Genyo Takeda

Genyo Takeda (竹田 玄洋, Takeda Gen'yō, born on March 7, 1949, in Osaka, Japan) is the general manager of Nintendo's integrated research division. He joined Nintendo in 1971, and was promoted to his current position when the integrated research division was founded in 1981. He mostly works on improving hardware for home consoles and handhelds, but sometimes develops video games. In software development, he is notable for creating the Punch-Out!! and StarTropics franchises. He also created Nintendo's first arcade game, EVR Race, in 1975.^[1]

Biographical and Professional History

Genyo Takeda was born in Osaka, Japan. As a child, Takeda enjoyed working with his hands, building small items such as miniature trains and airplanes.^[2] He attended Shizuoka Government University in Honshū, where he studied semi-conductors. After his graduation in 1971, he was hired by Nintendo after Takeda responded to a newspaper ad. He was interviewed and subsequently hired by Gunpei Yokoi. Takeda worked alongside Masayuki Uemura in Nintendo’s R&D2 team developing what they termed ‘an electronic shooting range.’ ^[2] After a year at R&D2, Takeda was assigned control as General Manager over Nintendo’s fledgling R&D3 department. By far the smallest of the R&D departments at Nintendo with about 20 employees,^[2] R&D3’s primary responsibilities were the technical hardware design and development software for both the arcade systems and the later home consoles, the Famicom and the NES.^[2] The team also helped create bank switching and the MMC chips in the NES cartridges. R&D3 also made forays into video game development, producing few such famous titles such as the Punch-Out!! and StarTropics series of games. R&D3 was also responsible for releasing a series of sports games for Nintendo, including Pro Wrestling, NES Play Action Football, and Ice Hockey. These titles were aimed primarily at the American market, where they sold well.

A major limitation with the NES cartridges was the inability to save directly on the cartridge. The cartridges contain RAM, which are easily writable but lose all stored memory as soon as the power is turned off. Takeda is credited for his team’s development of the battery back-up memory, which was first used in the North American and European versions of Shigeru Miyamoto’s The Legend of Zelda. It supplies a long-life power source to the RAM chip, maintaining the saved data even when the main power supply is cut or the cartridge is removed. Takeda is also credited with the invention of the Analog controller for the Nintendo 64 system, a style which has since been copied by Microsoft and Sony for their respective systems.^[2] Takeda’s R&D3 team was renamed Integrated Research and Development in 2000. In that same year, they worked with Conexant to create broadband and modem peripherals for the Nintendo GameCube. Takeda was promoted in 2002 to Senior Management Director, while still maintaining his position as General Manager.

Development of the Wii

Takeda was one of the lead developers on the newest generation of Nintendo console, the Wii. He is known for disagreement with the contemporary model of adding ever technical and graphical improvements to create new console generations. He claims that such a model is subject to diminishing returns. He has been quoted as saying that “If [Nintendo] had followed existing roadmaps we would have aimed to make [the Wii] faster and flashier. We’d have tried to improve the speed at which it displays stunning graphics. But we could not help but ask, ‘How big an impact would that really have on our customers?’ In development, we came to realize the sheer inefficiency of this path when we compared the hardships and costs of development against the new experiences customers might have.”^[3] Takeda began to have doubts about following this model as early as 2002. He claims to have figured out that consumers will not be satisfied with graphics at any point, that the new improvement effects will eventually wear off, and that “there is no end to the desire of those who just want more. Give them one, they ask for two. Give them two and the next time they will ask for five instead of three, their desire growing exponentially.”

He has famously compared the console industry to the automobile industry. Noticing that not all cars are built to compete at the highest level of racing, he points out that there are lucrative markets for the most fuel-efficient, family-friendly vehicles as well. Takeda meant for the Wii to parallel this model, and has mentioned in an interview ^[4] that one of his major technical goals on the Wii was (being conscious of rising electricity bills and cost-cutting) to scale back the power necessary to operate the console while maintaining the same high performance. He has compared the Wii to a hybrid vehicle for its mass appeal and conservation attributes.^[4]

Software works

Producer

• EVR Race
• Sheriff (arcade game)
• Space Firebird
• Popeye (arcade game)
• Punch-Out!! (arcade game)
  • Super Punch-Out!! (arcade game)
  • Arm Wrestling (video game)
• StarTropics
  • Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II
• Pilotwings 64
• Pokémon Puzzle League
• Dr. Mario 64

Director

• Punch-Out!! (NES)
• StarTropics
  • Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II

Scriptwriter

• StarTropics
  • Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II

Special Thanks

• Donkey Kong Country
• Killer Instinct Gold

Supervisor

• Punch-Out!! (Wii)

References

External links

• Genyo Takeda at MobyGames