Tomonobu Itagaki
| Tomonobu Itagaki | |
|---|---|
Tomonobu Itagaki in 2004
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| Native name | 板垣 伴信 |
| Born |
April 1, 1967 Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation | Video game designer |
Tomonobu Itagaki (板垣 伴信 Itagaki Tomonobu?) (born April 1, 1967) is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the Dead or Alive series and also reviving the Ninja Gaiden franchise in 2004. Joining Tecmo in 1992, Itagaki produced two video game franchises that were commercial successes and earned him several promotions; he headed Tecmo's development team, Team Ninja, and sat on the executive board. He left the company after 16 years of service, filing a lawsuit against it for withholding bonus pay. His new team at Valhalla Game Studios, comprising other Team Ninja members, worked on a new game, Devil's Third.
Born and raised in Tokyo, Tomonobu Itagaki graduated from Waseda University Senior High School in March 1985. He enrolled in Waseda University and graduated from its School of Law in 1992.
Itagaki is married and has a daughter, whom he has mentioned as one of the primary influences on his projects, including developing Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS, and a constant gaming partner in games like the Halo series. Itagaki has in his office a set of katana Japanese swords his father made for him, which he tends to take out to show to his visitors. As he wishes to stop people from reading his expressions during gambling-type games, he is always seen wearing sunglasses, a habit that has become his trademark in the video game community.
Tomonobu Itagaki joined Tecmo in 1992 as a graphics programmer, and initially worked on the Super Famicom version of the American football video game, Super Tecmo Bowl. His career breakthrough came in 1996 with his first Dead or Alive game, a game based on Sega Model 2 hardware (Virtua Fighter) created in response to Tecmo management's request. He was mentored by Yoshiaki Inose (of Solomon's Key, Bomb Jack, Rygar and original Ninja Gaiden fame) and Akihiko Shimoji (Tecmo Bowl) in his early years at Tecmo, and was impressed by them to include fun as a necessary component in his projects.
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