{"id":43835,"date":"2025-02-06T16:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T07:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=43835"},"modified":"2025-02-06T17:01:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T08:01:52","slug":"nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Nintendo is a company that never gets carried away, no matter how good things get&#8221; says former Zelda, Star Fox veteran\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Independent game creator Takaya Imamura recently gave an interview to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.4gamer.net\/games\/670\/G067042\/20250124084\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4Gamer<\/a> about his youth and different eras of his career. Naturally, this included insights into Nintendo, where the developer worked for an impressive 32 years, serving as art director and designer on The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox and F-Zero franchises.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1001\" height=\"668\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1001px) 100vw, 1001px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-003.jpg\" alt=\"Star Fox 64\" class=\"wp-image-43840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-003.jpg 1001w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-003-380x254.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-003-768x513.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Imamura joined Nintendo back in 1989. This was incidentally the year Nintendo marked its 100th anniversary (yes, Nintendo is <em>that <\/em>old). Describing the atmosphere back then, Imamura comments, \u201cThis was a time when society as a whole was very euphoric and lived extravagantly. Corporations would organize trips and parties as soon as they got new hires to keep them from getting snatched up.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Nintendo resisted the feverish momentum of Japan\u2019s bubble economy, keeping its own pace. Through laughter, Imamura comments, \u201cNintendo did nothing of the sort. We didn\u2019t even celebrate our 100<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary. It\u2019s a company that never gets carried away.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imamura attributes this firm corporate culture to the philosophy of Nintendo&#8217;s late Hiroshi Yamauchi. Yamauchi was the company\u2019s third CEO, and the president who nurtured Nintendo into a global force with the success of the NES.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1516\" height=\"850\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1516px) 100vw, 1516px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-002.jpg\" alt=\"F-Zero\" class=\"wp-image-43839\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-002.jpg 1516w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-002-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-002-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Imamura, Yamauchi\u2019s policy was to \u201cstay composed in the face of success and keep calm in the face of failure.\u201d No matter how well things were going for the company, Yamauchi would be just as strict with his employees, Imamura recalls. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He attributes this stance to Yamauchi having experienced failure many times in the past, and comments that in a business as unpredictable as video games and toys, Yamauchi\u2019s approach was ultimately correct. \u201cHearing his strict and persuasive words brought home to me that unless you make good and entertaining products, you won\u2019t sell.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Takaya Imamura gives insights into his days at Nintendo and the corporate policy of the late CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":43837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-43835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Nintendo is a company that never gets carried away, no matter how good things get&quot; says former Zelda, Star Fox veteran\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Takaya Imamura gives insights into his days at Nintendo and the corporate policy of the late CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Nintendo is a company that never gets carried away, no matter how good things get&quot; says former Zelda, Star Fox veteran\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Takaya Imamura gives insights into his days at Nintendo and the corporate policy of the late CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T07:21:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T08:01:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1511\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Nintendo is a company that never gets carried away, no matter how good things get\" says former Zelda, Star Fox veteran\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Takaya Imamura gives insights into his days at Nintendo and the corporate policy of the late CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Nintendo is a company that never gets carried away, no matter how good things get\" says former Zelda, Star Fox veteran\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Takaya Imamura gives insights into his days at Nintendo and the corporate policy of the late CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-02-06T07:21:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-06T08:01:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1511,"height":798,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250206-43835-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-is-a-company-that-never-gets-carried-away-no-matter-how-good-things-get-says-former-zelda-star-fox-veteran\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"&#8220;Nintendo is a company that never gets carried away, no matter how good things get&#8221; 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