Nintendo producer, director, and artist Takaya Imamura has announced he is leaving the company after 32 years.
The announcement came via Twitter and Facebook, with no other information and a picture of himself.
“Last day at work
Empty office and selfie (T ^ T)
When I think that I will never enter here again
I’m still sad.
Thanks for 32 years!”
Translation: DeepL
Originally joining Nintendo in 1989 as a graphic artist, Imamura worked on F-Zero and Star Fox, also acting as a character designer for those games.
According to the Nintendo Fandom wikia, the main characters of Star Fox were based off the development team. Fox McCloud was Shigeru Miyamoto, Falco Lombardi was Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Peppy Hare was Katsuya Eguchi, and Slippy Toad was Yoichi Yamada.
Imamura would later become the main art director on Star Fox 64 and F-Zero X. As the art director of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask he designed Tingle, along with Majora’s Mask and the terrifying moon.
Imamura would continue to be a producer and supervisor on F-Zero and Star Fox games. His final titles were Star Fox Zero, Star Fox Guard, and Tank Troopers in 2016. He was also part of the Star Fox Team for Starlink: Battle for Atlas.
