The designer responsible for some of Nintendo’s most influential games, including Yoshi’s Island and Zelda: A Link To The Past, is set to retire this year.
Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma might be the most famous faces working at Nintendo today, but one of the other most instrumental figures is Takashi Tezuka.
Along with Miyamoto, Tezuka co-designed 1985’s Super Mario Bros. and the original The Legend Of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The pair have formed a historic creative partnership ever since, which led the latter to direct classic games including Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Zelda: A Link To The Past.
After starting out at the company in 1984, Tezuka, 65, is now set to retire next month, after 42 years.
As confirmed in Nintendo’s latest financial report, Tezuka will retire from his role at the company on June 26, 2026.
His longtime collaborator, Miyamoto, 73, is still at Nintendo as an ‘executive fellow’ but he appears to be an outlier among the old guard. A number of veteran employees at Nintendo have left, or retired, over recent years, including Super Mario Kart director Hideki Konno and Metroid Prime producer Kensuke Tanabe.
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While Tezuka hasn’t been involved in designing games for some time, he’s served as a producer and supervisor on many key titles, including The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
His legacy, however, will be his historic work in the early days of Nintendo. Beyond the aforementioned titles, he also directed The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and Yoshi’s Island, which are still beloved today.
Aside from video games, Tezuka also helped work on The Super Mario Bros. Movie and its sequel The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is the highest-grossing movie of 2026 so far.
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It’s always bittersweet to see a talented designer like Takashi Tezuka retire. His contributions to the Mario and Zelda franchises have left a lasting impact on the gaming world. Wishing him all the best in this new chapter!
the Mario and Zelda franchises have truly shaped the gaming landscape. It’s interesting to think about how his creative vision helped evolve gameplay mechanics that many modern titles still follow today. His legacy will undoubtedly inspire future designers for years to come!