Gamecube Developer Profile: EAD

December 15, 2000 - Welcome to our Developer Profiles section. Through a partnership with site www.n-sider.com, we will bring you new, analytical write-ups on the biggest Japanese, European and US development houses working on GameCube software today. Learn the history, the philosophy, the present and the future of each respective software house. You might even pick up something you never knew before.

Profile: EAD
Pioneers of the Renaissance

Nintendo is the world's leading videogame software company. As much as devoted players know about the games released, many Nintendo fans are completely unaware of the developer within Nintendo which has created all their favorite games. Nintendo EAD is the core development team inside Nintendo's Kyoto, Japan office and is the leader of the triad of development firms featuring EAD, Intelligent Systems, and HAL Laboratory. Led by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, EAD is known as one of the pioneers in revolutionizing the way the public plays and perceives videogames. The team is much more than a group of designers, artists, and programmers thrown together. EAD is the Pablo Picasso of the videogame industry, with a record of creating the Mona Lisa on numerous occasions.

The Beginning

Nintendo Co., Ltd.'s (NCL's) primary console and arcade development was originally based on its Kyoto, Japan in-house team simply known as R&D.; The R&D;'s were first started by Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi and Hiroshi Imanishi when Nintendo decided to venture into the videogame industry. The development group's codename simply stood for Research and Development. Nintendo's R&D; department was split into four different teams. R&D1; was overseen by legendary producer and designer Gunpei Yokoi, R&D2; was headed by Masayuki Uemura, R&D3; worked under Genyo Takeda, and R&D4; was led by rookie game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.

Nintendo's R&D2; team concentrated its efforts on Nintendo's hardware ventures. R&D2; was responsible for researching, designing, and developing everything from chipsets to controller functions. The R&D2; team was often assigned many secret experimental projects for Nintendo. Masayuki Uemura would work frequently with Gunpei Yokoi and R&D1; on arcade and portable hardware, as well as video game software support. Their relationship was very important. In fact, it was Gunpei Yokoi who first recruited Uemura from Sharp electronics to work at Nintendo.

Nintendo's R&D3; team and R&D3; general manager, Genyo Takeda, was responsible for much of the technical design for Nintendo, like the bank switching and later the many MMC chips Nintendo used inside its NES cartridges. Besides being the primary group when it came to software technology and hardware tools, R&D3; also would moonlight as a video game development team. Whenever R&D3; had enough free resources, it would develop its own line of videogame software. R&D3;'s first projects included an arcade game titled Punch-Out.

Nintendo's primary two console software development studios were Gunpei Yokoi's R&D1; and Shigeru Miyamoto's R&D4.; Though Gunpei Yokoi's R&D1; team was originally the main console developer for Nintendo, having been established in the 1970's, young artist and game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and his R&D4; team slowly but surely overtook that role.

Miyamoto first started working at Nintendo as Yokoi's apprentice, and was a game designer on the R&D1; team. Once Miyamoto broke out with the successful creation of Donkey Kong, Nintendo promoted Miyamoto and handed him a talented group of programmers, artists, and designers to work with. Miyamoto's newly created R&D4; was now in direct competition with Yokoi's R&D1; team. This competition provided a fertile spawning ground for some of the most successful game products ever created. In reference to Hiroshi Yamauchi, one Nintendo employee simply stated, "we lived for his praise". By pitting his development teams against each other, Yamauchi was able to keep his designers on edge, even during the days when Nintendo had a near monopoly on the game industry.

R&D4; was created officially in 1984 inside NCL's Kyoto-based headquarters. Miyamoto, who also was a talented artist, began to design characters he would use in the team's first games. Shigeru Miyamoto decided to take the small mustached man he used in Donkey Kong, and build upon the character. He decided to name the "jumpman" Mario after discussions with Nintendo's creative team. Mario was actually the name of Nintendo's New York HQ landlord. Miyamoto went with the Italian theme, and created a brother for Mario named Luigi. The first official Mario game was still developed under R&D1;, since R&D4; was not ready for actual game development at the time. As he did for Donkey Kong, Miyamoto designed and directed the title with R&D1;'s programmers. The game which was first released in the arcades, was another smash hit.

Pioneers at Work

Shortly after, R&D4; officially started development on the Famicom (NES) console. Miyamoto's first projects included a sequel to Mario Bros and a new type of game going by the name The Legend of Zelda. Super Mario Bros took Miyamoto's Mario concept and expanded on it dramatically. The game now featured full horizontal side-scrolling levels, full of different enemies and obstacles. Not only was the game remembered for its spot on control and perfect mix of challenge and playability, but for Miyamoto's inventiveness in creating the Mario world, full of magical Goombas, flying turtles, and giant toadstools.

Upon the release of Super Mario Bros., it was instantly proclaimed the must have title for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It not only became the flagship title for the system, but the sole reason to buy the system for many casual gamers who never played a video game until Super Mario Bros. As successful as Nintendo was with the game at the time, little did the company know that Super Mario Bros would go on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide.

In 1986, Shigeru Miyamoto and R&D4; were putting the finishing touches on a new game, titled The Legend of Zelda. Nintendo took a different approach with this one. The company anticipated that they had another Miyamoto blockbuster on their hands. As a result, Nintendo launched a giant advertising campaign for the game. The Legend of Zelda starred a new Nintendo character who went by the name of Link. Link, who appeared like a mix between Lancelot, Robin Hood, and a Christmas elf, had one sole mission: to rescue Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon. Though the story seemed very akin to Mario saving the Princess from the evil Bowser, Miyamoto's new adventure epic sucked players into its charming world for hours with its completely revolutionary game mechanics.

The Legend of Zelda featured an RPG-like overhead perspective of the main character, allowing the player to steer Link in any direction. Featuring weapon shops, dungeons, puzzles, mazes, and the ability to save your quest on a battery built into the cartridge, The Legend of Zelda made for a very exciting and unique experience. R&D4;'s game design coupled with Nintendo's marketing blitz paid off, as the title went on to sell millions of copies worldwide.

Although Gunpei Yokoi and R&D1; would create the most abundant software for the NES/Famicom console, Miyamoto and R&D4; had clearly struck gold with their two franchises, Super Mario and Zelda. Mario and Link weren't simply video game characters, they had taken on Disney-like proportions as far as popularity went, and were key to growth and acceptance of the game industry as a whole. Kid Icarus and Metroid, which were arguably better overall games, didn't have as much appeal, or as good word-of-mouth to sell as well as Miyamoto's gems. Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi was definitely taking notice in Shigeru Miyamoto's talents in video game design. Just as Universal Studios had hit the proverbial "jackpot" with a young, startup director named Steven Spielberg, Yamauchi was beginning to see that he too had something big on his hands.

In the meantime, Genyo Takeda's less prolific R&D3; didn't do too shabby, either. They were without a doubt the smallest R&D; video game maker at Nintendo, due to having split responsibilities between software and hardware support. The development group did, however, come up with some very popular franchises such as Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and Star Tropics. R&D3; also specialized in Nintendo's line of sports games; the team developed Ice Hockey, Pro Wrestling, and NES Play Action Football amongst other titles. Many of those games went on to sell extremely well worldwide. In retrospect, it's surprising Nintendo did not throw more backing into this group.

Mario and Zelda quickly exploded into more than just video games for Nintendo. Both became properties that would appear on cartoons, comic books, cards, cereal boxes, toy figures, and movies. Nintendo, for the first time, was raking in profits without lifting a finger. Many outside companies were paying Nintendo for use of their popular characters. Miyamoto would not only design and produce his team's titles, he managed to create off-beat characters that seemed to strike a chord with nearly every conceivable demographic. Miyamoto's artistic talents and creative vision meshed perfectly with Nintendo's design philosophy. Gamers around the world ate up Nintendo's creations with a fervor that no one could've predicted.

Miyamoto and R&D4; would end up developing sequels to Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda on the NES. Super Mario Bros 2 was released in Japan to great success. Nintendo, at the same time, had a team developing a title called Doki Doki Panic. Miyamoto, who was involved in development of the game, took great interest in the title. For marketing purposes, Nintendo decided to use the Super Mario license for the USA and European release of Doki Doki Panic, because of the original title's eccentric character. Miyamoto and his team redesigned many elements of the game's levels, mechanics, and character design, while still using the core engine. Out of that, the westernized version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was born. The title was released around the same time as another spectacular R&D4; Nintendo sequel, The Legend of Zelda: The Adventures of Link.

The new incarnations of Mario and Zelda both once again sold millions of copies worldwide, which did nothing but add fuel to the fire Nintendo was building. Miyamoto and R&D4;, at the time, were already deep into a new Mario project, which would be the greatest and last Mario title on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario Bros 3 was eventually released after nearly two years of development. The game took the world by storm and would end up selling near fifteen million copies.

In 1987, Shigeru Miyamoto teamed up with friend and freelance game designer Shigesato Itoih to develop Mother for the Famicom. The game was a very off-beat RPG that featured flying saucers and space aliens. Mother was released in 1989 by a mixed team of programmers from R&D3; and R&D4;, directed by Shigesato Itoih and under the supervision of Shigeru Miyamoto. The title sold very well in Japan, and Nintendo contemplated bringing it to the USA. Infact, Nintendo went as far as translating the title to English before deciding to leave it as a Japan-only game.

Gunpei Yokoi and R&D1; would eventually move on to develop software for Nintendo's newest invention, the Game Boy. Yokoi was the brains behind the Game Boy hardware, and while Nintendo was quickly becoming the "house that Miyamoto built", it was clear the old toy maker had a few tricks up his sleeve. While R&D3; and R&D4; handled console development, R&D1; would solely support the Game Boy. Eventually, R&D1; would split into Intelligent Systems and R&D; Game Boy (EAD Game Boy).

The Rebirth of Nintendo

Nintendo began development for its Super Famicom (SNES) console in early 1990. It was at this point that Nintendo decided on a dramatic change for its R&D; teams. Miyamoto's R&D4; team merged with a few members of R&D1;, R&D2;, and the majority of R&D3; to form Entertainment, Analysis and Development (EAD). This new "all-star" team of game designing talent was led by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. EAD's first projects for the Super Nintendo were Super Mario World, Pilotwings, Sim City, and F-Zero.

EAD was given about 15 months to complete the SNES launch titles. There was definitely pressure on the newly formed development group to create software that would be deemed as revolutionary and steal the spotlight from Sega's 16-bit Genesis system. All four first generation games were completed on time and were embraced emphatically by both the gaming media and consumers. Super Mario World continued in the tradition of well-crafted and innovative Mario games. Pilotwings and F-Zero were not only great tech demos for the Super NES, but they also revolutionized their respective genres. Sim City, on the other hand, was based on the Maxis PC title of the same name. EAD's programmers merely ported the title themselves for the Super Nintendo system. This added even more variety to Nintendo's first-generation 16-bit offerings.

Nintendo EAD continued to flourish on the SNES by creating exciting titles like Super Mario Kart, Super Mario All-Stars, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Punch-Out, and other magnificent titles. Super Mario Kart, in particular, created a new franchise and sub-genre of its own. The game starred the familiar gang of Mario characters like Mario, Luigi, Toad, Bowser, and Princess Peach. Instead of trying the foil the schemes of Bowser (or vice-versa), Mario and company were now in control of small race karts, launching turtle shells and banana peels at each other. The game became Nintendo's biggest hit since Mario and Zelda and popularized the "split-screen" multiplayer layout, which would serve as a cornerstone for several Nintendo titles in the years to come.

In 1992, Nintendo's EAD team started working with Argonaut Software to create a 3D chip technology that could be merged into cartridges and would allow the Super Nintendo to display polygons. Argonaut and EAD tested the technology by making an unnamed 3D spaceship shooter. Miyamoto and EAD decided to turn the tech demo into a game. EAD came up with the characters and level design while Argonaut assisted with the 3D system programming. From their joint collaboration, Star Fox was born. Star Fox became a truly revolutionary title for Nintendo, sporting a very different look than any other game at the time. Nintendo's EAD team decided to continue to work with the FX chip on future Super Nintendo titles. EAD then developed Yoshi's Island, Stunt Race FX, and a never released Star Fox 2 with the FX technology.

A New Era

Nintendo was gearing up for its new premier console, the Nintendo 64. The system was a drastic step in a different direction as it was built as a 3D machine. EAD once again went to work to provide the initial launch software for the system. EAD's first two projects were 3D sequels. One was a 3D sequel to its most popular game franchise, Mario. The other was more of a reintroduction to a 2D racer released quietly on the Game Boy. Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64 took up a huge amount of EAD's resources. Mario in particular required an army-sized staff.

Nintendo was translating a popular 2D platformer into a 3D system, as its showcase launch software. If the game turned out anything but spectacular, Nintendo would have been in a great deal of trouble. Wave Race 64 was also a very big project; it was Nintendo's first 3D racer, and it employed some very life-like waves and physics. The game started off using "hoverboat machines" that raced against each other, similar to F-Zero set on water. As development went on, however, EAD decided that using human racers on jetskis would provide a better visual dynamic for the game's precise analog control.

Three other EAD teams began N64 development, midway through Wave Race 64 and Super Mario 64. Star Fox 64 was picked up by the Super NES Star Fox 2 team, Yoshi's Story was picked up by the Yoshi's Island SNES team, and Mario Kart 64 was done by the last remaining EAD R&D; available.

Super Mario 64 was released with the Nintendo 64 on launch day, with Wave Race 64 trailing by a couple of months. Both games shocked the world, and to this day have not met an equal. EAD's Mario Kart 64 and Star Fox 64 were released months later, both sold extremely well. However, there was a general consensus that neither of the games met all the demands of fans who enjoyed the previous installments.

The Nintendo 64 also faced some hardships. Nintendo's cartridge format was isolating third party developers. Hardly any third party teams would support Nintendo, and those who did often worked on half-hearted projects. Nintendo's solution was a disk drive system first titled the Bulky Drive. The Bulky Drive proposed to use 64 megabyte disks that would allow rewritability as well as costing half of what 16 megabyte cartridges were costing at the time. Nintendo EAD along with Intelligent Systems (R&D1;), Seta (a closely tied developer to Nintendo), and HAL Labs (recently merged) began investing heavy R&D; into Nintendo's coup de grace.

Nintendo EAD was also nearly done with several Nintendo 64 projects as 1997 drew to a close. After releasing the Takashi Tezuka and Yoshi's Island team developed Yoshi's Story in late 1997, Nintendo turned its attention to finishing up other projects. Yoshi's Story unfortunately turned out to be mediocre and is regarded as Nintendo's most disappointing title in recent years. Nintendo EAD continued to push ahead with 1080 Snowboarding, F-Zero X, and the once 64DD bound, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. 1080 Snowboarding was being developed in-house at EAD, and Giles Goddard, who did programming on Star Fox and Stunt Race FX, was handling the lead programming role. F-Zero X was in development by most of the Wave Race 64 team, while the other half assisted Goddard on 1080 Snowboarding.

While EAD's resources were being sucked up by N64 projects as well as jointly developed projects with NCL R&D; team HAL Labs (Pokemon Stadium and Super Smash Brothers), The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was definitely a big production, sucking up a great deal of resources at Nintendo EAD. The game was already roughly two years into development. The slow development process was due to everything from figuring out how to make the Zelda universe work in 3D, to the title's shifting from a 64DD game to the cartridge format. Nintendo had very high expectations for the game, and rightfully so, as it was as highly demanded as the ten million plus selling Super Mario 64. When Nintendo EAD finally released the title in November 1998, the big N's patience paid off, as the game was awarded Game of the Year by several game publications and went on to sell over seven million copies world wide.

Trials of Production

After Zelda: Ocarina of Time was completed, EAD began a period of heavy R&D; experimentation. Shigeru Miyamoto and NCL's board of directors were concentrating on steering Nintendo into making some very unconventional games that could perhaps provide new experiences to the gaming community tired of seeing yearly sequels and shameless imitations. Nintendo was losing heavy ground in Japan, and it's biggest properties could only take them so far. Nintendo EAD took some different approaches by collaborating with Treasure on Sin and Punishment, Makoto Tezuka (director) on Emperor of the Jungle, Hudson Software on Mario Party, Paradigm on Pilotwings 64 II, Camelot Software Planning on Mario Golf and Mario Tennis, and the scenario writers at Flagship, which included Capcom's Mr. Okamoto, on two Zelda cart compilation Game Boy titles. Nintendo also continued experimenting with its own game titles with a couple of N64 Zelda's, Mario 64 II, 1080 Snowboarding II, a series of editing game software titled Mario Artist, new communication games, and Cabbage, a monster breeding game in development for Nintendo's 64DD.

All was quiet in the land of Nintendo. The Nintendo 64DD suffered constant delays and its games accompanied it. Nintendo slowly began to cancel and redirect all its projects. Pilotwings 64 II, 1080 Snowboarding II, Mario 64 II, Cabbage, and Emperor of the Jungle were all terminated. Miyamoto and NCL, which was producing the Paradigm developed Pilotwings sequel had neither the time nor the desire to complete the project. The other titles were all cancelled due to Nintendo, perhaps, wanting to use the R&D; for another reason. No matter the intent, it was clear Nintendo fans were definitely going to miss a plethora of once hopeful Nintendo EAD developed titles.

EAD's next software release came in the spring of 2000 when The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was completed. This new game used the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time engine. A second 'semi-sequel' Zelda game for the 64DD had also been in development at the same time as Majora's Mask. This 64DD Zelda was actually completed, but Nintendo chose not to release the game given the non-existent 64DD market. Still, EAD did eventually release the Mario Artist series and the F-Zero X Expansion Kit for the ill-fated disk drive add-on. Currently EAD is planning to release its last Nintendo 64 game in late 2001, titled Animal Forest.

One of the more frustrating things within NCL during the N64 days has been the fact that development production was actually decreasing as time went on. While in its first year of development, Nintendo EAD released five Nintendo 64 titles, Nintendo EAD never released more than three titles a year on the Nintendo 64 after that. Even with N64 development becoming easier and the staff required for each project decreased, almost every Nintendo N64 title fell behind schedule.

The Future of Nintendo

It is no secret that EAD is currently leading Nintendo's group once again in developing innovative software for the Nintendo Gamecube and Gameboy Advance. Shigeru Miyamoto has hinted at five to seven internal titles for the Gamecube Japan launch. What will EAD create next? When it comes to the team that brought us Zelda, Mario, Yoshi, 1080 Snowboarding, Wave Race, Punch-Out, Pilotwings, and F-Zero... there are no guarantees.

Nintendo EAD continues to be the heart of Nintendo. It is the reason Nintendo is where it is today, and the reason Nintendo will continue to be successful in the future. EAD also acts as a support staff for other Nintendo developers. EAD routintely dispatches programmers and artists to work with its in-house cousins at HAL Labs and Intelligent Systems. EAD even has producers and directors who contribute and produce Nintendo's American in-house games. The design house, however, is probably best known for its remarkable ability to constantly add innovative features to its games while staying focused on game control and play. EAD's philosophy is admirable, its efforts are inspiring, and the imagination behind EAD games is nothing short of majestic.

This developer profile has been provided by our partners at www.n-sider.com.

Written by Anthony JC and Pete Deol

Feel free to send any feedback to the article's authors by clicking on their names above. Or, tell the IGNcube editors what you thought of the piece by clicking on this link.