For many old Nintendo players, even if some names are not often mentioned, as long as they have carefully read the game credits, it is probably impossible not to have seen “Tezuka Takashi”.
Nintendo recently officially announced that Tezuka Takashi, a senior producer who has been involved in the development of the “Super Mario” and “The Legend of Zelda” series for many years, will officially retire on June 26, 2026 and step down from his position as an executive officer of the company’s board of directors.
This also means that this core figure who has been with Nintendo for more than 40 years is about to officially leave the front line.
Starting with Punch-Out!!, and participating in the golden age of Nintendo
Tezuka Takashi’s earliest job at Nintendo was in charge of sprite image production for the arcade version of “Punch-Out!!”. After graduating from college, he officially joined Nintendo and soon began to work with Shigeru Miyamoto to develop some of Nintendo’s most important masterpieces.
Including the first generation of “Super Mario” and “The Legend of Zelda”, the two people participated in the design and development.
To a certain extent, the Nintendo game language that many players are familiar with was actually established by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka.
Later, he gradually became the core character of Mario and Zelda.
As Shigeru Miyamoto’s position within the company gradually increased, Takashi Tezuka also began to take over more series leadership tasks, including classic works such as the “Super Mario” series and “The Legend of Zelda: Aspect of the Gods.”
For many years after that, he continued to participate in the development and supervision of Nintendo’s core series.
For the past eight years, Takashi Tezuka has served as an executive officer of Nintendo’s board of directors, while still continuing to participate in production work, including recent works such as “Super Mario Bros. Surprise” and “Pikmin 4”.
Nintendo veterans have been retiring in recent years
This retirement also makes Tezuka Takashi another core veteran who has left Nintendo in recent years.
Earlier this year, Hideki Konno, who has been responsible for the “Mario Kart” series for many years, also confirmed that he will leave Nintendo in 2025.
Both of them have worked at Nintendo for more than 40 years. To a certain extent, they also represent that the core developers who established the golden era of FC, SFC, and N64 are gradually withdrawing from the game.
For many old players, every time they see this kind of news now, it is actually like watching the pages of Nintendo history slowly turn.
Nintendo’s board of directors will also adjust simultaneously
In addition to Takashi Tezuka, Nintendo also announced that three other board members, including Takuya Yoshimura, Katsuhiro Umeyama, and Keiko Akashi, will step down on the same day.
In the future, Toyo Takenaga and Chika Saka are expected to join the board of directors, but shareholder approval is still required.
In addition, Takashi Tezuka will also step down as a senior executive of the Entertainment Planning and Development Headquarters, officially ending his more than 40-year development career at Nintendo.
Nintendo is entering a period of transformation internally
In recent years, Nintendo is actually in a very obvious stage of generational change.
In addition to the retirement of core veterans, news such as the price adjustment of the Switch 2 console, the price increase of Switch Online, and the company’s internal organizational restructuring also show that Nintendo is entering a new stage.