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Takashi Tezuka is a video game designer working for Nintendo and an Executive officer of Nintendo EPD. He was the general manager of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development along with Shigeru Miyamoto, and has worked on the Mario and Zelda series since the originals were made on the NES. He is credited for some of the biggest video games, and has directed quite a few as well. Currently he mainly supervises projects, as does Miyamoto.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that he was glad when Takashi Tezuka took control of Nintendo EAD because it was the first time someone younger than him took control of a department within Nintendo.
History
Takashi Tezuka is one of Nintendo's most prominent video game designers alongside Shigeru Miyamoto. He was introduced to the company by a friend who also applied. Tezuka was hired but his friend unfortunately never made the cut. According to Tezuka, he went into the business hardly knowing anything about it. He apparently never even heard of Pac-Man prior to being hired (though would wind up being one of the people involved in Devil World, a maze game very similar to Pac-Man). He has worked on the company's biggest titles, from Super Mario Bros. to Animal Crossing, and has directed quite a few titles too such as Super Mario World and its sequel Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Tezuka graduated from Osaka University of Arts and got straight to work on games like Devil World, Super Mario Bros., the NES' most successful game, and following that The Legend of Zelda, in which he served as a director alongside Shigeru Miyamoto. The qualities of Boo from Super Mario Bros. 3 were influenced by Takashi Tezuka's wife according to an interview with Nintendo Power.
Following the NES era Takashi Tezuka went on to lead the direction of the SNES's primary launch title Super Mario World. He can be attributed to the creation of such things as Yoshi and other features that were introduced in the game. After Super Mario World he tackled another daunting task as the director of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which like Super Mario World is often considered one of the best of its series. Following that game he went on to create the next entry in the Zelda series, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, which he also served as director. He next helped with Tetris Attack for the SNES, which he is credited as the design adviser. His next game was one of his favorites: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, because while he did direct the title, it was also the first game that he produced. Because of this, he stated in Nintendo Power that Yoshi is his favorite character.
Tezuka has worked on every Zelda game.
Right after Yoshi's Island was finished Miyamoto's team had to start work on the Nintendo 64's launch game Super Mario 64. Takashi Tezuka's role was the assistant director, which he shared with Yoshiaki Koizumi (who went on to direct Super Mario Sunshine, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, and Super Mario Galaxy). He went on to play major roles in various other titles for the Nintendo 64 including Yoshi's Story, Star Fox 64, Super Smash Bros., Paper Mario, the two Nintendo 64 Zelda titles, and others.
Takashi Tezuka later became the general manager of all five of the Nintendo EAD studios along with Shigeru Miyamoto, limiting his role as a designer. He still plays a major role in the development of games, but he no longer directs them. His recent works include all of the Zelda titles, the Pikmin games, New Super Mario Bros. (as general producer), and others. To date, Takashi Tezuka has worked on every single The Legend of Zelda game, even the Wii Zapper enabled title Link's Crossbow Training, which he served as producer. He's worked on both Pikmin titles and is closely linked to the Animal Crossing and Yoshi series.
List of major games
Image of Takashi Tezuka during the Nintendo 64 era.
- Super Mario Bros. - Assistant director
- The Legend of Zelda - Director, designer
- Super Mario World - Lead director
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Director
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Director
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Director, producer
- Super Mario 64 - Assistant director
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Supervisor
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Supervisor
- Luigi's Mansion - Producer
- Animal Crossing - Producer
- Super Mario Sunshine - Producer
- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - Producer
- Pikmin 2 - Producer
- Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - General producer
- New Super Mario Bros. - General producer
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Supervisor
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Supervisor
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Producer
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - Supervisor
- Super Mario 3D Land - General Producer
- Yoshi's New Island - Producer
- Yoshi's Woolly World - Producer
- Super Mario Maker - Producer