Editing HAL Laboratory

{{Infobox-Company
|image=[[File:HAL Laboratory logo.png|256px]]
|caption=The company's current logo, titled "Dream Hatcher", depicts a dog incubating a trio of eggs.
|industry=Video game development
|firstgame=''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'' (1992)
|latestgame=''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]]'' (2023)
|othergames=[[Kirby (series)|Most ''Kirby'' games]]<br>''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''<br>''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''<br>''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''
|founded=21 February 1980
|president=[[Shigefumi Kawase]]
|other wikis=[[bulbapedia:HAL Laboratory, Inc.|Bulbapedia]]<br>[[mariowiki:HAL Laboratory|Super Mario Wiki]]<br>[[nwiki:HAL Laboratory|NintendoWiki]]<br>[[smashwiki:HAL Laboratory|SmashWiki]]<br>[[wikibound:HAL Laboratory|WikiBound]]
}}
'''HAL Laboratory, Inc.''' ('''株式会社ハル研究所''' ''Kabushikigaisha Haru-kenkyūjo''), also known as '''HAL Lab''' ('''ハル研''' ''Haru-ken'') or previously '''HALKEN''', is a Japanese video game development company closely affiliated with [[Nintendo]] throughout its history. One of its founding members, [[Satoru Iwata]], eventually became the president of Nintendo of Japan. Among the company's many creations are the [[Kirby (series)|''Kirby'' series]] and [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]].

==History==
[[File:MSX Magazine 0 Iwata Ikeda photo.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Satoru Iwata (left) and Mikio Ikeda, photographed for issue 0 of ''MSX Magazine''. After HAL Laboratory spun off its non-Nintendo business into HAL Corporation, Iwata and Ikeda would head the two separated entities.]]
===1980-1992, before ''Kirby''===
In 1978, the Seibu Department Stores flagship location in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, opened the first personal computer display corner in Japan; this acted as a focal point for a group of computer enthusiasts who became friends and ultimately started HAL Laboratory in 1980,<ref name="shmuplations_iwata"/> developing peripherals and games for personal computers and creating modest hits such as the ''[[wikipedia:Eggerland (series)|Eggerland]]'' series for the MSX. Iwata in retrospect has given two differing accounts of the reason behind the company's name. In his 2005 GDC keynote, he suggested the name derives from [[wikipedia:HAL 9000|HAL 9000]],<ref>{{cite person|quote=We worked until midnight or later every night, and that group of friends is what became the company known as HAL today. The name came from the computer in the movie 2001: Space Odyssey.{{sic|Iwata's original quote omits the indefinite article from the title of the film.}}|name=[[Satoru Iwata]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9HUMt2rrOI&t=4m27s|title=GDC 2005 keynote}} ([https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/03/11/gdc-2005-iwata-keynote-transcript IGN transcript] and [http://web.archive.org/web/1000/https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/03/11/gdc-2005-iwata-keynote-transcript Wayback Machine snapshot of transcript])</ref> the sentient computer featuring throughout the [[wikipedia:Space Odyssey|''Space Odyssey'' series]] of science-fiction works. However, Iwata later claimed in a 2012 interview with ZombiU developers at Ubisoft that "HAL was named as such because each letter put us one step ahead of IBM!"<ref>[https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wiiu/zombiu/0/1/ Iwata Asks: ZombiU] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20220826090845/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wiiu/zombiu/0/1/ Wayback Machine archive]). Note also that the creators of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' had to explicitly deny that [[wikipedia:HAL 9000#Origin of name|HAL 9000's name]] derived from shifting the letters of IBM. The denial is perfectly sensible, given that IBM provided technical advice for the computer and were prominently featured elsewhere in the film version (see [http://web.archive.org/web/20130104205638mp_/http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/01/does-ibm-know-that-hal-is-psychotic.html], [http://web.archive.org/web/20191218223724/https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2018/04/learning-about-the-future-from-2001-a-space-odyssey-fifty-years-later/]), and neither director Stanley Kubrick nor writer Arthur C Clarke would have wished to embarrass IBM. On the other hand, it would have been equally perfectly sensible for HAL Laboratory to be named (either partly, along with another namesake in HAL 9000, or entirely) based on a one-letter shift from IBM, the very same shift denied as the derivation for HAL 9000's name. HAL Laboratory never developed for the IBM PC or had any significant connection to IBM, mostly developing for Commodore or Japanese personal computers.</ref>

In his second year of employment with the company, Iwata heard about an upcoming console from Nintendo called the Family Computer (or Famicom, later re-fashioned as the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] in overseas markets). This prompted Iwata to visit Kyoto to ask Nintendo to allow him and HAL to develop software for the Famicom.<ref name="iwata_gccx">[https://archive.org/details/satoru-iwata-game-center-cx-balloon-fight-3qdrzxmgywo Satoru Iwata's appearance on the 17th Nintendo Channel special episode of Game Center CX, featuring ''Balloon Fight'']</ref><ref name="shmuplations_iwata"/> While Iwata had never tried and only believed he could program games for the Famicom, this belief was far from baseless, as the Famicom shared its CPU architecture with the legendary [[wikipedia:MOS Technology 6502|6502]] CPU at the heart of the Commodore 8-bit computers on which Iwata had cut his teeth. HAL's first projects for Nintendo came in 1983, when they were tapped to port four Atari 2600 games to the Famicom as launch titles for a planned Atari-distributed international version of the system; three of them – ''Defender II'', ''Joust'', and ''Millipede'' – were eventually released in 1987 in Japan and 1988 in North America.<ref>[https://tcrf.net/Defender_II_(NES) Defender II (NES)]. ''The Cutting Room Floor''. Retrieved December 9, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://tcrf.net/Millipede_(NES,_HAL_Laboratory) Millipede (NES, HAL Laboratory)]. ''The Cutting Room Floor''. Retrieved December 9, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://tcrf.net/Joust_(NES) Joust (NES)]. ''The Cutting Room Floor''. Retrieved December 9, 2023.</ref> Though the deal between Atari and Nintendo collapsed following the North American video game industry crash, resulting in Nintendo handling international distribution themselves in 1985,<ref>Turner, Benjamin; Nutt, Christian. [https://web.archive.org/web/20040701101711/http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/july03/famicom/index11.shtml How the NES revived an industry and captivated a generation.] ''GameSpy''. Archived July 1, 2004. Retrieved December 9, 2023.</ref> HAL would maintain a close working relationship with Nintendo, and would become a regular developer for their hardware from 1984 onward, collaborating on ''[[wikipedia:Pinball (1984 video game)|NES Pinball]]''<ref>[https://www.nsidr.com/archive/hal-laboratory-company-profile/page/2/ HAL Laboratory: Company Profile - nsidr]</ref> and porting its ''Eggerland'' games to their consoles along with original titles such as ''Revenge of the 'Gator'' and ''New Ghostbusters II''.

However, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy by 1992, a typical victim of the [[wikipedia:Japanese asset price bubble|disastrous aftermath of the Japanese asset price bubble]] (an event so singular that Japanese media simply refer to it as [[wikipedia:ja:バブル崩壊|バブル崩壊]] or "''the bubble collapse''"). Retrospective accounts of this period of hardship ascribe a near-mythical quality to ''[[wikipedia:Metal Slader Glory|Metal Slader Glory]]'', a costly and elaborate adventure game that took somewhere between four and six years to develop.<ref name="shmuplations_msg">[https://shmuplations.com/metalsladerglory/ Metal Slader Glory – Developer Interview Collection], Peter Barnard's translation of two interviews with ''Metal Slader Glory'' director Yoshimiru Hoshi</ref><ref name="hobonichi_sakurai">[https://www.1101.com/about_iwatasan/sakurai/2020-01-30.html Shigesato Itoi's interview with Masahiro Sakurai about Satoru Iwata]</ref> The early days of this long development cycle happened to coincide with the heights of the bubble boom while the game would only be finished in time to release as the bubble was about to burst. Although the game's director would claim that the game was successful enough for the initial (and only) production run to quickly sell out,<ref name="shmuplations_msg"/> ''Glory'' was a focal point for HAL Laboratory's internal disarray, with Masahiro Sakurai recalling overhearing a furious Iwata in management discussions about how the company could possibly recoup ''Glory'''s development costs.<ref name="hobonichi_sakurai"/> While Iwata would later describe ''Glory'' as a mistake (「間違い」) strictly from a management perspective, he also recalled a larger vicious cycle at HAL Laboratory of pushing unsatisfactory games to release to recoup development costs, only for this to result in poor reception and sales that put further pressure on subsequent games to recoup costs.<ref name="shmuplations_iwata"/> Contemporary accounts of HAL Laboratory's ''de facto'' bankruptcy from magazines like ''Asahi Pasocom'' and ''Credit & Law'' do not blame a single point of failure like ''Glory'', noting a general lack of hits and sales numbers that were consistently below expectations. These accounts point out that such modest sales hurt the company at a time when it was pursuing a number of expansive ventures, such as an American subsidiary in Oregon, and a recently constructed development center in Yamanashi that had cost around ¥1.1 billion to build.<ref>[https://twitter.com/camelletgo/status/973186351431524354 Twitter thread with scans from the August 1992 issues of ''Asahi Pasocom'' and ''Credit & Law'' magazines] (direct image links for [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYFzWmgVAAERZqu?format=jpg&name=large ''Asahi Pasocom'' article] and [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYF1TuoVoAA-Zpb?format=jpg&name=large ''Credit & Law'']; [http://web.archive.org/web/20230518202755/https://twitter.com/camelletgo/status/973186351431524354/ Wayback Machine snapshot of Twitter thread])</ref>

===1992-present, with ''Kirby''===
It was against this background of financial difficulty and management conflicts that Sakurai was developing a beginner-friendly platforming game called ''[[Twinkle☆Popo]]''. Seeing the appeal of the game, Shigeru Miyamoto offered for Nintendo to market and publish the game once it was reborn as ''Kirby's Dream Land''.<ref>{{cite person|quote=あのタイトルでゲームボーイのソフトとして出す予定でしたが、「もったいない」と宮本茂さんがおっしゃって、調整して、任天堂発売の『星のカービィ』に変わるんですね。" Translation: "We were going to release it under that title, but then Shigeru Miyamoto-san said 'mottainai' ''['it would be a shame', or even 'what a waste' in its most direct use]'', so we tuned it up and changed it into the Nintendo-published Kirby of the Stars ''[''Kirby's Dream Land'']''.|name=[[Satoru Iwata]]|url=https://www.1101.com/president/iwata07.html|title=ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞 - 社長に学べ！}}</ref> Beyond ''Kirby'', while the company formally entered bankruptcy and composition proceedings in June of 1992 with approximately ¥5 billion in liabilities,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/game-machine-magazine-19920801p/page/n2/mode/1up Game Machine Magazine (1992-08-01)], page 4 ([https://ia801609.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/7/items/game-machine-magazine-19920801p/19920801p_jp2.zip&file=19920801p_jp2%2F19920801p_0002.jp2 direct image link])</ref> Nintendo would help HAL Laboratory rebuild on the condition that Iwata be appointed as President of HAL Laboratory.<ref>{{cite person|quote=岩田さんは、いまはHAL研究所の社長だが、もともとは、ひとりのバイトの学生だったらしい。どうして社長になったのかといえば、倒産寸前でニュースにまでとりあげられたこの会社に、「岩田が社長をやるなら助ける」という、援助者が現れたからだ。" ''Translation:'' "Iwata-san is now President of HAL Laboratory, but originally he was just a student working as a part-time employee. How did he become president? Because with the company in the news on the verge of bankruptcy, a benefactor ''[who could only have been Nintendo under Hiroshi Yamauchi's leadership, given historical context]'' appeared and said 'if Iwata will agree to be President, then we will help you'.|name=Shigesato Itoi|url=https://www.1101.com/itoi/1999-01-23.html|title=ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞-糸井重里の脱線WEB革命}}</ref><ref name="shmuplations_iwata"/> Having started HAL's relationship with Nintendo a decade prior, Iwata officially took the position of President of HAL Laboratory with Nintendo's backing in 1993, with HAL promising to pay back ¥1.5 billion in debt over six years.<ref name="hobonichi_iwata_15oku">{{cite person|quote=会社が広い意味で倒産して、借金からはじまるわけです。そのときの負債総額は、何十億円もありまして。【中略】結果的には十五億円を六年間で返すことになりました。|name=[[Satoru Iwata]]|url=https://www.1101.com/president/iwata-index.html|title=ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞 - 社長に学べ！}}</ref><ref>[https://www.1101.com/about_iwatasan/yanase/2020-07-14.html Professor Hiroichi Yanase's profile of Satoru Iwata based on the Hobonichi book ''Iwata-San'', part 4 of 5]</ref> Iwata's leadership and Nintendo's investment (including into the sales and marketing of HAL's games) would see HAL Laboratory focus on breaking the vicious cycle that led to the company's financial hardship.<ref name="shmuplations_iwata">Interview with Satoru Iwata in [https://retrocdn.net/images/3/33/UsedGames_JP_12.pdf ''Used Games'' magazine, volume 12 (1999 autumn)] ([https://shmuplations.com/iwata/ shmuplations.com translation])</ref>

A part of the original company split off in 1992 to become HAL Corporation,<ref name="halcorp_corpinf">[http://web.archive.org/web/19980629060624/http://www.halcorp.co.jp/Company/ 株式会社ハル・コーポレーション会社概要] (Wayback Machine snapshot from 1998; note in particular the date of establishment, 設立 : １９９２年８月３日)</ref> which would continue previous work on non-Nintendo products, such as new entries to the ''Eggerland'' series for [[wikipedia:Microsoft Windows|Windows]] computers,<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020219085405/http://www.halcorp.co.jp/soft/newegg/index.htm HAL Corporation page for 「復活！エッガーランド」]; the company also featured artwork of [http://web.archive.org/web/19980629060611im_/http://www.halcorp.co.jp/Items/Amusment/EggerLand/Images/infololo.gif Lolo] and [http://web.archive.org/web/19980629060556im_/http://www.halcorp.co.jp/Items/Amusment/EggerLand/Images/rara.gif Lala] on [http://web.archive.org/web/19980629060459/http://www.halcorp.co.jp/ its website]</ref> and updated versions of the 1990 Good Design Award-winning Crossam 2 universal remote.<ref>A press release about the Crossam 2 Plus, circulated to publications like [https://ascii.jp/elem/000/000/328/328627/ ASCII] and [https://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20020117/hal.htm AV Watch], would be one of the final pieces of news from HAL Corporation.</ref> This entity appears to have gone defunct sometime in 2002.<ref>[http://fryguy64.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=classic&thread=3972 To what extent is HAL Laboratory "Nintendo"? | NinDB Boards Jun 26, 2011]</ref><ref>While no official source exists to confirm the timing of HAL Corporation's demise, both [[wikipedia:ja:エッガーランド#シリーズの歴史|the Japanese Wikipedia page on the ''Eggerland'' series]] and [https://w.atwiki.jp/aniwotawiki/pages/27616.html Aniwota Wiki's entry on HAL Laboratory] suggest that the company dissolved in 2002, supported by the company's website becoming inaccessible beyond March of 2002 ([http://web.archive.org/web/20020311000000*/http://www.halcorp.co.jp:80/download/index.htm example]).</ref>

Meanwhile, HAL Laboratory focused exclusively on developing Nintendo products, such as their newly-introduced ''Kirby'', while providing development support for other titles such as ''[[wikibound:EarthBound|EarthBound]]'' and ''[[bulbapedia:Pokémon Stadium series|Pokémon Stadium]]''. By 1999, HAL Laboratory paid off its debt,<ref name="hobonichi_iwata_15oku"/> and Iwata was offered a position at Nintendo as the Head of Corporate Planning. He later became Nintendo's president, and held this position until his death in 2015. In July of 2001, at the time of production of the anime ''[[Kirby: Right Back at Ya!]]'', HAL Laboratory and Nintendo would establish a joint subsidiary, "Warpstar, Inc.", to manage the ''Kirby'' intellectual property and copyright. Warpstar, Inc. still exists and manages the ''Kirby'' brand in the present day.<ref>[https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-Kirby-s-Epic-Yarn/Iwata-Asks-Kirby-s-Epic-Yarn/4-Surprise-Fun-and-Warmth/4-Surprise-Fun-and-Warmth-207100.html Iwata Asks: ''Kirby's Epic Yarn'' - Nintendo UK]</ref> To this day, HAL continues to primarily develop for Nintendo platforms, and creates new entries to the ''Kirby'' series, as well as other original titles such as ''Picross 3D'', ''BOXBOY!'', and ''Part Time UFO'' (the last via its mobile development branch, HAL Egg).

HAL's corporate headquarters are in Kanda, a region of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo. They share the building with Nintendo, its subsidiaries, and [[wikipedia:Game Freak|Game Freak]]. They also continue to operate their development center in Kai, Yamanashi, where Mt. Fuji features prominently in the skyline. The company's Tokyo development center was originally located in the Nintendo Tokyo Prefecture Building in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, before consolidation in 2003; until 2020, the Tokyo headquarters were in a separate building in Kanda. The image of HAL's Yamanashi building features in several of the company's products. As of July 1, 2024, the company has 242 employees.<ref name="halken_officialprofile">[https://www.hallab.co.jp/company/profile/ HAL Laboratory official company profile] ([https://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/company/profile/ English version]; Wayback Machine snapshots of [http://web.archive.org/web/20230703225340/https://www.hallab.co.jp/company/profile/ Japanese] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20230703225259/https://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/company/profile/ English] profiles available)</ref>

==Logo==
[[File:HAL Laboratory historical logos artwork.png|right|thumb|250px|Three of HAL Laboratory's logos: ''(left to right)'' the original logo, the "spring" logo, and the Dream Hatcher used today.]]
The corporate logo is known as the '''Dream Hatcher'''<ref>This is what the ''[[Kirby: Planet Robobot]]'' [[Sticker (Kirby: Planet Robobot)|Sticker]] depicting the logo is named.</ref> (a.k.a. '''Inutamago'''; '''犬たまご''' "Dog Eggs"<ref>[https://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/company/symbol/ How Inutamago came to be - Interview about the Dream Hatcher symbol on the official website]</ref>), which depicts a dog similar to a [[wikipedia:dachshund|dachshund]] incubating several eggs. According to a 2003 Nintendo Power interview about ''[[Kirby Air Ride]]'', producer Masayoshi Tanimura notes that the dog is a fictional creation and that the team does not think of the dog like a dachshund. Tanimura explains that the logo represents deep thought into "incubating completely new ideas that eventually hatch into incredibly fun games".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150719022850/http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/np-interviews-hal-laboratories-about-kirby-air-ride.50554619/ NP Interviews HAL Laboratories about Kirby Air Ride! | IGN Boards Dec 30, 2003]</ref> [[wikipedia:Shigesato Itoi|Shigesato Itoi]] conceived the logo and pitched it to HAL, and introduced the company to [[wikipedia:ja:秋山具義|Gugi Akiyama]] to create the final design of the logo.<ref>[https://www.1101.com/nintendo/nin4/nin4-6.htm ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞 - 樹の上の秘密基地] 第４弾</ref> The Dream Hatcher has been the symbol of HAL Laboratory since December 1998.

The logo immediately preceding the Dream Hatcher, seen in games like ''Kirby Super Star'' and ''Kirby's Dream Land 3'', was the "spring" logo (「バネ」マーク) introduced in February of 1991.<ref name="halken_officialhistory">[https://www.hallab.co.jp/company/history/ 沿革 | COMPANY | ハル研究所] / [https://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/company/history/ Our History | COMPANY | HAL Laboratory] (Wayback Machine snapshots of both [http://web.archive.org/web/20230519081622/https://www.hallab.co.jp/company/history/ Japanese] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20230524044828/https://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/company/history/ English] versions available)</ref><ref>{{twitterlink|HAL_Laboratory|1407172238453919746|from HAL Laboratory|wbsnap=y}}</ref> In artwork for the October 2021 issue of Nintendo Dream magazine, Shinya Kumazaki notes a possible game of word association, from "spring" in the sense of a metal coil, to "spring" in the sense of the season, which translates to 春 (''haru'') in Japanese, homophonic with the company's name.<ref>{{twitterlink|HAL_Laboratory|1429730914888675336|from HAL Laboratory|wbsnap=y}} [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E9dssL6VcAYJJu8?format=jpg&name=small (direct image link)]</ref>

==Video game series produced by HAL==
Notable video game series produced by HAL include:
*'''''[[wikipedia:Eggerland|Eggerland]]''''' / '''''[[wikipedia:Adventures of Lolo|Adventures of Lolo]]'''''
**[[Lololo & Lalala]] originated from this series.
*[[Kirby (series)|'''''Kirby''''']]
*'''''[[Super Smash Bros. (series)|Super Smash Bros.]]'''''
**''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' ([[Nintendo 64]]) and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' were developed by HAL themselves.
**Later titles were developed by other studios.
*'''''[[nwiki:BoxBoy! series|BOXBOY!]]'''''
*'''''[[nwiki:Part Time UFO|Part Time UFO]]'''''
**Released under HAL's mobile game brand: HAL Egg. Later released on [[Nintendo Switch]] on October 28, 2020, under HAL Laboratory & Nintendo.

HAL was also involved in the creation and/or localization of ''[[wikibound:EarthBound|EarthBound]]'', ''[[wikipedia:Sim City 2000|Sim City 2000]]'', various ''[[bulbapedia:Pokémon|Pokémon]]'' spin-off titles, and others. They have also worked on hardware for Nintendo, including for the [[Nintendo Switch]].

For the full list of HAL's works, see [https://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/works/ this link].

==Notable staff of HAL Laboratory (past and present)==
[[File:KSA Composers.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Jun Ishikawa]], [[Hirokazu Ando]], and [[Yuuta Ogasawara]], the composers who worked on ''Kirby Star Allies'', alongside series director [[Shinya Kumazaki]].]]
[[File:HAL Laboratory 1986.jpg|thumb|300px|The HALNOTE development team in 1986: Satoru Iwata, Mr. Suzuki, Mr. Kaneda and Mr. Seki.]]
===Presidents===
The following people are past and present Presidents of HAL Laboratory.<ref name="halken_officialhistory" />
*Mitsuhiro Ikeda (February 1980–March 1984)
*Tsuyoshi Ikeda (March 1984–March 1993)
*[[Satoru Iwata]] (March 1993–June 1999)
*[[Masayoshi Tanimura]] (June 1999–June 2015)
*[[Satoshi Mitsuhara]] (June 2015–September 2018)
*[[Shigefumi Kawase]] (September 2018–present)

===Key Creators===
*[[Masahiro Sakurai]]
*[[Hiroaki Suga]]
*[[Shinichi Shimomura]]
*[[Shinya Kumazaki]]
*[[Tadashi Kamitake]]
*[[Tatsuya Kamiyama]]
*[[Yuki Endo]]
*[[Yumi Todo]]
*[[Riki Fuhrmann]]
*[[Kenichiro Kita]]
*[[Shigeru Hashiguchi]]
*[[Tetsuya Abe]]

===Composers===
[[File:HAL Laboratory Dream Band.png|thumb|right|300px|The HAL Laboratory Dream Band, consisting of most of the company's sound team. From left to right: Megumi Ohara on flute, Shogo Sakai on electric guitar, Tadashi Ikegami on saxophone, Yuuta Ogasawara on drums, Hirokazu Ando on electric bass, and Jun Ishikawa on keyboard.]]
:''See also: [[HAL Laboratory music equipment]]''
*[[Jun Ishikawa]]
*[[Hirokazu Ando]]
*[[Tadashi Ikegami]]
*[[Shogo Sakai]]
*[[Megumi Ohara]]
*[[Yuuta Ogasawara]]
*[[Yuki Shimooka]]
{{clear}}

==References to HAL in the ''Kirby'' series==
[[File:KRtDLD_HAL_Room_1_screenshot.png|thumb|right|200px|Many references to HAL Laboratory are seen throughout the ''Kirby'' series, with one of the most common being the [[HAL Room]], showing the company's name as spelled in [[Star Block]]s.]]
In many games of the ''Kirby'' series, HAL includes self-referential easter eggs, typical in the form of their name or the Dream Hatcher logo. The most famous of these are the hidden [[HAL Room]]s, which appear in numerous ''Kirby'' games. The Japanese pronunciation of HAL ('''ハル''') can be separated into 8 (は) and 6 (る). Some HAL Rooms can only be entered if the player waits in a certain area for '''86''' seconds. Furthermore, some games, such as ''[[Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe]]'' and ''[[Kirby Star Allies]]'', award a high score of '''86,555''' under special circumstances. In Japanese, 5 is pronounced as "go" (ご), making it "HAL go go go". [[Team Kirby Clash]] also awards '''39,860''' experience points upon reaching level ten: "39" is read as ''san-kyu'', or the English phrase "thank you", making it "thank you, HAL".

Besides this, several names of characters, places, and objects in the ''Kirby'' series may be references to HAL, such as the [[Halberd]], [[Halcandra]], [[Haldera Volcano]], [[President Haltmann]], and his [[Haltmann Works Company]]. The three levels in [[New Challenge Stages]] of ''[[Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition]]'' are named '''H'''appiness '''H'''all, '''A'''pricot '''A'''trium, and '''L'''ast '''L'''and, and in ''[[Kirby and the Forgotten Land]]'', three major companies seen throughout the stages are named '''H'''oline, '''A'''livel, and '''L'''ightron. Also in ''Kirby and the Forgotten Land'', [[Fecto Forgo]]'s ID number, ID-F86, is another reference to HAL. The race car used for [[Car Mouth]] in [[Circuit Speedway]] also has "86" on its side.

The Japanese version of ''[[Kirby Star Allies]]'' has many references to HAL through its fictional language. The fortress [[Jambastion]] is called '''ジャマハルダ''' (''Jamahalda''). The base [[Jambandra]] is called '''マジュハルガロア''' (''Majuhalgalor''), and the HAL letters can also be found on the surface of Jambandra. The [[Staff]] ability enemy, [[Jammerjab]], is called '''ジャハルビート''' (''Jahal Beat''). The [[Jambeliever|weaponless Jammerjab counterpart]] is called '''ジャハルビリーバ''' (''Jahal Believer'').

There are several references to HAL's other works within the ''Kirby'' series. For example, [[Lololo & Lalala]] come from the ''Eggerland'' series (where they are named Lolo and Lala), and [[Moto Shotzo]] is based on the main character of the game ''Trax''. The [[Kirby Quest]] mode in ''Kirby Mass Attack'' references ''Arcana'', which was Kirby's technical debut as a character; he cameos in the opening sequence. [[Qbby]] from the [[nwiki:BoxBoy! series|''BOXBOY!'' series]] has also made several cameo appearances in the ''Kirby'' series, and [[List of references to the Kirby series#BoxBoy! series|vice-versa]]. Symbols of HAL often appear in the [[Stone]] ability's transformations, such as the Dream Hatcher and HAL's Yamanashi headquarters.

==Trivia==
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*Since at least 2004<ref>''[[20th Anniversary Kirby Pupupu Encyclopedia]]'', page 233</ref> and until 2023, HAL Laboratory had a tradition of sending ''nengajō'' (New Year's Day greeting postcards) featuring a new Kirby illustration for each year (see examples for [[:File:HAL Twitter 2016 Nengajo.jpg|2016]], [[:File:HAL Twitter 2019 Nengajo.jpg|2019]], [[:File:HAL Twitter 2020 Nengajo.png|2020]], and further examples at right). These were principally sent to staff and other official personnel. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some fans that sent their own ''nengajō'' to HAL Laboratory's address without prior association received a postcard as well, although in this case the postcard would be a winter's greeting (寒中お見舞い, a response to a ''nengajō'' sent after New Year's Day has already passed).<ref name="finalnengajo"/>
**Since HAL Laboratory joined Twitter in May 2015, these illustrations have also been posted to Twitter, first with the 2016 ''nengajō'' but then regularly each year starting with the 2019 ''nengajō''. These versions of the illustrations include greeting phrases but do not include the physical addresses that would be relevant for physical cards.
**This message (only in Japanese) accompanied the 2023 physical postcards sent to correspondents, suggesting mailed greetings would be eliminated going forward:<ref name="finalnengajo">{{twitterlink|soranight927|1617841126463131648|from a 2023 correspondent|wbsnap=y}}</ref><ref name="finalnengajo_2">{{twitterlink|Treat4567|1617875495194087428|from a multi-year correspondent|wbsnap=y}}</ref>
<blockquote>なお誠に勝手ながら本年を最後としてみなさまへの年賀状や<br>寒中お見舞いを控えさせていただくこととなりました<br>
''Additionally, somewhat arbitrarily, we will pull back on sending ''nengajō'' or winter's greetings, with this year being the last year.''<br><br>
今後は当社SNSなどでご挨拶させていただければ幸いです<br>
''Please greet us on our social media feeds going forward.''</blockquote>
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==Gallery==
<gallery>
KRtDL Stone HAL.png|[[Stone]] Kirby's transformation in ''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land]]'' of the Dream Hatcher
KTD Stone16.png|Stone Kirby's transformation in ''[[Kirby: Triple Deluxe]]'' of the Dream Hatcher
KPR Camouflage screenshot HAL.png|[[Archer]] Kirby in ''Kirby: Triple Deluxe'' camouflaging behind a cardboard illustration of the Dream Hatcher
Keychain GoldenEgg.png|[[Keychain]] in ''Kirby: Triple Deluxe'' of Stone Kirby's transformation in ''[[Kirby Super Star Ultra]]'' of the Dream Hatcher
KPR Balloon Pop Art 6.png|[[Circus]] Kirby's Balloon Pop Art in ''[[Kirby: Planet Robobot]]'' (which also appears in ''Kirby: Triple Deluxe'') of the Dream Hatcher
KPR Stone17.png|Stone Kirby's transformation in ''Kirby: Planet Robobot'' of the Dream Hatcher
KPR Dream Hatcher Sticker.png|Sticker in ''Kirby: Planet Robobot'' of the Dream Hatcher
KSA Stone Dream Hatcher.jpg|Stone Kirby's transformation in ''[[Kirby Star Allies]]'' of the Dream Hatcher
KRtDLD Stone HAL.png|Stone Kirby's transformation in ''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]]'' of the Dream Hatcher
</gallery>
==="Dir. Kumazaki, from HAL Laboratory Where You Can See Mount Fuji"===
Shinya Kumazaki drew these illustrations for a limited series of columns contributed to Nintendo DREAM magazine in 2021. These were then shared on HAL Laboratory's Twitter account in contemporaneous posts.

<gallery widths="200">
Kumazaki NinDream column 3 artwork.jpg|The spring logo preceding the Dream Hatcher, with other characters on the periphery: the Dream Hatcher, a [[Bouncy]], and a dragon king referring to the Yamanashi building's location in Ryuoshinmachi, Kai, Yamanashi
Kumazaki NinDream column 5 artwork.jpg|A collection of characters from HAL Laboratory's (and Kumazaki's own) history
Kumazaki NinDream column final artwork.jpg|The Dream Hatcher atop the Yamanashi building with cherry blossoms in full bloom, surrounded by numerous pieces of the company's past and present (full list in image description)
</gallery>

==External links==
*[https://www.hallab.co.jp/ Official website]
*[https://twitter.com/HAL_Laboratory Official Twitter]
*[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLvP0KyUXFTQyv3H87j2Wlg Official YouTube channel] (with footage of many video games developed by HAL in the past)
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