Takaya Imamura Interview: Original F-Zero Designer Was 'Really Surprised' by the Series Revival
When F-Zero rose from the dead in 2023’s September Nintendo Direct, no one was more surprised than the man who designed Captain Falcon over three decades ago.
Ex-Nintendo designer Takaya Imamura was with the company for over 30 years, with credits on all-time classics like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Star Fox 64, and F-Zero. But when F-Zero 99 launched on Nintendo Switch last year, it was the first entry in the franchise without Imamura’s input, and the creator admits he wouldn’t have thought of the 99-player online direction for the series.
“The first thing I thought was really that if I'd still been at Nintendo, I don't think I'd have been able to take this approach to it.,” Imamura says. “So I was really surprised that they made such an original take on the IP on the game itself and arranged it in such a fun way.”
Imamura may not be at Nintendo anymore, but he still holds his two main creations – F-Zero and Star Fox – very close to his heart. In fact, Imamura has already found his way back to video game development, as he's working on a new project with an art style that’s very reminiscent of his pair of Nintendo darlings. OMEGA 6: The Triangle Stars uses the same retro future art style that Imamura built his career on, and it’s the first game he’s worked on since leaving Nintendo three years ago.
“I think it's the first time I've drawn pixel art since Star Fox on Super Nintendo, which has been a while,” he says with a smile.
Imamura’s OMEGA 6 began with a 2022 manga published in France that’s now being adapted into an adventure game due out on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2025. It’s set around a journey to locate a new home planet for the human race, and Imamura says he put his all into the original comic before beginning work on the video game.
While Imamura himself tinkers on a new IP, he also comments on the state of the games and entertainment industry, noting how difficult it is for a new idea to take off.
“I think Nintendo's real peak was when [Shigeru]
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