HAL Laboratory

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 second-party developer for the company. HAL Laboratory is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and it also has a building at Kai, Yamanashi. The company got its name because "each letter put them one step ahead of IBM". The company is most famous for their work on the Kirby and Mother series, as well as the first two Super Smash Bros. games.
The logo, dubbed , depicts a dog incubating eggs, which has been in use since 1998.
History
HAL Laboratory started off making games for the MSX system and VIC-20. After financial strain brought on from the development of Metal Slader Glory (1991) for the Famicom, Nintendo offered to rescue HAL from bankruptcy on the condition that HAL employee Satoru Iwata was appointed as its president, which he became between 1993 and 2000. Iwata later became president of Nintendo.
The logo 'Inutamago' was commissioned in 1998 by then HAL Laboratory president, Satoru Iwata. This was handled by Shigesato Itoi who went through many different ideas. He went with the theme of 'an unexpected bond...one that brings the birth of something new' which would lead to the idea of a dog incubating eggs in a nest. The actual design was created by Mr. Akiyama of HAL. The design was indoctrinated by HAL Laboratory in 1998, although the reception at first was lukewarm.
In many of its games during the early to mid-1990s, it used the name HALKEN, derived from their Japanese name. Some of its early titles were also released as HAL America Inc. (HAI), a North American subsidiary of the company led by Yash Terakura and based in Beaverton, Oregon, USA.
In August 2001, HAL Laboratory and Nintendo established Warpstar, Inc. in a joint venture (where each part owns 50% of the company) with the objective to manage the Kirby IP along with its copyright, which the decision for the creation of the company was mainly for Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime series. After the end of the anime, the company still exists and now works with license and supervision of the characters in games, merchandise and other media.
For years, the company's development center at Tokyo was located within the eighth floor of the Nintendo Tokyo Prefecture Building which itself is located Nihombashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, but in August 2003, the company announced that a restructuration was happening and that the development center at the building would be relocated to HAL's main office building in Kanda Suda-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. While this change happened on the Tokyo-based company, the Yamanashi part of HAL was unaffected by the changes of the company.
In 2017, HAL Laboratory announced that they would develop and self-publish games for mobile devices with the brand HAL Egg and focusing on completely new characters and franchises, with different types of design than what the developers of the company usually do. The first title launched by them was Part Time UFO. The company released a miniature version of the MZ-80C computer in October 2017 and a miniature version of the PC-8001 in October 2019
In 2020, HAL Laboratory updated their employee numbers from 169 to 195 and the company came back to the new Nintendo Tokyo Building with its main office and the Tokyo development studio being in the same building along with Nintendo EPD Tokyo, Nintendo PTD Tokyo, 1-Up Studio and Game Freak like a keiretsu. The studio in Yamanashi was unaffected by that move.
List of games
Nintendo systems
Nintendo Entertainment System
Pinball – (1984) JP (1985) NA (1986) EU
Golf – (1984) JP (1985) NA (1986) EU
F1 Race – (1984) JP
Mach Rider – (1985) JP (1986) NA (1987) EU
Balloon Fight – (1985) JP (1986) NA (1987) EU
Lot Lot – (1985) JP
Othello – (1986) JP (1988) NA
Joust – (1987) JP (1988) NA
Defender II – (1987) JP (1988) NA
Air Fortress – (1987) JP (1989) NA, EU
Satsui no Kaisou: Power Soft Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (1988) JP
Jumbo Ozaki no Hole in One Professional – (1988) JP
Vegas Dream – (1988) JP (1990) NA
Rollerball – (1988) JP (1990) NA
Millipede – (1988) JP, NA
Adventures of Lolo – (1989) NA (1991) EU
Adventures of Lolo 2 – (1990) JP, NA (1991) EU
Uchuu Keibitai SDF – (1990) JP
Adventures of Lolo 3 – (1990) JP (1991) NA (1992) EU
New Ghostbusters II – (1990) JP (1991) EU
Kabuki Quantum Fighter – (1991) NA (1992) EU
Metal Slader Glory – (1991) JP
Day Dreamin' Davey – (1992) NA
Kirby's Adventure – (1993) JP, NA, EU
Skyscraper
Joy Radar (RF hardware unit for wireless Audio/Video from the game unit to the monitor)
Family Computer Disk System
Gall Force: Eternal Story (1986)
Eggerland (1986)
Fire Bam (1988)
Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally (1988)
Eggerland: Souzouhe no Tabidachi (1989)
Game Boy
Revenge of the 'Gator – (1989) JP, NA, EU
Shanghai – (1989) JP (1990) NA
Ghostbusters II – (1989) EU (1990) JP, NA
Trax – (1991) EU, JP, NA
Kirby's Dream Land – (1992) JP, NA, EU
Kirby's Pinball Land – (1993) JP, NA, EU
Adventures of Lolo – (1994) JP (1995) EU
Vegas Stakes – (1995) NA, EU
Kirby's Dream Land 2 – (1995) JP, NA, EU
Kirby's Star Stacker – (1997) JP, NA, EU
Super NES
HAL's Hole in One Golf (1991)
HyperZone (1991)
Arcana (1992)
NCAA Basketball (Super Dunk Shot in Japan and World League Basketball in Europe) (1992)
Vegas Stakes (1993)
Alcahest (1993)
EarthBound (Mother 2 in Japan) - (co-developed with Ape, Inc) (1994) JP (1995) NA
Kirby's Dream Course (1994) JP (1995) NA, EU
Kirby Super Star (1996)
Shigesato Itoi's No. 1 Bass Fishing (1997)
Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997)
Kirby no Kirakira Kizzu (1998)
Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut (2000)
Nintendo 64
Super Smash Bros. (1999)
Pokémon Snap (1999)
SimCity 64 (2000) JP (64DD)
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000)
Shigesato Itoi's No. 1 Bass Fishing: Definitive Edition (2000) JP
EarthBound 64 – (cancelled)
Game Boy Color
Pokémon Pinball – (1999) JP, NA, EU
GameCube
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
Kirby Air Ride (2003)
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble 2 (cancelled)
Kirby for Nintendo GameCube (cancelled)
Game Boy Advance
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land – (2002) JP, NA (2003) EU
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (co-developed with Flagship) – (2004) JP, NA, EU
Mother 3 (co-developed with Brownie Brown) – (2006) JP
Battland – (cancelled)
Luna Blaze – (cancelled)
Nintendo DS
Kirby Canvas Curse – (2005) JP, NA, EU
Common Sense Training – (2006) JP
Kirby: Squeak Squad (co-developed with Flagship) – (2006) JP, NA (2007) EU
Pokémon Ranger (co-developed with Creatures Inc.) – (2006) JP, NA, AUS (2007) EU
Kirby Super Star Ultra – (2008) JP, NA, AUS (2009) EU
Picross 3D – (2009) JP (2010) NA, EU
Face Pilot (DSiWare) – (2010) JP, NA, EU
Kirby Mass Attack – (2011) JP, NA, EU
Wii
Minna no Joushiki Ryoku TV
TV no Tomo G Guide for Wii (2008)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (co-developed with various other studios) – (2008)
Kirby's Return to Dream Land (2011)
Kirby's Dream Collection (2012)
Nintendo 3DS
Face Raiders (2011)
Kirby: Triple Deluxe (2014)
Kirby Fighters Deluxe (2014)
Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe (2014)
BoxBoy! (2015)
Picross 3D: Round 2 (2015)
BoxBoxBoy! (2016)
Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016)
Bye-Bye BoxBoy! (2017)
Team Kirby Clash Deluxe (2017)
Kirby's Blowout Blast (2017)
Kirby Battle Royale (2017)
Wii U
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (2015)
Nintendo Switch
Kirby Star Allies (2018)
Super Kirby Clash (2019) (co-developed with Vanpool)
BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! (2019)
Kirby Fighters 2 (2020) (co-developed with Vanpool)
Part Time UFO (2020)
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022)
Kirby's Dream Buffet (2022)
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (2023) (co-developed with Vanpool)
Other systems
VIC-20
Alien
Avenger (Space Invaders clone)
Jelly Monsters (Pac-Man clone)
Jupiter Lander (Lunar Lander clone)
Mole Attack
Money Wars
Pin Ball (Cutie Q clone)
Poker
Radar Rat Race (Rally-X clone)
Road Race (Night Driver clone)
Slot Machine
Star Battle (Galaxian clone programmed by Satoru Iwata; ex-CEO of Nintendo and HAL Laboratory)
MAX Machine/Commodore 64
Avenger
Billiards
Bowling
Clowns
Gorf
Jupiter Lander
Kickman
Le Mans
Max Basic
Mini Basic Max
Mole Attack
Money Wars
Music Composer
Music Machine
Omega Race
Pinball Spectacular (an adaptation of Bomb Bee)
Poker
Radar Rat Race
Road Race
Ski (aka Slalom)
Super Alien
Wizard of Wor
MSX
Balance
Butamaru Pants
Cue Star
Dragon Attack
Dunk Shot
Eggerland Mystery
Eggerland 2
Fruit Search
Gall Force
Heavy Boxing
Hole in One
Hole in One Professional
Inside the Karamaru
Inspecteur Z
Mobile Planet Stillus/The Roving Planet Stillus
Mr. Chin
Pachipro Densetsu
Picture Puzzle
Rollerball
Space Maze Attack
Space Trouble
Step Up
Super Billiards
Super Snake
Swimming Tango
Tetsuman
MSX2
Hole in One Special
Zukkoke Yajikita Onmitsudoutyuu
Mr. Ninja – Ashura's Chapter
Windows
Eggerland Episode 0: Quest of Rara
Egger Land for Windows 95
Revival! Eggerland
Mobile
Part Time UFO (2017)
Housuu de Shoubu! Kame Sanpo (2019)
Computer animation
Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (CG Tool Development)
Notes
References
External links
Nintendo
Video game companies of Japan
Video game development companies
Video game publishers
Video game companies established in 1980
Super Smash Bros.
Kirby (series)
Mother (video game series)