Every Nintendo Development Team EXPLAINED

[@andredelacerdasantos4439]

This video should explode and the EPD terms should become standard in any discussion of upcoming Nintendo games, it'll make it MUCH easier to know what to expect and know which games to purchase based on what games from each studio resonated with the player

[@BackLogBanter0]

Feel free to share it with more people or use it as a resource! That’s exactly what we made it for

[@Bloops]

Crazy. I always thought Miyamoto crafted Pikmin 4 by himself out of wood and wires. I had a lot of fun watching, and the editing and pacing was really nice and puts a sweet bow on everything.

[@BBWahoo]

But it was, I refuse to believe pikmin 4 isn't made out of japanese nosehair magic!

[@haydenhouts]

a team of coordinated people working together to engineer a masterful experience? Blasphemy! It’s always been magically produced by the Video Game Wizard Miyamoto

[@_G.C]

​@@haydenhoutsRight? What's next, you're going to tell me more than one person developed smash?

[@DanBlabbers]

This video was actually very underwhelming. Just saying 1-10 of the teams either no backstory or history is very pointless. Obviously the same people who did Metroid didn’t do Mariokart or animal crossing. But just saying what number did what is stupid

[@sc3ku]

you’re thinking of Yoshi’s Crafted World

[@Nova_Plus2511]

Honestly seeing nintendos teams layed out like this makes some of their more weird decisions kinda make sense

[@BackLogBanter0]

Yeah, they do some strange stuff

[@TMS-Oddbot]

Yes, now I can just say, "Ah, there goes EPD4 again with their crazy ideas."

[@PACKY231]

@@TMS-Oddbot Thank you for the laugh, I needed that! I don't know why your comment got me so much haha

[@ilucasz]

It makes easier to know what to expect from each project.

[@NoxideActive]

"Nintendo isn't a Monolith" Missed a prime opportunity to say "however it does own a Monolith"

[@BackLogBanter0]

DAMN

[@James2210]

Monolith Soft

[@BBWahoo]

​@@James2210 Monolith HARD

[@LleytonSPD]

Dang so true tho! Monolithsoft truly is xenobased

[@A-Spoto]

No, Prime was made by RetroStudios

[@Delpino666]

Nice in-depth analysis, but you forgot EPD11 which is the team that develops mainline F-Zero games. They are locked in a basement in Kyoto and aren't allowed to go near a computer.

[@BackLogBanter0]

The gun pointed at the back of my head suggested to me that it would be best to skip them

[@NE0_Messi]

Hey, the algorithm is doing something right for once... it's been recommending smaller channels with gems like these! Great vid :)

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thank you so much! Our stuff has barely ever gotten shared by the algorithm… but we have years of great discussions if youd like to go back and check them out. Feel free to join our discord server (the link is in the description) if you’d like a place to nerd out about Nintendo!

[@antusFireNova]

KZbin's been doing that more recently

[@BackLogBanter0]

Feels good after years of doing this to finally be caught by the algorithm

[@IDKisReal2401]

The third video in the watch next menu is almost always a video with less than a hundred views

[@juanrodriguez9971]

Same, but in my case I guess that's because I blocked lots of "big" channels I didn't care about, so they were running out of channels to recommend

[@icalivy]

My cousin's husband works at the Nintendo team at Paris and they worked on the Mario Kart Live Home Circuit motion controls and a bunch of other projects that never came to light

[@gijsvanoeffelen1162]

Do you know what those other unreleased projects are? I am kind of curious

[@icalivy]

@@gijsvanoeffelen1162 I don't know details except Paris team is the technical side of Nintendo that comes up with creative ideas for other departments to utilize (like control types or concepts) we were just on a family vacation and my cousin's husband doesn't even have a switch but we played overcooked though and burnt the kitchen down

[@tiagogarcia4900]

The video I never knew I wanted. I do love how many of these just "make sense", like a team only for zelda, or the helper teams with a million credits. But be almost a different company depending on which one you work on.

[@Mimi.1001]

A follow-up video with Nintendos long-standing partners and external studios would be nice ^^. While those are kinda more well-known (HAL doing Kirby games, Intelligent Systems Fire Emblem etc.), their role in support is often overlooked (Monolith helps a ton, Retro Studios did as well in the past). Personally I can't really grasp what 1UP-Studio really does. An overview over which studios Nintendo actually owns (not that many compared to other publishers) and which are just very close partners, but formally independent might be helpful aswell. Oh, and this video is great by the way :D (Thanks to Jon Cartwright for the recommendation)

[@BackLogBanter0]

That’s an idea I’ve been considering, I feel like most people just know a few basic parters but the history of Nintendo’s relationships with groups like NDCube, Mercury Steam, Arika, and now even ArtePiazza and Velan… there’s a ton to learn and talk about. Jon is a great guy, we have a discussion about ExciteBots with him if you’re interested! Also, feel free to join our discord community (link in the description) if you want a place to talk about this sort of super specific gaming stuff!

[@PIKMINROCK1]

Retro doesn't do a whole lot of support, just Mario Kart 7 since it was in-between the DKC games and Nintendo needed Mario Kart for the holidays. For 1-Up, they were formed Mana developers as Brownie Brown that developed their own games until Nintendo decided to enlist their help for the 3D Mario games. This led to an exodus and rename to 1-Up Studio. Early efforts were largely asset work but the team retained some planners that did some design for Odyssey, Ring Fit and Bowser's Fury.

[@ericriley1985]

Oh, definitely. A follow-up about Nintendo's first party subsidiaries and second party collaborators/partners sounds great.

[@jiaverse]

⁠​⁠@@BackLogBanter0I’d love to see this video, I have no clue which studios have working relationships w Nintendo and which ones are just owned by them now,,

[@PScoopYT]

1UP Studio nowadays can be described as a support studio for 3D Mario games, doing works with the 3D Mario team.

[@PhilSantiago]

My doctor: "When did the throbbing pressure in your head start?" Me: "When I watched this awesome video from Back Log Banter teaching me about every Nintendo Development team." My doctor [speaking into walkie talkie, for some reason]: "Inform the CDC we've got another BLB case."

[@BackLogBanter0]

The cases are mounting

[@SinisterPixel]

My takeaway from this is let EPD9 assist on a Pokemon game. Because they seriously know how to make visually stunning games which also perform well, and God knows Pokemon needs some of that.

[@BackLogBanter0]

ARMS is still visually impressive!!

[@SinisterPixel]

@@BackLogBanter0 Mario Kart 8 is still visually impressive and with the exception of 4 player split screen where the frame rate takes a dip, it runs like butter!

[@drgabi18]

Oh yeah, a funny thing about NST is that you can just see the developers/artists/producers on Twitter just tweeting about "I did X Y Z for the newest game", the girl who made the design and model for Mario in the latest Mario and Donkey Kong game just tweeted her contributions out and that she's proud, which is really cool.

[@samt3412]

One of the stranger things about the EPD studios is the way the numbers are assigned. You'd think the 3D Mario team would be team 1 or 2, but they're team 8 and the first 2 teams are teams that assist outside developers.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Yeah, I wonder why they chose that order

[@hollylucianta6711]

@@BackLogBanter0 7 and 8 are lucky numbers in Japan. Maybe Nintendo is superstitious?

[@ausgod538]

​@@BackLogBanter0The numbers don't really matter it's just to identify each department internally honestly

[@PIKMINROCK1]

Just a couple notes. For EPD 2, the head seems to be Toyokazu Nonaka and has been for several years. several of the Western projects which were under the purview of Tanabe and Terasaki were moved to EPD 2 (namely NST and also the Switch port of DKCTF along with stuff like Stretchers, Snipperclips and Good Job). Also worth noting many series under EPD 2 have dedicated producer like Akira Kinashi for Pokemon, Genki Yokota for Fire Emblem and Xenoblade and Toshiaki Suzuki for Mario Party. For EPD6, we should mention that this Switch for Warioware happened when SPD1 and SDD joined EAD shortly after Tomodachi Life. Goro Abe stayed behind with SPD3 and the series became led by Intelligent Systems rather than codeveloped with Nintendo. Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven are theoretically supposed to be under EPD7 under this understanding. For EPD8, you neglect to mention Koichi Hayashida who was the producer on the 3D Mario's until Super Mario Maker 2 where he and small team joined EPD10. For EPD9, you didn't mention Bandai Namco, which has been critical for Mario Kart 8, ARMS and the Booster Course Pass. For EPD10, you mention Shiro Mori but he directed NSMBUDX not Super Mario Maker 2. The director of Maker 2 (and Run) was Yosuke Oshino, who left and directed Pokemon Smile

[@ItsMeChair1]

Forgot to mention the most famous division of Nintendo, the Seattle Mariners

[@Mario123007]

Didn't Nintendo already sold most of Seattle mariner's stock back in 2015?

[@DDD_Tinker]

@@Mario123007 I think they still own a small percentage. like 10% percent I think

[@Pau-sp9yp]

This is very interesting. Imma throw some hats to what each might be developing rn: EPD1-Probably inside EPD2, but could return individually EPD2-May be helping other titles like Pokémon Legends Z-A EPD3-Very likely in early development of the new console's Zelda EPD4-Might be developing the switch 2's main included game, like Nintendo Land in Wii U EPD5-Working on Splatoon 3 updates and probably developing a new Animal Crossing EPD6-Probably helping with Mario Sports games, Metroid Prime 4 and TTYD EPD7-Might be working on Metroid 6 as we speak, or a remake? EPD8-Very very likely developing soon to completion a new 3D Mario game as a release title EPD9-Probably preparing the next Mario Kart title, or maybe an ARMS sequel EPD10-Maybe early developing on Pikmin 5 or Super Mario Maker 3 EPDMobile-Strangely silent for a while, might drop a new mobile game by the next gen NST-Just launched Mario vs DK, might continue on that franchise

[@naturaleo2831]

bro, some of them can even create something brand new, for example EPD 9 can create a brand new IP or EPD 6 a new 2d donkey kong game, who knows...

[@datsami000]

EPD Mobile has been at work with Bandai Namco Studios on Mario Kart Tour since it released, at least until new content for Tour ended late last year, so if I had to guess they are now planning new software for Mobile platforms, or assisting other teams for the new console launch. Also, unrelated, Bandai Namco Studios was credited for helping with the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass.

[@Mimi.1001]

@datsami000 Speaking of Bandai Namco, they created a whole team or two for working with Nintendo recently, didn't they? Or they just have those teams in general. Maybe EPD Mobile and these studios may continue to work together for future projects, not necessarily on Mobile.

[@PIKMINROCK1]

​​@@Mimi.1001That team has existed since Mario Kart 8/Smash 4. They are actually 2 teams (Studio 2 and S respectively) though the formal name was a recent creation and it's important to remember that the studio structure is flexible to allow several people to work for other teams. The Mario Kart Tour team is almost the same as the Booster Course Pass team

[@s0ul216]

EPD 1 is now probably working exclusively with external studios. So, I think Astral Chain 2 will be managed by EPD 1.

[@CasiniLoogi]

Something interesting, bowser's fury being supported by NST was mentioned, but to what extent wasnt mentioned. However by digging through game files many of bowser's fury's assets are named in english, implying that NST (the US-based team) made not the port itself, but the bowser's fury expansion.

[@GamerTowerDX]

Are the other assets written in Japanese? I remember hearing that naming files in English no matter the language is a common practice

[@DocenaFamily]

I desperately hope this spreads, especially so that people would stop *carelessly* saying things like "Why can't Nintendo just _____?" and "What was Nintendo thinking when they _______?!" They can still argue this stuff, but at least have more of an informed opinion about it. The answer to questions like those above has been, and always has been: Nintendo is not just one massive team. It's multiple teams made up of groups of varied backgrounds working towards common goals, but not always the same project. They're practically different tribes flying under a unified banner, with one tribe leading. And yes, this individuality includes Nintendo Legal. Some can argue Nintendo Legal is practically an entirely different tribe altogether, much like how The Pokémon Company is practically its own ecosystem. They work in parallel with Nintendo, to assist and protect them, but they do not represent the developers of Nintendo. Sakurai is not out there killing your fan games. He likely played them and enjoyed them.

[@swishfish8858]

No idea how I missed the EPD restructuring. This whole time I was under the impression that EAD was still a thing. Amazing breakdown, super informative. Thank you!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Glad to teach you something! This’ll definitely be useful going into next Gen.

[@ausgod538]

You probably have no interest in learning these things

[@eddiec9756]

I've been a fan of Nintendo for years and it never occurred to me just how many teams comprise the game development company.

[@BackLogBanter0]

This is exactly why we made this video! Good to educate as many people on this as possible.

[@ausgod538]

Don't worry most Nintendo fans in the internet are like this and don't wonder how the company is organized lol

[@AceMario7]

A point of clarification on EPD8, at least regarding how it was phrased in the video, but EPD8 were not the sole developers of the Famicom Detective Club remakes. That was done by Mages (formerly 5pb), a visual novel studio whose most well-known series is likely the Steins;gate series. And while not a Nintendo studio, I figure it's worth mentioning Bandai Namco's Studio 2 / Studio S (whose website was opened in November 2023). They're responsible for assisting on Mario Sports Superstars with Camelot, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Kart Tour and ARMS with EPD9, and they're the developers behind Smash for 3DS / Wii U and Smash Ultimate.

[@minecrafter3448]

I’ve been looking for a way to uncover which development teams do what, but apparently nobody cares enough to post anything about it. Thanks for this video.

[@BackLogBanter0]

You’re very welcome, I was doing the exact same thing about 2 months ago. I hope you found this helpful, and ideally this can help us all be more educated about Nintendo’s devs going into switch 2! By the way, if you’d like a place to talk more about these kind of specifically nerdy Nintendo things, feel free to join our discord community! The link is in the video description.

[@Vectivus.]

To summarize the Nintendo-owned studios outside of the EPD structure: - 1-Up Studio: Support on Mario games. - iQue: Chinese localization (China). - Mario Club: Quality Assurance & testing. - Monolith Soft: JRPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and major support on Zelda mainline titles. - NDcube: Mario Party and other party games. - Next Level Games: Luigi's Mansion & Mario Strikers (Canada). - Retro Studios: Metroid Prime & Donkey Kong Country (USA). - Shiver Entertainment: 3rd party porting (acquired like last week). Also, the Nintendo-exclusive 2nd parties: - Camelot Software Planning: Mario sports games (previously Golden Sun). - Creatures: Pokémon spin-offs. - Game Freak: Pokémon. - Good-Feel: Non-Mario platformers. - Grezzo: 2D Zelda. - HAL Laboratory: Kirby. - Intelligent Systems: Paper Mario and strategy games (Fire Emblem & Advance Wars). - Sora Ltd.: Masahiro Sakurai himself. Worth noting Bandai Namco has some teams exclusively focused on developing Nintendo games such as Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros.

[@wasdplayer]

I'm glad to inform that your video was alongside huge Nintendo KZbinrs! Great work summing it all up!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks! I put in my best researching and editing work for this one. Hope you stick around to see some of the other fun niche nintendo topics we cover!

[@CaptainDoge1]

This was a very professionally made video. The little graphics and animations were great and the info was well articulated.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks! I put a ton of work into the visual design

[@BBWahoo]

​@@BackLogBanter0 It shows!

[@thatanimeweirdo]

I've been using an age old outdated graphic whenever talking about the EPD teams, now I finally have a great ressource to give to people if they are unfamiliar with the team structure.

[@BackLogBanter0]

I hope it’s useful, that’s exactly why we made it. I’m excited for this to be something people share to educate others!

[@NantenJex]

That was a great video guys, extremely informative. Regarding EPD Mobile, it's more of a support studio than a primary developer. Mario Kart Tour, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Dragalia Lost and Fire Emblem Heroes were all made by their respective main game teams, with EPD Mobile, DeNA and Bandai Namco helping to keep them running. EPD Mobile did make Dr. Mario World though and maybe Miitomo, unless DeNA took on full production of that one.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Any team that makes Dr. Mario World is a winner in my books

[@PScoopYT]

Dr. Mario World was developed by LINE (as in that Japanese message app) and NHN. They even credited as such in the copyright notices.

[@NantenJex]

@@PScoopYT I know LINE were involved but I was pretty sure Nintendo Mobile were as well. LINE's invovlement was similar to DeNA's involvement in Miitomo, FEH, Mario RUn and Mario Kart Tour iirc.

[@timbooth86]

This video has been a long time coming. Congrats guys, hope to see many more like this.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks Tim!! Yeah I started working on this in… March I think?

[@DaNintendude]

Glad this video exists, because understanding the development teams really helps to provide for more sensible Nintendo game speculation. You can easily figure out patterns, and it's helped me a lot in the past. For example, a new Mario Kart coming out within the first few years of the Switch wouldn't make sense. EPD 9 was busy making ARMS in the lead-up to the Switch, so they'd need a few more years to make a new game. This is why Mario Kart 8 was ported over. They wouldn't have a new Mario Kart for awhile, but they wanted it on the system. For all we know, the next Mario Kart could end up being extremely polished! They've had so much time since ARMS released to come up with ideas. It's not a guarantee, but we can determine that a new Mario Kart is certainly just around the corner now that we're moving onto a new system. Princess Peach Showtime was really easy to figure out the developer of, if you were paying enough attention. It couldn't be EPD 8, because it just didn't look like an EPD 8 game. It couldn't be Next Level Games, because their games have very specific animation, and Showtime had stiff NPCs. But the type of style did feel quite similar to GoodFeel, and I would've figured it out sooner if I was more educated on the projects they'd been working on. It became pretty clear to me after the 2nd trailer, and especially gearing up to release when we started to hear more of the sound effects and such.

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

Man I feel old because I remember reading magazine interviews with Nintendo key figures naming teams like R&D 1 and R&D 2. They have also gotten dramatically larger because I think I remember reading in the 90's that Nintendo was comprised of less than 1,500 employees and now I think they're just a few hundred shy of 8,000. It's also interesting with how successful and efficient they are given they are still smaller than other behemoths like UbiSoft, EA and Blizzard. I completely missed this SPD restructure in the last 8 years so I gotta keep that in mind when discussing so I don't slip up and say EAD anymore lol.

[@DonovanDud]

EPD 4 def the experimental ones of Nintendo’s studios but I really appreciate their zany fresh ideas. Also love the Animal Crossing and Splatoon devs, they’re just so cool. Love this vid and it’s super well edited!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks so much for the praise! Hope you stick around and enjoy more of our conversations, feel free to join our discord as well if you’d like to get to know us directly

[@CharlieWacholz]

Damn, love how in-depth this video goes!! Killer job guys

[@BackLogBanter0]

No YOURE breathtaking

[@thebordoman]

It is Criminal that you guys don’t even have 1k subs yet. Please keep up the good work guys. Keep a steady flow of quality videos coming out and you guys will be a prominent voice in the community in no time.

[@BackLogBanter0]

We have plenty more planned, thanks so much for the words of encouragement. There are also dozens of other great videos for you to check out in the meantime!

[@NathanielBandy]

Finally KZbin is sending me good recommended videos

[@BackLogBanter0]

Feel free to recommend it to your community so they can also have a good video recommended to them 👀

[@James2210]

15:12 You feel that? A constant, throbbing pressure in your head? Yeah, that's just your brain expanding thanks to all the incredible knowledge you just imparted. From this video's sponsor, BRILLIANT

[@BackLogBanter0]

Oh heck yeah we got a sponsor?? No one told me!

[@shinra2755]

One of the most informative, original and useful videos on KZbin in some time. Thanks!

[@BackLogBanter0]

You’re so welcome! Hope you stick around for more like it

[@FrothingFanboy]

There's one more wrinkle in the mix; the permanent EPD teams are just the producers. The boots-on-the-ground (artists and programmers) are allocated from a single pool, which limits the number of games that can be in full production at once, depending on their scope. Basically, if 3D Zelda and 3D Mario are going full-tilt at the same time, and another team wants to make an equally massive game, it could affect some or all of the other teams.

[@rickyleenorton6884]

Hey guys! You both did a great job here and I'm so excited to see what other ideas you've both come up with.

[@anthonywheeler2082]

This was awesome. I always wondered what teams did what. In F-Zero X there's a driver named Mr. EAD who was a nod to EAD 1 I think. It was one of them. He even had a Starman on his belt!

[@BackLogBanter0]

That's a great piece of trivia... probably intentional

[@someghostinthewild]

So EPD 10 released 2 highly acclaimed games (with one being GOTY nominated) in the same year? damn, that's impressive

[@dilihimer5813]

This was something I researched a few months ago since there wasn’t a KZbin video on it. This deserves more views! Great work

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks! I did the same, which is why I made this

[@carbonation10317]

This was really insightful! it was great to hear who's working on all these games

[@BoTalksGames]

Great video. I especially like the parts with Dr Lobe

[@superlink3389]

Really?! I thought Miyamoto made all the games alone. But seriously this is a great video! It’s honestly hard to find this information!

[@S.G.W.Verbeek]

😂😊

[@Kevintendo]

Exquisite video! Thanks for making this, and I hope you continue to make deep dive videos similar to this one!

[@BackLogBanter0]

That’s the plan! We have other great deep dive discussions on the channel for you to check out

[@OmegaRejectz]

4:10 You're gonna look like a fool when the EPD structure lasts until 2100 😅 Great video! Wasn't expecting anything great, but was surprised. I never knew this was how Nintendo was structured and the different pieces of history mentioned.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks! We put a lot of work into it, hope you stick around for more!

[@AgentR2]

Interesting how EPD4 has released a game every year since 2016. Makes me wonder if we'll see something from them later this year, or if they'll leave a gap to work on something for the Switch succesor. Great video, very informative!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Technically, they did release a game last year (Everybody 1-2-Switch), but they weren’t really working on it last year. Not only was development handled in joint with NDCube (the external Mario Party dev team), but the game was essentially done a year early, which we know because of the leaks we got of the game in 2022. So it could mean there’s still one from them this year, as well as 1 or 2 within the first year of the next system!

[@AgentR2]

@@BackLogBanter0 True! I had completely forgotten how early we got leaks for that game. In that case I wonder if we may see something during the June direct. Either way, I’m glad their team is so regular as I’ve liked most of their stuff

[@nicolaashamman6201]

Awesome video. I'm one of those people who's really knowledge about this stuff, but for SEGA specifically, so hearing the Nintendo-like development layout is a treat.

[@DienF]

Thanks for the video! It's great to learn about how Nintendo's devs teams are structured!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Hopefully this helps people be more knowledgeable!

[@ebonbehelit9763]

Something I noticed while watching this was just how many key Nintendo team leads have been in the company for a long time. Nintendo seems to make a priority of actually retaining their talent -- and rightly so, as within that talent lies the accumulated knowledge and skills base needed to make quality products. Let them go, and they take that knowledge and skills base with them, leaving a void in their wake that is extremely difficult to fill.

[@hollylucianta6711]

That's a Japanese thing. Generally you work at one company for your entire life.

[@recalypso7567]

This is such a fun video idea. I just assumed that all these games were conjured up by shigeru miyamoto in the basement of Nintendo HQ!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Don’t let them know you know the truth

[@ethanryan4188]

Great video, was thinking about finding a video about this then you came up in my recommendations!

[@BackLogBanter0]

So glad it could be there for you! Hope you stick around for more!

[@slayersfinal]

I remember a time in college when I thought that there was a scale retail store model due for my 9AM class. It wasn't due for another two months but I was able to put it together and still admit to the teacher "yeah it's nowhere near where I wanted it to be" Wound up going a whole different direction but yeah; it meant a lot to have it and still not be complete.

[@FatePokemon]

Incredible video guys! Super interesting to know the breakdown of things actually work!

[@BackLogBanter0]

So happy you enjoyed it! Hope you stick around for more like it! Feel free to join our discord server, the link is in the description!

[@GamerOverThere]

Awesome video! Pacing and editing were on point. Subscribed!

[@BackLogBanter0]

this was my first scripted video, glad it turned out good!

[@ToxicPea]

This was a very interesting video. Thanks so much for letting us learn about this! I do agree with Nintendo not really opening the hood and revealing how they develop their games, since most 10-year-olds would get bored to death during Nintendo Directs having to hear EPD5, EPD4... over and over again

[@colbyrubyvods5737]

This video is incredibly well-made! Thank you

[@samuelturner6076]

This is a great video. It's interesting to see how Nintendo's teams are actually split up and what they focus on.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks! So glad you enjoyed it. I hope you stick around for more like it, and if you want to hang out with us you can join our discord which has a link in the description’

[@pandebear0]

This is a topic related to Nintendo I never thought I'd learn about! Great video!

[@actionboy3221]

This was genuinely really interesting. We need to make Arlo aware of this before his next predictions!

[@BackLogBanter0]

I’d love for him to watch this lol, maybe everyone should tag him on Twitter and say he should check it out 🤔🤔

[@akirayama1534]

Wow, seriously well done video! The script was perfect! And the graphics showing the different teams and their works are great too. My only suggestion is ensuring your voice over is consistent because it seemed to change a bit over the course of the video. Otherwise this was awesome, please keep up the good work - you’ve earned yourself a sub 😉

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks so much for the feedback. This was our first time doing recorded scripted VO for a video, so I agree it was a bit shaky. Hopefully we improve in the future 👌

[@4zy1]

Do you plan on explaining the building(s?) that these development teams worked at in the future?

[@noahzsol]

Really great video!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thanks so much Noah! Hope you stick around for more Nintendo topics like this!

[@SirStephenage]

Great stuff! Adds some important clarity to a process that I knew existed but not enough about. Really well pitched, paced and edited - and performed, of course.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Aww shucks

[@MustachioedBear]

8:56 Kawamoto san is also the Producer of the great game "Rusty's Real Deal Baseball". Hus career has only been on the up and up since it's release so i feel a sequel is in the books . 📚

[@fernando98322]

Thanks for the breakdown! Really helps you in assuming what kind of game you can expect in the coming years since the first party studios are very set in stone. Would love a video like this with Nintendo's partners like Monolith Soft, HAL and so on. Regardless, it's clear Nintendo has been very successful at a management level, the release schedule during the Switch era speaks for itself

[@BackLogBanter0]

We’re working on it! These projects take a longgggg time though. Hope you stick around and check out some more in the meantime!

[@lemon5000-tj6nv]

Great video, i've already heard of epd in other videos and some dev teams sharing the same series like AC and splatoon, arms and mario kart and both 2d mario and pikmin, but not the specifics. I didnt even know that 2d metroid had an internal team, and i just assumed that both 3d mario and 2d mario shared the same dev team. That said what team would be assigned to develop forgotten series like a brand new top down zelda, star fox or a traditional f zero game

[@ericriley1985]

3D Mario and 2D Mario used to be the same team during the EAD days. I think they were split early during Iwata's tenure.

[@Jerdifier]

Nintendo sometimes comissions a few 3rd party studios they’re close with to work on series they don’t have dedicated 1st/2nd party teams for. Using the series you listed as examples, the Link’s Awakening remake was outsourced to Grezzo, Star Fox Zero was outsourced to Platinum Games, and F-Zero GX was outsourced to Sega. Other examples include Koei Tecmo’s work on Fire Emblem, and Bandai Namco’s on Smash Bros.

[@BroskiPlays]

I feel Nintendo is always just one step above when it comes to creating a unique and productive work environment with these teams constantly working on new titles, they can release a new mario, paper mario, zelda, casual title, splatoon and more every single year! Great marketing strategy!

[@BrendanGeormer]

Really informative video! I had no idea about the different studio notorieties and such. For my personal interests, I wonder if EPD9 will do soe more esport-type angles in the future...

[@metroidjones122]

Great analysis. Thank you.

[@HalfpennyTerwilliger]

Beyond emulation tech, NERD (they have to have named that team on purpose) has assisted other Nintendo teams on tech related stuff. They helped make games like Ring Fit, Switch Sports, Mario Kart Live, or Labo. Details on how they supported each games can be found on their website.

[@AlexanTheMan]

So this is what Sony and especially Microsoft can't get the memo on.

[@ScyrousFX]

Can I recommend you bump up the volume of all audio tracks during the editing process? It's all rather quiet relative to other KZbin videos with ''proper'' volume levels. Putting the commentary at something like -3 dB below the clipping level (since that is the ''leading'' audio track) would be great. And then obviously mix the rest of the audio/music accordingly.

[@alwaysabiggafish3305]

Finally, some new topics about gaming. Keep posting like this and I expect your account to blow up

[@BackLogBanter0]

Hey that sounds pretty good to me

[@andreworders7305]

7:37 why aren’t Splatoon and Animal Crossing pictured here then? Did the core EA2 devs get moved to a different team?

[@BackLogBanter0]

That part of the team became EPD5, which is mentioned just a few minutes later in the video.

[@WaddleMoogle]

Genuinely informative video. Now I understand why there were Mario Kart toys in Nintendogs. I wish Nintendo would give each studio distinct names that would give them more personality, similarly to how fans can say "oh this is such a Next Level Games/Goodfeel/Monolith Soft game" but knowing Nintendo I perfectly know why they don't. They want everything, the good and the bad, to be attributed to them as the nebulous blob of a company and that giving studios individuality would make them appear weaker in a business sense. I'm sure that deep down they want to rename all their acquired studios to strip them down of their brands but know that it would be a PR and HR nightmare.

[@BackLogBanter0]

I completely agree, it would give them personality and make them much easier to talk about. The numbers make it so much harder to remember. I made the video and I still don't have it 100%

[@NuiYabuko]

What the hell? Why would they want to change the names of their partners? They themselves likely don't name the divisions in case they restructure.

[@Articfoxgamez]

It's not new for a company to have individual teams with very generic names that the general public usually doesn't know. It's a case of, nintendo created the branches themselves, so they have generic names, people like Sony or Microsoft bought out other companies, so they let the development team keep their names.

[@bendonks9559]

It’s also better for the studios with worse reputations to just say “it’s a Nintendo game, of course it’s good”, and leave it at that

[@Keebston]

As the dumb brother I didn’t understand a word in this whole video, but yall were super articulate and this was very professionally edited. Proud of you and BLB (I watched the whole thing)

[@BackLogBanter0]

Holy crap he watched the whole thing

[@Basement_Ckickn]

9:15 “Together they served up a fanatic assortment of games like NINTENDO SWITCH SPORTS and some other ones”

[@gothicteddybear2864]

Hey this is pretty great! Man, EPD is quite a black box. They're more secure than the pentagon!

[@NicoGonzalezEstevez]

This is such a great video! Well edited and paced, i would only recommend whoever's reading the script to speak more clearly at some points i had trouble understanding what he said. Great work nonetheless!

[@Riyoe]

pov: EPD 9 looks like it's not doing much but they made mario kart so all is forgiven

[@yoshi18super]

Amazing video, always been curious about the teams 👍

[@BackLogBanter0]

Glad you enjoyed, hope you stick around for more!

[@andreworders7305]

0:22 didn’t take as long as the reveal for the Another Code remake. Even the demo didn’t say.

[@davidliimatta3684]

Its interesting to think about what the different series would look like if the other teams took them over

[@BackLogBanter0]

Yeah, I’d love to see some team trading, or collaboration

[@deefdragon]

The only thing this is missing is a giant graph at the end showing how all the different games and different studios get moved arround between the different teams. Even with a video like this, its super hard to follow as there are so many good games that nintendo makes.

[@BackLogBanter0]

It’s suuuuper complicated, yeah. Just trying to get people educated on the basics!

[@IAmNotASandwich453]

Knowing there is a dedicated 2D Metroid team fills me with hope and joy

[@ausgod538]

Just a few corrections but EPD1 isnt a thing anymore and epd1/2/6 arent doing support work but overseeing and producing those projects. They arent involved creatively per se. Other than that I wish you could have show all the managers and a few examples of devs under those just to make it more complete

[@CalebChrisR]

great video

[@MarioMasterProductions]

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was developed by EPD Group #4

[@JuhoSprite]

I think ppl are so interested because we wanna find out what teams are free to speculate what games might be in development currently

[@BackLogBanter0]

I hope they stay interested for longer than that lol

[@toastguy5976]

So now I know exactly who to blame. This will be very helpful

[@BroskiPlays]

Whoa thats some great knowledge that you gave us! I am surprised nobody has ever mentioned how Nintendo lays down their dev teams haha thanks for that

[@nishquikpops]

Fantastic video, guys! 💯 Learned a lot from this

[@BackLogBanter0]

No YOU’RE breathtaking

[@robertlauncher]

Huh, Yoshi’s leading the Mario dev team

[@stephencheney9811]

There's also a Yoshi directing Metroid games. It must be that natal imagery connection between eggs and Metroid larvae.

[@SdudyoyO]

Makes you wonder how many more restructures we'll be seeing in the next decade once Nintendo's new HQ opens up sometime in the next few years. There was a lot of consolidation in the lead-up to the Switch as their Handheld/Home Console departments were merged, and I get the feeling we'll be seeing similar restructures as Nintendo grows to develop on more powerful hardware. I'd imagine we'll be seeing new teams be made from younger developers that made a name for themselves during the Switch era, while older teams such as EDP3 will be gaining even more support (Outside of Monolith) as they try to develop even bigger Zelda titles on more powerful hardware. Regardless, with Nintendo's record profits of the past seven years, the ongoing development of Nintendo's larger HQ, and a new console--I think we're going to be seeing some of Nintendo's biggest projects ever over the next couple years. I doubt we'll be seeing a new large Zelda title till at least 2027, _but_ Metroid Prime 4, a new 3D Mario, a new Mario Kart--All of these are possible in the first year of the Switch 2. And if the rumors of the new console have any validity to them, these games will be developed on near PS4 leveled hardware. _They're gonna be amazing._

[@ListlessWither]

I feel like it would be fair to mention who helped in large part with any of those games you mentioned at the start like 8ighting for Pikmin 4 and Monolith for totk

[@BackLogBanter0]

We’re working on a video about the external teams Nintendo collaborates with, so they’ll get their time!

[@Slenderquil]

And here i thought Nintendo was still divided into R&D divisions. This was very informative. It makes sense there'd be so many teams now

[@BackLogBanter0]

Only about 20 years late, no biggie

[@eremgame]

Thanks a lot for the explanation!

[@BackLogBanter0]

Glad to help! Hope you stick around for more Nintendo info videos and discussions!

[@burndasbr]

There is also "NERD", the Nintendo European Research & Development team. They've been mainly implementing more internal technologies, like the emulation for Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

[@ericriley1985]

They mention NERD at around 2:15.

[@burndasbr]

@@ericriley1985Thanks, my bad, I missed this

[@BackLogBanter0]

You’re always welcome to rewatch the video 🤓

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

Nintendo show has a lot of development teams it’s confusing to keep track of them all honestly great video sir and great research into all of the different development teams for Nintendo.

[@BackLogBanter0]

Thank you! We’ve got something planned 🤫 Stick around for more and share it with your friends! Also feel free to join our discord if you want to hang out, there’s a link in the description