indieszero

indieszero Corporation, Ltd. (Japanese: 有限会社インディーズゼロ) is a video game development company headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded on April 21, 1997, and has developed video games for other video game companies, including Nintendo, SEGA, and Square Enix.

indieszero Corporation, Ltd.
Private
FoundedApril 21, 1997 (1997-04-21)
HeadquartersKichijoji Hommachi 1-31-11 KS building 7F,
Musashino, Tokyo
,
Japan
Key people
Masanobu Suzui (鈴井匡伸)
ProductsVideo games
Brandsmonsteroctopus
Number of employees
41 (2019)
WebsiteOfficial indieszero website

Overview

The name of the company is a portmanteau, which came from the early days of the company, where the company strives to produce independent video games (indies) with a low budget and minimal connections to other developers which is described as "almost zero" (zero).[1] From an interview with Famitsu, another candidate for the company name came from one of the fictitious game companies appearing in "Game Center CX Arino's Challenge".[2]

The philosophy of the company is to make games that are easy to understand and user-friendly.[3][4] At the start, the company specialized in creating games for handheld systems, but eventually expanded to making mobile games.[1][5] The company is also involved in making licensed trading-card games for popular franchises such as Legend of Mana and Final Fantasy.[6]

In an interview with a local university, the founder Masanobu Suzui commented that the company plans to "make new products that has never been created before". He regards the company as a game developer that "cherishes a creative viewpoint rather than state-of-the-art technology capabilities" and makes games that can be immersed by a long-time video game player but also aimed at what everyone can easily play.[7]

History

In 1997, Masunobu Suzui founded the company at 24 years old, along with two members from the fresh graduate discovery project "Nintendo & Dentsu Game Seminar" (predecessor of the current "Nintendo Game Seminar"). They were initially tasked with developing programs for Nintendo's Satellaview peripheral for the Super Famicom. Some of the projects they worked on included "Sutto Hankoku" and "Cooking Pong!".[8]

The company went to develop many titles for the Nintendo DS such as Electroplankton. Shaberu! DS Oryōri Navi released by Nintendo in July 2006 won the 10th Media Arts Festival Entertainment Division Excellence Award. Oshare Majo: Love and Berry was released from Sega in November which became a million seller and awarded a special prize in the annual work section of the Japan Game Award 2007.[9][10]

In June 2011, the company released DualPenSports as their first title for the Nintendo 3DS.[11] The company then collaborated with Square Enix on Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, in which Masunobu Suzui reunited with former Bandai producer Ikuro Kuroku when working on the game. The game went on to have an iOS and Arcade port, as well as two independent sequels titled Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call and Theatrhythm Dragon Quest.[11]

The company then collaborated with Nintendo EAD for the development of NES Remix for both the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U. During the planning phase, Koichi Hayashida, the Director of Nintendo Tokyo Production Department who participated in the "Nintendo & Dentsu Game Seminar" in his student days together with Masunobu Suzui, called up Suzui to partner up on the game development. Suzui then came to Hayashida with a game prototype, which Hayashida approved and green-lighted on the spot. This was around the time when development of the "Nintendo 3DS Guide Louvre Museum" was just completed, therefore the company was able to commit to the project. The game was well-reviewed and two sequels in the form on NES Remix 2 and Ultimate NES Remix was developed.[5][12]

The company first mobile title was Grand Marche no Meikyuu, released in September 2016. The game was developed in collaboration with Square Enix, after development of Theatrhythm Dragon Quest was wrapped up.[13] However, Square Enix announced the game servers closure in November 2017.[14]

During Nintendo's E3 Presentation in 2017, the company was revealed to be co-developing Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, a strategic action-RPG-puzzle game for the Nintendo 3DS with Nintendo.[15][16] A port of the game for the Nintendo Switch, to be released on the same day as the 3DS version, was revealed in a Nintendo Direct in March 2018, making this the first title the company developed for the Nintendo Switch.[17][18]

Titles Developed

*=Released in Japan only

Super Nintendo
  • Sutte Hakkun (1997)* - Exclusively broadcast over Satellaview
  • Dish Pong! (1997-1998)* - Four episodes, exclusively broadcast over Satellaview

Microsoft Windows
  • Denshi no Seirei Chi-bitto (1998)*

Nintendo Game Boy Advance

Nintendo DS

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo Wii U
  • NES Remix[20] (2013) - Additional Work
  • NES Remix 2 (2014) - Additional Work

Nintendo Switch

Mobile
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References
  1. "大人も子供もファミコン世代も。ファミコンリミックス開発者インタビュー". ニンテンドードリーム. April 2014.
  2. "ゲームメーカー年鑑2009". 週刊ファミ通. 4月3日増刊号. 3 April 2009.
  3. "ゲームデザイン | CEDEC 2011 | Computer Entertaintment Developers Conference". cedec.cesa.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  4. "3DS「タッチ！ダブルペンスポーツ」プレイレポ！ | CC2の楽屋裏". CC2の楽屋裏 (in Japanese). 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  5. "任天堂"宮本イズム"伝承者たちが語る「ファミコン黄金時代という高い壁、そして新たな黄金時代のつくり方」 - エンタメ - ニュース｜週プレNEWS［週刊プレイボーイのニュースサイト］". 週プレNEWS［週刊プレイボーイのニュースサイト］ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  6. "Indies Zero: The Draw Of Portable Games - Siliconera". Siliconera. 2011-01-06. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  7. "吉祥寺.mag". 亜細亜大学. 10 October 2016.
  8. "『千年家族』開発スタッフインタビューin吉祥寺". www.nintendo.co.jp. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  9. "『ＤＳ美文字トレーニング』開発スタッフインタビュー[１]". www.nintendo.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  10. "CEDEC 2009 | CESA Developers Conference". cedec.cesa.or.jp. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  11. "社長が訊く『ニンテンドー3DS』ソフトメーカークリエーター 篇｜ニンテンドー3DS｜Nintendo". 任天堂ホームページ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  12. "大人も子供もファミコン世代も。ファミコンリミックス開発者インタビュー". ニンテンドードリーム. 2014年4月号. April 2014.
  13. "The recipe for Grand Marche no Meikyuu is equal parts fantasy RPG, cooking and anime - Geek.com". Geek.com. 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  14. "Square Enix's Grand Marche no Meikyū Smartphone Game Shuts Down in November". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  15. "Sushi Striker is a 3DS game about eating hella sushi and flinging empty plates at the haters". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  16. Alexander, Julia (2017-06-14). "Nintendo announces Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, new 3DS game dedicated to eating sushi". Polygon. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  17. Alexander, Julia (2018-03-08). "Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido heading to the Switch in June". Polygon. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  18. "'Sushi Striker' Coming To Switch and 3DS In June". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  19. "Namco Bandai Publishing Double Pen Sports For Nintendo 3DS". Siliconera. 2010-10-03. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  20. Otero, Jose (23 April 2014). "How Mario 3D World's Co-Director Gave NES Games a Second Life". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
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