Nintendo EAD Software Group Tokyo is a Nintendo owned video game developer under the Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development structure. Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka are the heads of this group and the others (which are numbered 1-4 and Tokyo), with the general manager and producer of this one being Takao Shimizu. Though the newest addition to the EAD banner, they have made consistently critically acclaimed titles. Their second title, Super Mario Galaxy, is the second highest rated video game created by Nintendo, behind The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Their first title was Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for the GameCube.
History
After development of Super Mario Sunshine for the GameCube was completed, Nintendo opened up a new EAD studio in Tokyo, whereas the rest of the team was in Kyoto. The decision to create a new company there was so that they would be able to bring in fresh new talent from the capital of Japan who wouldn't be willing to travel hundreds of miles away to Kyoto. Their first project was to work on a new Donkey Kong game, and created the unique GameCube title Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, which made use of the DK Bongos created initially for Donkey Konga. Unlike Konga, which was a rhythm game, Jungle Beat was a platformer. It received critical acclaim though, perhaps due to the time it was released, didn't manage to break a million sold.
After Jungle Beat was completed, Yoshiaki Koizumi, the director of that game and Sunshine, and his team decided it was probably time to work on a smaller game, though Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, saw potential in the new development studio and suggested that they think big. One of the people working there suggested they create the new 3D Mario game, and Miyamoto approved of the idea. Some on the team were uncertain if they would be able to create a game of just magnitude, and when it was mentioned that the game would feature spherical worlds on which Mario would traverse, the team got more worried, so Koizumi and a small team created a prototype for three months which reassured everyone that it could be done. Two and a half years later and the game was highly lauded by critics, receiving many game of the year awards and becoming the best rated game of the year.
Following Galaxy, a smaller team at EAD Tokyo created an application for DSiWare called Flipnote Studio. Not only did it become the highest rated product available on DSiWare, but it became the most downloaded, partly thanks to being completely free. During 2008 EAD Tokyo worked on remaking Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat for the Wii under the New Play Control! label. At E3 2009, Nintendo announced a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, appropriately titled Super Mario Galaxy 2. It was the first direct sequel to a 3D Mario game and was developed by EAD Tokyo.
List of games
- Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - GameCube
- Super Mario Galaxy - Wii
- Flipnote Studio - DSiWare
- New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - Wii
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Wii
- Super Mario - Nintendo 3DS
See also
- Nintendo EAD Software Group No. 1 - Mario Kart and Nintendogs.
- Nintendo EAD Software Group No. 2 - Animal Crossing and Wii series.
- Nintendo EAD Software Group No. 3 - Legend of Zelda series.
- Nintendo EAD Software Group No. 4 - Handheld Mario/Yoshi series and Brain Academy