Nintendo Software Technology

In 1988, Claude Comair founded DigiPen Corporation in Vancouver, British Columbia. Soon after, he partnered with Nintendo of America on a certification program in video game programming. This partnership would help establish the DigiPen Institute of Technology as a private institute in Redmond. Washington. In 1998, DigiPen and Scott Tsumura's Big Bang Software were merged to form Nintendo Software Technology, consisting mostly of DigiPen personnel. Tsumura served as president and Comair was named chairman. NST was headquartered on DigiPen’s campus until 2010.

NST's first game, Bionic Commando: Elite Forces, was released for the Game Boy Color in 2000 and was a sequel of Capcom's Bionic Commando. Its next game was a Game Boy Color port of action RPG Crystalis, followed by Ridge Racer 64 and Pokémon Puzzle League for the Nintendo 64. The company then developed the multiplayer mode for 2001's Mario Kart: Super Circuit on the Game Boy Advance

Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

NST started developing Project H.A.M.M.E.R. for the Nintendo Wii in 2003, but several problems landed the project in 'development hell'. By 2005, about 75% of the game was complete before concerns about the game's quality emerged. A large amount of funding was spent on cut-scenes early in development, and so when the project started to fall behind, senior staff didn't want to end it because of the capital already spent. The American developers suggested that the problem was the gameplay, however, the Japanese managers believed the problem was the environments.

The game debuted at E3 2006, but never progressed further. It was later retooled into a more casual title called Wii Crush. By 2009, Nintendo had fired the chief game designer and pulled funding on the title. Soon after, a large number of staff were made redundant.