Some EPD Project Leads to look out for. Though I should preface this with something EAD Ninja brought up a while ago, in that leads can go years without being credited due to prototypes/projects being re-tooled or scrapped. A director that has been absent for a while doesn't necessarily mean that they'll appear soon. A good example is
Yoshikazu Yamashita, who was not credited on anything between Super Mario Maker (2015) and Nintendo Switch Sports (2022). We know now that the latter's development was essentially restarted at one point. Mobile games and those without defined endings (particularly for EPD 4, though they've gotten better about this lately) tend to be released with no credits, which can obscure things further.
Tsubasa Sakaguchi - One of the directors for Splatoon 1 who then went to EPD 4 to create the Nintendo LABO series. His last known credit was for the LABO VR Kit in April 2019. He may have worked on Game Builder Garage as a Producer/Co-Producer, but even then, that was more than two years ago. Likely working on a new IP based on his trajectory.
Hiroshi Matsunaga - Director of Ring Fit Adventure, which released in October 2019. Also worked on Mario Kart Live as a Producer. I find it hard to believe that Nintendo will see the huge success of RFA and do nothing.
Kenta Kubo - Director of the Switch entries for Brain Training and Big Brain Academy, which were developed in collaboration with indieszero. Probably the hardest one to predict here. Indieszero has recently been busy with Theatrhythm and is potentially working on the Retro Game Challenge 1 + 2 remasters, so Kubo's next title may be something wholly internal or with another development partner. One thing of note is that
Masami Yone and
Takafumi Masaoka, known for their work on the Rhythm Heaven series, also worked on Big Brain Academy with Kubo. It isn't much to grasp onto, but maybe that series will finally make a return?
Aya Kyogoku - Known for her work on Animal Crossing. It's a no-brainer that she'll be involved with the next game, whether that be as a director or producer.
Yusuke Amano - His last directorial credit was Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion in July 2018 and presumably stayed on Splatoon 2 until the last major update almost exactly a year later. He was credited as the Planning Supervisor for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which may imply that he's still a part of EPD 5. Now that
Shiro Mouri is confirmed as the director Super Mario Bros. Wonder, it's likely that Amano is heading a new project. I've also brought up in the past that producer
Toshiharu Izuno has had no major credits since Late 2018, only two Special Thanks on New Horizons and Splatoon 3.
Takehiko Hosokawa / Fumi Hayashi - Director/Co-Director of Metroid: Samus Returns and vice versa for Metroid Dread. Almost definitely working with MercurySteam again on the next 2D Metroid.
Ryutaro Takahashi - Director of the Tomodachi series and Miitomo. The latter shut down in May 2018. With how well Tomodachi Life sold, I think there's a good chance we'll see another title in the future.
Kenta Motokura - Director of Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario Odyssey. He could have also moved to a Producer/Co-Producer role. Not much else to say here.
Shinya Hiratake - Director of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Now, Hiratake could easily just be a level design lead on the next 3D Mario, but he seemingly directed the Switch ports of both Captain Toad and 3D World (and by extension, Bowser's Fury) in collaboration with NST. With NST's pipeline likely being full for a while with F-ZERO 99 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, could Hiratake be the lead on EPD Tokyo's 2D Action Game?
Masaaki Ishikawa / Yusuke Shiraiwa - I've grouped these two together because I could see either one being in charge of the next Mario Kart game. Ishikawa is credited with
Kosuke Yabuki under "Mario Kart Supervisor" in Mario Kart Live, while Shiraiwa is known to have worked on Mario Kart Tour. Regardless, with the Booster Course Pass wrapping up soon, the next title will be shown sooner or later.
Kenta Sato - One of three directors of ARMS. Unlike some of the known EPD 9 leads, Sato is not known to have worked on Mario Kart Tour. Nintendo actively wanted Min Min in Smash, which could mean that the IP will return in the future. Or he could just be a programming lead on Mario Kart.
Yugo Hayashi - With Tour no longer receiving any new content, Hayashi could potentially return to consoles. Perhaps a new Star Fox? Probably not.
Then there's whatever is going on with EPD 1. The group was being managed by
Hitoshi Yamagami, but he completely disappeared from credits after Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX in March 2020 outside of Special Thanks. To make things even stranger, all of the known EPD 1 leads and series have been moved to EPD 2 (Kirby, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, etc.). Maybe we'll finally get an answer once new hardware drops, whenever that actually happens.
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