As translated to English by Automaton, Japanese gaming website 4Gamer has published a feature on the late Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of Dead or Alive and the neo-Ninja Gaiden games. 4Gamer interviewed some of the developer’s collaborators, unearthing some surprising stories from the colorful developer’s life.
In addition to his ultraviolent and occasionally terminally horny games, Itagaki embodied an eccentric, larger-than-life character in the industry. “Gamers who think that Ninja Gaiden is too hard are losers … just fight your best fight!” he told Kikizo in 2005. 4Gamer’s anecdotes more than match Itagaki’s flamboyant reputation.
A few particularly wild stories come from former collaborator Kengo Aoki, the CEO of Soft Gear. He talked about a time when Itagaki, on a business trip to China, started drunkenly picking fights with taxis and shouting in the streets. That night the two fought in a hotel room over a game development issue, but on the flight home Itagaki was calling Aoki his brother and helping him get over a hangover.
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Aoki recalled another instance where, at a “pre-E3 party,” Itagaki shouted from their hotel balcony, “I’m gonna take over the world!” while inviting him to join in. Things escalated until 10 LAPD patrol cars rolled up: “The officers had their guns drawn. It was a real Dead or Alive situation,” Aoki said.
The next day, Aoki received a phone call saying Itagaki was in the ICU to be hospitalized for “40 to 50 days.” It’s not clear from the interview if those latter two anecdotes are related, but suffice it to say that Itagaki did not lead a boring life.
It’s something he conveyed in his own way in his “words to leave” that were posted to Facebook when he passed away in October 2025. “My life has been a series of battles. We stayed winning,” he wrote. “I’ve caused a lot of trouble. I stand by my beliefs and I own them. No regrets.”
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