Takashi Tezuka

Takashi Tezuka
手塚 卓志
Tezuka in 2024
Born	(1960-11-17) November 17, 1960 (age 64) Osaka, Japan
Alma mater	Osaka University of Arts
Occupations	Game designer director producer
Years active	1984–present
Employer	Nintendo
Notable work	Super Mario The Legend of Zelda Yoshi Pikmin
Title	Executive Officer

Takashi Tezuka (手塚 卓志, Tezuka Takashi, born November 17, 1960; also known as "TENTEN" (てんてん) ^[1] ) is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. He is a senior officer in Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development division and is an Executive Officer at Nintendo itself. ^{[2] [3]} Tezuka was the right-hand man to Shigeru Miyamoto and co-director of the early Mario and Zelda games. ^[4]

Career

Upon graduating from the Design Department of Osaka University of Arts, he joined Nintendo in April 1984 ^[5] and became a co-designer of some of the most critically acclaimed Nintendo series, including Mario and The Legend of Zelda. ^{[2] [6]} Tezuka is fond of fantasy novels such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings , and wrote the story and script for The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link . ^[7] Tezuka co-designed Yoshi, who debuted in Super Mario World after Shigeru Miyamoto had originally wanted Mario to ride a dinosaur since Super Mario Bros. 3 . ^[8]

I have never consciously separated casual users and hardcore gamers when I design a game. For the past 20 years, I have always been trying to make games so that anyone—as many people as possible—can enjoy them... I cannot help but say that I love my job of making games from the bottom of my heart.

Works

Year	Title	Role
1984	Devil World	Game designer
1985	Super Mario Bros.	Assistant director, game designer
1986	Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels	Director, game designer
	The Legend of Zelda	Director, game designer, writer
1987	Zelda II: The Adventure of Link	Writer
1988	Super Mario Bros. 3	Director, game designer
1990	Super Mario World	Director
1991	The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
1993	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
	Super Mario All-Stars
1995	Yoshi's Island
1996	Super Mario 64	Assistant director
1997	BS The Legend of Zelda: Inishie no Sekiban	Supervisor
	Star Fox 64
	Yoshi's Story	Producer
1998	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	Supervisor
1999	Mario Golf
2000	The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
	Mario Tennis
	Paper Mario
2001	The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
	Luigi's Mansion	Producer
	Pikmin	Progress manager
	Animal Crossing	Producer
2002	Super Mario Sunshine
	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
2003	Mario Kart: Double Dash
2004	The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap	Supervisor
	The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
	Pikmin 2	Producer
	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door	Supervisor
2005	Yoshi Touch & Go	Producer
	Big Brain Academy	General producer
	Animal Crossing: Wild World
2006	New Super Mario Bros.
	Yoshi's Island DS	Senior producer
	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess	Supervisor
2007
	Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree	General producer
	Mario Party 8	Supervisor
	The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
	Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
	Mario Party DS
	Link's Crossbow Training	Producer
2008	Wii Music
	Animal Crossing: City Folk	General producer
2009	Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story	Senior producer
	New Super Mario Bros. Wii	Producer
	The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks	Supervisor
2010	Super Mario Galaxy 2	Producer
2011	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D	Senior producer
	The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition
	Super Mario 3D Land	General producer
	The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword	Supervisor
	Fortune Street
2012	New Super Mario Bros. 2	Producer
	New Super Mario Bros. U
	Animal Crossing: New Leaf	General producer
2013	Mario & Luigi: Dream Team	Supervisor
	Super Mario 3D World	General producer
	The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds	Supervisor
2014	Yoshi's New Island	Producer
2015	Yoshi's Woolly World
	Super Mario Maker
	The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes	Supervisor
	Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
2016	Tank Troopers
	Paper Mario: Color Splash
	Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS	Producer
	Super Mario Run
2017	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	Supervisor
	Arms	Production manager
	Hey! Pikmin	Producer
	Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions	Supervisor
2018	Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
2019	New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe	Producer
	Yoshi's Crafted World
	Super Mario Maker 2
2020	Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
	Pikmin 3 Deluxe
2023	The Super Mario Bros. Movie	Creative executive
	Pikmin 4	Producer
	Super Mario Bros. Wonder
	Super Mario RPG	Supervisor
2024	Princess Peach: Showtime!	Senior supervisor
	Mario & Luigi: Brothership

References

1. GlitterBerri (May 4, 2011). "Staff List Interview". GlitterBerri's Game Translations. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
2. "E3 2006 Online Press Kit – Biographical Information: Takashi Tezuka" (PDF). Nintendo of America, Inc. May 5, 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 24, 2013.
3. 「ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島」開発スタッフ名鑑. Nintendo Official Guide Book – The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (in Japanese). Shogakukan Inc. July 1993. p. 121. ISBN   4-09-102448-3.
4. Courcier, Nicolas; Kanafi, Mehdi El (February 19, 2019). Zelda: The history of a legendary saga. Third Editions. ISBN   978-2-37784-003-8.
5. "10 Game Designers Who Have Been In The Industry For More Than Three Decades". TheGamer. August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
6. "In Conversation: Takashi Tezuka". Businessweek . Bloomberg L.P. June 29, 2007. Archived from the original on February 27, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
7. "Classic: Zelda und Link". Club Nintendo (in German). Nintendo of Europe. April 1996. p. 72.
8. "Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island".