This summer, Takashi Tezuka will leave Nintendo — he has worked at the company for 42 years

This summer Takashi Tezuka will leave Nintendo — he worked at the company for 42 years

A familiar figure at Nintendo, Takashi Tezuka, is stepping away. The company noted the change in a report released with its financials; he’ll give up his post as exec. officer on June 26. After 42 yrs. with the firm, it feels less like news and more like a closing chapter.

Tezuka leaves behind a trail of well-known games. He directed The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past — and most recently produced Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Those credits read like an old playlist; familiar, sometimes surprising, occasionally stubbornly original.

He’s 65 — the standard ret. age at Nintendo. Meanwhile, his long-time collaborator Shigeru Miyamoto, now 73, still hangs on as an executive advisor. Strange how careers diverge.

Lately Nintendo has been losing a number of veterans from the NES/SNES era. Earlier this year Hideki Konno (known for Super Mario Kart and Yoshi’s Island) and Kensuke Tanabe (worked on Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and the Metroid Prime series) also departed. It’s a slow weathering — people leave, memories stick.

Not everything from that era has vanished. Alongside Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, who heads the The Legend of Zelda series, composer Koji Kondo, and Yoshio Sakamoto, director of Super Metroid, remain at the company. For now, the old guard still keeps some rooms lit.