Former Star Fox developer asks for Star Fox Zero to get a Switch port

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-04-21 16:48 JST)

Former Nintendo developer and current freelancer Takaya Imamura has tweeted out a request to Nintendo to port Star Fox Zero to the Nintendo Switch. Imamura also added that if a sequel to the animation is made, he would like to be in charge of the scenario and storyboard.

Takaya Imamura is a creator that used to work at Nintendo. He’s mainly known for supervising the F-Zero and Star Fox series and was also the art director for The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and creator of Tingle. He worked as a supervisor on both Star Fox Zero and the spinoff animation Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins. After retiring from Nintendo in 2021, Imamura has stayed busy as a freelancer and a professor at the International Professional University of Technology in Osaka.

On April 21, the 6^th anniversary of Star Fox Zero, Imamura took to his Twitter account to request that Nintendo port the game to the Nintendo Switch. The game released in 2016 and is currently the latest title in the series. Star Fox Zero was a collaboration between Nintendo and PlatinumGames, with PlatinumGames’ Hideki Kamiya even tweeting, “I want someone from Nintendo to bust into Platinum and tell us to make a new Star Fox,” all the way back in 2010. In regard to the development of the game, Kamiya has also stated that the game design was already done when PlatinumGames accepted work on the game.

While Star Fox Zero inherits the series’ unique traits, it’s also a modern take with polished graphics and exhilarating shooting gameplay. However, the controls that focused on the Wii U gamepad and its features were a mixed bag with players. And when you consider that there wasn’t a whole lot of excitement around the Wii U at the time of the game’s launch, it’s hard to say it was a successful release. But with a port to the widely adopted Nintendo Switch and a control scheme that’s adapted to regular controllers, it could be a real hit with players like many of the Wii U ports we’ve already seen.

Imamura continued his pitch by saying if a sequel to the animation is made, he would like to work with the same team members as before. Even though he’s currently working as a professor, it doesn’t look like his desire to create has waned in any way. His initial request to Nintendo has already been retweeted nearly 500 times, even being retweeted by the game’s director, former PlatinumGames developer Yusuke Hashimoto. Hashimoto also tweeted out what looks to be a silhouette of Andross, perhaps in support of Imamura’s request.

But even though the request has been made, it’s unknown if Nintendo will actually port the title. The game was oriented for the Wii U in a lot of ways, which might make it somewhat difficult to port. With that being said, Imamura has at the very least brought a renewed attention to Star Fox Zero. With the series seemingly dormant, hopefully there’s good news on the horizon.