VGDensetsu: The Work of Yōichi Kotabe

VGDensetsu hasn’t appeared in these pages yet and it’s high time we remedied that. This particular link is to a five-part series about an animator who switched careers to doing illustration for Nintendo, and played a major role in determining the look of many of their most popular characters, including Mario and Link.

Mario characters influenced by the work of Yōichi Kotabe

While often at the time illustrators went uncredited, it’s considered likely that Yōichi Kotabe did these illustrations of Link from Zelda II, and the island of Koholint from Link’s Awakening.

VGDesetsu: Yōichi Kotabe — 60 Years of Animation and Video Games
1. The Toei Era – 2. From One Studio to Another – 3. From Animation to Nintendo – 4. Diversification and Transmission – 5. Towards New Horizons

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