Takaya Imamura, the original designer behind Star Fox, has weighed in on Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 port of Star Fox 64, and his verdict is blunt: he preferred how the character looked in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Imamura spent 32 years at Nintendo before departing in 2021. He shaped the visual identity of Star Fox in the early 1990s as a graphical designer on the original game and later served as art director on Star Fox 64, establishing the look of characters that would become central to Nintendo's legacy.
The designer has remained vocal about the franchise on social media, particularly celebrating Fox's appearance in the recent Super Mario Galaxy film, though he noted he wasn't invited to the premiere.
When fans asked Imamura directly about the new game's character designs, his response was characteristically candid. "I wake up in the morning. A ton of messages have come in," he posted on X, adding that he found himself wondering if it was all a dream. "I guess this is how it turns out if I'm not supervising... or something like that."
On the designs themselves, Imamura acknowledged the concept had merit but made his personal preference clear. "Personally, I prefer the movie version," he wrote in a follow-up post, "but I thought this one was good in its own way, with a clear direction!"
The comment reflects broader fan discussion about how Fox appeared notably more cartoonish on the big screen compared to the game's new aesthetic. Many in the community have been debating the stylistic differences since the Switch 2 reveal.
This isn't Imamura's first public assessment of Nintendo's film ventures. He previously served as art director on The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and has already shared concerns about the upcoming live-action Zelda movie currently in development. His worry centers on a fundamental question about the character of Link: what happens when he finally speaks on screen? "The moment Link speaks, I can't help but worry a little that the 'Zelda magic' everyone has been nurturing in their hearts might just vanish into thin air," he said.
Author Emily Chen: "It's telling that the original architect of these characters still cares enough to critique what Nintendo's doing with them, and his preference for the animated version speaks volumes about how difficult it is to translate video game character design to film without losing something essential."
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