List of Nintendo developers
This is a list of current and former first-party, second-party, and devoted third-party game developers for Nintendo systems.
First Party
A first party developer is one that is wholly owned by Nintendo.
Current First Party
- Brownie Brown — Software developer consisting of former members of Squaresoft. Responsible for the Magical Vacation (Magical Starsign outside of Japan) series, and for supporting Shigesato Itoi and HAL with Mother 3 (Japan only).
- Intelligent Systems — Established in 1986 by former members of Nintendo Research & Development 1 to develop games. Responsible for Metroid, Fire Emblem, Paper Mario, and Nintendo Wars franchises.
- NDCUBE — Developer of F-Zero: Maximum Velocity and various other Game Boy Advance and GameCube titles.
- Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (Originally "Nintendo Research & Development 4") — Largest division at Nintendo. Managed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Responsible for the Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, Wii Series, and other franchises.
- Nintendo EAD Tokyo — The first in-house Nintendo studio to be located outside of Kyoto. Responsible for Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Super Mario Galaxy
- Nintendo Software Technology Corporation — Redmond-based studio responsible for Metroid Prime Hunters and Project H.A.M.M.E.R., among others.
- Retro Studios — Austin-based studio wholly owned by Nintendo. Developer of the Metroid Prime games excluding Hunters and Pinball.
Defunct 1st Party
- Nintendo Research & Development 1 (Merged into Nintendo EAD) — Responsible for games such as Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Super Mario Land.
- Nintendo Research & Development 2 (Merged into Nintendo EAD) - Responsible for the Super Mario Advance games on the Game Boy Advance and peripherals for Nintendo.
Second Party
A second party developer is one that, though while not a division of Nintendo, is under agreement to create games exclusively for Nintendo systems.
Current Second Party
- AlphaDream — Developer of Tomato Adventure (Japan only), Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
- Ambrella - Developers of Hey You, Pikachu!, Pokémon Channel, and Pokémon Dash.
- Camelot Software Planning - Developer of Nintendo's Mario Golf and Mario Tennis series as well as the Golden Sun franchise.
- Fuse Games — A British Pinball game company who made Mario Pinball Land and Metroid Prime Pinball.
- Game Freak — Developer of the Pokémon video game series and Drill Dozer.
- Genius Sonority — Newly formed developer; responsible for Pokémon Colosseum, its sequel, Pokémon XD, and the Pokémon puzzle game: Pokémon Trozei.
- HAL Laboratory — Responsible for the Kirby franchise, Super Smash Bros. series, the Eggerland series (also known as the Adventures of Lolo series), the development of the e-Reader, and co-produced the EarthBound/Mother series.
- Monolith Soft - Founded in 1999 by a former member of Square Co., the company was sold to Nintendo on 27 April, 2007 by Namco Bandai. Developer of the Xenosaga series, as well as Namco x Capcom, the upcoming Wii title Disaster: Day of Crisis, and the Baten Kaitos series.
- Nexon Corporation - An MMO developer that was the creator of Maple Story and War Rock, NEXON recently announced that it has partnered with Nintendo, and will be bringing some of its MMOs to Nintendo consoles.
- Noise - Developers of the Custom Robo franchise.
- skip Ltd. - Developers of the Chibi-Robo series, the bit Generations series (Japan only), and GiFTPiA (Japan only).
Defunct 2nd Party
- Clever Trick - Developers of Echo Delta.
- Param - Developers of Doshin the Giant.
- Saru Brunei - Developers of the GameCube title Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest
Former Second Party
- Factor 5 -Known for Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series.
- Rare — Although at one time under a 49% ownership by Nintendo, Rare is now owned by Microsoft. It was responsible for such titles as Donkey Kong Country/Land/64, GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, StarFox Adventures, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Killer Instinct. They have, however, developed games for Nintendo handhelds following the sale. They recently developed Diddy Kong Racing DS.They are now developing Viva Pinata, a game previously released on the Xbox 360, for the Nintendo DS.
- Silicon Knights - They developed the cult hit Eternal Darkness and co-developed with Konami on the remake of Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes.
Third Party
A devoted third party developer is one that has expressed explicit support to Nintendo systems. Often these studios develop or co-develop games using licensed Nintendo characters and/or may create games exclusively for Nintendo hardware.
Exclusive to Nintendo systems
- EA Salt Lake - Formerly known as Headgate Studios, it was bought by Electronic Arts and is now creating games exclusively for the Wii and Nintendo DS.
- Fall Line - Salt Lake City based game developer formed by Disney to create games exclusive to Nintendo systems.
- Jet Black Games - Created by former developers at EA Canada, they have announced that they will license and develop games exclusively for Nintendo's hardware.
- Jupiter — Developers of the Nintendo DS game Spectrobes, the Pokemon Pinball series, and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories among other titles.
- Kuju Entertainment London - Developers of the Battalion Wars series of games; the London studio is exclusive to Nintendo.
- Nibris - Nibris is an upstart Polish developer devoted only to the Wii and the Nintendo DS. Its upcoming titles include Sadness and Raid over the River.
- TOSE — As developers, responsible for the Game & Watch Gallery series and the Legend of Stafy series (Japan only).
- Seta - have made numerous obscure games, specialising manly in golf and RPG titles. Seta also developed the arcade system, the Aleck 64 which was based on N64 architecture, with the support of Nintendo. Though they are not a second-party, it should be noted SETA has only ever developed for Nintendo consoles, with some games being published by Nintendo themselves.
- Shin'en - has only developed on Nintendo's handhelds so far. They developed the Nanostray series.
- WayForward Technologies — Develops licensed games for the Game Boy and Nintendo DS systems.
Non-Exclusive
- Artoon — Created Yoshi Topsy-Turvy and Yoshi's Island DS.
- Atlus — Developer of the Nintendo exclusive Trauma Center series along with a number of other games.
- Capcom — Has developed and published a number of games for Nintendo, including those from the esteemed Zelda franchise. Currently developing the Wii exclusives Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure.
- Cing — Developers of the Nintendo DS games Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and the forthcoming Project O
- Grasshopper Manufacture — Led by Goichi Suda, is responsible for Killer 7, the forthcoming No More Heroes, and Contact for the Nintendo DS.
- Hudson Soft — Now belongs to Konami; its first collaborated game with Nintendo was Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman. Hudson Soft also develops the wildly popular Mario Party series, though their involvement with the Mario franchise has dated back to Super Mario Bros. Special, which was released around the same time as The Lost Levels.
- iNiS — Developers of the rhythm games Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents.
- Konami — Created the Nintendo GameCube exclusive DDR: Mario Mix and the Wii exclusive Elebits. Currently developing Dewy's Adventure and DDR: Hottest Party for the Wii, along with other projects.
- Mitchell Corporation - Developers of Polarium and Magnetica titles for the Nintendo DS.
- Namco Bandai — Nintendo and Namco have collaborated on several games such as Pac-Man Vs., Star Fox: Assault, Mario Superstar Baseball, and the Donkey Konga series; belongs to the Triforce arcade system.
- Next Level Games - Though their first game, NHL Hitz Pro was published for all consoles, they have since been working on the Mario Strikers series for Nintendo. Their next game, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, is being developed for the Wii, but also for non-Nintendo consoles, thus they're no longer exclusive to Nintendo.
- Paon - A Japanese development studio responsible for the games featuring Donkey Kong, following the sale of Rare to Microsoft. Currently working on DK-King of Swing DS and DK Bongo Blast
- Sega — Nintendo's former rival in the console market. Sega made F-Zero GX/AX and also belongs to the Triforce arcade system. They have brought a number of their popular franchises to Nintendo systems like the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the Phantasy Star series, and the Super Monkey Ball series. Sega has also announced that the sequel to the popular game NiGHTS into Dreams... will be exclusive to the Wii, titled NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. They are supporting the Virtual Console by having a "best of" selection of downloadable classics from the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The title Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games will be the first time the respective mascots for Nintendo and Sega, Mario and Sonic, will appear in an official game together.
- Square Enix — Nintendo has published Square/Square Enix's Final Fantasy games on the NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance, and GameCube, as well as Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on the Game Boy Advance. It has also published Enix's Dragon Warrior for NES, and the Soul Blazer Trilogy for SNES in the West. Games that appeared on the GBA and GCN could also be registered on Nintendo's website (through a My Nintendo account). Square Enix has also recently announced that it will release two games for the Wii: Dragon Quest Swords and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Upcoming titles for the Nintendo DS include Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, and a 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV. Square Enix has worked with Nintendo's properties in the past, developing Super Mario RPG on the SNES and Mario Hoops 3-on-3 on the DS, and Nintendo has also allowed Square Enix to place Mario characters in the upcoming Itadaki Street.
- Treasure Co. Ltd — Treasure was formed by ex-Konami workers. The company worked with Nintendo to make Wario World and Mischief Makers, and has also produced many Japan-only games, including Sin and Punishment. It has very close ties with both Nintendo and Sega.
- Vicarious Visions — Often develops the Nintendo versions of Activision's movie licensed games. Was the first third party to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection with Tony Hawk's American Sk8land. Currently developing the Wii version of Spiderman 3: The Game.
Defunct
- Flagship — Nintendo, Capcom, and Sega, founded the joint venture Flagship to develop games and assist in the development of games. As of June 1, 2007 Flagship was closed [1]. Working with Shigeru Miyamoto, they had developed The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Seasons, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.
References
N-Sider: Nintendo Revolution FAQ