Legendary Nintendo Designer Takashi Tezuka Set to Retire

Takashi Tezuka, 1 of Nintendo's astir high-profile and longest-serving developers, volition discontinue from the institution aboriginal this year.

Over a vocation spanning much than 4 decades, Tezuka has served arsenic a designer, manager oregon shaper connected immoderate of Nintendo's best-known games, including cardinal titles successful the Mario and Zelda series. As portion of Nintendo's latest capitalist briefing, the institution noted helium was acceptable for status connected June 26.

Tezuka initially joined Nintendo arsenic a part-time worker successful 1984, aged 23, erstwhile helium worked connected Punch-Out!! portion inactive astatine university. He rapidly roseate done Nintendo's ranks, often collaborating with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.

Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Image credit: Nintendo.

Within a year, Tezuka was serving arsenic adjunct manager and decorator connected the archetypal 1985 Super Mario Bros. A twelvemonth later, Tezuka directed the archetypal The Legend of Zelda game, earlier helming Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World — the second of which saw him assistance make the quality of Yoshi.

The database of games Tezuka has worked connected subsequently is exhaustive, from Super Mario 64 to galore titles successful the Pikmin and Animal Crossing franchises. More recently, Tezuka has stewarded immoderate of Nintendo's biggest games arsenic a shaper oregon accumulation supervisor, including Super Mario Maker, Super Mario 3D World, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Tezuka's upcoming retirement, aged 65, volition travel the caller departures of respective different semipermanent unit members who person been employed since Nintendo's earliest days successful crippled development. These see Mario Kart seasoned Hideki Konno, and Metroid Prime brag Kensuke Tanabe, who near the institution pursuing the motorboat of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Nintendo's improvement talisman Miyamoto, present 73, is thing of an objection to the company's emblematic status property — though adjacent helium has taken a acold little hand-on attack implicit caller years, with a originative relation present focused connected Nintendo's propulsion into movies and taxable parks.

As portion of the aforesaid fiscal results briefing, Nintendo has confirmed a terms emergence for Switch 2 — find retired what that means close here.

Image credit: Nintendo.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social