After 32 years of working on the artwork and graphics behind legendary titles such as F-Zero and Star Fox, Takaya Imamura has called it quits. Imamura took to Facebook today to announce his departure from Nintendo, noting that this would be his last day at the Japanese gaming giant.
“Today is my last day coming to work,” Imamura said. “I took a selfie with the empty office building. It feels pretty sad to think about not coming here anymore… Hats off to myself for 32 years of hard work!”
“He was a graphic designer on the original F-Zero and Star Fox games, including the character designs for Captain Falcon and Fox McCloud; art director on Star Fox 64; chief designer on F-Zero X; art director on The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, including the creation of Tingle; producer on Star Fox: Assault and Star Fox: Command; director on Steel Diver and Tank Troopers; and supervisor for a number of other F-Zero and Star Fox games,” Gematsu noted in its coverage.
According to a comment from Takara Tomy A.R.T.S hobby planning department general manager Tomoo Yoda, Imamura isn’t retiring and will continue working as a freelance designer.