Every Nintendo Development Team EXPLAINED 

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

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.

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

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."

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

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

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.

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)

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Great video. I especially like the parts with Dr Lobe

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

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

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

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

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

Amazing video, always been curious about the teams 👍

Really great video!

Super informative! Thanks :)

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.

Fantastic video, guys! 💯 Learned a lot from this

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

Great analysis. Thank you.

great research, thank you!

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

great video

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!

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...

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

It's actually really fitting to represent the three divisions of Nintendo as the triforce, 2 of them are fine but the 3rd is controlled by evil incarnate and is responsible for everything bad that happens in the world

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

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!

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!

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.

Great video, thank you!

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

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!

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

Thanks a lot for the explanation!

Very helpful. Thanks

Thank the algorithm cause you got another subscriber 😊 Excellent video

Great video!

Great video. Love Nintendo and teams who work on the games.

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.

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

Saw your tweet. Really good video! 👌

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

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.

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

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

Great video

Yeah, I needed this

You’re telling me EDP MADE TEARS OF THE KINGDOM???

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 . 📚

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

Ive also been suggested this video by RU-vid. This was very interesting. 🎉

Dafuq is EPD 7 doing all the time?

The more I watch this awesome video, the more I think I'm watching forbidden kno being unveiled to the world... and that Nintendo's ninjas will come after the brave warrior who unleashed such esoteric information upon the world... Good luck, my dude.

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)

Great video! I have a quick question (which I guess could just be researched myself but what the heck): do you know which team is responsible for working alongside Sora for games like the Smash Series or Kid Icarus? Just curious!

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Huh, Yoshi’s leading the Mario dev team

Interesting video :)

14:07 I can’t believe Dr Mario isn’t on the AppStore 😭

It would be better if you made a picture with all of this displayed and quick description of each branch, just so it would be easy to reference.

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.

I hope NST gets to make another wave race at some point

1:25 well, besides the fact that they own Monolith

Good video! Commenting because this vid need more views

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

I think you should do a follow up video on Nintendo's second party developers. IE: The other studios Nintendo directly owns but not under the EPD umbrella. This would be specially relevant considering the recent purchase of Shiver Entertainment.

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

Great video, but wait, I thought I was paying attention but I don't know who worked on the Peach game XD