Following the news of Kensuke Tanabe’s retirement, it’s now being reported game designer, director, producer, and Nintendo veteran Hideki Konno has also called time on his career at the Japanese firm.
According to an update on his Facebook page, he seemingly left the company in July 2025, but the news of his departure and apparent retirement has only been discovered now. He was at Nintendo for around 40 years and started as a designer and assistant director on games such as Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3.
He went on to direct titles such as Super Mario Kart, Yoshi’s Island and Mario Kart 64, and also played a role in the creation of the 3DS as the producer.
In more recent years, he acted as a producer on games like Mario Kart 8 (and eventually the Switch version), while working on multiple mobile releases such as Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes and Mario Kart Tour. He also worked on the DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and most recently was given a “special thanks” credit in Mario Kart World.
This news once again follows the news of Kensuke Tanabe’s reported retirement, who was known for his work on the Metroid Prime series and many other games throughout his career.
