Star Fox designer says he’s a fan of the remake’s art style

Despite a polarizing reveal, the upcoming Star Fox already has a key supporter in Takaya Imamura. The Nintendo legend who co-created Fox McCloud and served as art director on Star Fox 64 has given a thumbs up to the remake’s newly redesigned characters.

Revealed last week during a surprise Nintendo Direct, Star Fox is a full remake of Star Fox 64. Much about the Nintendo 64 classic is getting an overhaul, but one of the most immediately visible changes is its character designs. The new game features a more realistic take on Fox McCloud and the gang rather than chasing the cartoon look we saw when Fox appeared in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Though some fans were quick to criticize the new direction, Imamura gave it a seal of approval in a post on X.

“The new work is exactly the visuals I had in my head back when I was making Star Fox 64!” Imamura wrote, according to a machine translation of his comments. Imamura was following up on an earlier post where he said he liked Fox’s design in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie more than the new game. “I absolutely love the super realistic character expressions too. That said, the movie version of Fox is just too cute.”

Imamura’s comments clarify an earlier post that suggested that the designer was less impressed with the new characters. When asked by a fan for his thoughts following the reveal last week, Imamura replied, “I guess this is how it turns out if I’m not supervising… or something like that.” Some fans interpreted it at the time as Imamura throwing shade at the new designs, though he also wrote, “I think the concept is good.”

Imamura’s latest post is a ringing endorsement considering that he is one of the key creatives behind the Star Fox series. He served as a graphic designer on the original Super NES game, creating the game’s cast, and worked in various supervising and producing capacities on later games. Imamura retired from Nintendo in 2021 and has since released his own independent game, The Omega 6: The Triangle Stars. He has confirmed that he is not involved in the new game.

Star Fox launches on June 25 for Nintendo Switch 2.