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indieszero Corporation, Ltd. (Japanese: 有限会社インディーズゼロ) is a small video game development company headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded on April 21, 1997, and has developed video games for other video game companies, including Nintendo, SEGA, and Square Enix.
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 21, 1997 |
| Headquarters | Kichijoji Hommachi 1-31-11 KS building 7F, , |
Key people | Masanobu Suzui (鈴井匡伸) |
| Products | Video games |
| Brands | monsteroctopus |
Number of employees | 52 (April 2024) |
| Website | indieszero.co.jp |
The name is a portmanteau, indicating independent video games with a low budget and minimal connections to other developers, which is described as "almost zero".[1]
The philosophy of the company is to make games that are easy to understand and user-friendly.[2][3] The company initially specialized in games for handheld game consoles, but eventually expanded to smartphones.[1][4] It makes licensed trading-card games for popular franchises such as Legend of Mana and Final Fantasy.[5]
The founder Masanobu Suzui commented that the company plans to "make new products that has never been created before". He regards the company as a game developer that "cherishes a creative viewpoint rather than state-of-the-art technology capabilities" and makes games that can be immersed by a long-time video game player but also aimed at what everyone can easily play.[6]
In 1997, at age 24, Masunobu Suzui founded the company along with two members from the fresh graduate discovery project Nintendo & Dentsu Game Seminar (predecessor of the current Nintendo Game Seminar). They were initially tasked with developing for Nintendo's Satellaview peripheral for the Super Famicom. This includes Sutto Hankoku and Cooking Pong!.[7]
The company developed many games for the Nintendo DS such as Electroplankton. Shaberu! DS Oryōri Navi released by Nintendo in July 2006 won the 10th Media Arts Festival Entertainment Division Excellence Award. Oshare Majo: Love and Berry was released from Sega in November, with one million copies sold and a special prize in the annual work section of the Japan Game Award 2007.[8][9]
In June 2011, the company released DualPenSports as its first Nintendo 3DS game.[10] It then collaborated with Square Enix on Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, in which Masunobu Suzui reunited with former Bandai producer Ikuro Kuroku. The game was ported to iOS and arcade, and had two independent sequels titled Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call and Theatrhythm Dragon Quest.[10]
The company collaborated with Nintendo EAD for the development of NES Remix for both the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U. During the planning phase, Koichi Hayashida, the Director of Nintendo Tokyo Production Department, who had participated in the Nintendo & Dentsu Game Seminar as a student together with Masunobu Suzui, called Suzui to partner on the game development. Suzui brought a prototype, which Hayashida immediately approved. Development of the Nintendo 3DS Guide Louvre Museum was recently completed, so the company was able to commit to the project. The game was well-reviewed and two sequels in the form of NES Remix 2 and Ultimate NES Remix were developed.[4][11]
The company first mobile game is Grand Marche no Meikyuu, released in September 2016. The game was developed in collaboration with Square Enix, after development of Theatrhythm Dragon Quest.[12] Square Enix announced the game server's closure in November 2017.[13]
During Nintendo's E3 Presentation in 2017, the company was revealed to be co-developing Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, a strategic action-RPG-puzzle game for the Nintendo 3DS with Nintendo.[14][15] It was ported as the company's first Nintendo Switch game, to be released on the same day as the 3DS version, and revealed in a Nintendo Direct in March 2018.[16][17]
| Year | Title | Genre | Platform | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Sutte Hakkun | Action Puzzle | Super Famicom | Programming |
| 1997 | Oryouri Pon! | Cooking Guide | Super Famicom | Planning, Script, Programming, Graphics |
| 1998 | Denshi no Seirei Chi-bitto | Desktop | Windows 95/98 | Planning, Script, Programming, Graphics |
| 2002 | Sakura Momoko no Ukiuki Carnival | Internet Simulation | Game Boy Advance | Planning Support, Graphics, Programming |
| 2003 | Mario Party-e | Card | Game Boy Advance | Planning, Script, Programming, Graphics |
| 2005 | Sennen Kazoku | Simulation | Game Boy Advance | Total Production |
| 2005 | Electroplankton | Music Game | Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi | Programing, Graphics, Localization |
| 2006 | Shaberu! DS Oryōri Navi | Cooking Guide | Nintendo DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2006 | Oshare Majo: Love and Berry DS Collection | Dance Action | Nintendo DS | Planning, Direction, 2D Graphics, Programming (SEGA) |
| 2007 | Retro Game Challenge | Game Collection | Nintendo DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2008 | DS Calligraphy Training | Edutainment | Nintendo DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2008 | Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? | Cooking Guide | Nintendo DS | Graphics, Programming |
| 2009 | GameCenter CX: Arino's Challenge 2 | Game Collection | Nintendo DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2010 | America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking | Cooking Guide | Nintendo DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2011 | DualPenSports | Sports | Nintendo 3DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2012 | Theatrhythm Final Fantasy | Rhythm | Nintendo 3DS, iOS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2013 | Nintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre | Guide | Nintendo 3DS | Graphics, Programming |
| 2013 | NES Remix | Game Collection | Wii U | Graphics, Programming[18] |
| 2014 | Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call | Rhythm | Nintendo 3DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2014 | NES Remix 2 | Game Collection | Wii U | Graphics, Programming[18] |
| 2014 | Ultimate NES Remix | Game Collection | Nintendo 3DS | Graphics, Programming[18] |
| 2015 | Theatrhythm Dragon Quest | Rhythm | Nintendo 3DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2015 | Real Escape Game X Nintendo 3DS | Escape Room | Nintendo 3DS | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2016 | Grand Marche no Meikyuu | RPG | iOS, Android | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2016 | Theatrhythm Final Fantasy All-Star Carnival | Rhythm | Arcade | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2018 | Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido | Action Puzzle | Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2019 | Dr Kawashima's Brain Training for Nintendo Switch | Edutainment | Nintendo Switch | Graphics, Programming[19] |
| 2020 | Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory | Rhythm | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Epic Games Store | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2021 | Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain | Edutainment | Nintendo Switch | Graphics, Programming[19] |
| 2023 | Theatrhythm Final Bar Line | Rhythm | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2024 | GameCenter CX: Arino no Chousenjou 1+2 REPLAY | Game Collection | Nintendo Switch | Planning, Graphics, Programming |
| 2024 | Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition[20] | Party | Nintendo Switch | Planning, Graphics, Programming [21] |
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