Former Nintendo developers who worked on classics like "Star Fox" and "Super Mario 64" recently dropped some surprising tidbits about the old days. Turns out, early game devs weren't guaranteed free copies of their own work. In fact, if a game was a massive hit, they'd often have to wait for market restocks just like everyone else to snag a copy – a revelation that's definitely got players talking!
Takaya Imamura, the character designer behind "Star Fox," recently shared his own experience. Despite creating the iconic Fox McCloud, he won't get to see the upcoming "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" any earlier than the general public. He speculated on social media that this might be due to the Japanese corporate culture of drawing a clear line with former employees.
Echoing this sentiment, Giles Goddard, who worked on the original "Star Fox" and developed "Super Mario 64," chimed in with a similar story. "We didn't get free games back then either," he revealed. "Games would often sell out, so we had to wait until supply caught up with demand before we could even buy our own work."
Even without an early screening, Imamura is clearly stoked to see his character hit the big screen. He previously expressed being "very emotional" and thanked Shigeru Miyamoto for including Fox in the film. Miyamoto himself had reportedly admitted that he anticipated "a fair amount of pushback" when he decided to add the character to the movie.