Takashi Tezuka Was The Heart Of Nintendo And Deserves To Be Mentioned Alongside The Industry Greats

When you think of Nintendo, you likely think of Shigeru Miyamoto. And rightfully so. Miyamoto is widely credited for the creation of such properties as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and other beloved franchises. In fact, if you asked even the most clued-in gamers to name a Nintendo developer, names like Eiji Aonuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Masahiro Sakurai, and the late Gunpei Yokoi likely come to mind for many before Takashi Tezuka. While they are all deserved legends in their own rights, Takashi Tezuka has been perhaps as, if not more, consequential to the history of Nintendo (and, as a result, the greater gaming landscape) as any one of them.

Establishing Excellence

Joining Nintendo in 1984, Tezuka hit the ground running, debuting as a designer on the game Devil World. Devil World didn’t come to North America until it finally arrived on Nintendo Switch Online in 2023, but it’s notable for being the first console-exclusive title of Miyamoto, who had primarily made a name for himself in the arcade space. But I would argue its legacy is more important for introducing us to the greatest trio in gaming history. Joining an assistant director and designer, Tezuka kicked his career off by collaborating directly with Miyamoto and composer Koji Kondo on some of their earliest works. 

From there, the trio continued working together, with Tezuka helping Miyamoto create Super Mario Bros., one of the most foundational pieces of 20th-century media. The notion of Super Mario Bros. as an expansion of the concepts laid out in the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros., which Miyamoto directed just prior to Tezuka joining Nintendo, was largely Tezuka’s brainchild. After presenting his idea of a larger hero running around in a colorful environment, Tezuka began brainstorming with Miyamoto and the rest of the team. The result was Super Mario Bros., which effectively altered the course of entertainment history.

However, in 1985, it was much more difficult for developers to receive feedback, and Tezuka had no idea the team had created anything important. “Not long after its release, I did have a bit of an impression that people were enjoying Super Mario Bros.,” Tezuka told me during a 2015 interview. “There wasn’t any place like the internet for people to exchange information, but I could hear feedback from my friends. I didn’t think we did anything groundbreaking, but I definitely felt happy to hear that feedback.”

During that time, Tezuka also began working with Miyamoto and Kondo on another ambitious title: The Legend of Zelda. This time, Tezuka stepped into the director role for the first time in his career, joining his longtime collaborator in the role. And as we all know, The Legend of Zelda came to be nearly as iconic and influential as Super Mario Bros.

While these games were hardly developed solely by these three now-legends, it’s fair to say that their consistent collaboration and, even beyond the trio’s work together, Tezuka’s consistent involvement with some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises has led to unrivaled results. And Tezuka would go on to direct what are considered today some of the greatest video games ever made, including Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, and serve as assistant director of Super Mario 64. 

Following that run, which arguably hasn’t been matched to this day, he transitioned to primarily a producer and supervisory role, but continued to have a hand in many of Nintendo’s biggest titles, with a specific focus on the Yoshi and Mario series. To call Tezuka a titan of the games industry would be a vast understatement, as a career spanning 42 years at a single company yielded one of the most legendary resumés we will ever see.

An Enduring Legacy

Earlier today, Takashi Tezuka announced his retirement from Nintendo. The 65-year-old designer, director, producer, supervisor, and creative executive worked at Nintendo for more than four decades, having a direct hand in some of the greatest video games ever created. Here is just a sampling of some of the games Tezuka worked on during his 42 years at Nintendo:

• Super Mario Bros.
• The Legend of Zelda
• Super Mario Bros. 2
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Super Mario World
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
• Super Mario All-Stars
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
• Super Mario 64
• Star Fox 64
• Yoshi’s Story
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Mario Tennis
• Paper Mario
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
• Luigi’s Mansion
• Pikmin
• Animal Crossing
• Super Mario Sunshine
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• Mario Kart: Double Dash
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
• Pikmin 2
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
• New Super Mario Bros.
• Yoshi’s Island DS
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
• Super Mario 3D Land
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• New Super Mario Bros. 2
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Super Mario 3D World
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
• Yoshi’s Woolly World
• Super Mario Maker
• Super Mario Run
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Arms
• Yoshi’s Crafted World
• Super Mario Maker 2
• Pikmin 4
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder
• Super Mario RPG (Remake)
• Princess Peach Showtime
• Mario & Luigi: Brothership
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Meetup in Bellabel Park

But beyond that, Takashi Tezuka has always come across as a delightful human being. I’ve interviewed him four times since 2015, and in each interaction, he was not only extremely pleasant but also very humble, playful, and appreciative of any time spent speaking with him. When people ask me what Shigeru Miyamoto is like in-person, I always tell them, “He’s the exact kind of person who you hope would have created Mario.” The same could be said of Takashi Tezuka. He never stepped into the spotlight as much as Miyamoto, Koizumi, or Aonuma, but he didn’t have to. Tezuka was content creating influential title after influential title from behind the scenes, only stepping into public-facing roles when it was asked of him. But behind the scenes, he was mentoring subsequent waves of developers, including during one of his final major releases, Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Director Shiro Mouri with Takashi Tezuka in 2023

“When looking at creating a new Mario title, we actually went ahead and brought in a lot of younger people into our staff,” Tezuka told me in a 2023 interview. “There are people who hadn’t made a Super Mario game before; they’re our target audience. They’re, of course, developers, but they’re also people who enjoy playing games, and so they wanted to create something that they themselves would enjoy as gamers. […] We never, ever, ever ignore the feedback that we get from our new staff members. And when I present an idea myself, they really are quite honest in saying, ‘Yeah, I don’t like that,’ or ‘I do like that.’ I think that’s a really beneficial environment that we have.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a major creator leave a company after what seems like an impossibly long tenure, but this one hit me harder than I expected. Tezuka’s departure is a stark reminder that these legendary developers won’t be doing this forever, even though it feels like they already have been. We can’t stop the flow of time or the progression of people’s lives, but we can cherish them while we have them, and we can continue to honor their legacies long after they stop creating by enjoying the works we were lucky enough to receive from them.

And for Takashi Tezuka, his impact will continue far beyond the length of his career. As long as video games exist, the legacy of Takashi Tezuka will as well.