Year University / Graduate School Technical College Total New R&D Employees from Uni/Col
April 2021 80 3 83
April 2022 93 5 98
April 2023 95 8 103
April 2024 77 6 83
April 2025 82 7 89
April 2026 86 4 90

Non-Consolidated: 3,084 (March 2026)
Consolidated: 8,666 (March 2026)

Not a lot of growth in the period, but their new hires happen in April 2026

8,572+367 since last update. (Global Nintendo Co, consolidated employee count)
3,078+116 since last update (Nintendo Co., Ltd. Japan employee count)

Yasuo Oba - CEO, Producer - Apr 2023 (no games yet, formerly Namco)
Yudai Ishii - Game Director - Apr 2023 (no games yet, formerly Namco)
Takumi Kudo - Game Designer - Feb 2024 (formerly Toy Logic)

Once there he first bumps into an unnamed (hard to identify the developer) who points the host in the direction of the development team.

Then, we see 3 development staff from "R&D2" and Mario pop up.

Takashi Tezuka, Koji Kondo, and Kenji Miki

Out of the three, it is Kenji Miki who assumes the father of Mario and begins to answer questions about his origin to the host.

Mario's Father Japanese Video
Which leads to some questions:

1. Was R&D2 the official developer of Super Mario Bros. and the R&D4/EAD official group formalize shortly after?
2. Kenji Miki, who was a key development staff in early Nintendo but there was so much information missing on him — this would link him to being a core developer on Super Mario Bros.

https://tcrf.net/Super_Mario_3D_World_%2B_Bowser%27s_Fury

philbr02Stage054
philbr02Stage055
1upsugimotoStage002
chripo05Stage193
chripo05Stage194
chripo05Stage195
chripo05Stage197
chripo05Stage198
chripo05Stage199
chripo05Stage200
chripo05Stage201
chripo05Stage178
vincle02Stage087
1upSugimotorTestStage001
1upSugimotorTestStage002
n3260Stage001
chripo05Stage209
chripo05Stage210
chripo05Stage212
1upkamikuboStage002
n3260Stage002
1upsekoStage002
n3260Stage003
n3260Stage004
n3260Stage005
n3260Stage006
n3260Stage007
n3260Stage008
1updoiStage003
1upkamikuboStage003
1updoiStage004
1upkamikuboStage004

EPD Tokyo

1. Kenta Motokura - Producer
2. Futoshi Shirai - Chief Planner
3. Shinya Hiratake - Chief Planner
4. Daisuke Tsujimura - Chief Planner
5. Hideaki Shimizu - Programmer
6. Takeshi Hayakawa - Programmer
7. Naoki Koga - Programmer
8. Katsuyasu Ando - Programmer
9. Hideyuki Sugawara - Programmer
10. Haruka Kakinuma - Planner
11. Yuka Kitahara - Planner
12. Kiyoshi Takeuchi - Programmer
13. Hayato Ichino - Programmer
14. Hirokazu Matsuda - Programmer
15. Kazuhiro Musa - Programmer
16. Tatsuro Ota - Programmer
17. Yuta Yamashita - Programmer
18. Yusuke Kitazono - Programmer
19. Yosuke Mori - Programmer
20. Masakaze Sato - Programmer
21. Ryo Kawasaki - Programmer
22. Toshihiko Okamoto - Planner
23. Wataru Tanaka - Programmer
24. Tatsuya Kurihara - Programmer
25. Satoshi Miyama - Programmer
26. Yotaro Kiriyama - Programmer
27. Yasuhiko Matsuzaki - Artist
28. Naoki Mineta - Artist
29. Rikuto Yoshida - Artist
30. Sho Murata (Senior) - Artist
31. Daisuke Watanabe - Artist
32. Yuki Nakamura - Artist
33. Kazunori Hashimoto - Artist
34. Tiago Sonobe - Programmer
35. Keishi Yoshioka - Artist
36. Ryuji Tada - Artist
37. Yusuke Nodama - Planner
38. Yusaku Yamanaka - Planner
39. Kazuya Takahashi - Planner
40. Yuji Watanabe - Planner
41. Xuewei Li - Artist
42. Jumpei Yamashita - Artist
43. Hiroshi Arai - Artist
44. Masafumi Kawamura - Sound Engineer
45. Yuya Takezawa - Sound Engineer
46. Takeshi Hosono - Artist
47. Keisuke Matsui - Technical Support
48. Atsushi Yamaguchi - Production
49. Kaoru Sato - Production?
50. Kazumi Yamaguchi - Artist
51. Mahito Yokota - Music Composer
52. Hirotaka Tanikawa - Artist
53. Shuhei Sugimoto - Artist
54. Ryota Hamaguchi - Artist
55. Akane Yoshida - Artist
56. Akiko Hirono - Artist
57. Chiaki Uchida - Artist

1-UP Studio

1. Gen Kadoi - Management
2. Yuichi Iwasa - Planner
3. Eisaku Sato - Planner
4. Satoshi Harayama - Planner
5. Nozomi Isoda - Planner
6. Koji Aoyama - CG Artist
7. Yotaro Doi - CG Artist
8. Shiho Fukushima - CG Artist
9. Wakana Imai - CG Artist
10. Asami Inoue - CG Artist
11. Teppei Kamata - CG Artist
12. Kyoko Kamikubo - CG Artist
13. Kyoko Kawasaki - CG Artist
14. Eriko Kasai - CG Artist
15. Mio Kikuchi - CG Artist
16. Wakana Kodama - CG Artist
17. Hikari Konno - CG Artist
18. Fumiaki Kuroda - CG Artist
19. Nobuaki Kuroda - CG Artist
20. Hinako Maeda - CG Artist
21. Yuiko Matsubara - CG Artist
22. Yujiro Mori - Technical Artist
23. Kotono Mizuno - CG Artist
24. Kanoko Myoken - CG Artist
25. Kureha Naito - CG Artist
26. Mamiko Narita - CG Artist
27. Naoya Nihei - CG Artist
28. Rina Nishijima - CG Artist
29. Ai Ogawa - CG Artist
30. Hiroki Sano - CG Artist
31. Risa Sugimoto - CG Artist
32. Hiroki Takahashi - CG Artist
33. Hatsune Takeshita - CG Artist
34. Natsuko Yamashiro - CG Artist
35. Tomonori Hiraishi - Programmer
36. Haruto Ino - Programmer
37. Yoshiki Kawanishi - Programmer
38. Yuto Kobayashi - Programmer
39. Yuichi Kurata - Programmer
40. Ryoga Okanashi - Programmer
41. Shota Shimada - Programmer
42. Kotaro Yoshida - Programmer
43. Tohru Yoshio - Programmer

1. Kenta Motokura (Senior) Manager/Producer
2. Futoshi Shirai (Senior) Chief Planner
3. Shinya Hiratake (Senior) Chief Planner
4. Daisuke Tsujimura (Senior) Chief Planner
5. Hideaki Shimizu (Senior) Programmer
6. Takeshi Hayakawa (Senior) Programmer
7. Naoki Koga (Senior) Programmer
8. Katsuyasu Ando (Senior) Programmer
9. Hideyuki Sugawara (Senior) Programmer
10. Haruka Kakinuma (Senior) Planner
11. Yuka Kitahara (Senior) Planner
12. Kiyoshi Takeuchi (Senior) Programmer
13. Hayato Ichino (Senior) Programmer
14. Hirokazu Matsuda (Senior) Programmer
15. Kazuhiro Musa (Senior) Programmer
16. Tatsuro Ota (Senior) Programmer
17. Yuta Yamashita (Senior) Programmer
18. Yusuke Kitazono (Senior) Programmer
19. Yosuke Mori (Senior) Programmer
20. Masakaze Sato (Senior) Programmer
21. Ryo Kawasaki (Senior) Programmer
22. Toshihiko Okamoto (Senior) Planner
23. Wataru Tanaka (Senior) Programmer
24. Tatsuya Kurihara (Senior) Programmer
25. Satoshi Miyama (Senior) Programmer
26. Yotaro Kiriyama (Senior) Programmer
27. Yasuhiko Matsuzaki (Senior) UI Artist
28. Naoki Mineta (Senior) Environment Artist
29. Rikuto Yoshida (Senior) Character Artist
30. Sho Murata (Senior) Character Artist
31. Daisuke Watanabe (Senior) Character Artist
32. Yuki Nakamura (Senior) UI Artist
33. Kazunori Hashimoto (Senior) Environment Artist
34. Tiago Sonobe (August 2016) Programmer
35. Keishi Yoshioka (Jan 2024) Environment Artist
36. Ryuji Tada (May 2022) Technical Artist
37. Yusuke Nodama (January 2016) Planner
38. Yusaku Yamanaka (April 2016?) Planner
39. Kazuya Takahashi (April 2020?) Planner
40. Yuji Watanabe (April 2022) Planner
41. Xuewei Li (April 2019) Character Artist
42. Jumpei Yamashita (Senior) Environment Artist
43. Hiroshi Arai (Senior) Character Artist
44. Masafumi Kawamura (Senior) Sound Engineer
45. Yuya Takezawa (Senior) Sound Program
46. Takeshi Hosono (Senior) Environment Artist
47. Keisuke Matsui (Senior) Technical Support
48. Atsushi Yamaguchi (Senior) Production
49. Kaoru Sato (Senior) Production?
50. Kazumi Yamaguchi (Senior) Environment Artist
51. Mahito Yokota (Senior) Music Composer
52. Hirotaka Tanikawa (Senior) VFX Artist
53. Shuhei Sugimoto (Apr 2019) VFX Artist
54. Ryota Hamaguchi (Apr 2023) VFX Artist
55. Akane Yoshida (Apr 2018) Character Artist
56. Akiko Hirono (Senior) Character Artist
57. Chiaki Uchida (Senior) Character Artist

• Kenji Ishii (Left?)
• Hiroashi Hishinnuma (Left)
• Toshihiro Kawabata (Left?)
• Yumiko Matsumiya (Left?)
• Atsushi Mishima (Left?)
• Masaki Yokobe (Left?)
• Takao Shimizu (Retired?)
• Yoshiaki Koizumi (Kyoto Exec)

• Recruitment, Jan 2016 - Nintendo (EPD Tokyo) places recruitment ad for level designers for an undefined 3D action game (with obvious 3D Mario universe hints).

- 2017

• Releases Super Mario Odyssey (NS1)
• EPD Tokyo simultaneously works on Captain Toad 3DS port. It seems like they asked NST to port the title for 3DS right after Mario Maker team asked them to port Mario Maker to 3DS.
• EPD Tokyo decides to also port Captain Toad to Switch mainly because of "how fun the co-op multiplayer feature" is on Odyssey. This straight port with one new level (New Donk City) looks like it was done in-house by a very small staff (2 Tokyo programmers) and a few Tokyo/1-UP planners and artists.

-2018

• Releases Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (NS1, 3DS)
• Prototype team ("team banana") begins work on Donkey Kong (Leads: Yusakawa, Tanaka, Murata)
• Prototype team ("team mushroom") begins work on Bowser's Fury (Leads: Hiratake, Ando, Yoshida)
• NST works on DLC levels for Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

-2018/2019?

• Technology / Port team begins work on 3D All-Stars (front end menu and porting Galaxy, some involvement with Sunshine) and 3D World (Hayashida, Matsuda, Kirihara, and Hishinuma [last game at EPD Tokyo before leaving]).

2019

• Recruitment, Oct 2019 - Nintendo (EPD Tokyo) places recruitment ad for level designers for an undefined 3D action game (with obvious 3D Mario universe hints).

2019/2020

• Bowser's Fury team ends work and brings in Nintendo Software Technology to finish a smaller concept version game from the WIP prototype.
• Donkey Kong team shifts some staff and faces some struggles?
• Releases Super Mario 3D All-Stars (NS1)

2020

• "Banana Team" continues working on 3D Donkey Kong
• "Mushroom Team" begins working on next concept of 3D Mario (post Bowser's Fury prototype)
• Recruitment, Aug 2020 - - Nintendo (EPD Tokyo) places recruitment ad for level designers for an undefined 2D action game (with obvious 2D Mario universe hints).

2021

• Releases Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (NS1)

2025

• Releases Donkey Kong: Bananza (NS2)

SmileBoom Co.Ltd. (2008-Present) (?? Employees)
Takaki Kobayashi - CEO
Miyuki Tanaka - Director
Kazuto Tokudome - Director
Nobuki Nagai - Director
Yasuki Toyosawa - Planner
Yoshikazu Hosoda - Program
Hidemasa Akimoto - Program
Hideki Horita - Program
Takashi Chiba - Program
Keita Abe - Program
Masami Kodaira - Graphics
Takanori Goto - Graphics
Megumi Fukushima - Graphics
Ryoichi Okayama - Graphics

Will Co., Ltd. (1998-Present) (93 Employees)
Hisao Hasunuma - Executive, Former Planner
Mitsuo Hasunuma - Executive, Former Planner
Hiroshi Kurimoto - Planner
Satoru Imamura - Planner
Noriyuki Saeki - Planner
Shigeyasu Ohashi - Planner
Junnosuke Tsuchimoto - Planner
Keiya Takashima - Planner
Ayumu Kawashiro - Planner
Hideki Izumi - Planner
Hisashi Kishida - Planner
Yamato Sato - Planner
Satomi Yamakawa - Planner
Ayane Taki - Planner
Yoshihisa Hayashi - Planner
Yuji Endo - Planner
Tatsuo Masuda - Manager
Takeshi Kawamoto - Program
Tsutomu Kawamoto - Program
Kazuyuki Makishima - Program
Kengo Matsumura - Program
Takanori Ohde - Program
Ryouhei Fukutome - Program
Shouto Nakamura - Program
Haruhiko Tanuma - Program
Kazuki Tashiro - Program
Masayuki Kino - Program
Tsubasa Yamaguchi - Program
Takuya Morioka - Program
Norihiro Hayashi - Program
Takahito Tatezawa - Graphic
Takahiro Asano - Graphic
Hirotaka Nakayama - Graphic
Noboru Matsumura - Graphic
Tadashi Miura - Graphic
Masayuki Tsuboi - Graphic
Shouichi Kawamura - Graphic
Risa Takei - Graphic
Yuka Kinoshita - Graphic
Senei Sou - Graphic
Shiori Teramoto - Graphic
Kenichi Ueyama - Graphic
Yuka Shimazaki - Graphic (Yuka Kinoshita married)
Shinichiro Shimamura - Graphic
Noboru Matsumura - Graphic
Tomoaki Watanabe - Graphic
Yumi Futagawa - Graphic
An Iizuka - Graphic
Ayumi Fujita - Graphic
Reiki Nishikawa - Graphic
Saki Matsuo - Graphic
Misa Kuwahara - Graphic

C.A. Productions Ltd. (1993-Present) (49 Employees)
Osamu Tsujikawa - Executive, Former Graphic
Makoto Eguchi - Planner, Former Graphic
Atsushi Nakao - Planner
Shigeru Okita - Planner, Former Graphic
Hiroyuki Seki - Planner, Former Graphic
Ryou Yokomizo - Planner, Former Graphics
Izumi Fukuda - Program
Takashi Iwanaga - Program
Kenji Ohira - Program
Akira Matsumoto - Program
Akihiro Terada - Program
Nobuya Wada - Program
Norifumi Hira - Program
Tadao Shoyama - Program
Takayuki Hanamasu - Program
Satoshi Sakaguchi - Program
Takahiro Matsumoto - Program
Yasutaka Ikeda - Program
Takahiro Karino - Graphics
Hideki Morinaga - Graphics
Keisuke Izaki - Graphics
Yoshinori Ikeshita - Graphics
Yasuhiro Ando - Graphics
Ryou Yokomizo - Graphics
Tsukasa Tanaka - Graphics
Akira Mizoguchi - Graphics
Yuya Rokuyama - Graphics
Mikio Kita - Graphics
Shinsuke Miyazaki - Graphics
Shou Nakamura - Graphics
Mikio Kita - Graphics

Toshiya Yamanaka - Program (retired/left company long ago)
Sayaka Fukuyama - ND Cube or CA Production
Hiroyuki Watanabe
Junichi Nagasaki
Yurie Okubo - ND Cube or CA Production

Mar 31, 2024
Nintendo Co., Ltd.: 2,814
Nintendo Consolidated (WW): 7,724

6-month Growth:
↑ 37 NCL Employees
↑ 103 Nintendo & Nintendo Group Employees (NOA, NOE, NOK, Mario Club, Nintendo Sales, Nintendo Pictures, Nintendo Systems, NST, NTD, SRD, 1-UP, Monolith, ND Cube etc.)

Nintendo Co. updated their employee count to 2,777 as of September 1 2023. Nintendo Global is 7,641.

But here is some info:

company name:
iQue (China) / Shenyou Technology (China) Co., Ltd.
Date of establishment:
2002-12-06
Registered capital:
$29 million
Legal representative:
TAKESHI SHIMADA

Scope: Research, design, develop and produce three-dimensional animation application software and three-dimensional interactive systems and related supporting products, sell the products produced by the company and provide corresponding after-sales and consulting services. Engaged in wholesale, import and export, commission agency (except auctions) and related businesses of similar products developed by the company. (Projects that require approval according to law can only carry out business activities after approval by relevant departments)

Key
(a) Consolidated subsidiary
(b) Non-consolidated subsidiary with equity method applied
(c) Non-consolidated subsidiary with equity method non-applied
(d) Affiliates with equity method applied
(e) Affiliates with equity method non-applied

"Software Development [Domestic]"
(a) ND CUBE Co., Ltd.
(a) Brownie Brown Co., Ltd.
(d) MONEGI Co.
(d) Mobile 21 Co., Ltd.
(d) HAL LABORATORY, INC.
(e) Ape inc.

"Software Development [International]"
(a) Nintendo Technology Development Inc.
(a) Nintendo Software Technology Corporation
(a) Nintendo Software Canada Inc.
(a) Rare Acquisition Inc.
(a) Rare Limited
(a) Rare Inc.
(a) Rare Toys & Games, Inc.
(b) A/N Software Inc.
(d) Rareware Limited
(d) Left Field Productions, Inc.
(d) Retro Studios, Inc.
(d) Silicon Knights Inc.
(d) iKuni Inc.
(e) Midway/Nintendo Inc.

"IP Management"
(a) warpstar Co., Ltd.
(d) MarigulManagement Inc.
(d) MGM FUND Inc.
(c) Fukuei Co., Ltd.
(e) Randnet DD Co., Ltd

"Electronic Registration Service of Merchandise"
(a) SiRAS.com Inc.
(a) Nintendo Services Ltd.

"Market Research"
(a) NES Merchandising Inc.
(a) NHR Inc.
(a) HFI Inc.

"Retailer [Japan]"
(d) The Pokémon Company Ltd.

"Retailer [International]"
(a) Nintendo Services USA, Inc.
(d) Pokémon USA, Inc.