Company:Nintendo Software Technology
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 The exterior of Nintendo Software Technology's headquarters in Redmond, Washington | |
| Nintendo Software Technology | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founders | Minoru Arakawa Claude Comair Scott Tsumura |
| Headquarters | Redmond, Washington , |
Key people | Tim Bechtel[1] (president) |
| Products | List of software developed |
| Owner | Nintendo |
Number of employees | ~50 (2019)[2] |
| Parent | Nintendo |
Nintendo Software Technology Corporation, doing business as Nintendo Software Technology (NST), is an American video game developer. NST was created by Nintendo as a first-party developer to create games for the North American market, though their games have also been released worldwide. The company was founded by Minoru Arakawa, Claude Comair and Scott Tsumura in 1998 and is located inside of Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
History
The establishment took place in 1998 through a collaboration with the private university DigiPen Institute of Technology, also located in Redmond. The offices opened with several doctorate level instructors and some recent graduates of the university working with several Nintendo of America designers and producers. Their first game, Bionic Commando, was released for the Game Boy Color in 1999 and was a sequel of Capcom's Bionic Commando.
Over the years, NST has developed many games for Nintendo consoles such as the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, Wave Race, and Metroid Prime Hunters.
NST started developing Project H.A.M.M.E.R. For the Nintendo Wii but several problems landed the project in 'development hell'. A large amount of funding was spent on cut-scenes early in development and so when the project started to fall behind managers didn't want to end it because of the capital already spent. The American developers suggested that the problem was the gameplay however the Japanese managers believed the problems were the environments. This dispute, among others, made the project drag on for a number of years before it was totally abandoned and a large number of staff were made redundant.[3]
DigiPen's Main Campus was based in the same building as theirs until 2010.
List of software developed
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Director | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Bionic Commando | Game Boy Color | Josh Atkins | Andrew Hieke Minoru Arakawa |
| 2000 | Ridge Racer 64 | Nintendo 64 | Akila Redmer | Andrew Hieke Minoru Arakawa |
| Crystalis | Game Boy Color | Josh Atkins | Andrew Hieke | |
| Pokémon Puzzle League | Nintendo 64 | Yukimi Shimura | Takehiro Izushi Genyo Takeda | |
| 2001 | Wave Race | GameCube | Shigeki Yamashiro | Shigeru Miyamoto Minoru Arakawa |
| 2003 | Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Panel de Pon) | Hitoshi Yamagami Yukimi Shimura |
Andrew Hieke Takehiro Izushi | |
| The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition | Shigeru Miyamoto | |||
| 1080° Avalanche | Vivek Melwani | Shigeki Yamashiro Shigeru Miyamoto | ||
| 2004 | Mario vs. Donkey Kong | Game Boy Advance | Yukimi Shimura | |
| Ridge Racer DS | Nintendo DS | Vivek Melwani | Shigeki Yamashiro | |
| 2006 | Metroid Prime Hunters | Masamichi Abe | Shigeki Yamashiro Kensuke Tanabe | |
| Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis | Yukimi Shimura | |||
| 2007 | Sin and Punishment (English translation) | Nintendo 64 (on Wii Virtual Console) |
Hideyuki Suganami | Masato Maegawa Takehiro Izushi |
| 2008 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Masterpiece Mode)[citation needed] | Wii | Masahiro Sakurai | Kensuke Tanabe |
| Crosswords DS (Co-developed w/ Nuevo Retro Games) | Nintendo DS | Yukimi Shimura | Shigeki Yamashiro Masao Yamamoto | |
| 2009 | Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again | DSiWare | Yukimi Shimura | Shigeki Yamashiro Kensuke Tanabe |
| 2010 | Aura-Aura Climber | Masamichi Abe | Yukimi Shimura | |
| Mario vs. Donkey Kong | Nintendo DS | Yukimi Shimura | Shigeki Yamashiro Kensuke Tanabe | |
| 2012 | Crosswords Plus | Nintendo 3DS | Stephen Mortimer | Yukimi Shimura |
| 2013 | Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move | Yukimi Shimura Kensuke Tanabe | ||
| 2015 | Mario vs. Donkey Kong | Wii U / Nintendo 3DS | Akiya Sakamoto | |
| 2016 | Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge[4] | Wii U / Nintendo 3DS[4] | Akiya Sakamoto Kensuke Tanabe | |
| Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (port work/new content) | Nintendo 3DS | Yosuke Oshino | Takashi Tezuka Shigeki Yamashiro Hiroyuki Kimura | |
| 2017 | Snipperclips - Cut it out, together! (development support) | Nintendo Switch | Adam Vian | Takao Nakano Toyokazu Nonaka |
| 2018 | Captain Toad (port work/new content) | Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo Switch | Kenta Motokura Shinya Hiratake |
Koichi Hayashida |
| 2019 | The Stretchers (development support) | Nintendo Switch | Viktor Lindäng Masamichi Abe |
Paul Allen Takao Nakano Toyokazu Nonaka Keisuke Terasaki Yoshiaki Koizumi Katsuya Eguchi |
| 2020 | Good Job! (development support) | Masataka Takemoto Coen Neessen |
Katsuya Eguchi Toyokazu Nonaka Fernando Rojas Braga | |
| 2021 | Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (development support)[5] | Kenta Motokura Koichi Hayashida |
Yoshiaki Koizumi Kaori Ando | |
| 2023 | F-Zero 99 | Chris Polney | Takao Nakano Shinya Saito | |
| 2024 | Mario vs. Donkey Kong (remake)[6][7] | — | ||
List of applications developed
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Director | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Nintendo 64 Emulator | Wii | ||
| 2009 | BBC iPlayer Channel | Wii | ||
| Mario Calculator and Clock | DSiWare | Shigeki Yamashiro | ||
| Animal Crossing Calculator and Clock | DSiWare | Shigeki Yamashiro | ||
| 2011 | Kirby TV Channel | Wii | ||
| 2012 | Wii U Chat (Co-developed w/ NERD and Vidyo)[8] | Wii U | Fumihiko Tamiya | |
| 2013 | Wii Street U[9] | Wii U | Toshiaki Suzuki | Keiichi Kawai |
Cancelled games
| Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|
| Project H.A.M.M.E.R. | Wii |
References
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-bechtel-0185b15/ [self-published source]
- ↑ "Largest Employers | Redmond, WA". https://www.redmond.gov/943/Largest-Employers.
- ↑ "Project H.A.M.M.E.R. [Wii – Cancelled – Unseen64"]. unseen64.net. 4 April 2008. https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/04/project-hammer-wii-cancelled/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Allen, Eric Van (13 January 2016). "Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge Announced as Pack-In with New Amiibo in Japan". ign.com. http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/01/13/mini-mario-friends-amiibo-challenge-announced-as-pack-in-with-new-amiibo.
- ↑ "James Showecker on LinkedIn: Super Mario 3D World for Wii U - Nintendo Game Details | 13 comments". https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jamesshowecker_super-mario-3d-world-for-wii-u-nintendo-activity-6766182171586785280-mtZ9.
- ↑ "Nintendo First Party Software Development |ST| Nintendo Party Superstars" (in en-US). 2023-09-14. https://famiboards.com/threads/nintendo-first-party-software-development-st-nintendo-party-superstars.114/post-824453.
- ↑ "Nintendo First Party Software Development |ST| Nintendo Party Superstars" (in en-US). 2023-09-14. https://famiboards.com/threads/nintendo-first-party-software-development-st-nintendo-party-superstars.114/post-824581.
- ↑ "Iwata Asks". nintendo.com. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wiiu/wii-u-chat/0/0.
- ↑ "Iwata Asks". nintendo.com. http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wiiu/wii-street-u/0/0.
External links
- A group interview with NST about 1080º Avalanche
- Two-part interview with Shigeki Yamashiro, producer of 1080º Avalanche, and Vivek Melwani, lead game designer and director
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