Nintendo veteran Hideki Konno, known for Mario Kart and Yoshi’s Island, has seemingly left after 39 years
News of Konno’s departure has emerged just one week after that of another Nintendo veteran, Kensuke Tanabe
Nintendo veteran Hideki Konno seemingly quietly left the company last year, it has emerged.
As spotted by users EAD Ninja and LeoSukaze on the Famiboards forum, and verified by VGC, Konno’s Facebook page noted that he left Nintendo back in July, with no announcement or statement from either Konno or the company.
Konno, aged 60, was a veteran designer and producer at Nintendo who joined the company in 1986, where he was assistant director on both Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario Bros 2 and Super Mario Bros 3, where he also worked on level design.
After working as the map director and a level designer on Super Mario World, Konno went on to direct a number of much-loved Nintendo games including Yoshi’s Island, SimCity and Luigi’s Mansion.
It’s perhaps his work on the Mario Kart series where he’s best known, however. Konno directed the original Super Mario Kart and its sequel Mario Kart 64, and was producer on Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Tour. He was credited with ‘Special Thanks’ in Mario Kart World.
While it seemingly came first, the discovery of Konno’s departure follows last week’s announcement that another Nintendo veteran was leaving the company after nearly 40 years of service.
Kensuke Tanabe – who, like Konno, also joined the company in 1986 and worked on Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario Bros 2 and Super Mario Bros 3 –told Nintendo Dream magazine that Metroid Prime 4 was his last game at Nintendo, and that producer Risa Tabata would likely succeed him should another Metroid Prime game be made.
Tanabe moved into a producer role in the ’90s, overseeing many of the externally developed titles Nintendo collaborated on, such as Pokémon Snap, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Eternal Darkness.
In the modern era, he’s best known as the long-time producer of the Metroid Prime and Paper Mario series. In total, Tanabe is credited in more than 150 games.
At 60 and 62 respectively, Konno and Tanabe are just two of many prominent Nintendo creators from the Famicom and Super Famicom era at, or approaching, retirement age, including Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto (72), Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto (65), Mario designer Takashi Tezuka (64), composer Koji Kondo (63), Zelda boss Eiji Aonuma (62), and Super Mario Kart designer Tadashi Sugiyama (66).
