Omega 6: The Triangle Stars is the debut original game from Takaya Imamura, a true legend in gaming who spent 32 years working at Nintendo as one of its key artists. Imamura's work is immediately recognizable by virtually anyone who has picked up a game controller in the last several decades, having penned F-Zero' s mascot Captain Falcon, the titular mask from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and many of the iconic characters from Star Fox to name a few.
After his tenure at Nintendo, Imamura could finally illustrate his very own sci-fi manga, Omega 6. Inspired by the lighthearted fun of Saturday morning cartoons, Imamura felt that the classic point-and-click adventure format would be a fitting way to adapt the manga into a video game. In an interview with The Best War Games, Imamura spoke about his time at Nintendo leading up to Omega 6's inception and how this is a full-circle moment from his Nintendo job interview in 1989.
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Takaya Imamura Wasn't Held Back At Nintendo
Although Imamura spent a third of a century employed at Nintendo, he noted that Omega 6: The Triangle Stars isn't a cathartic release from possible restrictions during his career there. It's likely in no small part due to the freedom Nintendo afforded him that so many memorable designs came to fruition. Of course, his own game likely benefits from the absolute freedom of indie game development. Imamura reflected:
To be honest, while I was at Nintendo, I didn’t really feel that many restrictions. I think they really let me do exactly what I wanted—I wasn’t under strict control, so to speak.
If anything, I would say that being able to draw the manga wasn’t so much a release of stress, but it was something I couldn’t do until I was no longer at Nintendo. It was my creative release.
Looking back, if you're an internal part of the Mario team or the Zelda team, you end up making those games for years and years.
But my career spanned a lot of different genres, series, and characters. Maybe it was just because I was too much of an individual—they couldn’t really nail me down to one project. I'm not sure.
Lately, indie studios run by ex-AAA developers have been popping up in increasing numbers often out of frustration with the corporatized world of high-end game development. Refreshingly, that doesn't appear to be the case with Imamura's independent venture in gaming. While some freedoms naturally come with his departure from Nintendo, he doesn't feel he was held back creatively.
Omega 6: The Triangle Stars is a Full-Circle Moment for Takaya Imamura
As for what inspired the youthful sci-fi adventure of Omega 6, Imamura cited a lifelong fascination with science fiction. Sci-fi films like Star Wars and Silent Running were some named influences, and it's a known anecdote that Imamura referred to the sci-fi sidescroller Metroid as his favorite Nintendo game during his job interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. Imamura also pointed to that same job interview when discussing his inspiration for Omega 6:
There's nothing in particular that I took direct inspiration from, but ever since I was a kid, I've always loved science fiction films—Star Wars, that kind of thing.
I think the closest thing to a source I can give you for Omega 6 is actually from when I went to my interview with Nintendo. One of the things I brought with me to showcase my work was a comic I had made, which I showed to Miyamoto-san. It was kind of like a science fiction manga, and that became the roots of Omega 6 as you see it today.
It's a touching coincidence that a manga idea presented to secure his fateful career at Nintendo would eventually lead to his first original game after that career's conclusion. While Omega 6: The Triangle Stars is intended to be a nostalgic experience for gamers, it's likely just as nostalgic for the artist who envisioned it so many years ago.
- Released
- February 28, 2025
- ESRB
- E For Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence, Language, Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Takaya Imamura, Happymeal, Pleocene
- Publisher(s)
- Clear River Games, CITY CONNECTION
- Number of Players
- Single Player
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Visual Novel
- Platform(s)
- PC, Nintendo Switch
