Hideki Konno, a longtime director for Nintendo, has resigned from the video game publisher. Konno confirmed the news on his Facebook page months ago, which largely went unnoticed by the press at the time. His last month at Nintendo was July 2025.
The fans at the Famiboard Forums were the first to notice Konno’s employment update, which has since blown up online. Konno joined Nintendo in 1986, and worked as a designer and assistant director on Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. He also directed Yoshi’s Island and SimCity for the SNES, and Luigi’s Mansion for the GameCube.
Konno’s most enduring work was on the Mario Kart franchise. He directed the first two games, Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64, in addition to producing Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Kart Tour. Although Konno didn’t work on the most recent game, he received a special thanks credit in Mario Kart World.
Earlier this month, longtime Metroid producer Kensuke Tanabe announced his departure from Nintendo as well. Tanabe’s final game for the company was the recently released Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
