-developed with Intelligent Systems)
Wario Ware: Twisted (co-developed with Intelligent Systems)
Wario Ware Touched! (co-developed with Intelligent Systems)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (co-developed with Intelligent Systems)

SPD Production Group No.2 - Hitoshi Yamagami / Manager & Producer
Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (co-developed with Tose & Intelligent Systems)
Mahjong DS
Super Princess Peach (co-developed with Tose)
Tetris DS

SPD Production Group No.3 - Kensuke Tanabe / Manager & Producer
Geist (co-developed with N-Space)
Battalion Wars (co-developed with Kuju Games)
Metroid Prime Pinball (co-developed with Fuse Games
Excite Truck (co-developed with Monster Games)
Metroid Prime (co-developed with Retro Studios Inc.)
Mother 3 (co-developed with Brownie Brown & Shigesato Itoi)

Special Project Development Group - Shinji Hatano[ / Manager
Super Smash Bros. Brawl


*Early and incomplete. But accurate and current.
 
K

Kroole

Member
Only 5 EAD groups with Ead Tokyo included? Always thought there were like 8 groups or so after the merger.
 
T

Terrell

Member
Why does everyone think that WarioWare was co-produced by Intelligent Systems? People keep confusing IS with Nintendo R&D1 (or whatever their name is now), and these developers are NOT the same, nor do they team up on every game, as many people assume.
 
J

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
It's because the R&D1 groups are now called SPD instead of EAD. I remember someone saying their group was called SPD in a recent interview.
 
A

A Link to the Past

Banned
Terrell said:
Why does everyone think that WarioWare was co-produced by Intelligent Systems? People keep confusing IS with Nintendo R&D1 (or whatever their name is now), and these developers are NOT the same, nor do they team up on every game, as many people assume.
Click to expand...

Are we to assume that IS wasn't included in the opening credits of Twisted!, Touched! and Mega Party Game$ because they co-produced it?
 
D

DrLazy

Member
Does anyone know how many people nintendo employ, as far as developers. I know they were expanding to Tokoyo, but I see that white building and wonder why they don't continue to hire more people, considering all their software success. I'm trying to think of the last Nintendo sofware that sold poorly and can't come up with much.
 
T

Terrell

Member
A Link to the Past said:
Are we to assume that IS wasn't included in the opening credits of Twisted!, Touched! and Mega Party Game$ because they co-produced it?
Click to expand...
Well, fair enough, my bad. I've only played the original on GBA, which didn't have their name on it. Even still, R&D1 (which is now part of EAD) has been mistaken for Intelligent Systems and vice versa for several years.
 
Z

ziran

Member
thanks shikamaru ninja, interesting info.

so intelligent systems, hal labs, brownie brown, game freak, retro and nst are treated like separate entities?

edit - do you know where creatures and genius sonority fall within nintendo?

iirc pokémon company president tsunekazu ishihara started creatures so are they now part of the pokémon company? and doesn't nintendo and the pokémon company own genius sonority with manabu yamana?
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
Well this is just an outline for the direct Nintendo software offices in Japan. There are more Nintendo branded offices like NST and NTD, and Nintendo owned companies with a little more managerial autonomy like Brownie Brown and Retro Studios inc.
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
As it turns out, some of the programmers and designers of R&D1 were reassigned to the new EAD groups. The two senior directors, Yoshio Sakamoto and Hitoshi Yamagami, took a couple of designers to head Production Group No.1 and Production Group No.2 of SPD.
 
R

radcliff

Member
What about Yoshiaki Koizumi? Is he with Takeo Shimizu or given his own team? I would think the director of Zelda: OOT, Super Mario Sunshine, and DK:JB would have a team of his own.
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
Koizumi is still under Shimizu. I am sure you will see a sixth group also emerge from the Tokyo office sometime in the future.
 
J

jarrod

Banned
SPD1... probably with some help from IntSys or Suzak?

Speaking of SPD1/Suzak, is Wario the Theif really dead?
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
Yoshio Sakamoto's SPD1 has pretty much all the Metroid: Zero Mission programmers. There are only like 4-5, and they all do programming for the Wario Ware games (along with IS programmers). I would imagine that it is possible that SPD1 will do Metroid alone.

Hitoshi Yamagami SPD2 is the same deal, the group developed Tetris DS and Mahjong DS in-house. The SPD groups have internal resources, just not enough to develop more than one game at a time.

SPD3 is the main production group. This one was spawned from EAD designers purely as a production group exclusively working with out-house developers on Nintendo Games.
 
L

lancubap

Member
Kroole said:
Not really a merger but when they tranformed all the different R&D groups into EAD ones.
Click to expand...

Yeah, tha's right.
Anyway, Nintendo has a lot of different developing studios. If I good remember, only NCL is composed by 1200 people.
 
F

fly high ~ayunite~

Member
DrLazy said:
Does anyone know how many people nintendo employ, as far as developers. I know they were expanding to Tokoyo, but I see that white building and wonder why they don't continue to hire more people, considering all their software success. I'm trying to think of the last Nintendo sofware that sold poorly and can't come up with much.
Click to expand...

Dunno if it helps but Nintendo employ 2,977 people across the world. Not sure how much of that is developers but I imagine it's about half of that number.
 
S

Shiggy

Member
jarrod said:
Speaking of SPD1/Suzak, is Wario the Theif really dead?
Click to expand...

Hmm...before E3 the Suzak website mentioned it on their "Games in development" page. Now, there's only a "Secret" game, which will be produced by Nintendo Co. Ltd.
I'd guess that's Wario.
 
J

jarrod

Banned
Shikamaru Ninja said:
Yoshio Sakamoto's SPD1 has pretty much all the Metroid: Zero Mission programmers. There are only like 4-5, and they all do programming for the Wario Ware games (along with IS programmers). I would imagine that it is possible that SPD1 will do Metroid alone.
Click to expand...
I'm not so sure... I think it may follow in Mario/Zelda's footsteps with a 2.5D rendition, in which case SPD1 would probably need help. I think Suzak on Wario in the same manner is sort of what we should expect, Metroid may even reuse it's engine I'd think.
 
Code_Link

Code_Link

Member
Terrell said:
Why does everyone think that WarioWare was co-produced by Intelligent Systems? People keep confusing IS with Nintendo R&D1 (or whatever their name is now), and these developers are NOT the same, nor do they team up on every game, as many people assume.
Click to expand...

So the WarioWare series is developed by Intelligent Systems alone? Either way, the games rock.
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
I'm not so sure... I think it may follow in Mario/Zelda's footsteps with a 2.5D rendition, in which case SPD1 would probably need help. I think Suzak on Wario in the same manner is sort of what we should expect, Metroid may even reuse it's engine I'd think.
Click to expand...

I hope not. Even though I like Suzac, I think it is a bit sacrilegious for any external developer to touch Metroid. Especially since everyone misinterprets Nintendo's involvement as soon as another development group is subly involved. (Zelda: ALTTP, Super Metroid, Pokemon Stadium, Wario Ware, etc)

So the WarioWare series is developed by Intelligent Systems alone? Either way, the games rock.
Click to expand...

The series is under the control of Nintendo SPD1 and literally co-developed by both SPD1 and IS since the GameCube version. By co-developed, it is literal as Nintendo has about 50-60 % of the staff internally, with IS providing the rest. Again, IGN and some other media tend to discredit any Nintendo involvement on certain games on the mere addition of a co-developer copyright. Which in many cases is just not true.
 
R

Rlan

Member
Nintendo had to whack them over the head after Mario Pinball Land though. Hopefully that Nintendo Magic stays with them if they make a Kirby's Pinball Land sequel [seems like the path they're taking anyhow]

Also, which team worked with te guys who made DK King of Swing / DS / Bongo Blast?
 
R

radcliff

Member
Team Pikmin was headed by Shigefumi Hino and Masamichi Abe. I think Abe may have been moved to NST since he did Metroid Prime: Hunters.
 
R

radcliff

Member
Team Pikmin consisted of Shigefumi Hino and Masamichi Abe. I think Abe may have been moved to NST since he did Metroid Prime: Hunters.
 
N

NotWii

Banned
radcliff said:
Team Pikmin was headed by Shigefumi Hino and Masamichi Abe. I think Abe may have been moved to NST since he did Metroid Prime: Hunters.
Click to expand...
Yah, I checked up at mobygames, and they didn't really fit anywhere
I think it's either EAD 1 or 2
 
S

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
Yeah. No idea what the Pikmin team is up to. I think they may fall under Hideki Konno's Group 1 Division. I guess we will find out when they reveal their next game. (You never know, it could be Wii Music or Wii Sports)
 
Yoshi

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Wii Sports is by very young developers who are quiete new to the buisness according to an interview with Tezuka...
 
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