Star Fox creator says he’s personally happy about fan-made Star Fox 64 PC port, even though Nintendo wouldn’t approve of it 

Star Fox character designer Takaya Imamura recently took to social media site X to express his appreciation for the fan-made PC port of Star Fox 64. The port was created by Harbour Masters, a team dedicated to bringing classic Nintendo 64 games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (the latter of which Imamura worked on) to PC. It features ultrawide support, improved resolutions, and increased frame rates for those with the emulators to run it. 

Although Nintendo is, as suggested by Imamura, famously strict when it comes to protecting its intellectual properties (IPs), several aspects of this fan-made Star Fox 64 PC port make it legally-sound. According to VGC, the fact that the port does not use leaked content or copyrighted assets, as well as the fact that it requires ownership of a legally-sourced ROM to run, makes it technically legal. 

Despite being one of Nintendo’s flagship IPs, the most recent entry in the Star Fox franchise is Star Fox 2 – a once-cancelled Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES) title that didn’t see an official release until 2017 on the Super NES Classic Edition.  

Takaya Imamura, fully aware of Nintendo’s penchant for shooting down fan-made creations of its properties, is still happy that PC players can enjoy Star Fox 64 in a modern light. He has asked for a Nintendo Switch port of Star Fox Zero in the past and is working on Omega 6: The Triangle Stars, which is a video game adaptation of his Omega 6 manga that draws inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.