Summary
Takaya Imamura, a legendary game designer who spent over three decades atNintendo, almost didn’t work there at all.
Imamura is known for his design work onF-ZeroandStar Fox, beginning with the original games in the early 1990s and continuing up until his departure from Nintendo in 2021.
In an interview withGamesRadar+at Gamescom, Imamura revealed that he almost didn’t take the job at Nintendo, until his mother intervened and guided him.
A Legendary Game Designer
“The truth is, when I applied to game companies, I applied toKonamias well as Nintendo, and I got through to the final interview,” Imamura said.
Imamura really wanted to work at Konami because he was a big fan of Gradius, a scrolling shooter series that Konami began to release in the 1980s, and also because he lived quite close to the Konami office. However, an intervention from Imamura’s mother convinced him to take the job at Nintendo instead.
“My mother heard I was doing well with Nintendo,” he said. “She knew about Nintendo, just in general, and she told, you know ‘you go to Nintendo’. And what can you say to your mother?”
Imamura’s mother pushing him to go to Nintendo is partially responsible for the creation of F-Zero and Star Fox, two beloved staples of Nintendo’s array of series'. In an alternate universe, who knows what Imamura could have created for Konami?
Imamura is responsible for much more at Nintendo than the two aforementioned series. He worked on The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, designing the famous titular mask. The ‘Ma’ in Majora is actually derived from Imamura’s name.
Imamura departed Nintendo after 32 years in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In his post-retirement life, Imamura has been teaching at the International Professional University of Technology in Osaka, creating the manga Omega-6 in his spare time.
Star Fox
Lead the Star Fox Team to Victory!In the distant Lylat star system, imagine yourself at the controls of a futuristic, heavily armed, space fighter-Arwing.Lead the counter-attack on an invasion force of hundreds of alien tanks, fighter ships, laser gun emplacements and super battleships. Maneuver at warp speed through fog-enshrouded canyons, dense asteroid belts and waves of the enemy’s best defense. You must use skill and cunning to bring the fight to the enemy’s home planet Venom and smash the Core Brain for victory!The Super FX micro chip is on-board for fluid game control and special effects previously unavailable in home video games! The action explodes from all directions in realistic, real-time, three dimensions.
