Nintendo EAD

Nintendo EAD stands for Nintendo Entertainment, Analysis, & Development. Formerly known as R&D4, it is the largest development group at Nintendo. It is based in Kyoto at the Nintendo headquarters and is led by the world famous game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. EAD is responsible for bringing us many of Nintendo's most famous franchises including Super Mario and.

Nintendo EAD has two software development departments; the main department in Kyoto and a secondary department in Tokyo. All in all, the main Kyoto department has five software development groups, and the Tokyo department has two software development groups. The Legend of Zelda series belongs to software development group 3, which is responsible for developing only titles from The Legend of Zelda series. The group manager is Eiji Aonuma.

List of software development departments and groups
Kyoto Department


 * Software Development Group No. 1 (Group manager: Hideki Konno) - Nintendogs and the Mario Kart series (Co-developed with Retro Studios)
 * Software Development Group No. 2 (Group manager: Hisashi Nogami) - Wii series games and the Animal Crossing series
 * Software Development Group No. 3 (Group manager: Eiji Aonuma) - The Legend of Zelda series
 * Software Development Group No. 4 (Group manager: Hiroyuki Kimura) - Big Brain Academy, New Super Mario Bros. and the Pikmin series
 * Software Development Group No. 5 (Group manager: Tadashi Sugiyama) - Wii Fit series and overseeing the Steel Diver series

Tokyo Department


 * Software Development Group No. 1 (Group manager: Takao Shimizu) - Super Mario Galaxy series and overseeing The Legend of Zelda remakes
 * Software Development Group No. 2 (Group manager: Yoshiaki Koizumi) - Flipnote Studio and the Super Mario 3D series