Nintendo SPD Group No.1
R&D1 veteran designer and Metroid creator Yoshio Sakamoto is the general manager and chief producer of this development team responsible for development and production of several games including WarioWare, Metroid, Card Hero, Rhythm Heaven, and Tomodachi Collection. The manager of SPD 1 is Katsuya Yamano.
Nintendo SPD Group No.2
Nintendo SPD Group 2, under group manager Hitoshi Yamagami, is responsible for software development collaboration with outside developers. This includes Nintendo-owned subsidiaries like Monolith Soft, long-time second party partners like Intelligent Systems and Game Freak but also external development studios such as Mistwalker, Platinum Games or Ganbarion. Most notably, this covers the Pokémon series of games.
Nintendo SPD Group No.3
Nintendo SPD Group 3, under group manager Keisuke Terasaki, oversees the development of Western titles from internal studios such as Retro Studios and NST as well as external partners like Monster Games or Next Level Games along with occasional Japanese partners. SPD Group 3 is in charge of the Metroid Prime, Paper Mario, Donkey Kong Country, Mario vs/and Donkey Kong and other franchises along with coordinating development of original titles.
Nintendo SPD Group No.4
Nintendo SPD Group 4, under group manager and producer Hiroshi Sato and Toshiharu Izuno, oversees the development of internal Japanese developers like NDCube but predominantly covers projects from external Japanese developers like Koei Tecmo, iNiS and CING. SPD Group 4 most notably manages the Mario Party and Wii Party franchises as well as adventure game projects, Donkey Kong spin-offs and the Fatal Frame/Project Zero series.
Nintendo SDD Software Development Group
The Nintendo Software Development & Design department under General Manager Masaru Nishita was mainly created to develop system-specific software such as all the Wii channels while also focusing development on highly experimental original game software. The Software Development Group under producer Kouichi Kawamoto is responsible for the hugely successful Brain Age and Daigasso! Band Brothers franchises among other things.
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