Nintendo has announced that Genyo Takeda will retire at the end of June after over 40 years of honorable service. Takeda has started working for Nintendo of Japan in the early 70s and in 2015 became Representative Director and technical manager of the company.
Genyo Takeda has participated in some of Nintendo’s most celebrated games, consoles and technology. In the month of June 2017 he will retire from the company to the 68 years of age.
Hired in 1971 by Gunpei Yokoi -creator of Game Boy-, Takeda has worked mainly on the hardware front but contributed significantly as a director and producer to develop games like Punch-Out !!, Pilotwings 64 and Dr. Mario 64.
However, his most relevant role is found in the aspects of technology. Takeda and his team developed the battery of the memory in the NES cartridges, which was first used in The Legend of Zelda, the analog controller for the Nintendo 64 and led the development of Wii. Takeda’s team was renamed as Integrated Research & Development in 2003.
With the death of Satoru Iwata in 2015, he and Shigeru Miyamoto were appointed representative directors of Nintendo, and even rumors arose about the possibility of becoming the president of the company – finally it was Tatsumi Kimishima.
Ko Shiota will replace Genyo, the official announcement will come on June 29th during the next meeting with the company’s shareholders.
