Tingle designer Takaya Imamura has retired from Nintendo

Nintendo has created a lot of weird and wonderful characters over the years, but one of the most notable is Tingle.

The recurring character, who debuted in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask on the Nintendo 64, was designed by Takaya Imamura. Today, that same veteran Nintendo staff member – who was also responsible for the terrifying design of the Moon, announced via Facebook that it was his last day at the company after 32 years.

“It’s my last day at work. I took a selfie with the desk empty. I guess I won’t be coming here again. As you can imagine, I will miss it.

The “empty office” is due to the fact that many Nintendo staff are working from home due to the pandemic.

Imamura started at Nintendo in 1989 on F-Zero (1990) as a graphic designer – creation of Captain Falcon. Over the years he has contributed to various other Nintendo series such as Star Fox – character design as Fox McCloud alongside Shigeru Miyamoto, and more recently has been credited on Ultimate Smash as the original game supervisor.

On behalf of the Nintendo Life community, we wish Takaya Imamura the best for his retirement.