NST

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 6 Comments

NST is perhaps best known for the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series at this point. Interestingly though, the studio also helped out SFB Games with development.

NST worked on level design, UI design, audio, and co-production. Since SF Games isn’t the biggest company out there, it made sense for the two teams to collaborate.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 21 Comments

NST, also known as Nintendo Software Technology, is losing two of its more notable employees. Lead designer Stephen Mortimer and assistant designer Paul Kranich have both departed from the studio.

You may also remember that Sonic co-creator Hirokazu Yasuhara joined NST back in 2012. Apparently, he left the company within the past few months as well.

NST has mostly worked on Mario vs. Donkey Kong games over the past few years. Other previous projects include Metroid Prime: Hunters and Crosswords Plus.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 20 Comments

Back in 2009, a small team at Nintendo Software Technology – otherwise known as NST – started work on a pitch for a new Wave Race game. The company was hoping to create a new entry in the series for Wii, and there were plans to take advantage of the Wii Remote by offering an original control scheme.

Ultimately, things weren’t meant to be. NST presented its prototype to Nintendo’s higher-ups in Japan, though some members of the board weren’t convinced by the controls, and there were some concerns about it being able to find an audience.

Take a look at the full report from Unseen64 below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii | 2 Comments

Liam Robertson dug deep into the development and troubles surrounding Project H.A.M.M.E.R. earlier this year.Today, Robertson published a new report that sheds even more light on the cancelled Wii game.

Here are a few highlights:

– Shigeru Miyamoto wasn’t happy that NST spent over $1 million on lavish CGI sequences which were ordered the game design was concrete and before the game’s reveal in 2006
– Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis also featured cut-scenes from Silver Ant for a high sum of money
– This all caused the person in charge of budgetary concerns on both H.A.M.M.E.R. and Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 getting a slapped wrist from Miyamoto
– Miyamoto branded the investment in CGI “superfluous”
– This ended NST’s relationship with Silver Ant
– Katsuhiko Kanno was the person in charge at the game’s inception
– Kanno was apparently “difficult to work with”, “rude” and “uncooperative”
– Around this time, is is thought that a large number of NST staff left the company under their own volition
– Staff count at NST dropped from 50 to about half of that
– To steady the ship staff were moved onto the project from elsewhere in Nintendo’s North American network
– Metroid Prime level designer Jason Behr was brought on to bring things back on course
– Behr found himself singled out as a scapegoat for the game’s shortcomings
– Behr stayed on until around 2008, and would leave NST to join Monolith Productions
– Senior staff at NST finally spotted the friction between Kanno and his team
– He was removed from the project in 2007 and replaced by Masamichi Abe (Pikmin 1 and 2 director)
– Metroid Prime producer Kensuke Tanabe joined in a supervisory role towards the end of the project
– He didn’t have much of an impact, and only visited NST’s offices a handful of times
– Project H.A.M.M.E.R. would be re-tooled as Wii Crush, a casual title aimed at the Wii Sports audience
– Would have supported MotionPlus
– Project cancelled entirely in 2009

You can see the latest report on Project H.A.M.M.E.R. in its entirety below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments

Over the past few years, NST has been known for working on Nintendo titles Mario vs. Donkey Kong. But it’s possible that the studio could be getting its feet wet in the mobile space as well.

On Nintendo’s job listings website, a post has been put up for a mobile game developer software engineer over at NST. This person will “play a key role in helping Nintendo build fun and engaging mobile applications and games as a member of NST’s game team.” Additionally, they must also possess “working knowledge of iOS and/or Android SDK’s.”

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Videos, Wii | 26 Comments

Unseen64’s Liam Robertson has posted a new video that looks into the various issues Project H.AM.M.E.R. encountered while in development. It also explores problems within Nintendo Software Technology as a whole, including apparent racism.

You can watch the full video below. There’s also a quick summary that can be read as well.

– After 1080, NST went on to start a new project (a small team that outsourced concept art, CGI opening, etc)
– The internal name for the project was MachineX
– In 2005 it had reached 75% completion and was nearing completion
– Japanese staff were overseeing the development at the studio which posed cultural challenges
– There were continued arguments and debate between the Japanese management and the NST developers
– At late 2007, it was 4 years in development
– Towards the end, changes were demanded to the environments and then the entire visuals
– This complete change despite mechanics eventually culminated in a more ‘lighter, casual’ visual style that was codenamed Wii Crush
– 2008 onwards, staff left
– Nintendo of America had to carry out a review of staff conditions which recorded a low morale
– Midway into 2009, a small number of staff still continued to work onto it until it ended
– NCL finally withdrew funding
– ‘Nintendo have made some great games, but with NST it came with a price’: Former NST developer

Thanks to Jake and Fred for the tip.

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