, formerly , is a Japanese video game developer 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 List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. They previously developed games in partnership with Nintendo subsidiary

1-Up Studio (stylized as "1-UP Studio Inc."), formerly is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 30, 2000, in Tokyo, Japan, and a subsidiary of Nintendo. On February 1, 2013, the company announced that due to their recent co-development efforts ...

. On February 1, 2013, the company ended their co-development efforts with Nintendo due to a change in internal structure and publicized the change with a celebration of Brownie Brown's 12 years of games in the June 2013 issue of

Nintendo Dream This is a list of video game magazines. The primary focus of the magazines in this list is or was video game journalism for at least part of their run. For general computing magazines that may also cover games, consult the list of computer magazin ...

.> Brownies has been developing their own titles outside of Nintendo since the separation from 1-Up Studio.

History

The company consists 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'' 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. Thought to be a new title in the ''Seiken Densetsu'' series, it was actually an enhanced remake 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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

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). 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. 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, 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'' for the Nintendo DS, 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 201 ...

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 ...

'', 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

that 1-Up Studio was a partnership with Brownies and that the two would be separating. Brownies has been independently developing video games since the end of the partnership.

Games developed

as Brownie Brown (in partnership with
1-Up Studio (stylized as "1-UP Studio Inc."), formerly is a Japanese video game developer founded on June 30, 2000, in Tokyo, Japan, and a subsidiary of Nintendo. On February 1, 2013, the company announced that due to their recent co-development efforts ...
)

as Brownies

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{in lang, ja Brownie Brown games Video game companies established in 2000 Video game development companies Video game companies of Japan Japanese companies established in 2000