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Nintendo Research & Development 1

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Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 Department
Native name
任天堂開発第一部
Nintendō Kaihatsu Daiichi Bu
FormerlyNintendo Research & Development
Company typeDepartment
IndustryVideo games
Genre
Founded1970; 54 years ago (1970)
FounderHiroshi Yamauchi
Defunct2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Fate
SuccessorNintendo Software Planning & Development
Headquarters
Kyoto
,
Japan
Key people
OwnerNintendo
Number of employees
100+
ParentNintendo Manufacturing Division
Footnotes / references
[1]

Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 Department[a] (commonly abbreviated as Nintendo R&D1 and formerly known as Nintendo Research & Development Department[b] before splitting in 1978) was a division of Nintendo, and is its oldest development team.[2] Its creation coincided with Nintendo's entry into the video game industry, and the original R&D1 was headed by Gunpei Yokoi.[3] The developer has created several notable Nintendo series such as Donkey Kong, Mario, and Metroid.[4]

R&D1 developed the hugely successful Game Boy line, which was released in 1989.[5][6] They developed some of the line's most popular games, such as Super Mario Land, and created the character of Wario.

Team Shikamaru was a small club within Nintendo R&D1 that was composed of Makoto Kano, Yoshio Sakamoto, and Toru Osawa. The group was responsible for designing characters and coming up with scripts for several games including Metroid, Kid Icarus, Famicom Detective Club, Trade & Battle: Card Hero, and several others.

After Yokoi's resignation in 1997, this group was led by Takehiro Izushi.[7] In 2004, Satoru Iwata restructured the Nintendo R&D1 team. Many of the staff members were later reassigned to the Nintendo SPD team, which in turn merged with Nintendo EAD in 2015 to form Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development.[8]

History

[edit]

Background

[edit]

In 1965, Nintendo, still primarily a hanafuda card manufacturer, hired Gunpei Yokoi, a newly graduated electronics engineer. Yokoi was assigned to the manufacturing division to work on the assembly line machines used to manufacture its cards.[9] In the following year, Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo at the time, during a visit to the factory Yokoi was working at, took notice of a toy, an extending arm, that Yokoi had made for his own amusement during his spare time. As Yamauchi was looking to diversify the company's business far beyond its primary card business, Yokoi was ordered to develop the toy into a proper mass-market product for the 1966 holiday rush. The toy was launched as Ultra Hand and it was a huge success selling over 1.2 million units during its lifetime.[10] Following that, Yokoi was assigned to work on other toys including the Ten Billion Barrel puzzle, a miniature remote-controlled vacuum cleaner called the Chiritori, a baseball throwing machine called the Ultra Machine, and a "Love Tester."[11]

1970s-1978: Creation and first electronic games

[edit]

Sometime before 1972, Nintendo created its first electronics development team, the Research & Development department from Nintendo's manufacturing division, assigning Gunpei Yokoi as its general manager. By 1972 the department had approximately 20 developers. In 1978, the manufacturing division split its single research & development department into two, renaming it to Research & Development No. 1 (R&D1) and creating the Nintendo Research & Development No. 2 (R&D2) department. After the split, Yokoi remained general manager of R&D1.[12][13]

1979-1988: Game & Watch

[edit]

In the late 1970s, Yokoi saw a bored Japanese salaryman playing with a calculator on the Shinkansen high-speed train. This was the inspiration for the creation of the Game & Watch series, a line of handheld electronic games, with each system featuring a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock, an alarm, or both.[14] Regardless, it was confirmed that Yokoi was inspired by calculators to develop the line, even using calculator integrated circuits in the systems and button cells to power them.[13] Although Nintendo competitors Mattel and Tomy had already produced portable games, they were mostly bulky systems with low-resolution LED displays and uninspiring gameplay. Yokoi exploited the cheapness of LCDs, producing cheap and light systems, starting in 1980. He would later call this principle Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology: using seasoned technology in radical ways; a principle that echoed throughout Nintendo until the present day.[14]

In 1980, Game & Watch: Ball was the first release of the Game & Watch Silver series, called after its metallic face-plate. Sales weren't reportedly "astonishing", but they were enough to persuade Nintendo to continue developing new titles.[14] The series saw a total of 5 systems, all released during that year. In 1981, Game & Watch: Manhole debuted the Gold series, which was fundamentally the same system with a golden face-plate. It saw only 3 titles which were also released during the same year. In mid-1981, Game & Watch: Parachute was released, debuting the Wide Screen series, sporting a 30% larger display. The series saw a total of 10 titles released until early 1982.

The limitations of the LCD display prompted Yokoi and his team to introduce the Multi Screen series with the release of Game & Watch: Oil Panic in mid 1982, adding another screen to potentially double the amount of gameplay each title could offer. The next title of the series was Game & Watch: Donkey Kong a port of the hugely successful Donkey Kong arcade game. Unable to use a joystick like the original game, as it would reduce the system's portability, Yokoi began researching for solutions. Early Game & Watch systems had a button for each action such as moving left and right or jumping. However, for the new system the team introduced the "cross" directional pad (D-pad): a flat, four-way directional control with one button on each point.[14] The design was patented and later earned a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in 2008.[15][16] From then on, all major video game consoles since have had a D-pad of some shape on their controllers, until the Nintendo Switch in 2017.

1989-1990: Game Boy

[edit]
Game Boy, the highly-successful handheld video game console

When the department started working on a successor to the Game & Watch series, Yokoi envisioned a simple and cheap system with interchangeable game cartridges. Development of the system, however, suffered from disagreements in direction, with assistant director Satoru Okada arguing for a more powerful system with third-party development and long-term support from Nintendo, emulating the successful business model that Nintendo R&D2 had achieved with the Nintendo Entertainment System, while Yokoi planned for a much cheaper, less powerful device with a shorter life-span, similar to its predecessor. During an interview, Okada compared the initial project to the Microvision. Eventually, Yokoi agreed to Okada's plan and the project would be known as the Game Boy.[17]

1991-1994: Virtual Boy

[edit]
The Virtual Boy, developed by R&D1, emulates 3-D visuals by use of individual red monochrome displays for each eye. It was considered a commercial failure.

In 1991, Nintendo partnered with Massachusetts-based Reflection Technology, Inc. who had developed a 3D stereoscopic head-tracking prototype called the Private Eye.[18][19] Gunpei Yokoi saw this as a unique technology that competitors would find difficult to emulate. Additionally, the resulting game console was intended to enhance Nintendo's reputation as an innovator[19][20] and to "encourage more creativity" in games.[21]: 514  Code-naming the project "VR32",[19] Nintendo entered into an exclusive agreement with Reflection Technology to license the technology for its displays.[18]

Spending four years in development and eventually building a dedicated manufacturing plant in China,[19] Nintendo worked to turn its VR32 vision into an affordable and health-conscious console design.[20] Yokoi retained RTI's choice of red LED because it was the cheapest,[20] and because unlike a totally backlit LCD, its perfect blackness could achieve a more immersive sense of infinite depth.[19] RTI and Nintendo said a color LCD system would have been prohibitively expensive,[19][22] retailing for more than US$500.[21]: 514  A color LCD system was also said to have caused "jumpy images in tests".[22] With ongoing concerns about motion sickness, the risk of developing lazy eye conditions in young children, and Japan's new Product Liability Act of 1995, Nintendo eliminated the head tracking functionality and converted its headmounted goggle design into a stationary, heavy, precision steel-shielded, tabletop form factor conformant to the recommendation of the Schepens Eye Research Institute.[19][21]: 514 

According to David Sheff's book Game Over, the increasingly reticent Yokoi never actually intended for the increasingly downscaled console to be released in its final form. However, Nintendo pushed the Virtual Boy to market so that it could focus development resources on the Nintendo 64.[23]

1995: Game Boy successor

[edit]

In 1995, the department started developing a successor to the Game Boy, under the code-name Atlantis. Despite its predecessors having a monochrome display, the R&D1 team had already experimented with color displays from as early as 1992. The Atlantis prototype consisted of an handheld with a 32-bit ARM7 CPU, a larger color display, and four face buttons. It was reported that the system was supposed to release in late 1996.[24]

Meanwhile, the department was also working on a revision of the Game Boy. The system would require fewer batteries, providing approximately 10 hours of gameplay, and was also equipped with a DC connector which could be used to power the system.[25] The screen was also changed to a true black-and-white display, rather than the green-tinted monochrome display of the original Game Boy, and had an improved pixel response-time, mostly eliminating the ghosting effect. It finally released as the Game Boy Pocket on July 21, 1996, in Japan, on September 3 in North America, and in Europe during the following year.[26] Although it had no power LED initially, it was soon added to later editions due public demand.[27]

Following the commercial success of the Game Boy Pocket, the Atlantis system was delayed by a year to late 1997. Nonetheless, the system was eventually cancelled due to concerns of it being too big, having a drastically decreased battery life (to approximately 1 hour, as LCD color displays required a back-light at the time), and being too expensive to manufacture.[28][29][30][31] Although it was shelved, the project would later considerably speed up the development of the Game Boy Color in 1997 by the Nintendo Research & Engineering department.[31]

1996-2003: Gunpei Yokoi's departure and hardware team spin-off

[edit]

On August 15, 1996, long-time department general manager, Gunpei Yokoi, left Nintendo to form his own company, Koto Laboratory. Despite speculation that he had left Nintendo due to the commercial failure of the Virtual Boy a year prior, Yokoi clarified that he'd long wished to become independent. Yokoi and his new company eventually worked on the WonderSwan handheld for Bandai before his tragic death in 1997 in a traffic accident.[32] In order to fill Yokoi's vacancy, long-time Nintendo engineer Takehiro Izushi was appointed as the new general manager of the department.[33] Additionally, the department's hardware team was spun-off into a new development department, called Nintendo Research & Engineering and led by Satoru Okada.[34] The software development team, however, remained at R&D1. This new department would be responsible for continuing the Game Boy's legacy becoming the source of every major Nintendo handheld game console until its closure in 2012.[35]

Following Yokoi's departure, and no longer having a dedicated hardware development team, the department focused instead on developing games for other Nintendo-developed consoles. It was responsible for the re-releases of its Game & Watch classics in the Game & Watch Gallery series for both the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, starting in 1997. It also developed sequels to its Wario Land classic in the form of Wario Land II, released in 1998, and Wario Land 3, in 2000, both for the Game Boy Color, and Wario Land 4 for the Game Boy Advance, released a year later. The department was also responsible for creating the Wario spin-off series with WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, released in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. After an 8-year hiatus, R&D1 introduced a new installment in its Metroid series, Metroid Fusion, released in 2002. In 2004, R&D1's last project was launched, Metroid: Zero Mission a remake of the original game.

2004: Absorbed into Nintendo Software Planning & Development

[edit]

In 2004, the department, along with Nintendo Research & Development 2, was absorbed into the newly created Nintendo Software Planning & Development division.[36] Then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata created and appointed himself as general manager of the new division to focus on co-producing and supervising second-party development, thus relieving the Entertainment Analysis & Development division (EAD) and its general manager Shigeru Miyamoto to focus on first-party projects. Although that was the division's primary focus, it went on to develop some video games titles internally.[37][38]

In 2018, former general manager of the R&D1 department Takehiro Izushi retired from Nintendo after 43 years in the company.[39]

Products developed

[edit]

Electronic games

[edit]
List of electronic games developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
Year Title Genre(s) Platform(s) Series Ref.
1978 Computer Othello Arcade
1979 Head On N Arcade [40]
1979 Monkey Magic Arcade [40]
1979 Sheriff Arcade
1980 Heli Fire Fixed shooter Arcade [40]
1981 Donkey Kong Platform Arcade
1981 Sky Skipper Arcade [40]
1982 Donkey Kong Jr. Platform Arcade
1983 Mario Bros. Platform Arcade
1983 Donkey Kong 3 Shooter Arcade
1983 Popeye Arcade
1985 Vs. Ice Climber Platform Arcade
SF-Hisplitter Arcade
Sheriff 2 Arcade
Space Fever Arcade
Space Firebird Arcade
Space Launcher Arcade
1980 Game & Watch: Ball Game & Watch Silver [41][42]
Game & Watch: Flagman Game & Watch Silver [43][42]
Game & Watch: Vermin Game & Watch Silver [44][42]
Game & Watch: Fire Game & Watch Silver [45][42]
Game & Watch: Judge Game & Watch Silver [46][47][42]
1981 Game & Watch: Manhole Game & Watch Gold [48][42]
Game & Watch: Helmet Game & Watch Gold [49][42]
Game & Watch: Lion Game & Watch Gold [50][42]
Game & Watch: Parachute Game & Watch Wide Screen [51][42]
Game & Watch: Octopus Game & Watch Wide Screen [52]
Game & Watch: Popeye Game & Watch Wide Screen [53]
Game & Watch: Chef Game & Watch Wide Screen [54]
Game & Watch: Mickey Mouse Game & Watch Wide Screen [55]
Game & Watch: Egg Game & Watch Wide Screen [56]
Game & Watch: Fire Game & Watch Wide Screen [57]
1982 Game & Watch: Turtle Bridge Game & Watch Wide Screen [58]
Game & Watch: Fire Attack Game & Watch Wide Screen [59]
Game & Watch: Snoopy Tennis Game & Watch Wide Screen [60]
Game & Watch: Oil Panic Game & Watch Multi Screen [61]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Game & Watch Multi Screen [62]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch New Wide Screen [63]
Game & Watch: Mickey & Donald Game & Watch Multi Screen [64]
Game & Watch: Green House Game & Watch Multi Screen [65]
1983 Game & Watch: Donkey Kong II Game & Watch Multi Screen [66]
Game & Watch: Mario Bros. Game & Watch Multi Screen [67]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch Table Top [68]
Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory Game & Watch Table Top [69]
Game & Watch: Mario's Cement Factory Game & Watch New Wide Screen [70]
Game & Watch: Snoopy Game & Watch Table Top [71]
Game & Watch: Rain Shower Game & Watch Multi Screen [72]
Game & Watch: Popeye Game & Watch Table Top [73]
Game & Watch: Manhole Game & Watch New Wide Screen [74]
Game & Watch: Snoopy Game & Watch Panorama [75]
Game & Watch: Popeye Game & Watch Panorama [76]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr. Game & Watch Panorama [77]
Game & Watch: Lifeboat Game & Watch Multi Screen [78]
Game & Watch: Mario's Bombs Away Game & Watch Panorama [79]
Game & Watch: Pinball Game & Watch Multi Screen [80]
1984 Game & Watch: Spitball Sparky Game & Watch Super Color [81]
Game & Watch: Crab Grab Game & Watch Super Color [82]
Game & Watch: Mickey Mouse Game & Watch Panorama [83]
Game & Watch: Boxing Game & Watch Micro Vs. System [84]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong 3 Game & Watch Micro Vs. System [85]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Circus Game & Watch Panorama [86]
Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Hockey Game & Watch Micro Vs. System [87]
1985 Game & Watch: Black Jack Game & Watch Multi Screen [88]
Game & Watch: Tropical Fish Game & Watch New Wide Screen [89]

Video game consoles

[edit]
List of video game consoles developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
Year Name Ref.
1989 Game Boy
1995 Game Boy Play-It-Loud!
Virtual Boy
1996 Game Boy Pocket

Video games

[edit]
List of video games developed by the Nintendo Research & Development No. 1 department
Year Title Genre(s) Platform(s) Ref.
1983 Mario Bros. Platform Nintendo Entertainment System
Baseball Sports Nintendo Entertainment System
1984 Tennis Sports Nintendo Entertainment System
Pinball Pinball Nintendo Entertainment System
Wild Gunman Shooter Nintendo Entertainment System
Duck Hunt Shooter Nintendo Entertainment System
Hogan's Alley Shooter Nintendo Entertainment System
Donkey Kong 3 Shooter Nintendo Entertainment System
Devil World Maze Nintendo Entertainment System
Urban Champion Fighting Nintendo Entertainment System
Clu Clu Land Puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System
1985 Balloon Fight Action Nintendo Entertainment System
Ice Climber Platform Nintendo Entertainment System
Wrecking Crew Action, puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System
Stack-Up Action, puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System
Gyromite Action, puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System
1986 Baseball Sports Family Computer Disk System
Gumshoe Shooter Nintendo Entertainment System
Metroid Action-Adventure Family Computer Disk System
Kid Icarus Action, platform Family Computer Disk System
1987 Kid Icarus Action, platform Nintendo Entertainment System
Metroid Action-Adventure Nintendo Entertainment System
Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School Dating sim Family Computer Disk System
1988 Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir Adventure Family Computer Disk System
Famicom Wars Strategy Family Computer
1989 Baseball Sports Game Boy
Alleyway Puzzle Game Boy
Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind Adventure Family Computer Disk System
Tetris Puzzle Game Boy
Tetris Puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Mario Land Platform Game Boy
1990 Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light Tactical role-playing game Family Computer
Dr. Mario Puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy
Solar Striker Shooter Game Boy
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting Shooter Nintendo Entertainment System
1991 Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Action, platform Game Boy
Metroid II: Return of Samus Action-Adventure Game Boy
1992 Clu Clu Land: Welcome to New Clu Clu Land Puzzle Family Computer Disk System
The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls Action role-playing Game Boy
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Platform Game Boy
1993 Joy Mech Fight Fighting Family Computer
1994 Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Platform Game Boy
Wario's Woods Puzzle Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Metroid Action-Adventure Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1995 Mario's Tennis Sports Virtual Boy
Teleroboxer Fighting Virtual Boy
Mario Clash Action Virtual Boy
Virtual Boy Wario Land Platform Virtual Boy
Kirby's Block Ball Action Game Boy
1997 Game & Watch Gallery Minigame compilation Game Boy
BS Tantei Club: Yuki ni Kieta Kako Adventure Satellaview
1998 Wario Land II Platform Game Boy
Wario Land II Platform Game Boy Color
2000 Trade & Battle: Card Hero RPG Game Boy Color
Wario Land 3 Platform Game Boy Color
Sin and Punishment Shooter Nintendo 64
2001 Wario Land 4 Platform Game Boy Advance
2002 Metroid Fusion Action-Adventure Game Boy Advance
2003 WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames! Minigame compilation Game Boy Advance
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! Minigame compilation GameCube
2004 Metroid: Zero Mission Action-Adventure Game Boy Advance

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Japanese: 任天堂開発第一部, Hepburn: Nintendō Kaihatsu Daiichi Bu
  2. ^ Japanese: 任天堂開発部, Hepburn: Nintendō Kaihatsu Bu

References

[edit]
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  43. ^ "Flagman FL-02 (2nd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  44. ^ "Vermin MT-03 (3rd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  45. ^ "Fire RC-04 (4th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  46. ^ "Judge Green IP-05 (5th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  47. ^ "Judge Purple IP-05 (5th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  48. ^ "Manhole MH-06 (6th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  49. ^ "Helmet CN-07 (7th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  50. ^ "Lion LN-08 (8th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  51. ^ "Parachute PR-21 (9th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  52. ^ "Octopus OC-22 (10th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  53. ^ "Popeye PP-23 (11th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  54. ^ "Chef FP-24 (12th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  55. ^ "Mickey Mouse MC-25 (13rd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  56. ^ "Egg EG-26 (14th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  57. ^ "Fire FR-27 (15th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
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  67. ^ "Mario Bros. MW-56 (25th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  68. ^ "Donkey Kong Jr. CJ-71 (26th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
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  72. ^ "Rain Shower LP-57 (30th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  73. ^ "Popeye PG-74 (31st Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  74. ^ "Manhole NH-103 (32nd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  75. ^ "Snoopy SM-91 (33th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  76. ^ "Popeye PG-92 (34th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  77. ^ "Donkey Kong Jr. CJ-93 (35th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  78. ^ "Life Boat TC-58 (36th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  79. ^ "Mario's Bombs Away TB-94 (37th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  80. ^ "Pinball PB-59 (38th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  81. ^ "Spitball Sparky BU-201 (39th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  82. ^ "Crab Grab UD-202 (40th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  83. ^ "Mickey Mouse DC-95 (41th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  84. ^ "Boxing/Punch Out BX-301 (42nd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  85. ^ "Donkey Kong 3 AK-302 (43rd Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  86. ^ "Donkey Kong Circus MK-96 (44th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  87. ^ "Donkey Kong Hockey HK-303 (45th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  88. ^ "Black Jack BJ-60 (46th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  89. ^ "Tropical Fish TF-104 (47th Game)". www.gameandwatch.ch. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
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