is a Japanese

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

er, director, and producer. He is a senior officer of

Nintendo EPD commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EPD, is the largest division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. The division focuses on developing and producing video games, mobile apps, and other related entertainment software for the company. E ...

and executive at Nintendo.

Career

Upon graduating the Design Department of

Osaka University of Arts is a private arts university located in Kanan, Minamikawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The university was founded in 1945 as , changing its name to in 1957, and then to in 1964. The university adopted the current name in 1966. Notab ...

, he joined Nintendo in April 1984 and became a co-designer of some of the most critically acclaimed Nintendo series, including ''

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

'' and ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

''. Tezuka is fond of fantasy novels such as

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'', and wrote the story and script for ''

'' and '' Zelda II: The Adventure of Link''. Tezuka co-designed

Yoshi Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in ''Super Mario World'' (1990) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Yoshi is the title character of the ''Yoshi' ...

, who debuted in ''

Super Mario World ''Super Mario World,'' known in Japan as is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 19 ...

'' after Shigeru Miyamoto had originally wanted Mario to ride a dinosaur since '' Super Mario Bros. 3''.

Games

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tezuka, Takashi 1960 births Japanese video game designers Japanese video game directors Japanese video game producers Living people Mythopoeic writers Nintendo people Osaka University of Arts alumni People from Osaka