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StarTopic Nintendo First Party Software Development |ST| Nintendo Party Superstars

Reader mode
oldpuck said:
Bowser's Fury was pretty excellent, and it seems like EPD was mostly in a supervisory role. It would be absolutely wild to give them that, get something that good, original, and well received, then send them back to purely a support role. It's the only mainline Mario experience primarily made outside of Kyoto.

If NST is only useful to Nintendo as a tech oriented support studio, the Bowser's Fury team should pull a Platinum and get out of there.
Click to expand...

It's unclear as to what degree "NST made Bowser's Fury" and EPD just supervised. NST definitely did a lot of work on Bowser's Fury, but EPD and 1-UP definitely also directly worked on Bowser's Fury. For example, there was an interview with a VFX artist from EPD who worked on Bowser's Fury, and it looks like 1-UP designed Giga Cat Mario.

The theory is the original Bowser's Fury stems from an open world Mario prototype EPD abandoned. It looks like the project was resurrected with NST focusing their efforts of the collab on helping finish / remake Bowser's Fury to include as the bonus to Nintendo's 3D World + retail package on Switch.

Truthfully, NST has a strong engineering team, but they have not cultivated any sort of an experienced planning team. They have a few younger planners (half of them contractors), and that doesn't boast as a reason for Nintendo to say "hey guys, make a cool AA game on your own". I suspect their next steps are to hire/transfer some senior planners and probably continue remaking or adapting some B/C tier Nintendo IPs into modern age.
 
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boodream said:
I think it would be great if NST could work on a project that wasn't a remake and was their own game. It's a real waste that we haven't made more use of this resource in recent years, especially at a time when the need for development skills and resources has increased dramatically everywhere.

On the other hand, I'm still quite amazed to read so often here that a studio that was responsible for a GBA remake, a port of Captain Toad and F-Zero 99 would have directed, no more and no less, the first open-world 3D Mario experience.
Click to expand...
Considering how badly NST was gutted from Wii to Wii U gen, I think it's only fair for them to take things slow and rebuild back to ambitious games. Mario vs. DK, Bowser's Fury, and F-Zero 99 are certainly a rise in quality from the Tipping Stars days.
 
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yeah if anything im happy that they got to have two lead projects after a decade. Would be nice if they do similar things in the future, maybe even a new mario vs dk
 
boodream said:
Don't you think the the departure of several founders is important enough?
Click to expand...
I thought the founders were leaving anyways, after they sold the company. Director of LM3, Bryce Holliday, still seems to be there. Prob working on LM4

The credits for Bowser's Fury was always weird to me. They didn't give job titles or anything to any of the designers, just listed their names. Even if NST was the main team behind it, why not say who the director was?
I thought there might be rules that they have to credit in a game who did what, but i guess there's no videogame union so they can do whatever
 
Based on the Candian copyright filing, this was my take on the 3D World + Bowser‘s Fury leads:

About NLG, it sounds like their next big project didn’t begin full production until Late 2022 after Battle League’s post-launch content wrapped up. There were a few game designers that were only credited under ”Additional Work” despite apparently still working at the company (at least at the time, not sure what the situation is now). We can assume they were prototyping Luigi’s Mansion 4 whatever is coming next.

This is also why I don’t think they’re the developer of Princess Peach: Showtime. It seems like too quick of a turnaround. If a number of staff have left recently, then I agree that the timing lines up with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD.
 
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boodream said:
Don't you think the the departure of several founders is important enough?
Click to expand...
severals important Retro Studios left the company and Retro Studios basically into a cemetery, nothing for them, no original game until Metroid Prime 4 release
 
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boodream said:
We'll see who's in charge of Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, but if a project ended in late 2023/early 2024 at NLG, it would make a lot of sense for it to be this game. The timing seems too short for this to be a brand new game, and it might make sense to work on a remaster while preparing the next Luigi's Mansion opus, just as Retro worked on Prime Remaster while preparing Prime 4.
Click to expand...

I highlighted the last listing in particular because unless LM2HD has significant new content that is currently unrevealed (not impossible given MvDK did the same), none of those roles should be necessary for it as the core design already exists from the original game.

I’ve already been of the mind that LM2HD is outsourced for a few reasons, but we probably won't be waiting too much longer to get some answers.

franzen23 said:
The credits for Bowser's Fury was always weird to me. They didn't give job titles or anything to any of the designers, just listed their names. Even if NST was the main team behind it, why not say who the director was?
Click to expand...

Listing the staff credits in alphabetical order has been EPD Tokyo's thing since 3D Land. Odyssey was the best of both worlds though since it still did that while also listing the role next to each name; Bowser's Fury was a regression back to how the original 3D World / Captain Toad did it.
 
franzen23 said:
I thought the founders were leaving anyways, after they sold the company.
Click to expand...
I'm just saying that such major departures inevitably had an organizational impact on the studio, which would be normal.

MondoMega said:
I highlighted the last listing in particular because unless LM2HD has significant new content that is currently unrevealed (not impossible given MvDK did the same), none of those roles should be necessary for it as the core design already exists from the original game.

I’ve already been of the mind that LM2HD is outsourced for a few reasons, but we probably won't be waiting too much longer to get some answers.
Click to expand...
I wonder what the timing could be hinting at, it's going to be interesting to follow. And if it's indeed not NLG handling LM2HD, then I really hope it's not Grezzo either because I'm still naively imagining a 2D Zelda future.
 
oldpuck said:
Bowser's Fury was pretty excellent, and it seems like EPD was mostly in a supervisory role.
Click to expand...

franzen23 said:
The credits for Bowser's Fury was always weird to me. They didn't give job titles or anything to any of the designers, just listed their names. Even if NST was the main team behind it, why not say who the director was?
I thought there might be rules that they have to credit in a game who did what, but i guess there's no videogame union so they can do whatever
Click to expand...
I know groundhog day and all but didn't we have like this exact topic a few weeks ago (for the nth time^^).
 
TheMoon said:
I know groundhog day and all but didn't we have like this exact topic a few weeks ago (for the nth time^^).
Click to expand...

I lost the thread literally, couldn't find it on the homepage. And then stumbled back in but thought I was in the tech thread. My apologies
 
Just making sure the thread is aware that i've been keeping the threadmarked Nintendo Pictures post up-to-date, and i've just now reorganised it to seperate Nintendo (for now only video games, but i'm sure this will change) and non-Nintendo credits. Preserved the original post's text in the spoiler tag for sentimental value (i've definitely been proven wrong on them dropping their non-Nintendo roles, lol). In just a year they've already racked up a lot of credits on first-party Nintendo games (some especially notable roles like SMB Wonder and SMRPG, where they contributed to in-game assets), so the clean-up has been necessary for awhile.

I'll continue to keep the post updated as frequently as possible; and like I say at the end of it, please let me know if you spot any credits that are currently absent!

MondoMega said:
- Nintendo Pictures Credits -
Last Updated: 2024/02/04​

Nintendo productions:


Non-Nintendo productions:


Please let me know if you catch any credits missing from the above lists!

Nobody else is doing it as far as I can see, so I may as well start keeping track of Nintendo Pictures credits. I imagine their name is going to be appearing in pretty much all of the major EPD productions going forward after all, as they eventually drop out of their non-Nintendo roles.

I would not be surprised if some miscellaneous animation credits have gone undocumented in the past eight months though; they were always fairly busy, and continued to be credited as Dynamo until around the completion of the acquisition in October 2022 (or even past it in the case of the Precure's 2022 season, where they remained credited as Dynamo through to the final episode in January 2023). If anyone catches a stray credit, let me know!

I can also imagine that some of their post-acquisition work is just not credited anywhere to begin with; they produced a lot of promotional / event / ride videos, the majority of which did not have credits. The old Dynamo Pictures website has gone untouched since the acquisition, and the Nintendo Pictures site doesn't feature a Works page to list said productions, so some of their work will never be properly attributed; just how it is.
Click to expand...
 
I was wondering how Nintendo Pictures would handle their non-Nintendo work. I had assume the acquisition would only finalize when they polished off the last of that stuff, but I guess they are allowed to still contribute, and possibly going by that new Precure credit today, surely that was commissioned after the acquisition, right?

It's like how Nintendo Sales (formerly JESNET) actually does non-Nintendo stuff even now, as their site showed Duel Masters stuff and Monster Hunter figurines.
 
oldpuck said:
I lost the thread literally, couldn't find it on the homepage. And then stumbled back in but thought I was in the tech thread. My apologies
Click to expand...
just making sure: you know there's a "watch thread" button in the top right row of every thread where you can watch threads you regularly check and have them all neatly listed on the "watched" page, right? there's no need to ever "lose" a thread because it's not current on page 1.
 
OctoSplattack said:
Yes, and within the month someone will start theorizing about studio acquisitions.
Click to expand...

Did you see the stuff about Microsoft putting games out on completing platforms? This means Microsoft is going third party -- how the mighty have fallen! [/ManiacalCackling] -- which means Nintendo would be an absolute fool to not take advantage of the situation. Nintendo's purchase of Microsoft is all but guaranteed. And then Microsoft will have failed in obtaining Donkey Kong in the Rareware buyout, but instead will have led to Nintendo's ownership of Rare! After all, what did you think Nintendo's new Donkey Kong banner was meant to indicate? A new game? Oh no, something much grander. Oh yeah, it's on! Like. Donkey! Kong! [/ManiacleCacklingIntensifies]
 
Huh, had no idea Nintendo Pictures was still out here doing non-Nintendo things. Nintendo EPD-developed PreCure game when? (...Okay, I said that as a joke, but if Nintendo can publish Hamtaro and DC Super Hero Girls titles, then why the heck not?)
 
OctoSplattack said:
Huh, had no idea Nintendo Pictures was still out here doing non-Nintendo things. Nintendo EPD-developed PreCure game when? (...Okay, I said that as a joke, but if Nintendo can publish Hamtaro and DC Super Hero Girls titles, then why the heck not?)
Click to expand...
It is largely stuff contracted out prior to their acquisition. PreCure could theoretically happen like Nintendo's Jump and Eyeshield games but, Nintendo is largely aiming for a global audience nowadays. Also Toei and Bandai Namco stand in the way which will likely overcharge before letting Nintendo attempt something that would only do as well as DC Super Hero Girls.
 
Supreme Overlord said:
Did you see the stuff about Microsoft putting games out on completing platforms? This means Microsoft is going third party -- how the mighty have fallen! [/ManiacalCackling] -- which means Nintendo would be an absolute fool to not take advantage of the situation. Nintendo's purchase of Microsoft is all but guaranteed. And then Microsoft will have failed in obtaining Donkey Kong in the Rareware buyout, but instead will have led to Nintendo's ownership of Rare! After all, what did you think Nintendo's new Donkey Kong banner was meant to indicate? A new game? Oh no, something much grander. Oh yeah, it's on! Like. Donkey! Kong! [/ManiacleCacklingIntensifies]
Click to expand...
Finally we‘ll get Windows with a „Nintendo seal of quality“ on it.
 
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TheMoon said:
just making sure: you know there's a "watch thread" button in the top right row of every thread where you can watch threads you regularly check and have them all neatly listed on the "watched" page, right? there's no need to ever "lose" a thread because it's not current on page 1.
Click to expand...
I do know that, but if you don't check the "watched" page it doesn't help ;)
 
OctoSplattack said:
Huh, had no idea Nintendo Pictures was still out here doing non-Nintendo things. Nintendo EPD-developed PreCure game when? (...Okay, I said that as a joke, but if Nintendo can publish Hamtaro and DC Super Hero Girls titles, then why the heck not?)
Click to expand...
While I'm sure the majority of this work was precontracted, I wouldn't be surprised if the studio continued to pursue contract work for a period of time post-acquisition. They're 100+ person studio, it would make sense if Nintendo didn't have an entire animation studios worth of work queued up and ready to go on day one of the acquisition.
 
astrogamer said:
It is largely stuff contracted out prior to their acquisition. PreCure could theoretically happen like Nintendo's Jump and Eyeshield games but, Nintendo is largely aiming for a global audience nowadays. Also Toei and Bandai Namco stand in the way which will likely overcharge before letting Nintendo attempt something that would only do as well as DC Super Hero Girls.
Click to expand...
Yeah, some work would continue on after the studio was acquired due to pre-existing agreements, but it seems like some of these are new. At least, I would imagine that they signed on to do support assistance for Wonderful PreCure after acquisition, or least during the period where Nintendo was openly gunning for studio ownership. (That's me assuming these contracts are on a show-by-show basis as opposed being an "X amount of years" situation.)

The question is how long Nintendo Pictures will do work like this: if staff will soon be all in on Nintendo projects or if we'll continue to see them randomly show up in TV/film credits past 2024 as a side hustle.

(And, yeah, you're right, game probably isn't happening when Bandai Namco already has dibs...unless it's a Studio 2/S joint for some reason.)
 
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N75 said:
The planner position for the 3D Action game Namco is working on has actually been up since Late September - Mid October 2021. The actual page wasn't archived at that point, but the entire job list was. The two artitst positions were added sometime after that, but before February 2022.
Click to expand...

After being up for over two years, applications for all three initial contract jobs for Namco's 3D remaster/remake have been recently closed and are no longer listed on Namco's main recruitment page.

bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオ

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオの採用ページです。新卒採用、キャリア採用、インターンシップ情報などを掲載しています。
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオ

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオの採用ページです。新卒採用、キャリア採用、インターンシップ情報などを掲載しています。
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオ

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオの採用ページです。新卒採用、キャリア採用、インターンシップ情報などを掲載しています。
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

The page for the second artist job was actually straight up deleted at some point after July last year. I noticed it back then, but I thought there was a chance of it being an error.

Not saying an announcement is imminent, but it's interesting that these were all contract jobs. There's a good chance that whatever they were working on is at least close to completion.
 
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N75 said:
After being up for over two years, applications for all three initial contract jobs for Namco's 3D remaster/remake have been recently closed and are no longer listed on Namco's main recruitment page.

bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオ

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオの採用ページです。新卒採用、キャリア採用、インターンシップ情報などを掲載しています。
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオ

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオの採用ページです。新卒採用、キャリア採用、インターンシップ情報などを掲載しています。
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオ

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオの採用ページです。新卒採用、キャリア採用、インターンシップ情報などを掲載しています。
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

The page for the second artist job was actually straight up deleted at some point after July last year. I noticed it back then, but I thought there was a chance of it being an error.

Not saying an announcement is imminent, but it's interesting that these were all contract jobs. There's a good chance that whatever they were working on is at least close to completion.
Click to expand...

The 2D action game listing on the Studio 2/S page is also closed now, curiously. It was the only listing to not explicitly name Nintendo as the contractor but it's probably still worth keeping an eye on.

www.bandainamcostudios.com

ENTRY | Studio 2/Studio S | バンダイナムコスタジオ

バンダイナムコスタジオ内で受託開発案件に特化した「バンダイナムコスタジオ 第2スタジオ/Sスタジオ」公式サイトです。『大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ SPECIAL』『マリオカート8 デラックス』『マリオカート ツアー』 等手がけたタイトルの紹介や社員インタビューなどを掲載し、志高いクリエイター達の参戦を待っています！
www.bandainamcostudios.com www.bandainamcostudios.com
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオ

株式会社バンダイナムコスタジオの採用ページです。新卒採用、キャリア採用、インターンシップ情報などを掲載しています。
bandainamcostudios.snar.jp bandainamcostudios.snar.jp
 
MondoMega said:
Toshikatsu Terashima
  • Background Model Artist / Supervisor for Studio 2 Production 6
  • Listed prior works: Ridge Racer series, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, Mario Kart Tour.
The main trend I see is that everyone listed as Studio S has previously worked on Smash, while the one person solely credited as Studio 2 did not.
Click to expand...
This person worked on Course Design for the MK8D BCP.
MondoMega said:
Keita Noto:
  • Studio 2, Group 2, Production 3
  • Current position: Technical Director
  • Recent works: Go Vacation, Smash 4, Smash Ultimate (Programmer)
Click to expand...
This person was a network library engineer for Tekken 8.

Checked the other interviewees for credits on those titles, but they didn't come up. Glancing through the MobyGames for Tekken 8, Haruki Suzaki wasn't working on it, though a number of other New Snap people were, so it's hard to say what his next project might be.
 
Apopheniac said:
This person worked on Course Design for the MK8D BCP.

This person was a network library engineer for Tekken 8.

Checked the other interviewees for credits on those titles, but they didn't come up. Glancing through the MobyGames for Tekken 8, Haruki Suzaki wasn't working on it, though a number of other New Snap people were, so it's hard to say what his next project might be.
Click to expand...
Didn't Haruki only direct Tekken 5 in the series? I forget, did he work on Soul Calibur ever?
 
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Apopheniac said:
This person worked on Course Design for the MK8D BCP.

This person was a network library engineer for Tekken 8.

Checked the other interviewees for credits on those titles, but they didn't come up. Glancing through the MobyGames for Tekken 8, Haruki Suzaki wasn't working on it, though a number of other New Snap people were, so it's hard to say what his next project might be.
Click to expand...
Looks like the majority of the Snap leads still haven’t been credited since then, with most of them who were only working as support staff on Tekken 8.
 
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So while looking at the Nintendo corporate information https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/officer/index.html I noticed that some roles have been renamed, haven't seen anything about it in the official Nintendo documents.

Shigeru Miyamoto is now a Executive Fellow instead of Fellow.

Shinya Takahashi, Satoru Shibata, Ko Shiota, Takuya Yoshimura now have the roles of Corporate Director instead of Director.

Doug Bowser and Stephan Bale are missing as the Executive Officers at the very bottom of the site.
 
LukasManak22 said:
So while looking at the Nintendo corporate information https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/officer/index.html I noticed that some roles have been renamed, haven't seen anything about it in the official Nintendo documents.

Shigeru Miyamoto is now a Executive Fellow instead of Fellow.

Shinya Takahashi, Satoru Shibata, Ko Shiota, Takuya Yoshimura now have the roles of Corporate Director instead of Director.

Doug Bowser and Stephan Bale are missing as the Executive Officers at the very bottom of the site.
Click to expand...
shigeru miyamoto the future president

/s
 
Grezzo's 2021 recruitment page for their action game has been taken down in the last few days.

www.grezzo.co.jp

株式会社グレッゾ

株式会社グレッゾの公式企業サイトです。
www.grezzo.co.jp www.grezzo.co.jp

Seems to have been replaced with their 2025 graduate hiring push, though these are standard roles and aren't for any project in particular.

web.archive.org

株式会社グレッゾ

株式会社グレッゾの公式企業サイトです。
web.archive.org web.archive.org

Also, new concept art. Doesn't necessarily mean that this is from the new game, but it still looks nice.

newgraduate_recruit_bunner_d.jpg
 
N75 said:
Grezzo's 2021 recruitment page for their action game has been taken down in the last few days.

www.grezzo.co.jp

株式会社グレッゾ

株式会社グレッゾの公式企業サイトです。
www.grezzo.co.jp www.grezzo.co.jp

Seems to have been replaced with their 2025 graduate hiring push, though these are standard roles and aren't for any project in particular.

web.archive.org

株式会社グレッゾ

株式会社グレッゾの公式企業サイトです。
web.archive.org web.archive.org

Also, new concept art. Doesn't necessarily mean that this is from the new game, but it still looks nice.

newgraduate_recruit_bunner_d.jpg
Click to expand...
It looks like a race track in the sky. This concept art is probably from Jet Dragon (Apple Arcade exclusive), not a new game.
 
majimazio said:
It looks like a race track in the sky. This concept art is probably from Jet Dragon (Apple Arcade exclusive), not a new game.
Click to expand...
That would make sense I guess. I think the previous concept art was from Jet Dragon too. Though the roles they were hiring for don't match up.
 
We need to teach the youngsters to flat out and consistently ignore concept art on hiring pages or they'll grow up thinking "maybe it is for a new game I don't know about yet!" before long and with all the bad out in the world, this is one thing we can stomp out. I believe lol.
 
TheMoon said:
We need to teach the youngsters to flat out and consistently ignore concept art on hiring pages or they'll grow up thinking "maybe it is for a new game I don't know about yet!" before long and with all the bad out in the world, this is one thing we can stomp out. I believe lol.
Click to expand...
Yeah like the mythic Monolith Soft 3DS game from that one hiring art. I assume that was hiring for either Project X Zone or one of the 3DS support duties (like Animal Crossing New Leaf or A Link Between Worlds).

HOWEVER that coveted medieval new IP I think has more weight due to how long the pieces have been on their website and the hirings seem independent of the Xenoblade and Zelda projects/teams?
 
LukasManak22 said:
So while looking at the Nintendo corporate information https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/officer/index.html I noticed that some roles have been renamed, haven't seen anything about it in the official Nintendo documents.

Shigeru Miyamoto is now a Executive Fellow instead of Fellow.

Shinya Takahashi, Satoru Shibata, Ko Shiota, Takuya Yoshimura now have the roles of Corporate Director instead of Director.

Doug Bowser and Stephan Bale are missing as the Executive Officers at the very bottom of the site.
Click to expand...
thats very interesting thank you for sharing that
 
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0
Peach Showtime is using Unreal Engine.




Looks better visually / performance wise than Crafted World so i'm glad Good-Feel have improved at using UE.
 
goldrogerii said:
Updated Staff Count according MyNavi

Game Freak: 212 as of November 2023
HAL Labs: 215 as of July 1st 2023
Intelligent System: 175 as of January 2024
Grezzo: 84 as of April 1st 2023
Good Feel: 131 as of January 2024
Eighting: 208 as of September 2023
Click to expand...
Genuine question: are MyNavi numbers reliable? Because Game Freak's jump is huge by their standards (though March '22 to March '23 also was, even if in a smaller way.)

Edit: could that number include contract workers? Which if I remember correctly GF doesn't count on their site.
 
The fact that Princess Peach Showtime has been identified as Unreal Engine further increases the likelihood that they are the developers.
Arzest_Logo.png
 
Evil Lucario said:
Where was Good-Feel confirmed?
Click to expand...

Still not confirmed outright, just my prior assumption. They used UE4 for Crafted World so they’re among the most likely Nintendo-associated studios to be using it. Generally a lot of elements of the game just feel like they gel more with them than, say, Next Level.
 
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