| Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd. | |
| Native Name: | 株式会社インテリジェントシステムズ |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Romanized Name: | Kabushiki gaisha Interijento Shisutemuzu |
| Type: | Kabushiki gaisha |
| Industry: | Video games |
| Founder: | Toru Narihiro |
| Hq Location: | Minami-ku |
| Hq Location City: | Kyoto |
| Hq Location Country: | Japan |
| Num Locations: | 2 |
| Num Locations Year: | 2020 |
| Num Employees: | 197 (2024) |
| Subsid: | Purejio Co., Ltd. (株式会社プレジオ)[1] |
| Homepage: | |
is a Japanese video game developer best known for developing games published by Nintendo with the Fire Emblem, Paper Mario, WarioWare, and Wars video game series. Originally, the company was headquartered at the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto,[2] but later moved to a building near Nintendo's main headquarters in October 2013.[3] They were also responsible for the creation of various development hardware both first and 3rd party developers would use to make games for Nintendo systems, such as the IS Nitro Emulator, the official development kit for the Nintendo DS.
Intelligent Systems started when programmer Toru Narihiro was hired by Nintendo to port Famicom Disk System software to the standard ROM-cartridge format that was being used outside Japan on the NES. Similarly to the origins of HAL Laboratory, the team soon became an auxiliary program unit for Nintendo that provided system tools and hired people to program, fix, or port Nintendo-developed software. Much of the team's original work consists of minor contributions to larger games developed by Nintendo R&D1 and Nintendo EAD.[4]
Narihiro programmed his first video games, Famicom Wars and , towards the end of the Famicom's life cycle, although the game design, graphic design, and music was provided by the Nintendo R&D1 team. Because of Narihiro's success, Intelligent Systems began to hire graphic designers, programmers, and musicians to extend the company from an auxiliary–tool developer to a game development group. The company continued to develop new entries in the Wars and Fire Emblem franchises.
In 2000, Intelligent Systems produced Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64, which became a surprise hit, leading to five sequels. Three years later, the first entry in the WarioWare series was released on the Game Boy Advance, and it too became a successful series.
Not all games developed by Intelligent Systems are published by Nintendo. (which was co-developed by Intelligent Systems) was published by Atlus in North America; Intelligent Systems also developed various Dragon Quest games, which were published by Square Enix.
| Title | Platform(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Mario Bros.< | -- September 9, 1983 (JP) --> | NES | [5] |
| 1984 | Tennis < | -- January 14, 1984 (JP) --> | ||
| Wild Gunman < | -- February 18, 1984 (JP) --> | |||
| Duck Hunt< | -- April 21, 1984 (JP) --> | |||
| Hogan's Alley < | -- June 12, 1984 (JP) --> | |||
| Donkey Kong 3 < | -- July 4, 1984 (JP) --> | |||
| Devil World< | -- October 5, 1984 (JP) --> | |||
| 1985 | Soccer < | -- April 9, 1985 (JP) --> | ||
| Wrecking Crew < | -- June 18, 1985 (JP) --> | |||
| Stack-Up < | -- July 26, 1985 (JP) --> | |||
| Gyromite < | -- August 13, 1985 (JP) --> | |||
| 1986 | Tennis< | -- February 21, 1986 (JP) --> | Famicom Disk System | |
| Soccer< | -- February 21, 1986 (JP) --> | |||
| Metroid < | -- August 6, 1986 (JP) --> | [6] | ||
| 1988 | Famicom Wars | Famicom | ||
| Kaette Kita Mario Bros. < | -- November 30, 1988 (JP) --> | Famicom Disk System | ||
| Wrecking Crew < | -- February 3, 1989 (JP) --> | |||
| 1989 | Alleyway < | -- April 21, 1989 (JP) --> | Game Boy | |
| Baseball < | -- April 21, 1989 (JP) --> | |||
| Yakuman < | -- April 21, 1989 (JP) --> | |||
| Golf < | -- November 28, 1989 (JP) --> | |||
| 1990 | Famicom | |||
| Backgammon | Famicom Disk System | |||
| 1991 | SimCity < | -- April 26, 1991 (JP) --> | Super NES | |
| Game Boy Wars < | -- May 21, 1991 (JP) --> | Game Boy | ||
| 1992 | Super Scope 6< | -- February 1992 (NA) --> | Super NES | |
| Fire Emblem Gaiden< | -- March 14, 1992 (JP) --> | Famicom | ||
| Mario Paint < | -- July 14, 1992 (JP) --> | Super NES | ||
| Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru< | -- September 4, 1992 (JP) --> | Game Boy | ||
| Battle Clash < | -- October 1992 (NA) --> | Super NES | ||
| 1993 | ||||
| 1994 | Super Famicom | |||
| Super Metroid | Super NES | |||
| 1995 | Galactic Pinball | Virtual Boy | ||
| Panel de Pon | Super Famicom | |||
| 1996 | ||||
| Tetris Attack | Super NES | |||
| 1998 | Super Famicom Wars | Super Famicom | ||
| 1999 | ||||
| 2000 | Game Boy Color | |||
| Paper Mario | Nintendo 64 | |||
| Pokémon Puzzle Challenge | Game Boy Color | |||
| 2001 | Advance Wars | Game Boy Advance | ||
| 2002 | GameCube | |||
| Game Boy Advance | ||||
| 2003 | Nintendo Puzzle Collection | GameCube | ||
| Game Boy Advance | ||||
| GameCube | ||||
| 2004 | ||||
| Game Boy Advance | ||||
| Nintendo DS | ||||
| 2005 | GameCube | |||
| Nintendo DS | ||||
| 2006 | Wii | |||
| 2007 | ||||
| Super Paper Mario | ||||
| Planet Puzzle League | Nintendo DS | |||
| Face Training | ||||
| 2008 | ||||
| Nintendo DS | ||||
| 2009 | WarioWare D.I.Y. | |||
| WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase | Wii | |||
| Dragon Quest Wars | Nintendo DS | |||
| Wii | ||||
| Nintendo DSi Instrument Tuner | Nintendo DSi | |||
| Nintendo DSi Metronome | ||||
| Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function | ||||
| Link 'n' Launch | ||||
| Spotto | ||||
| 2010 | Nintendo DS | |||
| Face Training | ||||
| 2011 | Pushmo | Nintendo 3DS | ||
| Wii | [7] | |||
| 2012 | Fire Emblem Awakening | Nintendo 3DS | ||
| Crashmo | ||||
| 2013 | Game & Wario | Wii U | ||
| Daigasso! Band Brothers P | Nintendo 3DS | |||
| 2014 | Pushmo World | Wii U | [8] | |
| 2015 | Nintendo 3DS | |||
| Stretchmo | ||||
| Fire Emblem Fates | [9] | |||
| 2016 | Wii U | |||
| 2017 | Fire Emblem Heroes | iOS, Android | ||
| Nintendo 3DS | ||||
| 2018 | WarioWare Gold | |||
| 2019 | Nintendo Switch | |||
| 2020 | ||||
| 2021 | ||||
| 2023 | Fire Emblem Engage | |||
| 2024 | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door |
| Title | System | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon Hopper | Virtual Boy | [10] | |
| Fire Emblem 64 | Nintendo 64DD | [11] | |
| Untitled Fire Emblem game | Wii | [12] | |
| Crashmo World | Wii U | [13] |