Takashi Tezuka (手塚 卓志, Tezuka Takashi, born November 17, 1960) 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.^[1][2]

Upon graduating from the Design Department of Osaka University of Arts, he joined Nintendo in April 1984^[3] and became a co-designer of some of the most critically acclaimed Nintendo series, including Mario and The Legend of Zelda.^[1][4] 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.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.