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