Intelligent Systems

Intelligent Systems
Logo
Founded	February 18, 1984
Headquarters	Kyoto, Japan
Products	Fire Emblem series, Nintendo Wars series, Metroid series, Paper Mario series, WarioWare series, Puzzle League series

Intelligent Systems is a Nintendo division best known for the Metroid, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Nintendo Wars, Paper Mario, and WarioWare video game series. They are credited as the first development studio within Nintendo, and were initially known as Nintendo R&D1.

History

Hiroshi Yamauchi and Hiroshi Imanishi in the 70's decided to create a video game division when the industry gained popularity. The studio wasn't then known as Intelligent Systems, but rather Nintendo R&D1. Eventually there would be four Research & Development teams in all, with Gunpei Yokoi heading the first team. The second and third R&D teams would primarily work on hardware designs while R&D1 would capitalize on the creations they made by making the software that would first make use of it. They worked together, and occasionally the other teams would also make games for their own hardware as well. Nevertheless, it was indisputable that the R&D1 team was the most important of the bunch when it game to game design.

R&D1's first order of business was to create various arcade video games for Nintendo. The first batch of games were rather uninspiring, but that would change after the release of Radar Scope, which failed to sell in the American market. After Nintendo of America demanded a game that would replace the unsold Radar Scope units, Hiroshi Yamauchi turned to an unknown within the company named Shigeru Miyamoto since all of the other R&D people were working on other projects. Gunpei Yokoi was tasked with teaching him and the end result was Donkey Kong, which after being released turned into the second best selling arcade game of all time, directly behind Pac-Man (which also included Mrs. Pac-Man). After Donkey Kong was release, Gunpei Yokoi and Shigeru Miyamoto, a dream team, were separated when Miyamoto was sent to Nintendo R&D4 to head his own game development studio.

Factions

Intelligent Systems has developed many classic games.

Throughout its history, Intelligent Systems has divided itself into many smaller groups in order to work on specific projects. Each group has or had its own head, with the now deceased Gunpei Yokoi overseeing all of the groups. When Gunpei Yokoi left Nintendo, he was replaced with the director of Team Shikamaru, Takehiro Izushi.

GameBoy R&D

Responsible for many titles on Game Boy, including Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land and Metroid II: Return of Samus. GameBoy R&D often collaborated with Team Shikamaru, which resulted in games such as Wario Land II and Wario Land 3.

Team Emblem

Team Emblem is the creator of the Fire Emblem series and began development on Famicom even when the rest of Nintendo was beginning Super Famicom development. The Fire Emblem series was not released outside of Japan until Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken (ファイアーエムブレム 烈火の剣) on Nintendo Game Boy Advance. Team Emblem is also responsible for the development of Paper Mario on Nintendo 64.

Team Shikamaru

Team Shikamaru is known for Mario Paint, Sim City, Tetris & Dr. Mario, and Super Play Action Football on Super Famicom, Tetris 2 on the Famicom and Game Boy, and Mario's Excitebike and Wrecking Crew '98 on Satellaview.

The team also assisted in the creation of Wario Land II and Wario Land 3 on GameBoy, and also assisted Nintendo EAD in the creation of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on GameBoy. Team Shikamaru also assisted in Virtual Boy development, working on 3D Tetris, Mario Clash, Galactic Pinball, Mario's Tennis, and most significantly, Virtual Boy Wario Land.

Perhaps most significantly, however, Team Shikamaru is the creator of GameBoy Camera.

Team Battle Clash

Team Battle Clash is responsible for the creation of the Super Scope 6 peripheral for Super Famicom, as well as the games Battle Clash, Metal Combat 2: Falcon's Revenge, and Panel de Pon (known outside of Japan as Tetris Attack) for Super Famicom. The team began creating a sequel to Panel de Pon on Nintendo 64 before Nintendo scrapped it, (It was later recompiled for Nintendo Puzzle Collection in Japan) only to give the engine to Nintendo Software Technology Corporation, where it was turned into Pokemon Puzzle League.

Team Deer Force

Composed of members from Team Shikamaru and GameBoy R&D, Team Deer Force created Super Metroid, one of the most revered games of all time. The team began creating a 3rd-person version of Metroid for the Nintendo 64, which was ultimately scrapped, and they collaborated years later on Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission for GameBoy Advance.