Nintendo Cube

{{Infobox company

| name = Nintendo Cube Co., Ltd.

| logo = Nintendo Cube Logo.svg

| logo_alt =

| logo_caption = Logo since September 2024

| image = St Luke's Garden 2.JPG

| image_alt =

| image_caption = Nintendo Cube's headquarters in Saint Luke's Tower, Tokyo

| native_name = ニンテンドーキューブ株式会社

| native_name_lang = ja

| romanized_name = Kabushiki gaisha Nintendōkyūbu

| former_name = NDcube (2000-2024)

| type = Subsidiary

| industry = Video games

| fate =

| successor =

| founded = {{Start date and age|2000|03|01}} in Tokyo, Japan

| founder =

| defunct =

| hq_location = Saint Luke's Tower 46F, 8-1 Akashi-chō

| hq_location_city = Chūō, Tokyo

| hq_location_country = Japan

| num_locations = 2 studios{{Efn|Sapporo Head Office and Tokyo Head Office}}

| num_locations_year = 2020

| area_served =

| key_people = {{Unbulleted list

| President & CEO

| Shūichirō Nishiya

| Executive Vice President

| Kenji Kikuchi

| Directors

| Kazuhiko Nonaka

| Toyokazu Nonaka {{Small|(Nintendo)}}

| Auditor & Supervisory Board Member

| Keisuke Kondo {{Small|(Nintendo)}}

| Former President & Chairman

| Hidetoshi Endo

}}

| products = Games

| brands = {{Unbulleted list

| Mario Party series

| Wii series

}}

| owner =

| num_employees = 120

| num_employees_year = 2024

| parent = Nintendo{{efn|2000-2010: 78%
2010-2015: 96%
2015-2023: 97%
2023-present: 99%}}

| website = {{URL|https://nintendo-cube.co.jp/}}

| footnotes = {{Cite web|date=2018-01-11|title=COMPANY|url=https://www.ndcube.co.jp/company|access-date=2020-06-29|website=エヌディーキューブ株式会社|language=ja}}{{Cite web|date=2010-08-30|title=Company profile|url=http://www2.ndcube.co.jp:80/company/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830223131/http://www2.ndcube.co.jp/company/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 30, 2010|access-date=2020-06-29}}

}}

{{Nihongo foot|Nintendo Cube Co., Ltd.,|ニンテンドーキューブ株式会社|NintendōKyūbu Kabushiki Gaisha|lead=yes|group=lower-alpha}} formerly known as Nd Cube and later NDcube, is a Japanese video game developer and a subsidiary of Nintendo headquartered in Tokyo with an additional office in Sapporo. They are best known as the developers of the Mario Party series since Mario Party 9 when they took over the series from the original developer Hudson Soft.

History

The company was founded on March 1, 2000, as Nd Cube, as a joint venture between Nintendo and the biggest advertising firm in Japan called Dentsu, hence the "ND" (Nintendo-Dentsu) in the name. Nintendo had 78% of the shares of the company at the time, while 13.3% of the shares were owned by Dentsu and the rest of the 8.7% were owned by other shareholders.{{cite web | date=August 22, 2000 | title=Nd Cube flatline | url=http://cube.ign.com/articles/080/080452p1.html | work=IGN | access-date=January 28, 2010}}

In the years after Mario Party 8's 2007 release, many employees from Hudson Soft migrated to Nd Cube{{Cite web

|url=http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/35784/hudsons-ashes-a-tale-of-nd-cubes-party-past|title=Hudson's Ashes: A Tale of Nd Cube's Party Past - Feature

|website=Nintendo World Report

|quote=Over the intervening years, Nd Cube's staff mostly moved on to other companies, mostly Nintendo and Square Enix. After Mario Party 8's 2007 release, a number of longtime Mario Party developers left Hudson to join Nd Cube. While we likely won't know exactly why there was a Hudson exodus to Nd Cube, it is extremely likely that the writing was on the wall for Hudson, and the powers that be at Nintendo and Nd Cube smartly snapped up most of the key leads of the Mario Party team to continue the Party brand.

}} including former Hudson Soft president Hidetoshi Endo who became president of Nd Cube around 2009{{Cite web

|date=Sep 2, 2024

|title=Mario Party Dev NDcube Has Officially Changed Its Name

|url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/09/mario-party-dev-ndcube-has-officially-changed-its-name

|access-date=2025-06-04

|quote=The studio is formed of many former Hudson Soft employees, the studio behind the Mario Party series before Nintendo Cube took over. Hidetoshi Endo, former president at Hudson Soft, was president of the company for ten years before being replaced by Mario Party series director Shuichiro Nishiya in 2019. Hudson Soft was absorbed by Konami in 2012.

}}.

In 2010, Nintendo decided to buy out the company's shares from Dentsu and the other shareholders, being then the major shareholder on the company, with its changing from 78% to 96% initially, to 97% in 2015, and since 2023, to 99% of the shares.{{cite web |last1=Pearson |first1=Dan |title=ND Cube now officially a subsidiary of Nintendo |url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2010-08-26-nd-cube-now-officially-a-subsidiary-of-nintendo |website=Gamesindustry |date=August 26, 2010 |access-date=9 January 2021}}{{cite web

|last1=NE |first1=Brian |title=Latest listing of Nintendo subsidiaries and affiliated companies |url=https://nintendoeverything.com/latest-listing-of-nintendo-subsidiaries-and-affiliated-companies/ |website=Nintendo Everything |date=June 29, 2015 |access-date=9 January 2021}}{{Cite web |date=2018-01-11 |title=COMPANY |url=https://www.ndcube.co.jp/company |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=エヌディーキューブ株式会社 |language=ja

}}

In 2012, Nd Cube rebranded to NDcube. In the same year, the company released Mario Party 9 for the Wii — the company's first Mario Party.{{Cite web

|date=Sep 3, 2024

|title=Mario Party Developer Changes Its Name

|url=https://gamerant.com/mario-party-developer-ndcube-name-change-nintendo-cube/

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250602212543/https://gamerant.com/mario-party-developer-ndcube-name-change-nintendo-cube/

|url-status=live

|archive-date=June 2, 2025

|access-date=2025-06-04

|quote=the studio was formed by many Hudson Soft employees, who were responsible for the entire Mario Party series prior to Mario Party 9.

}}{{Cite web

|date=November 8, 2024

|title=The rise, fall and return of Mario Party

|url=https://brockpress.com/the-rise-fall-and-return-of-mario-party/

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250201183634/https://brockpress.com/the-rise-fall-and-return-of-mario-party/

|url-status=live

|archive-date=February 1, 2025

|access-date=2025-06-04

|quote=Behind the scenes, Hudson Soft had been having some trouble for some time. Important members of the studio had been exiting the company, including those who had worked there for decades... While Hudson Soft’s days were over, the same could not be said for the hugely popular Mario Party franchise. By 2011, many of Hudson Soft’s employees had moved over to Nintendo’s subsidiary Nintendo Cube (then NDcube), so it made complete sense to hand the keys to the franchise over to the revised development team.

}}

In 2019, the director of the Mario Party series from Mario Party 6 to Super Mario Party, Shuichiro Nishiya, replaced Hidetoshi Endo as the company's president. Endo had served as president of NDcube for almost ten years.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ndcube.co.jp/company|title=COMPANY|date=January 11, 2018}}

In 2024, NDcube rebranded to Nintendo Cube.{{cite web | url = https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/mario-party-developer-ndcube-has-changed-its-name/ | title = Mario Party developer NDCube has changed its name | first = Tom | last = Scullion | date =September 2, 2024 | accessdate= September 2, 2024 | work = Video Games Chronicle }}

Games

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" \|+ List of video games developed by Nintendo Cube ! scope="col" \| Year ! scope="col" \| Title ! scope="col" \| Platform(s)
rowspan = "3" \| 2001 ! scope="row" \| F-Zero: Maximum Velocity \| rowspan="4" \|Game Boy Advance
scope="row" \| EZ-Talk Shokyuuhen series
scope="row" \| Dokodemo Taikyoku Yakuman Advance
rowspan = "2" \| 2002 ! scope="row" \| Card Party
scope="row" \| Pool Edge \| rowspan="2" \|GameCube
2003 ! scope="row" \| Tube Slider
2010 ! scope="row" \| Wii Party \| rowspan="3" \|Wii
2011 ! scope="row" \| Wii Play: Motion
2012 ! scope="row" \| Mario Party 9
rowspan = "2" \| 2013 ! scope="row" \| Wii Party U \|Wii U
scope="row" \| Mario Party: Island Tour \|Nintendo 3DS
rowspan = "2" \| 2015 ! scope="row" \| Mario Party 10 \| rowspan="2" \|Wii U
scope="row" \| Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival{{efn\|name=EDP\|Co-developed with Nintendo EPD}}
2016 ! scope="row" \| Mario Party: Star Rush \| rowspan="2" \|Nintendo 3DS
rowspan="2" \| 2017 ! scope="row" \| Mario Party: The Top 100
scope="row" \| Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp{{efn\|name=EDP}} \|Android, iOS
2018 ! scope="row" \| Super Mario Party \| rowspan="5" \|Nintendo Switch
2020 ! scope="row" \| Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
2021 ! scope="row" \| Mario Party Superstars
2023 ! scope="row" \| Everybody 1-2-Switch!{{efn\|name=EDP}}
rowspan = "2" \| 2024 ! scope="row" \| Super Mario Party Jamboree
scope="row" \| Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete \|Android, iOS
rowspan="2" \|2025 ! scope="row" \| Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour{{efn\|name=EDP}}{{Cite web \|title=開発協力 {{!}} ニンテンドーキューブ株式会社 {{!}} Nintendo Cube \|url=https://www.nintendo-cube.co.jp/works/ \|access-date=2025-06-13 \|website=ニンテンドーキューブ株式会社 \|language=ja}} \| rowspan="2" \|Nintendo Switch 2
scope="row" \| Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ List of video games developed by Nintendo Cube

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Platform(s)

rowspan = "3" | 2001

! scope="row" | F-Zero: Maximum Velocity

| rowspan="4" |Game Boy Advance

scope="row" | EZ-Talk Shokyuuhen series

scope="row" | Dokodemo Taikyoku Yakuman Advance

rowspan = "2" | 2002

! scope="row" | Card Party

scope="row" | Pool Edge

| rowspan="2" |GameCube

2003

! scope="row" | Tube Slider

2010

! scope="row" | Wii Party

| rowspan="3" |Wii

2011

! scope="row" | Wii Play: Motion

2012

! scope="row" | Mario Party 9

rowspan = "2" | 2013

! scope="row" | Wii Party U

|Wii U

scope="row" | Mario Party: Island Tour

|Nintendo 3DS

rowspan = "2" | 2015

! scope="row" | Mario Party 10

| rowspan="2" |Wii U

scope="row" | Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival{{efn|name=EDP|Co-developed with Nintendo EPD}}

2016

! scope="row" | Mario Party: Star Rush

| rowspan="2" |Nintendo 3DS

rowspan="2" | 2017

! scope="row" | Mario Party: The Top 100

scope="row" | Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp{{efn|name=EDP}}

|Android, iOS

2018

! scope="row" | Super Mario Party

| rowspan="5" |Nintendo Switch

2020

! scope="row" | Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics

2021

! scope="row" | Mario Party Superstars

2023

! scope="row" | Everybody 1-2-Switch!{{efn|name=EDP}}

rowspan = "2" | 2024

! scope="row" | Super Mario Party Jamboree

scope="row" | Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete

|Android, iOS

rowspan="2" |2025

! scope="row" | Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour{{efn|name=EDP}}{{Cite web |title=開発協力 {{!}} ニンテンドーキューブ株式会社 {{!}} Nintendo Cube |url=https://www.nintendo-cube.co.jp/works/ |access-date=2025-06-13 |website=ニンテンドーキューブ株式会社 |language=ja}}

| rowspan="2" |Nintendo Switch 2

scope="row" | Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV

Notes

References

External links

{{Official website}}

Category:Software companies based in Tokyo

Category:Video game companies established in 2000

Category:Japanese companies established in 2000

Category:First-party video game developers

Category:Video game companies of Japan

Category:Nintendo divisions and subsidiaries

Category:Video game development companies

Category:Dentsu