Veteran Nintendo designer, Takashi Tezuka, who has directed some of the company’s most influential games stretching back to the original Super Mario Bros., is retiring from the company.
In a note published alongside its latest financial results, Nintendo confirmed that Tezuka will retire from his role as an executive officer on June 26, 2026.
Tezuka is one of the most experienced game designers at Nintendo, having directed classic games such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Yoshi’s Island. Most recently, Tezuka was the producer of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
At 65, Tezuka is at Nintendo’s typical retirement age, though his longtime collaborator, Shigeru Miyamoto (73), remains active at the company as executive fellow.
Nintendo has seen a number of prominent creators leave the company in the past few years, though some have retired rather than find work elsewhere.
In January, it was revealed that both Hideki Konno (known for Mario Kart and Yoshi’s Island) and Kensuke Tanabe (who worked on Super Mario Bros 2 and 3, and the Metroid Prime series) had both retired from Nintendo.
At 60 and 62 respectively, Konno and Tanabe were just two of many prominent Nintendo creators from the Famicom and Super Famicom era at, or approaching, retirement age, including Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto (73), Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto (65), composer Koji Kondo (64), Zelda boss Eiji Aonuma (63), and Super Mario Kart designer Tadashi Sugiyama (66).
