HAL Laboratory is a Japanese game developer partnered with Nintendo. It was founded by a small group of friends who shared the desire to create games, and among said group was Satoru Iwata. The group developed games for numerous platforms at first before developing exclusively for Nintendo. The name HAL originates from the fictional computer HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as each letter being one letter before IBM. HAL Laboratory is most notable for developing the Kirby series created by ex-employee Masahiro Sakurai, they are also responsible for the Super Smash Bros. and the EarthBound series.