Six months ago, the charismatic, controversial, and highly talented developer Tomonobu Itagaki passed away at the young age of 58. He leaves behind a legacy primarily consisting of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, which he created during his time at Tecmo.
The development process was often turbulent, and Itagaki himself never missed an opportunity to explain the overwhelming superiority of his own products over those of everyone else. After leaving Tecmo in 2008, we didn’t hear much from him, and his only somewhat significant title was the game Devil’s Third on Wii U in 2015.
But apparently, he continued to live like a rock star. This is according to one of his colleagues, Kengo Aoki, in an interview with 4Games (via Automaton), where he shares a memory of Itagaki. Apparently, Itagaki partied a bit too hard during a business trip to China, which led him “to get completely drunk and start fighting with random passing taxis and yelling very loudly in the middle of the street.”
This ended in a quarrel between Aoki and Itagaki, although they mended things on the flight back. But Aoki also says that Itagaki’s health problems were not new, and then shares another story from around 2015 that could have ended with Itagaki being shot in the United States…
“Even in Los Angeles, where he was supposed to speak at E3, he ended up in emergency hospitalization. On the evening of our arrival, we were having a pre-E3 party in our hotel room, and Itagaki went out onto the balcony and started yelling, ‘I will conquer the world! Come on, join us!’ Very quickly, about ten LAPD patrol cars surrounded us, and officers drew their weapons. It was a true Dead or Alive situation.”
Itagaki remained in the hospital for a month and a half after that, and although he released a few small projects, he never seriously returned to the gaming world. However, a new Dead or Alive was announced earlier this year. Even though he hasn’t been involved with the series for nearly twenty years, his creations are still relevant, and judging by the first teaser, they will feature the same controversial and slightly offensive concept that Itagaki’s games were always known for.
“I don’t want to make safe games. I want to make games that punch you in the face.”