I was a big fan of the DOA series. Played a lot of it on the PS2. RIP
ranger_danger•3mo ago
RIP King of the age 99 jubblies.
nahnahno•3mo ago
Sad. This guy was such a force of nature and a uniquely wonderful, creative personality.
throwmeaway222•3mo ago
Damn too early.
AdmiralAsshat•3mo ago
He made one very good game (Ninja Gaiden remake), a couple pretty good games (DOA 1 & 2)....and some crap. I was never really keen on his shit-talking media personality, especially since he had long since admitted that it was purely a marketing campaign.
fidotron•3mo ago
He wouldn't have got to make the later games, like the NGs, if not for his marketing style.
He literally saved Tecmo, and then later he had to sue them for not paying bonuses to him and his team properly.
mingus88•3mo ago
How dare you speak that way about Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
jhbadger•3mo ago
The weird thing about that game is kind of the same issue I have with Mario Kart -- how do you have arch enemies (Mario & Bowser in Mario Kart, Kasumi & Ayane in the DOA "Beach" games) putting aside their rivalry to race or play volleyball?
0dayz•3mo ago
Simple they all only care about winning, that is the true rivalry, it's just that Super Mario Bros shows Mario winning.
nh23423fefe•3mo ago
Ninja Gaiden on xbox is one of the best games of all time
tclancy•3mo ago
I was hoping for the same dopamine hit and bought the new one for Switch and it is very good, but 15 years or so on, even knowing what I was in for difficulty-wise, I don't know if I have it in me.
This was a fantastic read, and also kind of funny as my perception of DOA is basically “the boobie Tekken game”.
basfo•3mo ago
Sad news. I played a lot of Dead or Alive 2 on the Dreamcast.
He was always on the cutting edge of boobs physic engines.
popalchemist•3mo ago
My exact thoughts, reading this headline. What an interesting legacy to leave behind! I never thought about the person behind DoA but reading the twitter thread from his rival, he seems to have been a very interesting character.
The_President•3mo ago
On OG Xbox we would set our age to 99, just to make sure we got the best gravity.
Because of his somewhat similar traits (long hair, rockstar/edgelord vibe, ego, puerile game tastes) I always thought of Itagaki as "the Japanese John Romero". A personality type for which I have a grudging respect: probably difficult as all get-out to work with, but brilliantly creative, seems like he has a lot of fun with it, and ballsy enough to defend his ideas. I'm sad he's gone so soon.
bad_haircut72•3mo ago
One of the best movies Ive ever seen
HK-NC•3mo ago
Ninja Gaiden was great, NG2 combat wise perfected that system. Only game Ive ever gone full nerd on and completed multiple playthroughs of, I usually get bored after the first run if I even get that far. Used to chill out on master ninja listening to music and slaughtering ninjas to stop me falling asleep after training.
msie•3mo ago