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Nintendo Subsidiary Known For Work On Mother 3 Becomes "1-UP Studio"

Posted by Thomas Whitehead

A bit snappier than Brownie Brown?

Brownie Brown, a development studio funded and owned by Nintendo has confirmed that it's undergoing a change in its internal structure; this will involve the company restarting and being named 1-UP Studio.

The team's work is often characterised as offering support and collaborative effort on major projects, including a role in Game Boy Advance title Mother 3. More recently it headed up the London Life mode included with North American copies of Professor Layton and the Last Specter as well as Level 5's Fantasy Life, a 3DS RPG that some still hope will see localisation in the West after a successful initial launch in Japan. As a further indication of the level of trust the studio has earned with Nintendo, it was also credited for its contribution to Super Mario 3D Land.

The studio's new name is certainly appropriate as a Nintendo-owned studio, and perhaps isn't surprising in light of the company's recent moves to modernise and re-organise development departments. That said, Brownie Brown was a fun name, right?

[via siliconera.com]

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User Comments (37)

Parasky

#1

Parasky said:

Quite happy to see a rebranding. Brownie Brown was always a dumb name.

kkslider5552000

#3

kkslider5552000 said:

My only opinion of Brownie Brown is that they were involved in one of the most worthwhile (Mother 3) and least worthwhile (Magical Starsign) JRPGs I've ever played. It's kind of amusing to me.

Whirlpool

#6

Whirlpool said:

1Up is a cool name. I wonder why no one trademarked it before?
I also wonder if there is a specific reason to a name change. No company would change a name, despite not be developing anything. Perhaps they are devoted to making Mario titles now? (Having experience with Super Mario 3D Land.) Or they just thought 1Up was better than Brownie Brown.

LzQuackerStaff

#7

LzQuacker said:

kkslider: Well that's a shame. I enjoyed Starsign, even if it was a bit generic

hydeks

#9

hydeks said:

aww, no more Brownie Brown lol that's a sweet name (sorry, no pun intended :S) but 1-up sounds so nintendo :P

Boo_Buster

#10

Boo_Buster said:

@ThomasWhitehead Yes! Brownie Brown was a very funny name. It will be missed. All that really matters in the end, to myself and I'm sure yourself as well, is some sweet games!

Bulby

#12

Bulby said:

Hopefully this name change means something new from them is going to be announced soon, maybe they're one of the studios involved with that rumoured Mother game?

Collision_Cat

#13

Collision_Cat said:

I think Brownie Brown was a much nicer name, 1-UP Studio sounds generic as hell! And hey, they've made some great stuff - not mentioned here, they also made Sword of Mana on GBA

Bulby

#15

Bulby said:

@ogo79
Itoi (the creator of the series) said on Twitter in December that something is in development involved with Mother, but not the fourth game.

k8sMumStaff

#17

k8sMum said:

i don't care what their name is: i just want FL and any game connected with earthbound.

ogo79

#18

ogo79 said:

@bulby1994
i know that, its just that at this point it looks like youre referring to another game/rumor
double whammy!
@k8sMum
what game is connected to earthbound?

VincentV

#19

VincentV said:

Cool. I wonder what they have in store. We'll see at the next TGS / E3 besides E3 '13 because that's too fast.

akabenjy

#20

akabenjy said:

@bulby1994 I think it's a Mother Trilogy for 3DS. Iwata said that 10 games are coming to 3DS in 2013 so I think that's one of them.

TwilightV

#21

TwilightV said:

I've really enjoyed Layton's London Life, the character designs were so charming.

3DSLUIGI

#24

3DSLUIGI said:

Well, from what I know with all the confusion if this clears things up a bit is that MOTHER 2 is supposed to be hitting Nintendo Of Japan's Wii U VC on 3/20/2013 from what I was able to make out on one of the pages of their Wii U section.

@bulby1994

Not to be an idiot on this or anything, but how can ANYTHING AT ALL be in development that's involved with MOTHER ? True, MOTHER 4 is not supposed to be happening, but are you trying to suggest that maybe Itoi is trying to make like a spin-off series from MOTHER planned? :/

Fawken

#27

Fawken said:

I got all excited when I saw anything Mother related ha, Still though, Good name.

Zodiak13

#28

Zodiak13 said:

I too enjoyed Magical Starsign. I can think of many way worse jrpg's I've played. But to each their own.

StarDust

#30

StarDust said:

Brownie-Brown sounds like a fitting name for a soiled baby diaper. 1-Up studios is much hipper! ;)

cornishlee

#31

cornishlee said:

@StarDust
At least it's not just me. Reading through the comments I was beginning to think it was a cultural thing. It's nice that the name seems to make most U.S.Americans (you're an obvious exception!) think of sweets though...

Zombie_Barioth

#33

Zombie_Barioth said:

I find it really amusing some of these names studios manage to come up with. I really liked Brownie Brown since it has a nice ring to it and was sorta off-beat, still loses out to Whoopee Camp and Monkey Paw in that department though.

1-UP is very fitting if a bit unoriginal and makes me think of a certain website of the same name.

MeloMan

#37

MeloMan said:

I see we have a few Magical Starsign fans. It's about the best thing I remember from them... who doesn't like a 6-person team in a JRPG? Take that FFIV :)

But seriously, I was hoping for a sequel to that, but oh well. Here to your future 1-up Studio.

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