Current Technology Fellow Genyo Takeda has announced his retirement from Nintendo, to go into effect this June. Takeda has had a hand in plenty parts of Nintendo’s history, such as being the main man behind the original Punch-Out!! games as well as Star Tropics. While these are both fantastic in their own right, Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata both referred to Takeda as the first game designer at Nintendo due to his involvement with the company back in 1976. He’s also credited with some developments we may take for granted these days, such as the N64’s analog stick and battery-based saving back on the NES.
Takeda’s more recent involvement with Nintendo has been on the technological side, as his title would indicate. He was one of the key designers behind the Wii, likening the games industry to the automotive industry. It was his view that it wasn’t all about peak performance and specs, and that things like affordability, fuel efficiency, and family-friendly values had just as much a place in the market. This stance paid off well for Nintendo, as the Wii’s sales numbers speak for themselves. For these reasons and many more he, along with Miyamoto, was appointed one of the two acting directors of Nintendo after Iwata’s untimely passing.
For everything you did for Nintendo, for games, and for all of us fans we thank you Takeda-san. We hope you enjoy your retirement, and continue to enjoy games along with us!
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Written by Ricky Berg
When he isn’t writing for Nintendo Wire, Ricky’s anticipating the next Kirby, Fire Emblem, or if the stars ever align, Mother 3 to be released. Till then he’ll have the warm comfort of Super Smash Bros. to keep him going.
