Takashi Tezuka, one of Nintendo’s most high-profile and longest-serving developers, will retire from the company later this year.
Over a career spanning more than four decades, Tezuka has served as a designer, director or producer on some of Nintendo’s best-known games, including key titles in the Mario and Zelda series. As part of Nintendo’s latest investor briefing, the company noted he was set for retirement on June 26.
Tezuka initially joined Nintendo as a part-time employee in 1984, aged 23, when he worked on Punch-Out!! while still at university. He quickly rose through Nintendo’s ranks, frequently collaborating with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.
Within a year, Tezuka was serving as assistant director and designer on the original 1985 Super Mario Bros. A year later, Tezuka directed the first The Legend of Zelda game, before helming Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World — the latter of which saw him help create the character of Yoshi.
The list of games Tezuka has worked on subsequently is exhaustive, from Super Mario 64 to numerous titles in the Pikmin and Animal Crossing franchises. More recently, Tezuka has stewarded some of Nintendo’s biggest games as a producer or production supervisor, including Super Mario Maker, Super Mario 3D World, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Tezuka’s upcoming retirement, aged 65, will follow the recent departures of several other long-term staff members who have been employed since Nintendo’s earliest days in game development. These include Mario Kart veteran Hideki Konno, and Metroid Prime boss Kensuke Tanabe, who left the company following the launch of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Nintendo’s development talisman Miyamoto, now 73, is something of an exception to the company’s typical retirement age — though even he has taken a far less hand-on approach over recent years, with a creative role now focused on Nintendo’s push into movies and theme parks.
As part of the same financial results briefing, Nintendo has confirmed a price rise for Switch 2 — find out what that means right here.
Image credit: Nintendo.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
