Nintendo Research & Development 4

Nintendo Research & Development 4
Founded	September 30, 1983
Headquarters	Kyoto, Japan
Owner	Nintendo
Predecessor	Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development
Key people	Shigeru Miyamoto Takashi Tezuka
Products	Super Mario Bros. series, The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II, Donkey Kong series

Nintendo Research & Development 4 is a development group given to Shigeru Miyamoto in 1984 after he proved he can consistently produce excellent games. Though they didn't have as many resources as Nintendo R&D1, R&D4 also focused on developing NES games. They ended up creating Nintendo's two most enduring franchises: Mario and Zelda.

During the Super Nintendo days, Nintendo R&D4 changed their name to Nintendo EAD. Nintendo EAD was the largest game development division of Nintendo that eventually merged into Nintendo EPD.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, former president of Nintendo, rewarded Shigeru Miyamoto his own development studio after proving himself with the Donkey Kong video games and Mario Bros. Takashi Tezuka joined Shigeru Miyamoto in creating the R&D4 games, almost all of which were composed by Koji Kondo. They made a great team and to this day still work together.

Games

All of their video games were released on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

• Donkey Kong - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Donkey Kong Jr. - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Mario Bros. - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Donkey Kong 3 - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo Entertainment System
• The Legend of Zelda - Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom Disk System
• The Mysterious Murasame Castle - Famicom Disk System
• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic - Famicom Disk System
• Shin Onigashima - Famicom Disk System
• Ice Hockey - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Super Mario Bros. 2 - Nintendo Entertainment System
• Super Mario Bros. 3 - Nintendo Entertainment System

Employees

Many of Nintendo R&D4 veterans became video game superstars because of their work. Major ones include:

Employees
Shigeru Miyamoto	Takashi Tezuka	Koji Kondo
The best known of the three, Shigeru Miyamoto created the arcade Mario and Donkey Kong games and directed most of the main games that R&D4 created.	Co-directed games within the Mario and Zelda series, Tezuka is best known for later solely directing the Mario and Zelda titles on the SNES.	The composer for the R&D4 video games, Koji Kondo has created some of the most memorable songs in all of video games.