Ocarina of Time Remake: Imamura Says New Link Reflects Miyamoto’s Puppet Love
Takaya Imamura spent 32 years at Nintendo drawing Fox McCloud, Captain Falcon and the nightmare fuel of Majora’s Mask. On September 8, 2026, he looked at the new Link model from the Ocarina of Time remake and saw something else entirely: strings. Imamura collaborated with Shigeru Miyamoto regularly over the course of his 32-year career at Nintendo, and believes the divisive art style of the remake reflects Miyamoto’s love of puppet theater, retweeting an image of the new Link design and saying, “Looking at this model, I felt that… Mr. Miyamoto’s love of puppet shows really comes through here, too.”
Fans are already comparing the game’s fresh reveal footage to Zelda players arguing over the emote:
What Imamura Actually Posted About the New Link Model
The comment came as a quote-tweet reacting to character art shown during Nintendo’s Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct. That broadcast is also where Nintendo confirmed gameplay for the remake, having first announced it during a Nintendo Direct on June 9, 2026, before the release date of November 5, 2026 was set at the September 8 anniversary Direct.
Imamura didn’t stop at the puppet comment. In a follow-up post, he wrote that he hasn’t played Ocarina of Time since the 3DS version, so he’s “really looking forward to it,” adding that “the color palette and lighting are great… As expected!” That’s a Nintendo lifer who art-directed one of the darkest games the company ever shipped, and he’s still charmed by what he’s seeing.
32 Years on Star Fox and Majora’s Mask Gives the Take Some Weight
Imamura joined Nintendo in 1989 and left in 2021. In between, he wasn’t a bystander. Across a 30-year career at Nintendo, he was integral to F-Zero, Star Fox and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, creating characters such as Fox McCloud and Captain Falcon, and he served as art director on Majora’s Mask itself, the game that gave the series its Tingle. He’s not a random fan theorising from the outside. He worked next to Miyamoto for decades.
That’s what makes the puppet comment worth more than the average retweet. GoNintendo, covering the same post, noted that how hands-on Miyamoto actually was with this specific remake is unknown, though his hand in the original undisputedly shaped the designs carried into the new version. Nobody at Nintendo has confirmed puppetry as a formal art brief. This is one veteran reading the tea leaves, and doing it with more inside knowledge than most.
Star Fox Already Went the Puppet Route on Switch 2
This isn’t the first time Miyamoto’s puppet fandom has shown up on Switch 2. The original Star Fox was marketed with puppets, and that old influence seemed to come back on its own modern Switch 2 revival, another new art treatment that got a cold reception from some fans. If Ocarina of Time’s Link is chasing the same instinct, it’s a pattern, not a one-off.
The comparison holds up visually too. Star Fox’s cast reads closer to soft muppet felt. The new Link, with its stiffer joints and glassy stare, sits closer to the wooden marionettes used in Japanese TV puppetry. Our view: once you see it, you can’t unsee it, and it explains why the model felt “off” to a lot of longtime players before anyone could say exactly why.
November 5 Launch, Switch 2 Exclusive, Physical Foil Edition
Art debate aside, the remake’s practical details are locked. It launches November 5, 2026, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2, roughly two weeks ahead of GTA 6. New features include a “Threads of Time” menu tracking story progress, fully voiced cutscenes, a free-moving camera, a jump button, a roll and dash ability, and the option to play the ocarina by whistling or using a physical ocarina via the console’s microphone.
A limited-run physical edition ships with a textured foil cover while stock lasts, and a Zelda-themed Switch 2 hardware bundle arrives October 29, a week ahead of the game itself. Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo, which unlock retro-style masks, follow in 2027.
Whether the marionette look wins players over is a separate fight from whether it’s true to Miyamoto’s tastes. Imamura, who spent three decades reading the man’s instincts up close, thinks it’s the latter. Nintendo hasn’t commented either way, and the remake itself lands in eight weeks.
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