Nintendo Patents Watch

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Nintendo EPD Skunkworks

[Reacting to the news that Drag x Drive credits containing only 18 developers]

Of all modern Nintendo games, Drag x Drive might have the smallest dev team next to Jump Rope Challenge. The latter was done presumably quickly during COVID, and didn’t even include in-game credits. Sho Inaba (image 1) and Shinji Okane (image 2) are the only known staff.

Based on the limited information available, it seems that both games were developed by EPD.

Sho Inaba’s presentation slide at CEDEC 2020, showing his past works: 1-2-Switch, Jump Rope Challenge, and Ring Fit Adventure
Excerpt from: Ask the Developer Vol. 5, Nintendo Switch Sports–Part 1 Shinji Okane (referred to as Okane from this point on): I’m Okane. I was the program director for this title. I was also involved in the Ring Fit Adventure™ game as a program director and the Jump Rope Challenge™ game as a director. I’ve been working on a lot of physical activity titles.
Game icon of Jump Rope Challenge

[Originally posted on 2025-08-14 Pacific Time]