Nintendo Cube
 Logo since September 2024 | |
 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 |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Kabushiki gaisha Nintendōkyūbu |
| Formerly | NDcube (2000-2024) |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | March 1, 2000 in Tokyo, Japan |
| Headquarters | Saint Luke's Tower 46F, 8-1 Akashi-chō, , Japan |
Number of locations | 2 studios[a] (2020) |
Key people |
|
| Products | Games |
| Brands | |
Number of employees | 120 (2024) |
| Parent | Nintendo[b] |
| Website | nintendo-cube |
| Footnotes / references [1][2] | |
Nintendo Cube Co., Ltd.,[c] 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
[edit]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.[3]
In the years after Mario Party 8's 2007 release, many employees from Hudson Soft migrated to Nd Cube[4] including former Hudson Soft president Hidetoshi Endo who became president of Nd Cube around 2009[5].
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.[6][7][8]
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.[9][10]
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.[11][5]
In 2024, NDcube rebranded to Nintendo Cube.[12]
Games
[edit]| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | F-Zero: Maximum Velocity | Game Boy Advance |
| EZ-Talk Shokyuuhen series | ||
| Dokodemo Taikyoku Yakuman Advance | ||
| 2002 | Card Party | |
| Pool Edge | GameCube | |
| 2003 | Tube Slider | |
| 2010 | Wii Party | Wii |
| 2011 | Wii Play: Motion | |
| 2012 | Mario Party 9 | |
| 2013 | Wii Party U | Wii U |
| Mario Party: Island Tour | Nintendo 3DS | |
| 2015 | Mario Party 10 | Wii U |
| Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival[d] | ||
| 2016 | Mario Party: Star Rush | Nintendo 3DS |
| 2017 | Mario Party: The Top 100 | |
| Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp[d] | Android, iOS | |
| 2018 | Super Mario Party | Nintendo Switch |
| 2020 | Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics | |
| 2021 | Mario Party Superstars | |
| 2023 | Everybody 1-2-Switch![d] | |
| 2024 | Super Mario Party Jamboree | |
| Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete | Android, iOS | |
| 2025 | Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV | Nintendo Switch 2 |
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "COMPANY". エヌディーキューブ株式会社 (in Japanese). January 11, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ "Company profile". August 30, 2010. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ "Nd Cube flatline". IGN. August 22, 2000. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
- ^ "Hudson's Ashes: A Tale of Nd Cube's Party Past - Feature". Nintendo World Report.
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.
- ^ a b "Mario Party Dev NDcube Has Officially Changed Its Name". September 2, 2024. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
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.
- ^ Pearson, Dan (August 26, 2010). "ND Cube now officially a subsidiary of Nintendo". Gamesindustry. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
- ^ NE, Brian (June 29, 2015). "Latest listing of Nintendo subsidiaries and affiliated companies". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
- ^ "COMPANY". エヌディーキューブ株式会社 (in Japanese). January 11, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ "Mario Party Developer Changes Its Name". September 3, 2024. Archived from the original on June 2, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
the studio was formed by many Hudson Soft employees, who were responsible for the entire Mario Party series prior to Mario Party 9.
- ^ "The rise, fall and return of Mario Party". November 8, 2024. Archived from the original on February 1, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
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.
- ^ "COMPANY". January 11, 2018.
- ^ Scullion, Tom (September 2, 2024). "Mario Party developer NDCube has changed its name". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
External links
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| Console | |
|---|---|
| Handheld | |
