Nintendo

Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 Department, shortened: Nintendo R&D1, is Nintendo's oldest development studio. Originally known simply as Nintendo Research & Development (shortened Nintendo R&D), the names was changed when Nintendo R&D2 and Nintendo R&D3 were formed.

R&D1 was originally headed by Gunpei Yokoi. In the early days, it was in charge of arcade games and the LCD Game & Watch series. The team included Shigeru Miyamoto until he earned his own team by creating Donkey Kong.

R&D1 was originally Nintendo's biggest development group, so most Nintendo games for the NES were developed by them. Some of the more popular games by R&D1 include Metroid, Kid Icarus, Excitebike, Duck Hunt, and Mach Rider. While R&D1 was responsible for many of Nintendo's heavy hitters, development on the Mario series and The Legend of Zelda series was not handled by them during the NES era.

Within R&D1, a group named Team Shikamaru emerged. Made up of Yoshio Sakamoto, Hitoshi Yamagami, and Toru Osawa, they were in charge of scripts and scenrios for R&D1. The group had written scripts for Metroid 2, Super Metroid, Detective Club, Detective Club 2, Card Hero, and For the Frog the Bell Tolls.

When the Super Nintendo was released, R&D1 was asked to develop titles for the Game Boy. Because of this, they were sometimes referred to as R&D Game Boy or EAD Game Boy.

Along with continuing with their own franchises, R&D1 also got to work with the Mario series by creating the Super Mario Land games. Eventually, they got to do their own take on it: Wario Land.

After the disastrous Virtual Boy, Gunpei Yokoi left Nintendo to form Koto Laboratory. Takehiro Izushi was appointed the new head of R&D1.

When the Game Boy Advance was released, R&D1 was once again the main group creating games for it. They created new Metroid and Wario Land games as well as the all-new WarioWare series.

In 2005, in order to consolidate all the game developers, president Satoru Iwata merged R&D1 with Nintendo Software Planning & Development.

Products[]

Hardware[]

Year Name
1983 Computer Mah-jong Yakuman
1984 NES Zapper
1985 R.O.B.
1989 Game Boy
Game Boy Game Pak
Game Boy Stereo Headphones
Game Boy Rechargeable Adapter
Game Boy Battery Case
1992 Super Scope
Super NES Mouse
1993 Game Boy Rechargeable Battery Pack II
1995 Virtual Boy
Virtual Boy controller
Virtual Boy Battery Pack
Virtual Boy Game Pak
Virtual Boy Stereo Earphones
1996 Game Boy Pocket
Game Boy Pocket Battery Pack

Games[]

Arcade[]

Year Name System
As Nintendo Research & Development
1973 Laser Clay Shooting System Simulation
1974 Mini Laser Clay Simulation
Smashmatic
Wild Gunman Simulation
Fascination Simulation
1975 EVR Race EVR
EVR Race-5 EVR
EVR Baseball EVR
1976 Shooting Trainer Simulation
Sky Hawk Simulation
Wide EVR Race EVR
1977 Battle Shark Simulation
Dead Line
Fancy Ball
1978 New Shooting Trainer Simulation
Test Driver Simulation
As Nintendo Research & Development 1
1978 Computer Othello Intel 8080
Block Fever Intel 8080
1979 Space Fever Intel 8080
Space Battleship Zilog Z80
Head On N Zilog Z80
Bomb Bee N Intel 8080
SF-HiSplitter Intel 8080
Sheriff Intel 8080
Monkey Magic Intel 8085
Space Launcher Intel 8080
1980 Space Firebird Zilog Z80
Space Thunderbird Zilog Z80
Heli Fire Intel 8080
1981 Donkey Kong Zilog Z80
Sky Skipper Zilog Z80
Space Demon Zilog Z80
1982 Donkey Kong Jr. Zilog Z80
Popeye Zilog Z80
1983 Mario Bros. Zilog Z80
Donkey Kong 3 Zilog Z80
1984 VS. Balloon Fight VS. System
VS. Baseball VS. System
VS. Clu Clu Land VS. System
VS. Duck Hunt VS. System
VS. Hogan's Alley VS. System
VS. Pinball VS. System
VS. Tennis VS. System
VS. Urban Champion VS. System
VS. Wild Gunman VS. System
VS. Wrecking Crew VS. System
1985 VS. Ice Climber VS. System
VS. Soccer VS. System
1986 VS. Volleyball VS. System
1987 VS. Gumshoe VS. System
1990 VS. Dr. Mario VS. System

Game & Watch[]

Year Name Series
1980 Ball Silver
Flagman Silver
Vermin Silver
Fire Silver
Wide Screen
Judge Silver
1981 Manhole Gold
New Wide Screen
Helmet Gold
Lion Gold
Parachute Wide Screen
Octopus Wide Screen
Popeye Wide Screen
Table Top
Panorama
Chef Wide Screen
Mickey Mouse Wide Screen
Panorama
Egg Wide Screen
1982 Turtle Bridge Wide Screen
Fire Attack Wide Screen
Snoopy Tennis Wide Screen
Oil Panic Vertical Multi Screen
Donkey Kong Vertical Multi Screen
Donkey Kong Jr. New Wide Screen
Table Top
Panorama
Mickey & Donald Vertical Multi Screen
Green House Vertical Multi Screen
1983 Donkey Kong II Vertical Multi Screen
Mario Bros. Horizontal Multi Screen
Mario's Cement Factory New Wide Screen
Table Top
Snoopy Table Top
Panorama
Rain Shower Horizontal Multi Screen
Lifeboat Horizontal Multi Screen
Mario's Bombs Away Panorama
Pinball Vertical Multi Screen
1984 Spitball Sparky Super Color
Crab Grab Super Color
Donkey Kong Circus Panorama
Boxing/Punch-Out‼ Micro Vs. System
Donkey Kong 3 Micro Vs. System
Donkey Kong Hockey Micro Vs. System
1985 Black Jack Vertical Multi Screen
Tropical Fish New Wide Screen
1986 Squish Vertical Multi Screen
Super Mario Bros. Crystal Screen
Special
New Wide Screen
Climber Crystal Screen
New Wide Screen
Balloon Fight Crystal Screen
New Wide Screen
1987 Bomb Sweeper Vertical Multi Screen
1988 Safebuster Vertical Multi Screen
Gold Cliff Vertical Multi Screen
1989 Zelda Vertical Multi Screen
1991 Mario the Juggler New Wide Screen

Video games[]

Year Name Co-Developer Platform
1983 Popeye NES
Gomoku Narabe Renju NES
Mario Bros. Intelligent Systems NES
Popeye no Eigo Asobi NES
Baseball Intelligent Systems NES
FDS
Game Boy
1984 Tennis Intelligent Systems NES
FDS
Game Boy
Pinball HAL Laboratory NES
FDS
Wild Gunman Intelligent Systems NES
Duck Hunt Intelligent Systems NES
Hogan's Alley Intelligent Systems NES
Donkey Kong 3 Intelligent Systems NES
Devil World Intelligent Systems NES
Urban Champion NES
Clu Clu Land NES
1985 Balloon Fight HAL Laboratory NES
Ice Climber NES
FDS
Wrecking Crew Intelligent Systems NES
FDS
Stack Up Intelligent Systems NES
Gyromite Intelligent Systems NES
Soccer Intelligent Systems NES
FDS
1986 Gumshoe NES
Volleyball Pax Softnica FDS
NES
Metroid Intelligent Systems FDS
NES
Kid Icarus TOSE FDS
NES
1987 Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School Square FDS
1988 Famicom Tantei Club: Kieta Kōkeisha TOSE NES
Famicom Wars Intelligent Systems FDS
NES
Kaettekita Mario Bros. FDS
1989 Alleyway Intelligent Systems Game Boy
Super Mario Land Game Boy
Yakuman Intelligent Systems Game Boy
Famicom Tantei Club Part II: Ushiro ni Tatsu Shōjo FDS
Tetris Game Boy
Tetris NES
1990 Solar Striker Minakuchi Engineering Game Boy
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light Intelligent Systems NES
Dr. Mario NES
Game Boy
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting NES
Balloon Kid Pax Softnica Game Boy
Radar Mission Pax Softnica Game Boy
F-1 Race HAL Laboratory Game Boy
1991 Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters TOSE Game Boy
Metroid II: Return of Samus Game Boy
1992 Clu Clu Land: Welcome to New Clu Clu Land FDS
Game Boy Wars Intelligent Systems Game Boy
X Argonaut Games Game Boy
Mario Paint Intelligent Systems SNES
Super Play Action Football TOSE SNES
For the Frog the Bell Tolls Intelligent Systems Game Boy
Battle Clash Intelligent Systems SNES
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Game Boy
1993 Joy Mecha Fight NES
Yoshi's Safari NES
Mario Bros. (Classic Serie) NES
Tetris 2 TOSE NES
Game Boy
Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge Intelligent Systems SNES
1994 Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Game Boy
Wario's Woods Intelligent Systems NES
SNES
Super Metroid Intelligent Systems SNES
Tetris & Dr. Mario TOSE SNES
1995 Game Boy Gallery TOSE Game Boy
Mario's Tennis TOSE Virtual Boy
Teleroboxer Virtual Boy
Mario Clash Virtual Boy
Panel de Pon Intelligent Systems SNES
Virtual Boy Wario Land Virtual Boy
Kirby's Block Ball HAL Laboratory
TOSE
Game Boy
1996 3D Tetris T&E Soft Virtual Boy
Tetris Attack Intelligent Systems SNES
Game Boy
1997 Game & Watch Gallery TOSE Game Boy
BS Detective Club: Lost Memories in the Snow Satellaview
Game & Watch Gallery 2 TOSE Game Boy
Game Boy Color
1998 Wrecking Crew '98 Pax Softnica SNES
Wario Land II Game Boy
Game Boy Color
Tetris DX Game Boy Color
1999 Game & Watch Gallery 3 TOSE Game Boy Color
Famicom Bunko: Hajimari no Mori SNES
2000 Trade & Battle: Card Hero Intelligent Systems Game Boy Color
Wario Land 3 Game Boy Color
Sin and Punishemnt Treasure Nintendo 64
2001 Dr. Mario 64
Wario Land 4 Game Boy Advance
2002 Metroid Fusion Game Boy Advance
2003 Nintendo Puzzle Collection NST
Intelligent Systems
GameCube
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! Game Boy Advance
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! GameCube
2004 Metroid: Zero Mission Game Boy Advance

External links[]