Nintendo Research & Development 2

Nintendo Research & Development 2
Type	Division of Nintendo
Founded	1972 (staff members reassigned in 2003)
Headquarters	Kyoto, Japan
Key people	Masayuki Uemura, manager (1972 - 2003)
Industry	Video games
Products	Video game consoles Video game hardware Video games
Number of people	undisclosed
Website	http://www.nintendo.com/

Nintendo Research & Development 2 (任天堂開発第二部, Nintendō Kaihatsu Daini Bu, R&D2) was the second video game development group within Nintendo. It was managed by Masayuki Uemura from its creation in 1972 until Nintendo's internal development groups were restructured by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in 2003. Staff members of Nintendo Research & Development 2 were reassigned to Nintendo Software Planning & Development.

Formation of Nintendo Research & Development 2

In 1972, Masayuki Uemura joined Nintendo, after having previously worked at Sharp Corporation. He assisted Gunpei Yokoi of Nintendo Research & Development with solar cell engineering for the Beam Gun line of toys. After this, Uemura was assigned to manage a new division within Nintendo, Nintendo Research & Development 2. This division was in charge of creating hardware and peripherals, although it ported several arcade games to home systems, and it is credited with the creation of several video games as well.

Color TV-Game

In the mid-1970s, several companies sought to capitalize on the popularity of Atari's Pong, and Nintendo was among them. Thus, came the creation of the Color TV-Game series. The first two systems, Color TV-Game 6 and Color TV-Game 15, both released in 1978, were Pong clones, offering variations of tennis, hockey and volleyball, in single and doubles mode. The main difference between the two, other than the different variations of playable games, were that Color TV-Game 6 had its two controllers attached to the system itself, and Color TV-Game 15 had its two controllers attached to cables.

1978 saw the release of Color TV-Game Racing 112, which was a break from the bat and ball mold in that it was a racing game with switches on the side that allowed play of 112 variants of the game. It was playable either with the steering wheel or with two wired controllers for two player games. The final two releases were home versions of arcade games created by Nintendo R&D1. The first, released in 1979, was Color TV-Game Block Breaker, a home release of Block Fever. The final release in the Color TV-Game line was released in 1980. It was titled Computer TV-Game, and was a home release of Computer Othello.

The cases of the Color TV-Game Racing 112 and the Color TV-Game Block Breaker were designed by Shigeru Miyamoto in his first assignments at Nintendo.

Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo's second home console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, was created by Nintendo R&D2 as well. When it was released in Japan in 1983, as the Family Computer, Nintendo R&D2 created several games for the system. These games included home versions of the arcade games Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior as well as Mario Open Golf and NES Open Tournament Golf.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo's third home console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, was also created by Nintendo R&D2. When it was released in Japan in 1990, as the Super Famicom, Nintendo R&D2 created some games for the system. These games included Marvelous: Another Treasure Island and Sutte Hakkun (Sucking Hakkun).

Satellaview

Nintendo R&D2 created a satellite add-on for the Super Famicom known as the Satellaview which broadcast games, music, and digital magazines over the Broadcast Satellite network. It was released only in Japan in 1995. Nintendo R&D2 also created a game for the Satellaview, BS Sutte Hakkun (BS Sucking Hakkun).

Games by Nintendo Research and Development 2

Title	Platform	Released	Added to Museum	Notes
Donkey Kong	NES GameCube Nintendo e-Reader NES Classic Edition	1983 2002 2002 2016	January 20, 2003 June 22, 2017 August 10, 2017 January 20, 2018	Nintendo R&D2 ported Nintendo R&D1's arcade game to the Nintendo Entertainment System. The WEC Museum owns Animal Crossing for GameCube, in which the NES version of Donkey Kong is included. The WEC Museum owns the NES version on Donkey Kong-e on the e-Reader for the Game Boy Advance. The WEC Museum owns NES Classic Edition and Famicom Mini, on which the NES version of Donkey Kong is included.
Donkey Kong Junior	NES GameCube Nintendo e-Reader NES Classic Edition	1983 2002 2016 2016	January 20, 2003 June 22, 2017 August 10, 2017	Nintendo R&D2 ported Nintendo R&D1's arcade game to the Nintendo Entertainment System. The WEC Museum owns Animal Crossing for GameCube, in which the NES version of Donkey Kong Junior is included. The WEC Museum owns the NES version on Donkey Kong Jr.-e on the e-Reader for the Game Boy Advance. The WEC Museum owns NES Classic Edition and Famicom Mini, on which the NES version of Donkey Kong Junior is included.
Mario Open Golf	Famicom	1991 2016	August 10, 2017	Nintendo R&D2 released Mario Open Golf for the Famicom. The WEC Museum owns the Famicom Mini, on which the Famicom version of Mario Open Golf is included.
NES Open Tournament Golf	Famicom	1991	Not yet	Nintendo R&D2 released NES Open Tournament Golf for the Nintendo Entertainment System.