The person who left Nintendo worked at the Japanese company for nearly four decades, so it’s time to turn to young talent.

It appears that Nintendo veteran Hideki Konno quietly left the company last year. The Famiboards forum noticed that Konno wrote on his Facebook page that he left Nintendo in July, though neither Konno nor Nintendo made an announcement or statement about it. Konno, 60, was a veteran designer and producer at Nintendo. He joined Nintendo in 1986 and served as assistant director on Doki Doki Panic/Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. He also worked on level design. After working as a level designer on Super Mario World, Konno directed several popular Nintendo games, including Yoshi’s Island, SimCity, and Luigi’s Mansion. However, he is perhaps best known for his work on the Mario Kart series.

He directed the original Super Mario Kart and its sequel, Mario Kart 64, and worked as a producer on Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Mario Kart Tour. He was honored with a “special thanks” credit in Mario Kart World. This appears to be the first time this has happened. However, the news of Konno’s departure follows last week’s announcement that another Nintendo veteran, who had been with the company for nearly 40 years, was leaving.

Kensuke Tanabe joined Nintendo in 1986, the same year as Konno. He worked on the development of Doki Doki Panic/Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. In an interview with Nintendo Dream magazine, Tanabe said that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond would be his last game at Nintendo. If another Metroid Prime game is made, he believes that producer Risa Tabata will likely be his successor. Tanabe became a producer in the 1990s, overseeing Nintendo-supported games developed by external developers, such as Pokémon Snap, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Eternal Darkness. He is best known in the modern era as the longtime producer of the Metroid Prime and Paper Mario series. Tanabe has been credited in more than 150 games.

Tanabe and Konno, aged 62 and 60, respectively, are two examples of many prominent Nintendo creators from the Famicom and Super Famicom era who have reached or are approaching retirement age. This group includes Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto (72), Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto (65), Mario designer Takashi Tezuka (64), composer Koji Kondo (63), The Legend of Zelda head Eiji Aonuma (62), and Super Mario Kart designer Tadashi Sugiyama (66).

Source: VGC, Famiboards