Creator of Ninja Gaiden and DoA series, Itagaki Tomonobu, has just died at the age of 58.

[Matricks]

Guy was an yakuza doin buzz.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

May He Rest In Peace.

 

[Scotty Scotty]

Never played DoA, but I loved "Ninja Gaiden" on NES.

R.I.P. Tomonobu-san

 

[Mubashureta]

I Never played Ninja Gaiden but Honestly He was a legend too bad he's no longer with us :(

 

[Viviana Santos]

Never played DoA, but I loved "Ninja Gaiden" on NES.

R.I.P. Tomonobu-san

Itagaki is not the creator of the Ninja Gaiden series (and he did not work on the original NES games); he was the director of the 3D Ninja Gaiden games (aka Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2).

 

[Jangiku]

Damn, the memories Itagaki has given me over the years are ones I will never forget. DoA will always have a special place in my heart.

RIP Itagaki you absolute legend

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Itagaki is not the creator of the Ninja Gaiden series (and he did not work on the original NES games); he was the director of the 3D Ninja Gaiden games (aka Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2).

I remember reading somewhere that Itagaki hated the Sigma versions of the games. I can't really blame him, they're basically censored, toned down versions of the original. He also had no involvement with them. It's also really shitty that those where the versions included in the recent Ninja Gaiden collection.

 

[medisinn]

Sad news. From what little I know of him he was a very interesting character. My knowledge is mostly from what Grimbeard talked about in his Death By Degrees video. The "feud" between Itagaki and the Tekken director was pretty entertaining.

There aren't many gaming auteurs like him left these days, and I don't think someone like that fits in well in the current corporate hellscape of modern AAA gaming. That, to me, is further proof of how off the rails things are. Big gaming is just too shareholder and corporate board-focused and sanitized. Give me an imperfect gem from a director with a vision any day over a polished, but bland and safe game that says and does nothing new.

 

[moonbits]

Rest in peace, Itagaki-sensei. Your games touched my heart profoundly. To this day, I would still argue to anyone that Ninja Gaiden Black was and still is the best action adventure game.

We lost a real one.

 

[Viviana Santos]

I remember reading somewhere that Itagaki hated the Sigma versions of the games. I can't really blame him, they're basically censored, toned down versions of the original. He also had no involvement with them. It's also really shitty that those where the versions included in the recent Ninja Gaiden collection.

Oh really? Damn, that sucks. I only played the Sigma versions of Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2.

---

I should play the original versions of Ninja Gaiden I and II in the future, but emulating Xbox and Xbox 360 is pretty difficult.

 

[moonbits]

Oh really? Damn, that sucks. I only played the Sigma versions of Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2.

---

I should play the original versions of Ninja Gaiden I and II in the future, but emulating Xbox and Xbox 360 is pretty difficult.

You could find a hacked Xbox 360 for cheap, that should be easier lol

 

[Viviana Santos]

You could find a hacked Xbox 360 for cheap, that should be easier lol

My parents are broke when it comes to money right now, and I don't think my dad is very interested in buying a game console at the moment.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

I wonder if anyone has tried to mod the PC Master collection to make the Sigma games more in line with the Xbox version.

 

[Viviana Santos]

I wonder if anyone has tried to mod the PC Master collection to make the Sigma games more in line with the Xbox version.

I don't know, I don't think it exists yet, but it would be really cool.

Post automatically merged: Oct 16, 2025

My parents are broke when it comes to money right now, and I don't think my dad is very interested in buying a game console at the moment.

On the other hand, I have a hacked Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3, which is cool.

 

[moonbits]

Sigma isn't bad! Itagaki worked on that.
Sigma 2 is an insult to humanity.

 

[Nekurix]

His era of DOA games are some of my favorite fighting games ever and 3 in particular was one of the first few fighting games I grew up with.


Rest in peace, Itagaki...

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Sigma isn't bad! Itagaki worked on that.
Sigma 2 is an insult to humanity.

Itagaki did not work on Sigma 1 or 2.
I found the interview I was thinking of. Itagaki was working on NG2 while Sigma was in development. He was no longer apart of the company when Sigma 2 came out.

Tomonobu Itagaki Interview talks NG2, Sigma wasn't good etc. - Main forum - Gamersyde

www.gamersyde.com

 

[moonbits]

Itagaki did not work on Sigma 1 or 2.
I found the interview I was thinking of. Itagaki was working on NG2 while Sigma was in development. He was no longer apart of the company when Sigma 2 came out.

Tomonobu Itagaki Interview talks NG2, Sigma wasn't good etc. - Main forum - Gamersyde

www.gamersyde.com

"no good"

damn

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Personally I wouldn't say the Sigma versions are bad, but they do alter what the original vision of the games where.

 

[moonbits]

Personally I wouldn't say the Sigma versions are bad, but they do alter what the original vision of the games where.

1 is alright, the graphical improvements are appreciated and the dual swords and enemy variety are okay. We don't talk about 2.

 

[vergil_heinlein]

...​

 

[regnor]

I wonder if anyone has tried to mod the PC Master collection to make the Sigma games more in line with the Xbox version.

Yes. FiendBusa has made mods for both the collection Sigma 2 version and "Black" remaster

https://www.nexusmods.com/ninjagaiden2black/mods/30

https://www.nexusmods.com/ninjagaidenmastercollection/mods/37

These mostly increase enemy count, lower health, increase delimb rates and increase aggression. I tried it for the Master Collection version though but it's a bit glitchy with textures and hard to activate.

 

[JPchicre]

Dude, he was so young. And those weird auteur voices are not becoming more common in the non-indie gaming space. Truly a loss. Rest in Peace.

 

[regnor]

73 wins and the silver prize in DOA4 Survival Mode in Itagaki's honor!

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]