is a Japanese
video game director and
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...
. He was born in Osaka Japan, and formerly worked at
Capcom
is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
. He has been a director and producer for several series at Capcom, including ''
Rival Schools'', ''
Power Stone'', ''
Devil May Cry
is a science fantasy action-adventure game franchise created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante (Devil May Cry), Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invas ...
'' and ''
Dragon's Dogma''.
Career
Early years (1994–2002)
Hideaki Itsuno was a
fighting game
The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
fan who was hired by Capcom in 1994; his entrance exam happened the same day as the ''
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'', released in Japan as is a 1994 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the fifth installment in the '' Street Fighter II'' sub-series of ''Street Fighter'' games, following '' ...
'' location test.
He went for it over other companies because it would be an easy commute.
There, he was assigned work as a designer on their
arcade division (which by 1997 had been reorganized as Production Studio 1), starting with two quiz games. In that first year at the company, a project for a ''
Street Fighter
is a Media mix, Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. Street Fighter 1, The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by List of Street Fighter video games, six other ma ...
'' prequel was brewing; Itsuno's superior
Noritaka Funamizu saw there was no designer attached, and asked him to take that role in December. Other members of that team came from the same background, all gathered so ''
Street Fighter Alpha
''Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams'', known as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1995 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for Arcade video game, arcades. It was the first all new ''Street Fighter'' game produced ...
'' had a broader appeal and captured the audience drawn to
SNK
is a Japanese video gaming and interactive entertainment company. It was founded in 1978 as
by Eikichi Kawasaki and began by developing arcade games. SNK is known for its Neo Geo arcade system on which the company established many franchises ...
fighters.
[
His first director job was on another fighter, '' Star Gladiator'', a project he entered halfway through to fulfill a desire: "at the time I wanted to make that kind of game with a large scale cabinet, because Capcom had never done anything like that before. That's why I joined the company". Due to visual effects and hardware constraints, that game runs at 30 ]frames per second
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (co ...
, to Itsuno's chagrin: "At 30fps, I feel you can't have a real competitive fighting game, so I wanted to make a linear fighting game with 60fps in mind". Driven to make a 60fps polygon-based fighting game, he conceived an original project with wide appeal—driven so partly by a more story-heavy approach and the inclusion of role-playing elements—which became '' Rival Schools: United By Fate''.[
Most of Itsuno's output for the first nine years of his career was fighting games, both in 2D and 3D, as either director or designer. As the genre and the arcade market declined, he worked on console games of various genres, within both positions he'd been in before: '' One Piece Mansion'', '' GioGio's Bizarre Adventure'' and '']Auto Modellista
is a racing game developed and published by Capcom, first released on PlayStation 2, later ported to GameCube and Xbox.
Description
''Auto Modellista'' distinguished itself from other games of the same genre with cel-shaded graphics, which gav ...
''.
''Devil May Cry'' series
After Itsuno had finished work on '' Capcom vs. SNK 2'', he started conceiving a role-playing video game
Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...
. Since he appeared to be "idle", his boss ordered him to work on '' Devil May Cry 2''. Itsuno was asked to "reorganize the project" in a supplementary role, which effectively meant taking over leadership, as upper management saw it as director-less. In exchange, he would go uncredited, but ended up the only director listed in the final version of the game. Most of Team Devil (the staff on that title) had not worked on ''Devil May Cry
is a science fantasy action-adventure game franchise created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante (Devil May Cry), Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invas ...
'' and lacked experience in 3D action-adventure games, which resulted in a production severely behind schedule with six months left on the deadline. Itsuno accomplished the request, but was dissatisfied with his level of involvement and the final product's quality.
He didn't want ''Devil May Cry 2'' to be his legacy within the series, so before development had wrapped, Itsuno asked his higher-ups for '' Devil May Cry 3'', with himself as director from the start of the project. He rallied Team Devil to stay for it; some members shared his sentiment, with many wanting to work with what they learned making ''Devil May Cry 2''. Gameplay elements such as the size of environments and the game's battle engine were reconsidered, and common criticisms such as decreases to Dante's cockiness and the game's difficulty were brought back in line with the first game. These changes were met with praise and the game was very well-received.
Itsuno returned to direct '' Devil May Cry 4''. He stated that the visual design sought to deliver a satisfying sensation of floating in the air, and that the actions of Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
's Devil Bringer could not be done on contemporary generation consoles, necessitating a new generation of consoles such as the PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
. Devil May Cry 4 (2008) was met with both commercial and critical success.
The next game in the series, '' DmC: Devil May Cry,'' was developed by British developer Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory Limited is a first-party British video game developer for Xbox Game Studios based in Cambridge, England. Notable games it has developed include '' Kung Fu Chaos'', '' Heavenly Sword'', '' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'', '' DmC: ...
; Itsuno was the supervising director on that project. When discussing this decision, Itsuno said: "With ''DmC'' this time, we wanted to avoid the problem that befalls some series where you keep making it with the same team, same hardware, and it tends to decrease and fans move away from it... We don’t want the series to die." The development team included over ninety members, several of whom were from Capcom. Alex Jones and Motohide Eshiro acted as producers, aiming to help Ninja Theory make ''DmC'' play like the previous ''Devil May Cry'' games. '' Devil May Cry 5'', was released in 2019.
''Dragon's Dogma''
Itsuno later directed '' Dragon's Dogma.'' During the press conference at Capcom's Captivate event in 2011, he called it a game he had been dreaming of making since his school days, which could be finally realized due to technological advancements. At the time of the press conference, he had been directing a staff of 150 people at Capcom Japan for three years of concept and project development. In the process, the team developed techniques that allow the feel of playing in 60fps on a 30fps game.
Itsuno stated that his team had "come up to this point through our experience of action games. We're trying to make a new genre: We're using our action heritage and putting that into an action RPG." He cited the influence of Capcom's previous works (such as '' Breath of Fire'', ''Resident Evil
''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...
'', ''Devil May Cry'', and ''Monster Hunter
is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games, beginning with first installment '' Monster Hunter'' for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of pl ...
''), other Eastern RPGs such as ''Dragon Quest
previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing video games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii (Armor Project), character designer Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio), and composer Koi ...
,'' and Western RPGs such as ''Fable
Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...
'' and '' Oblivion''. Itsuno later explained that they had "seen a great deal of open-world action RPGs over the years, ut neverone that really put everything together in the action parts. We figured that if there hasn't been a game made by people who understand how action works, then we ought to do it ourselves. We wanted a game where the player is thrown into the world and needs to figure out how to stay alive via nothing but his own controller".
However, the game was designed to allow players to take a less action-oriented approach, with Itsuno stating that they " adethis game such that you can beat the monsters even if you build up EXP, collect good companions and/or pawns, and sit back and watch the battle unfold." He elaborated that while it is an action game, "that's not all that it is. You can fully configure your party and put as much thought as you like into battle, which is something we're doing for people who really want to get into this world".[
Initially, ''Dragon's Dogma'' was intended to be a Western fantasy game. In March 2012, Itsuno said he hoped the game would sell 10 million copies worldwide and one million in Japan. It was successful upon release, prompting Capcom to begin development on a sequel.] Itsuno reports that the team was only able to accomplish 60-70% of what they had wanted to in the first game, and hope to include those ideas in the sequel.
Itsuno would return to direct the sequel '' Dragon's Dogma 2'', which released in 2024.
Future
In 2012, Itsuno hinted that the '' Rival Schools'' and '' Capcom vs. SNK'' series may see a revival. The former series was once again hinted in the next year alongside the possibility of a new ''Devil May Cry'' entry. Itsuno has also expressed interest in developing a fighting game that would recreate the influence ''Street Fighter II
is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...
'' had on the genre.
Departure from Capcom
On August 31, 2024, Itsuno announced on his Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
that he was leaving Capcom after working at the company for 30 years and 5 months. He stated he was planning to start development of a new game in a new environment.
LightSpeed Japan Studio
On November 12, 2024, Hideaki Itsuno joined LightSpeed Studios. Itsuno now leads LightSpeed Japan Studio, which operates in Tokyo and Osaka, focusing on developing original AAA action games.
Works
References
;Notes
;Citations
;Bibliography
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Itsuno, Hideaki
1971 births
Capcom people
Japanese video game designers
Japanese video game directors
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)