Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer most famous for creating games published by Nintendo. These games include the Paper Mario, Fire Emblem, WarioWare, and Wars series. The company mostly works with Nintendo, even though Nintendo does not own the company. Some exceptions include certain Dragon Quest games, which were published by Square Enix.
History
Intelligent Systems began as Iwasaki Giken in 1983 to create games for Nintendo. The group worked on games such as Mario Bros., Wild Gunman, Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley, Donkey Kong 3, Devil World, Wrecking Crew, Metroid, and others.
When Nintendo reorganized its research and development team during the Game Boy's production, the group was officially separated. In 1986, Tohru Narihiro founded the company as Intelligent Systems, and Ryoichi Kitanishi became its CEO.
Narihiro was assigned to move software from the Famicom Disk System to ROM cartridges for the NES in the West. The team became a support unit for Nintendo, helping to create, fix, or move Nintendo-developed software. Much of their work was done alongside Nintendo R&D1. At this time, Intelligent Systems was one of four companies Nintendo used to develop most of its games. The others were Pax Softnica, SRD, and HAL Laboratory.
In 1988, Intelligent Systems released Famicom Wars. In 1990, under game designer Shouzou Kaga, the company and Nintendo R&D1 released Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. This was the first time Intelligent Systems led game design and graphics. The company started hiring graphic designers, programmers, and musicians to grow from a support unit into a game development group. During the Super NES's development, Intelligent Systems split into four teams to create games like Super Scope 6, Mario Paint, and Super Metroid. After Fire Emblem's success, multiple Fire Emblem games were released under Kaga.
Intelligent Systems faced challenges adapting to 3D game development during the Nintendo 64 era. Kaga left the company after the fifth Fire Emblem game, Thracia 776. After five years of work, Fire Emblem 64 was canceled, though Paper Mario was released in 2000.
In 2001, Intelligent Systems released Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Advance Wars for the Game Boy Advance. This was the first Mario Kart game not developed by Nintendo. That same year, Fire Emblem characters Marth and Roy appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Western fans began to notice the franchise. In 2003, the company had 81 employees and moved to Nintendo's Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, sharing space with Nintendo’s Software Planning & Development division. Nintendo released Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade for the Game Boy Advance, the first Fire Emblem game localized for the West. Within a decade, Fire Emblem sales dropped in the West. Nintendo and Intelligent Systems decided that 2012’s Fire Emblem Awakening would be the last game in the series unless it sold 250,000 copies. The game sold 400,000 units in Japan alone and became the best-selling Fire Emblem game in the West and the fastest-selling entry in Japan.
Toshiyuki Nakamura became president and CEO in April 2010. In October 2013, Intelligent Systems moved to a new office near Nintendo’s headquarters. The company had 130 employees at this time. In 2019, Intelligent Systems released Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the first Fire Emblem game on a home console in 12 years. The company partnered with Koei Tecmo, providing the main plot, game system, and mechanics, while Koei Tecmo handled most of the programming. By 2020, the company had 169 employees.
In 2020, Intelligent Systems released a localized version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light in the West for the game’s 30th anniversary. The game was available in the Nintendo eShop for four months before being removed.
In February 2017, Intelligent Systems released a free-to-play mobile game called Fire Emblem Heroes. Nintendo and DeNA helped develop the game. By the end of 2018, the game had earned about $452 million worldwide. To celebrate its third anniversary, Intelligent Systems introduced a subscription plan offering cosmetics, extra missions, and power boosts. By 2022, the game had earned over $1 billion in total revenue. It made more money than Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp combined and more than 10 times as much as Super Mario Run.
A second mobile game, Fire Emblem Shadows, was released by Intelligent Systems and DeNA in September 2025. The game used real-time combat and social deduction gameplay similar to Among Us. However, the iOS app earned only $90,000 in its first week, much less than Fire Emblem Heroes.
Development tools
Intelligent Systems has created tools to help develop games for many Nintendo consoles. These tools include emulators, debuggers, software CDs, and other resources.
The company made the Wide Boy development tool, which let developers test Game Boy games on a television. Nintendo later sold this tool to the public as the Super Game Boy. Intelligent Systems also made the Wide Boy 64, a tool for the Nintendo 64 console. It produced software CDs with tools for Game Boy Advance developers.
The company worked on creating the camera app for the Nintendo 3DS. This app included a feature that allowed users to combine two people’s faces into one image.