Retro Studios is a video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1998 by Jeff Spangenberg as a second-party developer to Nintendo.

History

Retro struggled in its early years, dealing with several cancelled projects and lay-offs. Then Nintendo offered them the license to the long-dormant Metroid franchise which proved to be a turning point for the company. The first big project that Retro Studios worked on with Nintendo was Metroid Prime, a game that would become one of the biggest titles for the Nintendo GameCube. In 2001, then-president Jeff Spangenberg sold his share of stock in the company to Nintendo and left shortly thereafter. In 2003, Michael Kelbaugh was named president of Retro Studios.

Retro Studios is now completely owned by Nintendo, with over 50 employees.

Games developed by Retro Studios

• Metroid Prime — (2002) (GameCube)
• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes — (2004) (GameCube)

Cancelled games

• Action Adventure — cancelled (In favor of Metroid Prime)
• Car Combat (Thunder Rally) — cancelled
• NFL Retro Football — cancelled
• Raven Blade — cancelled

See also

• Intelligent Systems
• Nintendo EAD

References

• IGN's Retro Studios page

External links

• Retro Studios official site