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

For Nintendo they give reliable 3m+ sellers every couple of years to have as their summer game. I understand wanting better for them but Nintendo doesnt care about that that much
Pretty much though the only things I wish they would do is staff up a little more to more consistently support their games & rotate onto more sports.
 
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If that was true we wouldn't get things like Xenoblade Chronicles or Metroid.
I mean you can choose to believe or not but franchises are gonna have to sell relative to their budget or at least maintain sales from previous highs. Having someone influential or a steady studio to pitch a game helps but if you can’t convince someone of the sales potential good luck. You mention Xenoblade but look at Monolith Soft’s track record to get where they are now, including why they can’t pitch a new IP to Nintendo.
 
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If that was true we wouldn't get things like Xenoblade Chronicles or Metroid.
Nintendo wants to make money and they want to make Nintendo games. If money was literally all that mattered they would dissolve the company and buy as much property in Tokyo as possible, a hugely profitable investment.

But if a Nintendo game can’t make money it’s not going to get made. Xenoblade makes money, and it has a dedicated team. They don’t need to be the most profitable games to stick around, because if Nintendo told that team to stop making Xeno games then the core high level talent would leave, all of whom founded Monolith specifically for creative freedom, and arranged the purchase by Nintendo on the back of that freedom.

In return, Xenoblade gives Nintendo a major RPG franchise that won’t leave their consoles for the PlayStation. There is financial value, a central talent who is passionate about the games, and a dedicated team. They'll make Xeno games until one of those three things isn't true.
 
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Hello. It is me again. I made a list of all the people at EPD who have credits as planners on 2D platformers. I included level design, directors, and level design support. I hope I understood the terms correctly.

Some things to note: it doesn't show the full credits for everyone, its mostly focused on last game they were credited for. It lists if they have done something non-planning related as well, since I thought that was important. It goes back to NSMB2.

I list the full credits if the person had lots of non-2D platformer credits since their last, the idea was to see if they went on to other stuff. They can back to 2D platformers of course, but some felt they are now on Splatoon/Zelda.

My idea was to see how many people they already have for 2D Mario. I know they also hired new people for 2D stuff too, and it looks like lots of people not credited with anything recently, so it is good sign.
 

Hello. It is me again. I made a list of all the people at EPD who have credits as planners on 2D platformers. I included level design, directors, and level design support. I hope I understood the terms correctly.

Some things to note: it doesn't show the full credits for everyone, its mostly focused on last game they were credited for. It lists if they have done something non-planning related as well, since I thought that was important. It goes back to NSMB2.

I list the full credits if the person had lots of non-2D platformer credits since their last, the idea was to see if they went on to other stuff. They can back to 2D platformers of course, but some felt they are now on Splatoon/Zelda.

My idea was to see how many people they already have for 2D Mario. I know they also hired new people for 2D stuff too, and it looks like lots of people not credited with anything recently, so it is good sign.
What are planners anyway? I always see those in credits but I dont understand what they mean. Are planners just game designers?
 
Quoted by: N75
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What are planners anyway? I always see those in credits but I dont understand what they mean. Are planners just game designers?
Pretty much. In most Nintendo games prior to the Switch era, game designers were listed under “Planning”, whereas artists were credited under “Design”. Though there are also a number of times where artists end up working on game design.
 
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A bit random, but I noticed that many sites list HAL as a co-developer for the Pokemon Stadium games, but I can’t really find any sources for this other than Iwata’s contribution in coverting the battle system to the 64. HAL doesn’t even list the games on their site.

Benimaru Itoh was one of the two Pokemon Modeling Directors, but it seems like he was working at Creatures back then. There’s a bit of crossover with the early Smash games and Snap, where we know Creatures assisted.

EAD definitely handled most aspects, whereas Pokemon modeling was primarily done by Creatures.
 
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Footage is cropped but here are some tidbits:

  • Seita Inoue and Shintaro Sato return as the Art and Programming Directors, respectively. I can't see Yusuke Amano here, but I assume he's been cut off from the video itself (edit: turns out he isn't credited at all)
  • There are a lot more people credited for game design and programming compared to Splatoon 1/2.
  • Kenta Usui worked on the game design after being involved in several EPD 2 projects, including the level design lead on both Good Feel Yoshi games
  • Confirmed composers are: Toshiyuki Sudo, Toru Minegishi, Ryo Nagamatsu, Shiho Fujii, Yumi Takahashi, Sayako Doi.
  • Companies credited under "Special Thanks": Bandai Namco Singapore & Malaysia, Lemon Sky Studios, Digital Media Lab., Agni-Flare, Monolith Software, Applibot, SRD.
 
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Splatoon 3 credits (minus localization and some Art staff)


So it turns out that Yusuke Amano isn't credited at all. I wonder if he's moved onto a different project? If he left sometime during production, he would have likely gotten a Special Thanks credit like Isao Moro did in New Horizons.

Like @EAD Ninja mentioned, Mario Club staff are being credited for Game Design more frequently now.

Something else is Toshiharu Izuno getting a Special Thanks credit. He hasn't been credited as a producer or project manager since the BiS remake in 2018. Wasn't he EPD 2 as well? We've seen some sort of shakeup with that division recently.
 
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Am I to understand that Inoue and Sato both filled in for the overall director role for 3 in Amano's absence?
 
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  • About 100 EPD Staff, 21 Mario Club, 7 SRD,
    • Working on tracking the art support staff
  • Speculation: Amano could be working on either the new 2D Mario or a new IP.
    • Some other key Splatoon 2 staff not present (Jordan Amaro)

  • EPD in-house production formula looks consistent... Nintendo allocates about 50-100 internal staff per project, (Nintendo Switch Sports, Splatoon 3)
    • then adds their subsidiary support (Mario Club, SRD, 1-UP, Monolith)
    • then adds their contract / outsource support (Namco-Bandai Studios SE Asia, Digital Media Lab, Access Games, Bee Tribe, Lemon Sky, etc.
 
I really want to see what else EPD are up to, internally. We've had a little drip feed the last 2 years with Game Builder Garage, Splatoon 3, and Switch Sports, but there's clearly more going on. Wondering if Nintendo are prepping a big wave of internal titles to launch either side of new hardware (Zelda, 2D Mario, 3D Mario seem certain to come in 2023/24 - what about DK, or new IP, or a reboot? What about Tomodachi?).
 
Cool to see how versatile many of Nintendo's composers are. Minegishi (Twilight Princess) and Nagamatsu (Link Between Worlds) have major Zelda cred, Fujii has been all over the place including Zelda (Skyward Sword), 2D Mario (NSMBU) and Mario Kart (8 - Cloud Top Cruise). Splatoon has this super quirky style that they apparently are also able to segue to.

Also with that amount of composers this soundtrack might be huge...
 
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Maybe EPD expanded to be able to rely less on Monolith? Makes sense, maybe it could be a slight hint at Monolith Kyoto being more ready for their own game soon?
It would make sense seeing as some people from 2 aren't in 3. Especially after the success of Splatoon 2, maybe EPD wanted to have a more expansive internal team (now that they felt Splatoon was a great franchise) and free up people that worked on 2 to work on other projects.
 
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Splatoon 2 ended major support in 2019

Tsubasa Sakaguchi hasn't directed anything since Labo VR in 2019

Clearly he and Amano are teaming up again to make a new IP
 
Maybe EPD expanded to be able to rely less on Monolith? Makes sense, maybe it could be a slight hint at Monolith Kyoto being more ready for their own game soon?
Not specific to Monolith, but they mentioned something a long the lines of relying less on outsourcing in relation to a story regarding their recruitment/new building.
 
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This is probably a long shot, but could Yusuke Amano could be working on Star Fox based on 64 3D?
furry mass effect
Splatoon 2 ended major support in 2019

Tsubasa Sakaguchi hasn't directed anything since Labo VR in 2019

Clearly he and Amano are teaming up again to make a new IP
Amano has the clout and the experience in genres that NIntendo aren't privy to, so I wonder if it's another Nintendo spin on an un-Nintendo genre
 
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