Topic: Takashi Tezuka To Retire From Nintendo Board In June

[Shaymin]

Seems as though one of the original Super Mario Bros power trio is hanging up the keyboard.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/75488/takashi-tezuka-to-retire-from-nintendo-board-in-june

One of the longest-tenured developers at Nintendo is about to enjoy a well-earned retirement.

A notice of "Personnel Change of Company Officers" (PDF link) issued today by Nintendo lists Takashi Tezuka as retiring from the position of Executive Officer at Nintendo on June 26, 2026. As Tezuka was largely retired from day-to-day operations at Nintendo, this signals his final retirement from the company.

The now 65-year old Tezuka has worked in various roles at Nintendo for more than four decades, with his first known credits being the arcade version of Punch-Out (1984) as a sprite artist. His breakout role at Nintendo came the following year as an assistant director on Super Mario Bros., working under Shigeru Miyamoto and alongside composer Koji Kondo, and he would work in programming roles throughout the era of the Famicom and Super Famicom before transitioning to management following the 1996 launch of Super Mario 64.

[umkart]

Wow - this shouldn’t be surprising. Creators from our childhood (I’m 46) are retiring and moving on. But still shocking.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

This one really hurts. Mr. Tezuka is a legend, and easily most directly responsible for more of my favorite Nintendo games / game moments than anyone else. Shigeru Miyamoto might be more of the visionary—but Mr. Tezuka did a lot of the design legwork. His retirement is well deserved; he will be missed.

[carefulcontest]

Wow, end of an era. It’s hard to overstate just how much influence Tezuka had on our childhoods—working right alongside Miyamoto and Kondo on the original Super Mario Bros. basically makes him gaming royalty. Over four decades at one company is insane, but honestly, at 65, he’s more than earned a peaceful retirement. It's crazy to think about how different Nintendo, and gaming as a whole, would look today without his creative footprint. I hope he enjoys his well-deserved time off!