HAL Laboratory

HAL Laboratory (HAL Labs for short) is a Japanese game developer partnered with Nintendo. It was founded on February 21, 1980 by a small group of friends who shared the desire to create games; among said group was Satoru Iwata. The group developed games for numerous platforms at first before developing exclusively for Nintendo. The name "HAL" originates from the fictional computer from , as well as each letter being one letter before "."

HAL Laboratory is most notable for developing the Kirby series, created by ex-employee Masahiro Sakurai; however, they are also responsible for the Super Smash Bros. series and the EarthBound (Mother) series. They have also commonly collaborated with other teams within Nintendo.

Notable employees

 * Satoru Iwata (moved to Nintendo EAD; President of Nintendo from 2002-2015)
 * Masahiro Sakurai (left and formed Sora Ltd.)

List of games

 * Family Computer Golf: Japan Course
 * ''Family Computer Golf: U.S. Course
 * Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race (with Nintendo EAD)
 * Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally (with Nintendo EAD)
 * NES Open Tournament Golf (with Nintendo R&D2)
 * Super Smash Bros.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * Face Raiders

Trivia

 * In Super Smash Bros. Melee, if the player selects the trophy collection and zooms in close enough, the television set to the right reads "HAL Laboratory" on it.