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Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 Department
Native name
任天堂開発第一部
Nintendō Kaihatsu Daiichi Bu
FormerlyNintendo Research & Development
Company typeDepartment
IndustryVideo games
Genre
FoundedBefore 1972
FounderHiroshi Yamauchi
Defunct2004 (2004)
Fate
SuccessorNintendo Software Planning & Development
Headquarters
Kyoto
,
Japan
Key people
OwnerNintendo
Number of employees
100+
ParentNintendo Manufacturing Division
Footnotes / references
[1]

Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 Department,[a] commonly abbreviated as Nintendo R&D1, was Nintendo's oldest video game development team.[2] It was known as Nintendo Research & Development Department[b] before splitting in 1978. Its creation coincided with Nintendo's entry into the video game industry, and the original R&D1 was headed by Gunpei Yokoi.[3] The developer has created several notable Nintendo series such as Metroid, Mario Bros., and Donkey Kong.[4]

R&D1 developed the hugely successful Game Boy line, which was released in 1989.[5][6] They developed some of the line's most popular games, such as Super Mario Land, and created the character of Wario.

Team Shikamaru was a small club within Nintendo R&D1 that was composed of Makoto Kano, Yoshio Sakamoto, and Toru Osawa. The group was responsible for designing characters and coming up with scripts for several games including Metroid, Kid Icarus, Famicom Tantei Club: Kieta Kōkeisha, Trade & Battle: Card Hero, and several others.

After Yokoi's resignation in 1997, the group was led by Takehiro Izushi.[7] In 2005, Satoru Iwata restructured the Nintendo R&D1 team. Many of the staff members were later reassigned to the Nintendo SPD team, which in turn merged with Nintendo EAD in 2015 to form Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development.[8]

History

Background

In 1965, Nintendo, still primarily a hanafuda card manufacturer, hired Gunpei Yokoi, a newly-graduated electronics engineer. Yokoi was assigned to the manufacturing division to work on the assembly line machines used to manufacture its cards.[9] In the following year, Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo at the time, during a visit to the factory Yokoi was working at, took notice of a toy, an extending arm, that Yokoi had made for his own amusement during his spare time. As Yamauchi was looking to diversify the company's business far beyond its primary card business, Yokoi was ordered to develop the toy into a proper mass-market product for the 1966 holiday rush. The toy was launched as Ultra Hand and it was a huge success selling over 1.2 million units during its lifetime.[10] Following that, Yokoi was assigned to work on other toys including the Ten Billion Barrel puzzle, a miniature remote-controlled vacuum cleaner called the Chiritory, a baseball throwing machine called the Ultra Machine, and a "Love Tester."[11]

1970s-1978: Creation and first electronic games

Sometime before 1972, Nintendo created its first electronics development team, the Research & Development department from Nintendo's manufacturing division, assigning Gunpei Yokoi as its general manager. By 1972 the department had approximately 20 developers. In 1978, the manufacturing division split its single research & development department into two, renaming it to Research & Development No. 1 (R&D1) and creating the Nintendo Research & Development No. 2 (R&D2) department. After the split, Yokoi remained general manager of R&D1.[12][13]

1979-1988: Game & Watch

File:Game & Watch.png
Game & Watch: Ball, the first game console in the successful handheld series

According to an urban legend, in the late 1970s, Yokoi saw a bored Japanese salaryman playing with a calculator on the Shinkansen high-speed train. This was seemingly the inspiration behind the creation of the Game & Watch series, a line of handheld electronic games, with each system featuring a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock, an alarm, or both.[14] Regardless, it was confirmed that Yokoi was inspired by calculators to develop the line, even using calculator integrated circuits in the systems and button cells to power them.[13] Although Nintendo competitors Mattel and Tomy had already produced portable games, they were mostly bulky systems with low-resolution LED displays and uninspiring gameplay. Yokoi exploited the cheapness of LCDs, producing cheap and light systems, starting in 1980. He would later call this principle Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology: using seasoned technology in radical ways; a principle that echoed throughout Nintendo until the present day.[14]

In 1980, Game & Watch: Ball was the first release of the Game & Watch Silver series, called after its metallic face-plate. Sales weren't reportedly "astonishing", but they were enough to persuade Nintendo to continue developing new titles.[14] The series saw a total of 5 systems, all released during that year. In 1981, Game & Watch: Manhole debuted the Gold series, which was fundamentally the same system with a golden face-plate. It saw only 3 titles which were also released during the same year. In mid-1981, Game & Watch: Parachute was released, debuting the Wide Screen series, sporting a 30% larger display. The series saw a total of 10 titles released until early 1982.

The limitations of the LCD display prompted Yokoi and his team to introduce the Multi Screen series with the release of Game & Watch: Oil Panic in mid 1982, adding another screen to potentially double the amount of gameplay each title could offer. The next title of the series was Game & Watch: Donkey Kong a port of the hugely successful Donkey Kong arcade game. Unable to use a joystick like the original game, as it would reduce the system's portability, Yokoi began researching for solutions. Early Game & Watch systems had a button for each action such as moving left and right or jumping. However, for the new system the team introduced the "cross" directional pad (D-pad): a flat, four-way directional control with one button on each point.[14] The design was patented and later earned a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in 2008.[15][16] From then on, all major video game consoles since have had a D-pad of some shape on their controllers, until the Nintendo Switch in 2017.

1989-1990: Game Boy

Game Boy, the highly-successful handheld video game console

When the department started working on a successor to the Game & Watch series, Yokoi envisioned a simple and cheap system with interchangeable game cartridges. Development of the system, however, suffered from disagreements in direction, with assistant director Satoru Okada arguing for a more powerful system with third-party development and long-term support from Nintendo, emulating the successful business model that Nintendo R&D2 had achieved with the Nintendo Entertainment System, while Yokoi planned for a much cheaper, less powerful device with a shorter life-span, similar to its predecessor. During an interview, Okada compared the initial project to the Microvision. Eventually, Yokoi agreed to Okada's plan and the project would be known as the Game Boy.[17]

1991-1994: Virtual Boy

The Virtual Boy, developed by R&D1, emulates 3-D visuals by use of individual red monochrome displays for each eye. It was considered a commercial failure.

In 1991, Nintendo partnered with Massachusetts-based Reflection Technology, Inc. who had developed a 3D stereoscopic head-tracking prototype called the Private Eye.[18][19] Gunpei Yokoi saw this as a unique technology that competitors would find difficult to emulate. Additionally, the resulting game console was intended to enhance Nintendo's reputation as an innovator[19][20] and to "encourage more creativity" in games.[21]: 514  Code-naming the project "VR32",[19] Nintendo entered into an exclusive agreement with Reflection Technology to license the technology for its displays.[18]

Spending four years in development and eventually building a dedicated manufacturing plant in China,[19] Nintendo worked to turn its VR32 vision into an affordable and health-conscious console design.[20] Yokoi retained RTI's choice of red LED because it was the cheapest,[20] and because unlike a totally backlit LCD, its perfect blackness could achieve a more immersive sense of infinite depth.[19] RTI and Nintendo said a color LCD system would have been prohibitively expensive,[19][22] retailing for more than US$500.[21]: 514  A color LCD system was also said to have caused "jumpy images in tests".[22] With ongoing concerns about motion sickness, the risk of developing lazy eye conditions in young children, and Japan's new Product Liability Act of 1995, Nintendo eliminated the head tracking functionality and converted its headmounted goggle design into a stationary, heavy, precision steel-shielded, tabletop form factor conformant to the recommendation of the Schepens Eye Research Institute.[19][21]: 514 

According to David Sheff's book Game Over, the increasingly reticent Yokoi never actually intended for the increasingly downscaled console to be released in its final form. However, Nintendo pushed the Virtual Boy to market so that it could focus development resources on the Nintendo 64.[23]

1995: Game Boy successor

In 1995, the department started developing a successor to the Game Boy, under the code-name Atlantis. Despite its predecessors having a monochrome display, the R&D1 team had already experimented with color displays from as early as 1992. The Atlantis prototype consisted of an handheld with a 32-bit ARM7 CPU, a larger color display, and four face buttons. It was reported that the system was supposed to release in late 1996.[24]

Meanwhile, the department was also working on a revision of the Game Boy. The system would require fewer batteries, providing approximately 10 hours of gameplay, and was also equipped with a DC connector which could be used to power the system.[25] The screen was also changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the green-tinted monochrome display of the original Game Boy, and had an improved pixel response-time, mostly eliminating the ghosting effect. It finally released as the Game Boy Pocket on July 21, 1996 in Japan, on September 3 in North America, and in Europe during the following year.[26] Although it had no power LED initially, it was soon added to later editions due public demand.[27]

Following the commercial success of the Game Boy Pocket, the Atlantis system was delayed by a year to late 1997. Nonetheless, the system was eventually cancelled due to concerns of it being too big, having a drastically decreased battery life (to approximately 1 hour, as LCD color displays required a back-light at the time), and being too expensive to manufacture.[28][29][30][31] Although it was shelved, the project would later considerably speed up the development of the Game Boy Color in 1997 by the Nintendo Research & Engineering department.[31]

1996-2003: Gunpei Yokoi's departure and hardware team spin-off

On August 15, 1996, long-time department general manager, Gunpei Yokoi, left Nintendo to form his own company, Koto Laboratory. Despite speculation that he had left Nintendo due to the commercial failure of the Virtual Boy a year prior, Yokoi clarified that he'd long wished to become independent. Yokoi and his new company eventually worked on the WonderSwan handheld for Bandai before his tragic death in 1997 in a traffic accident.[32] In order to fill Yokoi's vacancy, long-time Nintendo engineer Takehiro Izushi was appointed as the new general manager of the department.[33] Additionally, the department's hardware team was spun-off into a new development department, called Nintendo Research & Engineering and lead by Satoru Okada.[34] The software development team, however, remained at R&D1. This new department would be responsible for continuing the Game Boy's legacy becoming the source of every major Nintendo handheld game console until its closure in 2012.[35]

Following Yokoi's departure, and no longer having a dedicated hardware development team, the department focused instead on developing games for other Nintendo-developed consoles. It was responsible for the re-releases of its Game & Watch classics in the Game & Watch Gallery series for both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, starting in 1997. It also developed sequels to its Wario Land classic in the form of Wario Land II, released in 1998, and Wario Land 3, in 2000, both for the Game Boy Color, and Wario Land 4 for the Game Boy Advance, released a year later. The department was also responsible for creating the Wario spin-off series with WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, released in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. After an 8 year hiatus, R&D1 introduced a new installment in its Metroid series, Metroid Fusion, released in 2002. In 2004, R&D1's last project was launched, Metroid: Zero Mission a remake of the original game.

2004: Absorbed into Nintendo Software Planning & Development

In 2004, the department, along with Nintendo Research & Development 2, was absorbed into the newly created Nintendo Software Planning & Development division.[36] Then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata created and appointed himself as general manager of the new division to focus on co-producing and supervising second-party development, thus relieving the Entertainment Analysis & Development division (EAD) and its general manager Shigeru Miyamoto to focus on first-party projects. Although that was the division's primary focus, it went on to develop some video games titles internally.[37][38]

In 2018, former general manager of the R&D1 department Takehiro Izushi retired from Nintendo after 43 years in the company.[39]

Products developed

Electronic games

List of electronic games developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
Year Title Genre(s) Platform(s) Series Ref.
1978 Computer Othello Arcade
1979 Head On N Arcade [40]
1979 Monkey Magic Arcade [40]
1979 Sheriff Arcade
1979 Radar Scope Arcade
1980 Heli Fire Fixed shooter Arcade [40]
1981 Donkey Kong Platform Arcade
1981 Sky Skipper Arcade [40]
1982 Donkey Kong Jr. Platform Arcade
1983 Mario Bros. Platform Arcade
1983 Donkey Kong 3 Shooter Arcade
1983 Popeye Arcade
1985 Vs. Ice Climber Platform Arcade
SF-Hisplitter Arcade
Sheriff 2 Arcade
Space Fever Arcade
Space Firebird Arcade
Space Launcher Arcade
1980 Game & Watch: Ball Game & Watch Silver [41][42]
Game & Watch: Flagman Game & Watch Silver [43][42]
Game & Watch: Vermin Game & Watch Silver [44][42]
Game & Watch: Fire Game & Watch Silver [45][42]
Game & Watch: Judge Game & Watch Silver [46][47][42]
1981 Game & Watch: Manhole Game & Watch Gold [48][42]
Game & Watch: Helmet Game & Watch Gold [49][42]
Game & Watch: Lion Game & Watch Gold [50][42]
Game & Watch: Parachute Game & Watch Wide Screen [51][42]
Game & Watch: Octopus Game & Watch Wide Screen [52]
Game & Watch: Popeye Game & Watch Wide Screen [53]
Game & Watch: Chef Game & Watch Wide Screen [54]
Game & Watch: Mickey Mouse Game & Watch Wide Screen [55]
Game & Watch: Egg Game & Watch Wide Screen [56]
Game & Watch: Fire Game & Watch Wide Screen [57]
1982 Game & Watch: Turtle Bridge Game & Watch Wide Screen [58]
Game & Watch: Fire Attack Game & Watch Wide Screen [59]
Game & Watch: Snoopy Tennis Game & Watch Wide Screen [60]
Game & Watch: Oil Panic Game & Watch Multi Screen [61]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Game & Watch Multi Screen [62]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch New Wide Screen
Game & Watch: Mickey & Donald Game & Watch Multi Screen
Game & Watch: Green House Game & Watch Multi Screen
1983 Game & Watch: Donkey Kong II Game & Watch Multi Screen
Game & Watch: Mario Bros. Game & Watch Multi Screen
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch Table Top
Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory Game & Watch Table Top
Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory Game & Watch New Wide Screen
Game & Watch: Snoopy Game & Watch Table Top
Game & Watch: Rain Shower Game & Watch Multi Screen
Game & Watch: Popeye Game & Watch Table Top
Game & Watch: Manhole Game & Watch New Wide Screen
Game & Watch: Popeye Game & Watch Panorama
Game & Watch: Snoopy Game & Watch Panorama
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch Panorama
Game & Watch: Lifeboat Game & Watch Multi Screen
Game & Watch: Mario's Bombs Away Game & Watch Panorama
Game & Watch: Pinball Game & Watch Multi Screen
1984 Game & Watch: Spitball Sparky Game & Watch Super Color
Game & Watch: Crab Grab Game & Watch Super Color
Game & Watch: Mickey Mouse Game & Watch Panorama
Game & Watch: Boxing Game & Watch Micro Vs. System
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong 3 Game & Watch Micro Vs. System
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Circus Game & Watch Panorama
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Hockey Game & Watch Micro Vs. System
1985 Game & Watch: Black Jack Game & Watch Multi Screen
Game & Watch: Tropical Fish Game & Watch New Wide Screen

Video game consoles

List of video game consoles developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
Year Name Ref.
1989 Game Boy
1995 Game Boy Play-It-Loud!
Virtual Boy
1996 Game Boy Pocket

Video games

List of video games developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
Year Title Genre(s) Platform(s) Ref.
1983 Donkey Kong Platform Nintendo Entertainment System
Baseball Sports Nintendo Entertainment System
1984 Donkey Kong 3 Shooter Nintendo Entertainment System
Devil World Maze Nintendo Entertainment System
Urban Champion Fighting Nintendo Entertainment System
Clu Clu Land Puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System
1985 Balloon Fight Action Nintendo Entertainment System
Ice Climber Platform Nintendo Entertainment System
Wrecking Crew Action, puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System
1986 Baseball Sports Family Computer Disk System
Gumshoe Nintendo Entertainment System
Metroid Family Computer Disk System
Kid Icarus Family Computer Disk System
1987 Kid Icarus Nintendo Entertainment System
Metroid Nintendo Entertainment System
Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School Family Computer Disk System
1988 Famicom Detective Club Nintendo Entertainment System
1989 Baseball Game Boy
Famicom Detective Club 2 Nintendo Entertainment System
Tetris Game Boy
Tetris Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Mario Land Game Boy
1990 Dr. Mario Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy
SolarStriker Game Boy
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting Nintendo Entertainment System
1991 Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Game Boy
Metroid II: Return of Samus Game Boy
1992 Clu Clu Land: Welcome to New Clu Clu Land Family Computer Disk System
Yoshi's Cookie Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy
Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins Game Boy
1994 Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land Game Boy
Super Metroid Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1995 Mario's Tennis Virtual Boy
Teleroboxer Virtual Boy
Mario Clash Virtual Boy
Virtual Boy Wario Land Virtual Boy
Kirby's Block Ball Game Boy
1997 Game & Watch Gallery Game Boy
BS Tantei Club: Yuki ni Kieta Kako Satellaview
Game & Watch Gallery 2 Game Boy
Game & Watch Gallery 2 Game Boy Color
1998 Wario Land II Game Boy
Wario Land II Game Boy Color
1999 Game & Watch Gallery 3 Game Boy Color
2000 Trade & Battle: Card Hero Game Boy Color
Wario Land 3 Game Boy Color
Sin and Punishment Nintendo 64
2001 Wario Land 4 Game Boy Advance
2002 Metroid Fusion Game Boy Advance
2003 Nintendo Puzzle Collection GameCube
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! Game Boy Advance
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! GameCube
2004 Metroid: Zero Mission Game Boy Advance

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: 任天堂開発第一部, Hepburn: Nintendō Kaihatsu Daiichi Bu
  2. ^ Japanese: 任天堂開発部, Hepburn: Nintendō Kaihatsu Bu

References

  1. ^ "IGN: IGNCube's Nintendo "Revolution" FAQ". IGN. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  2. ^ Staff, I. G. N. (10 January 2001). "Developer Profile: Intelligent Systems". Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  3. ^ Stuart, Keith (21 April 2014). "Nintendo Game Boy – 25 facts for its 25th anniversary". the Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  4. ^ "GameSpy: Nintendo R&D1". www.gamespy.com. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  5. ^ Sheff, David (2 November 2011). "Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Retrieved 9 March 2018 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Life, Nintendo (13 March 2010). "Feature: The Making of the Nintendo Game Boy". Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  7. ^ https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/368339-takehiro-izushi-retires-four-legendary-decades-nintendo
  8. ^ http://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/09/14/nintendo-reveals-restructuring-plans
  9. ^ "Forgotten Giant: The Brilliant Life and Tragic Death of Gunpei Yokoi". Game Informer. 12 (105): 116. January 2002.
  10. ^ Voskuil, Geplaatst door Erik. "Nintendo Ultra Hand (ウルトラ ハンド, 1966)". Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  11. ^ Buchanan, Levi (2009-09-10). "From Janitor to Superstar". IGN. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  12. ^ "Iwata Asks: Game & Watch: 1. When Developers Did Everything". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  13. ^ a b "Iwata Asks: Game & Watch: 2. Using a Calculator Chip". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  14. ^ a b c d Life, Nintendo (2010-02-24). "Feature: The History of the Nintendo Game & Watch". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  15. ^ "Nintendo Wins Emmy For DS And Wii Engineering | Technology | Sky News". News.sky.com. 2008-01-09. Archived from the original on 2012-07-11. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
  16. ^ Magrino, Tom (2008-01-08). "CES '08: Nintendo wins second Emmy - News at GameSpot". Gamespot.com. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  17. ^ Barder, Ollie. "New Interview With Satoru Okada Delves Into The Hidden History Behind Nintendo's Gaming Handhelds". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  18. ^ a b "April Brings Virtual Boy". GamePro. No. 67. IDG. February 1995. p. 162.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g Edwards, Benj (August 21, 2015). "Unraveling The Enigma Of Nintendo's Virtual Boy, 20 Years Later". Fast Company. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  20. ^ a b c Boyer, Steven. "A Virtual Failure: Evaluating the Success of Nintendos Virtual Boy." Velvet Light Trap.64 (2009): 23–33. ProQuest Research Library. Web. May 24, 2012.
  21. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Ultimate History of Video Games was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ a b Rafferty, Kevin. "Super Mario Takes Leap into Three Dimensional Space." The Guardian (1959-2003): 2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003). November 16, 1994. Web. May 24, 2012.
  23. ^ Sheff, David; Eddy, Andy (1999). Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. online . GamePress. ISBN 978-0-9669617-0-6. OCLC 26214063. {{cite book}}: External link in |others= (help)
  24. ^ "Nintendo's New Color Handheld". Next Generation. No. 18. Imagine Media. June 1996. p. 20.
  25. ^ "The Incredible Shrinking Game Boy Pocket". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 84. Ziff Davis. July 1996. p. 16.
  26. ^ "Game Boy". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Retrieved 2019-01-25. In 1997, Nintendo went one better, shrinking the Game Boy's dimensions to create the even smaller Game Boy Pocket series.
  27. ^ "Game Boy Relaunched". Next Generation. No. 20. Imagine Media. August 1996. p. 26.
  28. ^ "GDC09: DSi architect reveals unreleased Nintendo handhelds". Engadget. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  29. ^ Kohler, Chris (2009-03-25). "GDC: Nintendo's Unreleased Portable Prototypes". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  30. ^ "A look into Nintendo's unreleased Game Boy successor - Nintendo Everything". nintendoeverything.com. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  31. ^ a b "Satoru Okada - Interview". Nintendo. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
  32. ^ Ashcraft, Brian. "Game Boy Creator Said He Didn't Leave Nintendo Because Of The Virtual Boy". Kotaku. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  33. ^ "Takehiro Izushi Retires After Four Legendary Decades at Nintendo". GameRevolution. 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  34. ^ Barder, Ollie. "New Interview With Satoru Okada Delves Into The Hidden History Behind Nintendo's Gaming Handhelds". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  35. ^ O'Brien, Lucy (2013-01-15). "Report: Nintendo to Restructure Hardware Divisions". IGN. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  36. ^ "Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Retrieved 2019-01-23. R&D2 would later be merged into the Software Planning and Development Division
  37. ^ Iwata, Satoru (February 17, 2015). "Third Quarter Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ending March 2015 - Q & A". Nintendo. In 2004, we established the Software Planning & Development Division to relieve Mr. Miyamoto from handling the games co-developed with second parties to enable him to concentrate on internal development. After that, I was in charge of the Software Planning & Development Division
  38. ^ "Iwata Asks: Pandora's Tower for Wii". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Retrieved 2019-01-20. In 2004, the Software Planning and Development department had only just been created.
  39. ^ Reseigh-Lincoln, Dom (2018-02-12). "Legendary Nintendo Developer Takehiro Izushi Has Officially Retired". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  40. ^ a b c d Parish, Jeremy (2014-07-25). "Forgottendo: 10 Nintendo Games You've Probably Never Heard Of". USgamer. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  41. ^ "Ball AC-01 (1st Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  42. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Game & Watch Console Variations". The Database for all console colors and variations!. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  43. ^ "Flagman FL-02 (2nd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  44. ^ "Vermin MT-03 (3rd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  45. ^ "Fire RC-04 (4th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  46. ^ "Judge Green IP-05 (5th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  47. ^ "Judge Purple IP-05 (5th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  48. ^ "Manhole MH-06 (6th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  49. ^ "Helmet CN-07 (7th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  50. ^ "Lion LN-08 (8th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  51. ^ "Parachute PR-21 (9th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  52. ^ "Octopus OC-22 (10th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  53. ^ "Popeye PP-23 (11th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  54. ^ "Chef FP-24 (12th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  55. ^ "Mickey Mouse MC-25 (13rd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  56. ^ "Egg EG-26 (14th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  57. ^ "Fire FR-27 (15th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  58. ^ "Turtle Bridge TL-28 (16th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  59. ^ "Fire Attack ID-29 (17th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  60. ^ "Snoopy Tennis SP-30 (18th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  61. ^ "Oil Panic OP-51 (19th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  62. ^ "Donkey Kong DK-52 (20th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.