HAL Laboratory
| HAL Laboratory, Inc. | |
 |
|
| Founded | February 21, 1980 |
| Headquarters | Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan |
| Website | hallab.co.jp |
| Other Names | HAL America, HAL Labs, ハル研 (Halken) |
HAL Laboratory, Inc. (株式会社ハル研究所, Haru Kenkyujo) is a Japanese game developer who are best known for their Kirby and Smash Brothers franchises. The company was named after the HAL 9000 computer in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The company's first Nintendo game wasn't their own, but was asked by Nintendo to help in the development of their NES Pinball game since they were behind schedule. The company continues to develop games to this day.
The company's key people were Satoru Iwata, Makoto "FLZ" Kanai, Hiroaki "GSX" Suga, and many others.
Games
Music Development
NES
Most of the Japanese NES games list a program called 'Music Maker' in the credits. This is most likely an alias for Music Editor: MUE, a music program for the MSX designed by Satoru Iwata.
HAL originally had a sound driver, but later upgraded with better instruments, as well as drums and percussion for the DPCM channel. This driver was known for being used in games such as Kirby's Adventure, Adventures of Lolo 3, and New Ghostbusters II.
Audio Personnel
- Dan Miyakawa - Freelance musician; composed Kirby Super Star (SNES).
- Hideki Kanazashi - Lead composer; 1984-1990.
- Hiroaki Suga - Lead sound designer and programmer; 1981-1994.
- Hirokazu Ando - Lead composer and sound designer; 1992-Present.
- Jun Ishikawa - Lead composer and sound designer; 1990-Present.
- Kazuo Sawa - Freelance musician, various projects.
- Kuni Kawachi - Freelance musician, composer for Vegas Dream (NES).
- Tadashi Ikegami - Composer and sound designer; 1993-2010.
Links
- hallab.co.jp - Official.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_Laboratory - Wikipedia.
