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Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game development company and subsidiary of Nintendo. They are best known as the developers behind the Metroid Prime series and the more recent entries in the Donkey Kong Country series.

Company history[]

Retro Studios was founded by industry veteran Jeff Spangenberg on September 21, 1998 and officially launched in the following October 1.[1] It was founded as an alliance with Nintendo, who needed a company that could create games for the GameCube geared towards an older audience. An office was opened the following year with a 25-person staff, some of which were former employees of Spangenberg's previous venture Iguana Entertainment.[2] Despite not acquiring any GameCube development kits, development on four projects immediately began. These included an action adventure game with the working title of Action-Adventure, a vehicular combat game with the working title of Car Combat, a football simulator called NFL Retro Football, and an RPG named Raven Blade.[2] At the same time, the studios hired more employees, peaking at 200.

The resulting work environment had grown to become chaotic, with development now behind schedule and the quality of the games being poor. In 2000, Shigeru Miyamoto visited the studio and was disappointed by the games they were developing - all except for Action-Adventure and its game engine, leading for him to suggest they make a Metroid game with it.[2] Shorty before Nintendo's Spaceworld conference, Retro was granted the license to create a new Metroid entry with the development resources from Action-Adventure shifting towards it. As for the other three projects, NFL Retro Football and Car Combat were quickly cancelled and Raven Blade, despite being shown off at E3 2001, was forced into cancellation as the team was met with several technical setbacks.[2] Several layoffs soon happened following the ceased production of the games, leaving only nine team members to work on the new Metroid game.

On May 2, 2002, Nintendo reclassified Retro Studios as one of its first party developers after securing $1 million worth in company stock from Spangenberg.[3] Despite its tumultuous development cycle and initial fan backlash from its reveal,[4] Retro's first proper title Metroid Prime eventually released on the GameCube on November 17, 2002 to critical acclaim and commercial success.

A sequel to Metroid Prime was requested by Nintendo soon after its overwhelming success. Development soon began, with the team opting to create new assets as opposed to recycling old ones.[5] According to series producer Kensuke Tanabe, the game was "thirty percent complete" before the strict holiday deadline Nintendo imposed. This resulted in cutting some extra elements, such as a secret version of Super Metroid.[6] Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was released on November 15, 2004 with positive critical reception but with low sales compared to the first Metroid Prime. During the development of Echoes, longtime Nintendo employee Michael Kelbaugh succeeded Steve Barcia as company president, a position he still holds today.[7]

A third and final entry for the Wii soon began development, with team wanting to create larger environments as well as having some form of compatibility with the WiiConnect24 for additional content accessible through the internet.[8] After several delays, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was released on August 27, 2007 on the Wii to positive reception and high sales. During its development, Retro Studios worked closely with Nintendo Software Technology during their development of the spin-off Metroid Prime Hunters on the Nintendo DS.[9] A year after Corruption's release, three key team members left Retro: designer Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller, and principal technology engineer Jack Matthews. The three went on to form the independent company Armature Studio.[10]

In 2008, Miyamoto asked Tanabe to recommend a studio who could create a new Donkey Kong game, to which Tanabe suggested Retro Studios. The company accepted the task, mostly due to Kelbaugh having previously been involved in the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy and expressed interest in continuing the series.[11] During the development, the tools and engine had to be rewritten by programmers due to the game's increasingly large polygon and texture count.[11] Donkey Kong Country Returns was revealed at E3 2010 and released the same year for the Wii on November 21. In the lead up to release, the team was still creating and refining up to 70 more levels.[12]

Retro Studios soon became involved with Mario Kart 7 on the Nintendo 3DS.[13] Initially, they were brought on to provide assets for a Donkey Kong-themed track. However, their involvement was greatly expanded upon during the late stages to design sixteen more tracks, as the Nintendo EAD team began working on other projects which would mean that Mario Kart 7 wouldn't meet its December 2011 deadline.[14] In 2012, the team acquired a Wii U development kit. Miyamoto later revealed that Retro were indeed working on a Wii U game after expressing his interest in working with them for a The Legend of Zelda game.[15] This was reiterated by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé during E3 2012.[16] This game was eventually revealed to be Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, released on February 2014.

Retro was announced to be working on a new game on February 28, 2014 following the release of Tropical Freeze. Its identity has remained unknown, even to Tanabe who has said he's not sure what the group is working on at the moment.[17] Metroid Prime 4 for the Nintendo Switch was announced during E3 2017 but was not being worked on by Retro. Instead, it was revealed to be developed by Bandai Namco's Singapore studio with Tanabe returning as producer.[18] However, Nintendo's Shinya Takahashi announced on January 25, 2019 that the game will be delayed, with development being restarted with the return of Retro Studios' involvement.[19] As of August 2020, the team is still hiring new members for the staff with the game's release date or development progress remaining unknown.

Involvement with Super Smash Bros.[]

Retro Studios' major representation in Smash is through the Metroid series. This started in Super Smash Bros. Brawl with the inclusion of the Frigate Orpheon stage from the first Metroid Prime game. The company's version of Ridley, known as Meta Ridley, resumes his boss role in The Subspace Emissary where he is fought atop the Falcon Flyer. Trilogy antagonist Dark Samus also appears, first as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U before being upgraded to Samus' Echo Fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Several music tracks and characters making cameos as Trophies, Stickers, and Spirits are also available.

Outside of the Metroid Prime series, other forms of representation include Rainbow Road as it appeared in Mario Kart 7 being a stage in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and the Jungle Hijinxs level from Donkey Kong Country Returns being a stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Music from both games (as well as Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) are also available. Several enemies from Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze appear in Smash Run as well as making cameos as Trophies and Spirits.

Trivia[]

References[]

  1. Craddock, Ryan (09/21/2018). Anniversary: Retro Studios Celebrates 20 Years In Gaming (English). Nintendo Life. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Hester, Blake (05/29/2018). The rocky story of Retro Studios before Metroid Prime (English). Polygon. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  3. Varney, Allen (04/04/2006). Metroid Primed (English). The Escapist. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  4. Metroid Prime - Development Summary. N-Sider.
  5. IGN Staff (10/12/2004). Metroid Prime 2 Echoes Interview (English). IGN. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  6. Iwata Asks - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Japanese). Nintendo.
  7. Varanini, Giancarlo (04/11/2003). Nintendo appoints new president at Retro (English). GameSpot. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  8. Casamassina, Matt (05/16/2006). Interview: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (English). IGN. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  9. Harris, Craig (05/19/2005). E3 2005: Metroid Prime Hunters Creator Interview (English). IGN. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  10. Sinclair, Brendan (09/17/2008). Metroid Prime vets form Armature (English). GameSpot. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Harris, Craig (06/17/2010). E3 2010: Kensuke Tanabe and the Metroid Palm Tree (English). IGN. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  12. Claiborn, Samuel (03/03/2011). GDC: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Donkey Kong Country Returns and Retro Studios (English). IGN. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  13. McWhertor, Michael (06/07/2011). LIVE At Nintendo's E3 2011 Mystery Developer Q&A (English). Kotaku. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  14. Iwata Asks - Mario Kart 7. Nintendo.
  15. Sasaki, Ryo (12/13/2011). Q&A: Shigeru Miyamoto Looks Into Nintendo's Future (English). Wired. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  16. Sasaki, Ryo (09/29/2012). Reggie: Retro is working on fantastic Wii U project (English). Nintendo Today. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  17. Brian (08/05/2015). Tanabe on Metroid Prime: FF – amiibo, backlash, timeline, story, Retro Studios (English). Nintendo Everything. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  18. McFerran, Damien (06/13/2017). Metroid Prime 4 Confirmed For Nintendo Switch, But Retro Studios Isn't Involved (English). Nintendo Life. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.
  19. Kato, Matthew (01/25/2019). Nintendo Restarting The Development Of Metroid Prime 4 (English). GameInformer. Retrieved on 2020-08-27.

External links[]

Companies
First/second-party companies Nintendo  · HAL Laboratory  · Game Freak  · Creatures  · The Pokémon Company  · Intelligent Systems  · Next Level Games  · Monolith Soft  · Retro Studios  · Sora Ltd.
Third-party companies Konami  · Sega / Atlus  · Capcom  · Bandai Namco  · Square Enix  · PlatinumGames  · Xbox Game Studios / Rare Ltd. / Mojang Studios  · SNK  · Disney
Other related developers Game Arts  · Havok  · Paon DP
List of companies with minor representation
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