Retro Studios facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Retro Studios, Inc.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	September 21, 1998; 26 years ago (1998-09-21)
Founder	Jeff Spangenberg
Headquarters	Austin, Texas , U.S.
Key people	Michael Kelbaugh (president and CEO)
Products	Metroid Prime series Donkey Kong series
Parent	Nintendo (2002–present)

Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer located in Austin, Texas. It is a company that belongs to Nintendo. Retro Studios is famous for making games in the Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong series. They also helped with other Nintendo games like Mario Kart 7.

Retro Studios started on September 21, 1998. It was a partnership between Nintendo and Jeff Spangenberg, who founded another game company called Iguana Entertainment. The goal was to make games for the new GameCube console that older players would enjoy. Retro Studios began working on four games. However, all of them were canceled when the company decided to focus on Metroid Prime. This was the first Metroid game made outside of Japan. Metroid Prime was a big hit. This success led Retro to make three more Metroid Prime games. Later, they helped bring back the Donkey Kong series with Donkey Kong Country Returns.

The Story of Retro Studios

Starting Up: 1998–2002

Retro Studios began on September 21, 1998. It was a team-up between Nintendo and game expert Jeff Spangenberg. Spangenberg started the company from his home on October 1, using money from his past projects. Nintendo wanted the new studio to create games for the upcoming GameCube. These games were meant for older players, similar to Iguana Entertainment's Turok games.

Retro started with four main people in late 1998. By early 1999, they opened an office in Austin, Texas, with 25 employees. Many of these employees had worked at Iguana before. Even without GameCube development kits, the studio immediately started four projects. These included an action-adventure game called MetaForce, a car combat game called Car Combat (or Thunder Rally), a football game named NFL Retro Football, and a role-playing game called Raven Blade. The studio quickly grew to 120 employees and later to over 200.

The work environment was a bit messy, and games were falling behind schedule. Nintendo leaders were not happy with how the games looked. In 2000, game creator Shigeru Miyamoto visited the studio. He was disappointed with most games. However, he liked the MetaForce game engine. Miyamoto suggested that Retro could use this engine to make a new Metroid game. Before the 2000 Nintendo Space World event, Nintendo gave Retro the chance to create Metroid Prime. Retro then put all its efforts from MetaForce into this new game.

Retro eventually stopped working on their other projects to focus only on Metroid Prime. In February 2001, they stopped making NFL Retro Football and Thunder Rally. About 20 employees were let go. Retro showed Raven Blade at E3 in 2001. But the game had many technical problems. In July 2001, Retro canceled Raven Blade. Only nine team members stayed to work on Metroid Prime.

On May 2, 2002, Nintendo bought $1 million worth of Retro Studios stock from Spangenberg. This made Retro a first-party developer and part of Nintendo. Steve Barcia, who started Simtex, took over as president of Retro.

During the last nine months of Metroid Prime's creation, Retro's team worked very long hours. They often worked 80 to 100 hours a week to finish the game. Even with a difficult development and some doubts from fans, the game came out on November 17, 2002, in North America. It received great reviews and sold over two million copies worldwide.

The Metroid Prime Series: 2003–2009

After Metroid Prime was a big success, Nintendo asked Retro Studios to make a sequel. The developers decided not to reuse everything from the first game. Instead, they created new sounds, weapon effects, and art for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. They also added a multiplayer mode. In April 2003, Steve Barcia left the company. Michael Kelbaugh, who had worked at Nintendo for over 15 years, became the new president. He still holds this job today.

Retro wanted to add extra features, like a hidden version of Super Metroid. But they had a very short time to finish the game. Producer Kensuke Tanabe later said that the game was only about 30% done three months before Nintendo's strict deadline. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes received very good reviews. However, some people found the game to be very difficult. Sales for Echoes were lower than the first Prime game, selling about 800,000 copies.

Retro Studios then started making the next game in the Metroid Prime series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Retro planned to make Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's environments bigger than those in Echoes. The developers also wanted to use the WiiConnect24 feature to add more content that players could get from the internet. Retro announced that Corruption would be the last game in the Prime series. They said it would tell a story about "closure" during a big struggle.

When the Wii Remote was shown, Nintendo demonstrated how Metroid Prime 3 would use its special features. They showed a version of Echoes changed for the Wii at the Tokyo Game Show in 2005. Corruption was first planned to launch with the Wii in November 2006. But it faced many delays. It finally came out in August 2007. It received mostly good reviews and sold over 1.6 million copies around the world.

While Retro was busy with the Prime sequels, they could not work on the Nintendo DS game Metroid Prime Hunters. Another company, Nintendo Software Technology (NST), made that game. NST worked closely with Retro to design the art and characters. This made sure they fit well into the overall Metroid series.

New Adventures: Donkey Kong and Metroid Prime 4

In April 2008, three important developers left Retro: Mark Pacini, Todd Keller, and Jack Mathews. They went on to start their own company, Armature Studio. Around the same time, Shigeru Miyamoto asked producer Kensuke Tanabe to suggest a studio for a new Donkey Kong game. Tanabe recommended Retro. Michael Kelbaugh, Retro's president, had worked on the Donkey Kong Country series before. He was interested in continuing the franchise. Retro accepted the job, and so began making Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Like New Super Mario Bros., this game was made to bring back old memories for players. It had a similar art style and sound. But it also offered new ways to play. Returns used full 3D graphics. It had three times more textures and polygons than Corruption. Over six months, two-thirds of the game's tools and engine had to be rewritten. Development sped up in early 2010. The game was "starting to come together" around E3 2010, when it was officially announced. Even though the game was set for release that autumn, the team still had 70 levels to create or improve.

Retro Studios' former headquarters in Austin, Texas. The company moved to a new location in 2011.

At E3 2011, Nintendo announced that Retro Studios would help make Mario Kart 7 for Nintendo 3DS. At first, Retro was only going to help with one Donkey Kong-themed level. But they ended up designing sixteen tracks. This happened because the Nintendo EAD team started working on other projects. The game needed to be finished by December 2011.

In 2012, it was known that Retro Studios had a Wii U development kit. They were reportedly working on a Wii U game. Miyamoto said he would like to work with Retro Studios on a The Legend of Zelda game. However, he said the game Retro was working on at the time was not Zelda. At E3 2012, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé said in an interview that Retro was "hard at work" on an unannounced Wii U project.

On February 28, 2014, Kensuke Tanabe announced that Retro Studios was working on a new game. CEO Michael Kelbaugh said it had been in development for a few months since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was finished. However, in August 2015, Tanabe said he was not sure what Retro Studios was working on. This suggested he was no longer involved with their secret project.

Nintendo announced Metroid Prime 4 at E3 2017 by showing only its logo. Soon after, Bill Trinen from Nintendo of America confirmed that Retro Studios would not develop Prime 4. Instead, Kensuke Tanabe, the producer of the earlier games, would produce it. In 2018, Eurogamer reported that Bandai Namco Studios in Singapore was making Prime 4.

However, on January 25, 2019, Shinya Takahashi from Nintendo EPD announced that Metroid Prime 4 was delayed. Development had restarted with Retro Studios. Takahashi said that the game made by the previous studio did not meet Nintendo's quality standards. Nintendo's shares dropped by 2.8 percent that week. Retro Studios is now working on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which is expected to be released in 2025.

Games Made by Retro Studios

Games That Were Canceled

See also

In Spanish: Retro Studios para niños