(stylized as "1-UP Studio Inc."), formerly is a Japanese

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

founded on June 30, 2000, in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, and a subsidiary of

Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...

. On February 1, 2013, the company announced that due to their recent co-development efforts with Nintendo, that they were undergoing a change in internal structure, which included separating from another company that they were in partnership with, Brownies, and changing Brownie Brown's name to 1-Up Studio. Brownie Brown publicized the separation from Brownies with a celebration of Brownie Brown's 12 years of games in the June 2013 issue of Nintendo Dream.> Since then, 1-Up Studio has been acting as a support development company for Nintendo EPD developed titles, working mainly with EPD Tokyo in the Super Mario franchise in game design and art.

History

While the company existed as Brownie Brown, it consisted of many ex- Square Co., Ltd. 2D artists. At least two of its founders (Kameoka Shinichi and Kouji Tsuda) had previously worked on the award-winning ''

Mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...

'' series on the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

and

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...

platforms. The founders left Square due to "differing ideals." The company's first original creation was the Japan-only ''

Magical Vacation is a 2001 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance only in Japan on December 7, 2001, and was later re-released in the same region in 2006. Japanese singer, model, and actress Mika Nak ...

'' for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

, which was released in 2001. Another popular title developed by Brownie Brown was ''

Sword of Mana ''Sword of Mana'', originally released in Japan as , is a 2003 action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Brownie Brown and published by Square Enix and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is an video game remake, enhanced remake of ...

'', which was created for and published by

Square Enix is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game franchises, among numerous ...

. Thought to be a new title in the ''Seiken Densetsu'' series, it was actually an

enhanced remake A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software s ...

of the first game in the series, ''Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden'' (known as ''Mystic Quest'' in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and ''

Final Fantasy Adventure ''Final Fantasy Adventure'', known in Japan as or simply and later released in Europe as ''Mystic Quest'', is a '' Final Fantasy'' spinoff and the first game in the ''Mana'' series. Published by Square in 1991 on the Game Boy, it saw a North ...

'' in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

). The company has also been credited with the development of ''

Mother 3 is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third entry in the Mother (video game series), ''Mother'' series. The game follows Lucas, a young boy ...

'' in a collaborative effort with

Shigesato Itoi is a Japanese copywriter, essayist, lyricist, game designer, and actor. Itoi is the editor-in-chief of his website and company '' Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun'' ("Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper"). He is best known outside Japan for his work on Nintendo ...

and

HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN (derived from its native name), is a Japanese video game developer founded on 21 February 1980. While independent, it has been closely tied with Nintendo throughout its history, and is often referred to as a seco ...

for the

, and '' Magical Starsign'' (''Magical Vacation: When the Five Stars Align'' in Japan) for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in t ...

. Brownie Brown expressed interest in a Nintendo DS port of ''Mother 3'' if Nintendo asked them to make it, and that they would like it to be enjoyed by fans abroad. While the company has only released video games for Nintendo's handheld video game systems up to this point, the company had previously announced a title for the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the ...

, named ''Gofuku'', which was scheduled for release in 2005 and was announced alongside ''Magical Vacation: When the Five Stars Align''. The company later released ''

Blue Dragon Plus is a role-playing video game designed by Mistwalker and developed by feelplus and Brownie Brown. It was published by AQ Interactive in Japan on September 4, 2008, and by UTV Ignition Entertainment on February 24, 2009 in North America. It is the ...

'' for the

, developed alongside

Mistwalker is an independent video game development studio. The company was founded in July 2004 by Hironobu Sakaguchi, best known for his work at Square including creating the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The company has created both game franchises such as ' ...

, and entered into the downloadable games market in 2009 with '' A Kappa's Trail'', a

DSiWare This is a list of games and applications, collectively known as DSiWare, for the Nintendo DSi handheld game console, available for download via the DSi Shop and unplayable on earlier DS models. An update released for the Nintendo 3DS in June 20 ...

game. Brownie Brown also worked on the DS title ''Livly Garden'', based on a browser game from So-net Entertainment, released in Japan on January 28, 2010, and aided in the development of two Level-5 titles, ''Professor Layton's London Life'', a bonus game included with ''

Professor Layton and the Last Specter ''Professor Layton and the Last Specter'', known in Europe as ''Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call'', is a puzzle adventure video game produced by Level-5 for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. ''Last Specter'' is the fourth game in th ...

'', and ''

Fantasy Life ''Fantasy Life'' is a role-playing life simulation game developed by Level-5 for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was self-released in Japan in 2012 and was published worldwide by Nintendo in 2014. The game was written and produced by Akihiro Hino wi ...

'', for the DS and 3DS respectively. On February 1, 2013, the company announced on their original official website that, as a result of their recent development cooperation efforts with Nintendo, Brownie Brown had undergone changes in internal structure, which included officially changing the name of their company to 1-Up Studio. They later publicized the change with a celebration of Brownie Brown's 12 years of games in the June 2013 issue of Nintendo Dream that 1-Up Studio was a partnership with Brownies and that the two would be separating. Many of the founders of Brownie Brown, such as Kameoka, would separate from 1-Up Studio with the change to work independently under Brownies. Since then, 1-Up Studio has been acting as a support development company for

developed titles.

Games developed

as Brownie Brown (in partnership with Brownies)

as 1-Up Studio

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Nintendo developers Brownie Brown games Video game companies established in 2000 First-party video game developers Nintendo divisions and subsidiaries Video game development companies Video game companies of Japan Japanese companies established in 2000