Nintendo EAD
Nintendo EAD | |
---|---|
Type | First Party |
Founded | 1984 |
Status | Merged |
Base | Kyoto, Japan |
Bestseller | Super Mario Bros. |
Homepage | Japanese Site US Site |
Notable Members | Eiji Aonuma Shigeru Miyamoto |
Key Franchises | Animal Crossing F-Zero Mario Pikmin Star Fox The Legend of Zelda |
Originally known as R&D4, Nintendo EAD was Nintendo's most celebrated development team. Led by Shigeru Miyamoto, it was Nintendo's largest development team until it was merged with Nintendo SPD in 2015 to become Nintendo EPD. EAD stands for Entertainment Analysis and Development.
History
R&D4
R&D4 was founded in 1984. The president of Nintendo, impressed with the success of Shigeru Miyamoto's games, decided to give Miyamoto his own development team. It was the smallest development team, but they created some of the NES's most memorable games: the titles of the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series.
EAD
In 1989, the president of Nintendo decided to restructure the company. Most of the software developers from R&D2 and R&D3 were transferred to the newly renamed Nintendo EAD. They were told to focus on developing games for the Super NES. They continued with the popular Mario and Zelda franchises, while creating new ones including Star Fox and F-Zero. Though they didn't make as many Game Boy games as R&D1, they made a few, most notably The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
During the Nintendo 64 era, EAD continued to create new games in their popular franchises. In addition, they began a few new franchises. Wave Race 64 and 1080 Snowboarding were popular. They supported the Pokémon franchise with Pokémon Stadium. Their most significant new franchise in that era was Animal Forest, a life simulator.
With the Gamecube came new games. Nintendo EAD continued to create games for it's two key franchises: Mario and Zelda. However, the majority of it's franchises were taken over by other groups. They brought over a new version of the Japanese Animal Forest to America under the name Animal Crossing. They also began a new series with Pikmin
New Structure
In 2005, Satoru Iwata decided to merge all of Nintendo's internal software developers into one group. R&D1, R&D2, and Nintendo Special Planning & Development were all merged with EAD. However, because of the size of the group, they have been divided into smaller Software Development groups. Under this new system, Miyamoto has control over all of Nintendo's internal game development. There were known to be at least six different development groups.
Merger
Following the death of Iwata in 2015, much of Nintendo was restructured. EAD was merged with Nintendo SPD (Software Planning & Development) to form a new division called Nintendo EPD (Entertainment Planning & Development]].
Software Development Groups
Software Development Group #1 |
Manager: Hideki Konno |
Games: Nintendogs, Mario Kart DS |
Software Development Group #2 |
Manager: Katsuya Eguchi |
Games: Animal Crossing: Wild World, Animal Crossing: City Folk |
Software Development Group #3 |
Manager: Eiji Aonuma |
Games: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass |
Software Development Group #4 |
Manager: Hiroyuki Kimura |
Games: Yoshi Touch & Go, Big Brain Academy |
Software Development Group Tokyo |
Manager: Takao Shimizu |
Games: Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat |
Software Development Group #? |
Manager: Shinya Takahashi |
Games: Jam with the Band, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! |
Games
Nintendo Entertainment System
- The Legend of Zelda
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Super NES
- F-Zero
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- SimCity
- Star Fox
- Stunt Race FX
- Super Mario All-Stars
- Super Mario Kart
- Super Mario World
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Nintendo 64
- 1080 Snowboarding
- Animal Forest
- F-Zero X
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Mario Kart 64
- Pokémon Stadium
- Pokémon Stadium 2
- Star Fox 64
- Super Mario 64
- Wave Race 64
- Yoshi's Story
Nintendo 64DD
Gamecube
- Animal Crossing
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / Master Quest
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Luigi's Mansion
- Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
- Pikmin
- Pikmin 2
- Super Mario Sunshine
Nintendo Wii
- Animal Crossing: City Folk
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Mario Kart Wii
- Link's Crossbow Training
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Wii Fit (with Nintendo SRD)
- Wii Fit Plus (with Nintendo SRD)
- Wii Music
- Wii Play
- Wii Play: Motion
- Wii Sports
- Wii Sports Resort
Wii U
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
- Mario Kart 8
- New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U
- Nintendo Land
- Pikmin 3
- Splatoon
- Super Mario Maker
- Wii Fit U (with Ganbarion)
- Wii Sports Club
Nintendo Switch
Game Boy
Game Boy Color
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Game Boy Advance
- Dr. Mario & Puzzle League
- 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
Nintendo DS
- Animal Crossing: Wild World
- Big Brain Academy
- Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
- Mario Kart DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
- New Super Mario Bros.
- Nintendogs
- Super Mario 64 DS
Nintendo 3DS
- Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- Mario Kart 7 (with Retro Studios)
- New Super Mario Bros. 2
- Nintendogs + Cats
- Star Fox 64 3D (with Q-Games)
- Steel Diver (with Vitei)
- Steel Diver: Sub Wars (with Vitei)