Takashi Tezuka

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Takashi Tezuka

Born	November 17, 1960 (1960-11-17) (age 47)
Occupation	General Manager, Entertainment Analysis and Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd..

Takashi Tezuka (手塚卓志, Tezuka Takashi^?) (born November 17, 1960) is a video game designer for Nintendo. He has worked on some of the most critically acclaimed Nintendo games, such as the Mario, Zelda, Pikmin and Animal Crossing games. Since 2005, as part of the internal restructuring of Nintendo^[1], he is General Manager of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development - together with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takao Sawano.

His work extends far back to Devil World on which he took on the role of Director. Later on, he directed or co-directed such games as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, The Legend of Zelda (also Graphic Designer), Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Yoshi's Island, and Super Mario 64. He was also Supervisor to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and has served as either Producer, Director, Designer or Supervisor in all major Mario titles, including New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Galaxy as well as outsourced projects like Yoshi's Island DS (developed by Artoon). He also worked on the Animal Crossing series as Producer and in the Pikmin series as Producer and Progress Manager. He was also Advisor of the Japan-only Game Boy Advance title, Sakura Momoko no Ukiuki Carnival.

Tezuka's wife was the inspiration for the Boo, a ghost-like enemy in the Mario series. Like Boos, she is often shy but one day became very angry at him for spending too much time at work.^[2] ^[3]