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Prolific F-Zero, Star Fox artist Takaya Imamura retires from Nintendo

Takaya Imamura has named today his final day at Nintendo, ending a 32-year-long career working on many of the company's most iconic games and characters.

Alissa McAloon, Publisher

January 20, 2021

1 Min Read
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Takaya Imamura has named today his final day at Nintendo, ending a 32-year-long career working on many of the company's most iconic games and characters.

Imamura started at Nintendo in 1989, and played a key part in modeling and designing many of the characters featured in franchises like F-Zero, Star Fox, and the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

A look back at his career shared by Polygon credits him as the designer of Majora's Mask's Tingle, and places him in key conversations that led to the creation of F-Zero's hovering vehicles. He's also the reason certain Star Fox characters bare a resemblance to other folks at Nintendo; Imamura modeled the likes of Fox McCloud, Falco, and others after Shigeru Miyamoto, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, and other Nintendo team members.

“This is my last day going to work. I took a selfie with the empty office," reads a translation of Imamura's announcement, shared alongside a selfie at Nintendo HQ. "I guess I won’t be coming in here anymore. As you’d expect, I’ll miss it."

About the Author

Alissa McAloon

Publisher, GameDeveloper.com

As the Publisher of Game Developer, Alissa McAloon brings a decade of experience in the video game industry and media. When not working in the world of B2B game journalism, Alissa enjoys spending her time in the worlds of immersive sandbox games or dabbling in the occasional TTRPG.

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