Nintendo legend Takashi Tezuka is retiring from his executive position at Nintendo after more than 40 years with the company, where he helped shape some of the Japanese giant’s most beloved games.
Tezuka’s departure was announced in an official document outlining upcoming personnel changes at Nintendo as part of the company’s quarterly earnings release. Now the company’s general manager, Tezuka joined Nintendo in 1984, when he was first hired part-time to help develop Punch!!. Tezuka wasn’t a huge video game enthusiast at the time, to the extent that he apparently hadn’t even met Pac-Man when he started at the Kyoto company.
But it didn’t take long for the Osaka-born designer to get to grips with a controller, as he soon assisted Shigeru Miyamoto in the development of Super Mario Bros. for the NES, in what would become a lasting creative partnership. He later helped Miyamoto design the original The Legend of Zeldafor which he directed and wrote.
Tezuka’s early career also saw him direct Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past And Yoshi’s Island. He was also an assistant director on Super Mario 64 and oversaw the development of Zelda’s first 3D entries on the N64.
Tezuka has worked on countless Nintendo games during his four decades with the company and joined the board in 2018. His most recent credits include Super Mario Marvel and its 2026 DLC Meetup at Bellabel Park, Princess Peach: Showtime! And Mario and Luigi: Brotherhood.
It’s unclear whether Tezuka will play any role at Nintendo in the future, but he’s just one of many company veterans it’s presumably preparing for a future without. At 65 years old, Tezuka is actually eight years younger than Miyamoto, who is still very involved with Nintendo and its growing number of extracurricular activities. But Mario’s creator will obviously eventually depart, while composer Koji Kondo and Eiji Aonuma, who directs the Zelda series, are also approaching 60, usually the approximate retirement age for Nintendo executives.