Tomonobu Itagaki, one of the original founders of developer Team Ninja, as well as the creator of Dead or Alive and the Ninja Gaiden reboot series, has sadly passed away at just 58 years of age.
Itagaki was known for his largely outspoken nature, and had infamous beef with the Tekken franchise in an effort to help Dead or Alive stand out in the then intensely competitive 3D fighting game space. Something Tekken director and producer Katsuhiro Harada provided further context on in a post to X / Twitter some months ago, where he discussed Itagaki being his university senior, his fiercely competitive nature, and the respect the two grew to have for one another.
On Itagaki’s passing, Harada said, “The last message I ever received from him was, ‘Let’s go drinking. Let’s make some noise soon!’ To think that he’s gone at just 58 years old… Yes, everyone dies eventually… that’s inevitable. But you… isn’t it a bit too soon?
“Didn’t you say you were going to defeat me someday? Didn’t you come to my wedding, wearing your usual black leather jacket and sunglasses, and call me your comrade-in-arms? Didn’t you tell me to come to you whenever I was in trouble? I never even got the chance to consult you about anything. Honestly… I’m really depressed.”
Itagaki was a fairly controversial figure. The games he helmed were often a source of this, between Ninja Gaiden’s gratuitous violence and Dead or Alive’s risque character designs. Such aspects were, of course, leaned into in order to help them stand out, perhaps cynically so. But to remember these titles purely from this standpoint does them a serious disservice.
In the early to late 2000s, Team Ninja simply ran rings around pretty much everyone when it came to graphical fidelity. Few games held a candle visually to Dead or Alive 3 on the original Xbox, and then Ninja Gaiden 2 on the Xbox 360 at the time of release. Stunning character and environmental detail with impressive weather effects, all running at a crisp 60fps, was a monumental achievement for the time.
To this day, I strongly believe these games have some of the best-realized visual identities in the history of the medium. Even stacked up against the most eye-catching graphics of today, most of Itagaki’s games have aged like wine in terms of both visuals and gameplay.
Another aspect of Team Ninja’s games, both then and now, is that they were legendarily difficult – especially the Ninja Gaiden series. However, the developer’s approach to difficulty was far from artificial; no bloated health bars or unnecessary character restrictions.
Instead, the games focused on intelligent, reactive enemy AI. Your foes were often as capable as you, if not more so, and this was years before even FromSoftware planted its flag as the industry darling it is today with its own brand of punishing difficulty.
Itagaki would later leave Team Ninja in the wake of the Koei Tecmo merger. He went on to co-found Valhalla Game Studios, with Wii U title Devil’s Third being his last directorial credit in 2015.
Itagaki’s final message, as shared by Harada on X / Twitter, is as follows:
“Words I Leave Behind. The flame of my life is finally about to go out. If this message has been posted, it means that the time has come. I am no longer in this world. (This final post has been entrusted to someone dear to me.) My life was a series of battles. And I kept on winning. I know I caused trouble for many along the way. But I followed my convictions and fought to the very end. I have no regrets. Only one thing weighs on me — I’m deeply sorry to all my fans that I couldn’t bring you a new work. I truly am. That’s just how it is. So it goes.”
Rest in peace, Itagaki-san.
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