Nintendo Research & Development 3

From WE Computers Museum
Nintendo rd3 logo.png
Nintendo Research & Development 3
Type Division of Nintendo
Founded 1974
Headquarters Kyoto, Japan
Key people Genyo Takeda, manager (1972 - 2003)
Industry Video games
Products Video game consoles, hardware, games
Number of people
Website http://www.nintendo.com/

Nintendo Research & Development 3 (任天堂開発第三部, Nintendō Kaihatsu Daisan Bu, R&D3) was the third video game development group within Nintendo. This development group focused primarily on the development of video game hardware, however it did develop some software as well. It was managed by Genyo Takeda from its creation in 1974 until Nintendo's internal development groups were restructured by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in 2003.

Formation of Nintendo Research & Development 3

In 1972, Genyo Takeda joined Nintendo, working at Nintendo Research & Development with Gunpei Yokoi and Masayuki Uemura on Nintendo's arcade system that utilized light guns, the Simulation System. Later that year, when additional R&D divisions were created after the success of the Simulation System, Gunpei Yokoi continued on as the manager of R&D1 and Masayuki Uemura became the manager of R&D 2. Genyo Takeda became the manager of R&D3 upon its formation in 1974.

Restructuring of Nintendo's development groups

In 2003, Nintendo Research & Development 3 was split, forming Nintendo Integrated Research & Development (IRD) and Nintendo Research & Engineering Development (RED). Genyo Takeda became the general manager of Nintendo IRD, while Satoru Okada became the general manager of Nintendo RED.

Video games by Nintendo Research & Development 3

Title Platform Released Added to Museum Notes
Punch-Out!! 1983 Arcade Switch: May 15, 2008 Emulated on Switch as part of the Hamster Arcade Archives series.
Super Punch-Out!! 1984 Arcade Not added yet.
Arm Wrestling 1985 Arcade Not added yet.
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! 1987
2002
2015
NES
GameCube
NES Classic Edition
Tyson NES: February 6, 2000
GameCube: January 20, 2003
NES Classic Edition: June 22, 2017
Mike Tyson was replaced with the fictional Mr. Dream after Nintendo's license to use Tyson expired in 1990.
Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream was emulated on Animal Crossing for GameCube in 2002.
Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream was emulated on the NES Classic Edition in 2015.
StarTropics 1990
2016
NES
NES Classic Edition
NES Classic Edition: June 22, 2017 StarTropics was emulated on the NES Classic Edition in 2016.
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II 1994
2016
NES
Wii U
NES Classic Edition: June 22, 2017 Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II was emulated on the Wii U in 2016.
Pilotwings 64 1996 Nintendo 64 Not yet.

Home video game consoles by Nintendo Research & Development 3

Title Released Added to Museum Notes
Nintendo 64 1996 January 20, 2018
GameCube 2001 January 8, 2018 First Nintendo console to use optical disc media, which was a proprietary mini DVD format with a total capacity of 1.5 gigabytes.

Handheld video game consoles by Nintendo Research & Development 3

Title Released Added to Museum Notes
Game Boy Pocket 1996 Not Added Yet A ligher and smaller Game Boy that required less batteries.
Game Boy Light 1998 Not Added Yet Slightly larger than the Game Boy Pocket, and includes an electroluminescent backlight.
Game Boy Color 1998 Not Added Yet Slightly larger and thicker than the Game Boy Pocket, and includes a color screen.
Game Boy Advance 2001 September 18, 2017 Successor to the Game Boy Color, with a 32-bit processor, a horizontal layout with a color screen, two face buttons, start and select buttons, and two shoulder buttons.
Game Boy Advance SP 2003 Not Added Yet An updated version of the Game Boy Advance, wherein SP stands for special, with a rectangular layout and a clamshell case.

Video game peripherals by Nintendo Integrated Research & Development

Title Released Added to Museum Notes
Game Pak 1983-2001 December 25, 1988 Nintendo cartridges from the Famicom to the GBA. Coined by Nintendo advertisment executive Gail Tilden, in order to distance it from the game cartridges of Atari, so that people wouldn't be reminded of the video game crash of 1983.
Game Boy Camera 1996 Not Added Yet Camera for the Game Boy.
Game Boy Printer 1996 Not Added Yet Printer for the Game Boy.
Controller Pack 1996 Not Added Yet Memory card for Nintendo 64.
Transfer Pack 1996 Not Added Yet Nintendo 64 peripheral that allows transfer of data between N64 games and Game Boy or Game Boy Color games.
Rumble Pak 1996 Not Added Yet Nintendo 64 peripheral that provides force feedback via the controller while playing games.
Expansion Pak 1998 January 20, 2018 4 megabytes of random access memory expansion for Nintendo 64 which increases the console's total RAM from 4MB to 8MB.
Nintendo 64DD 1999 Not yet. Drive that reads magnetic disks on the Nintendo 64, with a total capacity of 64 megabytes, which was released only in Japan.
Gamecube controller 2001 January 20, 2018 A wired controller for the GameCube.
Memory Card 59 2001 January 20, 2018 The standard 4 megabit GameCube memory card.
Nintendo e-Reader 2002 September 18, 2017 A device for Game Boy Advance which would scan cards with dotcodes to load games and add-ons for games.
Memory Card 251 2002 Not added yet. A larger 16 megabit GameCube memory card.
Wavebird wireless controller 2002 Not added yet. A radio frequency-based wireless controller for the GameCube.
Memory Card 1019 2002 Not added yet. A larger 64 megabit GameCube memory card.
Game Boy Player 2002 December 22, 2017 A peripheral for GameCube that plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games.