Nintendo EAD

Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development (abbreviated as Nintendo EAD) was a former internal software division of Nintendo. It was originally known as Nintendo Research & Development No. 4 (Nintendo R&D4) before being renamed in 1989. Nintendo EAD was split into several different development groups and was responsible for the creation of many first party Nintendo titles, including most mainline entries in.

In 2003, a corporate restructure led to the creation of Nintendo EAD Software Group No. 3, which was dedicated entirely to the production of games in The Legend of Zelda series, with Eiji Aonuma serving as group manager. The developers in this group had previously worked on and, and all The Legend of Zelda series games developed by Nintendo EAD onward would be made by this group.

In 2015, Nintendo EAD was consolidated with Nintendo SPD to form Nintendo EPD. Nintendo EAD Software Group No. 3 was also restructured into Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 3.