WikiBound logo.png There are 169 stubs for enemies. Help out by expanding these pages!
Item pages are now going to be split. See WikiBound:Projects for more information.

Difference between revisions of "Ape"

From WikiBound, your community-driven EarthBound/Mother wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
m (EggOfReason moved page Ape Inc. to Ape: simpler to link to, no need to keep "inc." in title when it can simply be referred to Ape)
(Added link.)
 
(10 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:Ape_logo.jpg|thumb|]] '''Ape Inc.''' was a subsidiary of Nintendo. It was known for making the [[EarthBound (series)|EarthBound series]], as it was the developer of first {{vg|Mother|two}} [[EarthBound|games]] in the series. It was founded in March of 1989 with [[Shigesato Itoi]] as the chief executive officer and CEO, along with other staff such as Tsunekazu Ishihara and [[Hirokazu Tanaka]].
[[File:Ape_logo.png|250px|thumb]] '''Ape Inc.''' is a company known for developing the first two games in the [[EarthBound (series)|''EarthBound'' series]]. It was founded on March 1987 as a joint venture between [[Shigesato Itoi]] and [[Nintendo]].


After completing their work on [[EarthBound|''EarthBound'']], Ape's game development team disbanded. In 1995, several former Ape staff founded a new company called Creatures Inc., which owns a large share of the [[bulbapedia:Pokémon|''Pokémon'' franchise]].


Today, the company is now known as '''Creatures Inc.''' who owns a large share of the [[bulbapedia:Pokémon|Pokémon franchise]].  
Ape still exists today to manage its intellectual property rights.


84 people work at the Creatures as of November 2015.
==History==
==History==
Ape Inc. was founded as a subsidiary of Nintendo in March of 1989 with the express purpose of developing the original Mother title. Then-president of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi, organized the creation of the development studio after receiving [[Shigesato Itoi]]'s proposal for an RPG set in contemporary times. Itoi was set as the C.E.O. and director of the project, alongside staff such as Tsunekazu Ishihara and [[Hirokazu Tanaka|Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka]]. Once the Mother project was completed in July of '89, early prototypes and general concept work for the sequel began. During this period Ape primarily served to assist other developers on separate projects.
===Ape Inc.===
Ape Inc. was founded in March of 1987 with the express purpose of developing the original Mother title. Hiroshi Yamauchi, then-president of Nintendo, organized the creation of the development studio after receiving Shigesato Itoi's proposal for an RPG set in contemporary times. Itoi was set as the company's chief executive officer and director of the project, with development assistance from Pax Softnica. Once the Mother project was completed in July 1989, early prototypes and general concept work for the sequel began. During this period, Ape primarily served to assist other developers on separate projects. Tsunekazu Ishihara, who is currently president of [[bulbapedia:The Pokémon Company|The Pokémon Company]], joined Ape in 1991.


The five-year long development period of Earthbound led to numerous threats of cancellation, which eventually resulted in [[Satoru Iwata]] of HAL laboratory voluntarily joining the project. Under Iwata's instruction, the entire base code of Earthbound was scrapped and the development began anew under his supervision, with the smaller HAL team working on just the programming and the larger Ape side of the project focusing on specific features of the game, such as dialogue, enemy data, area maps, etc. The two sides of the team would meet biweekly at HAL's office.
The five-year development period of ''EarthBound'' led to numerous threats of cancellation, which eventually resulted in Satoru Iwata of HAL Laboratory, Inc., voluntarily joining the project. Under Iwata's instruction, the entire base code of ''EarthBound'' was scrapped and the development began anew under his supervision, with the smaller HAL team working on just the programming and the larger Ape side of the project focusing on specific features of the game, such as dialogue, enemy data, area maps, etc. The two sides of the team would meet biweekly at HAL's office. Ape's development team was disbanded after finishing ''EarthBound''.
 
In addition to game development, Ape was also responsible for editing a series of official Nintendo guidebooks published by Shogakukan Inc., beginning with ''Encyclopedia Mother'' in 1989. Shogakukan took over Ape's duties in 1996 and continued to publish this book series until 2018.
 
Currently, Ape Inc. still exists for the purpose of managing its own intellectual properties, including ''EarthBound''. It is an affiliated company of Nintendo as well as Shigesato Itoi's company [[Hobonichi]].<ref>[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2022/annual2203e.pdf Annual Report 2022 - Nintendo Co., Ltd.]</ref><ref>[https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/3560/yuho_pdf/S100K8OC/00.pdf Securities Report for Fiscal Period Ending August 2020 - Hobonichi Co., Ltd. (Japanese)]</ref> Itoi remains the CEO to this day.<ref>[https://www.hobonichi.co.jp/company/officer.html Hobonichi Co., Ltd. | Corporate Information | Introduction of Executives (Japanese)]</ref>
 
===Creatures Inc.===
On November 8, 1995, a separate company called Creatures Inc. was founded with Tsunekazu Ishihara as CEO and consisting of other former Ape staff members. Creatures would assist Game Freak in the final phases of development for [[bulbapedia:Pokémon Red and Green Versions|''Pokémon Red'' and ''Green'']]. Following the success of the franchise in the mid-1990s, Creatures, Nintendo, and Game Freak established The Pokémon Company to manage the Pokémon brand. Creatures is also known for developing the [[bulbapedia:Pokémon Trading Card Game|''Pokémon Trading Card Game'']], as well as various ''Pokémon'' toys.
 
As of February 2022, Creatures has 207 employees. Its current president is former Nintendo employee Hirokazu Tanaka, who composed most of the music for the first two ''EarthBound'' games.


==Body of work==
==Body of work==
===''EarthBound'' games===
{| style="width:65%; height:100px; text-align:center" border="1"  
{| style="width:65%; height:100px; text-align:center" border="1"  
|-<---!Headings are up first.!---> style="font-weight:bold; background:#ff0000
|-<---!Headings are up first.!---> style="font-weight:bold; background:#ff0000
Line 18: Line 29:
|NES
|NES
|1989
|1989
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''[[EarthBound]]''
|SNES
|1994
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''[[Mother 1+2]]''
|Game Boy Advance
|2003
|}
===Non-''EarthBound'' games===
{| style="width:65%; height:100px; text-align:center" border="1"
|-<---!Headings are up first.!---> style="font-weight:bold; background:#ff0000
| Name || System || Year
|- style="font-weight:normal"
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''Monopoly''
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''Monopoly''
Line 23: Line 47:
|1993
|1993
|- style="font-weight:normal"
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''[[EarthBound]]''
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''[[mariowiki:Mario's Picross|''Mario's Picross'']]
|SNES
|Game Boy
|1994
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''Mario's Picross''
|Gameboy
|1995
|1995
|- style="font-weight:normal"
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''Tamori's Picross''
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''{{wp|Tamori's Picross}}''
|SNES
|SNES
|1995
|1995
|- style="font-weight:normal"
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''The Monopoly Game 2''
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''{{wp|The Monopoly Game 2}}''
|SNES
|SNES
|1995
|1995
|- style="font-weight:normal"
!bgcolor="#A1A1A1"|''[[Mother 1+2]]''
|Gameboy Advance
|2003
|}
|}


==Future of the company==
==See also==
* [https://www.creatures.co.jp/en/ Creatures' official website]
* [[wikipedia:Creatures (company)#Creatures|Creatures' body of work]]
* [[bulbapedia:Creatures, Inc.|Creatures on Bulbapedia]]


The company was disbanded after finishing [[EarthBound]]. On November 8, 1995, the company was reformatted by Nintendo into '''Creatures Inc.''', which would assist Game Freak in the final phases of the development of ''[[bulbapedia:Pokémon Red and Green|Pokemon Red & Green]]''. With the explosive success of the Pokemon series in the mid 90's, Creatures was re-purposed to supervise the management of Pokemon multimedia and spin-off titles, and is now controls 1/3rd of the Pokémon franchise. Hirokazu Tanaka would become president of the company shortly thereafter, and assist in the finance and development of the Game Boy Camera peripheral that saw release in early 1998.
==References==
{{reflist}}


{{stub-reallife}}
[[Category:Companies]]
[[Category: Real Life]]

Latest revision as of 12:48, 28 August 2023

Ape logo.png

Ape Inc. is a company known for developing the first two games in the EarthBound series. It was founded on March 1987 as a joint venture between Shigesato Itoi and Nintendo.

After completing their work on EarthBound, Ape's game development team disbanded. In 1995, several former Ape staff founded a new company called Creatures Inc., which owns a large share of the Pokémon franchise.

Ape still exists today to manage its intellectual property rights.

History

Ape Inc.

Ape Inc. was founded in March of 1987 with the express purpose of developing the original Mother title. Hiroshi Yamauchi, then-president of Nintendo, organized the creation of the development studio after receiving Shigesato Itoi's proposal for an RPG set in contemporary times. Itoi was set as the company's chief executive officer and director of the project, with development assistance from Pax Softnica. Once the Mother project was completed in July 1989, early prototypes and general concept work for the sequel began. During this period, Ape primarily served to assist other developers on separate projects. Tsunekazu Ishihara, who is currently president of The Pokémon Company, joined Ape in 1991.

The five-year development period of EarthBound led to numerous threats of cancellation, which eventually resulted in Satoru Iwata of HAL Laboratory, Inc., voluntarily joining the project. Under Iwata's instruction, the entire base code of EarthBound was scrapped and the development began anew under his supervision, with the smaller HAL team working on just the programming and the larger Ape side of the project focusing on specific features of the game, such as dialogue, enemy data, area maps, etc. The two sides of the team would meet biweekly at HAL's office. Ape's development team was disbanded after finishing EarthBound.

In addition to game development, Ape was also responsible for editing a series of official Nintendo guidebooks published by Shogakukan Inc., beginning with Encyclopedia Mother in 1989. Shogakukan took over Ape's duties in 1996 and continued to publish this book series until 2018.

Currently, Ape Inc. still exists for the purpose of managing its own intellectual properties, including EarthBound. It is an affiliated company of Nintendo as well as Shigesato Itoi's company Hobonichi.[1][2] Itoi remains the CEO to this day.[3]

Creatures Inc.

On November 8, 1995, a separate company called Creatures Inc. was founded with Tsunekazu Ishihara as CEO and consisting of other former Ape staff members. Creatures would assist Game Freak in the final phases of development for Pokémon Red and Green. Following the success of the franchise in the mid-1990s, Creatures, Nintendo, and Game Freak established The Pokémon Company to manage the Pokémon brand. Creatures is also known for developing the Pokémon Trading Card Game, as well as various Pokémon toys.

As of February 2022, Creatures has 207 employees. Its current president is former Nintendo employee Hirokazu Tanaka, who composed most of the music for the first two EarthBound games.

Body of work

EarthBound games

Name System Year
EarthBound Beginnings NES 1989
EarthBound SNES 1994
Mother 1+2 Game Boy Advance 2003

Non-EarthBound games

Name System Year
Monopoly SNES 1993
Mario's Picross Game Boy 1995
Tamori's Picross SNES 1995
The Monopoly Game 2 SNES 1995

See also

References

  1. ↑ Annual Report 2022 - Nintendo Co., Ltd.
  2. ↑ Securities Report for Fiscal Period Ending August 2020 - Hobonichi Co., Ltd. (Japanese)
  3. ↑ Hobonichi Co., Ltd. | Corporate Information | Introduction of Executives (Japanese)
Retrieved from "https://wikibound.info/w/index.php?title=Ape&oldid=44883"