Shutaro Ida has handed away aged 52 after a one-and-a-half 12 months battle in opposition to pancreatic most cancers. The information was introduced by his household by way of an announcement on Ida’s official X account on February 15. Longtime colleague Koji Igarashi has vowed to complete the designer and director’s upcoming metroidvania Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement, the sequel to 2019’s Castlevania-infused Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night time.
Shutaro Ida (generally romanized as Shutaro Iida) labored at Konami from 1996 to 2015, primarily as a programmer. His largest contribution was to the Castlevania collection. Beginning with the GBA title Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and PS2 sport Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, Ida performed a key position in bringing the gothic motion video games into the sixth and seventh console generations, even directing Castlevania: Concord of Despair on Xbox 360 and PS3. He was additionally a lead programmer on Steel Gear Strong V: Floor Zeroes and The Phantom Ache.
Upon the invitation of former Castlevania collection producer Koji “Iga” Igarashi, Ida joined ArtPlay, the indie dev firm Igarashi co-founded. There, Ida designed and directed the crowdfunded sport Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night time, with Igarashi as producer. The sport was well-received, and broadly seen as a non secular successor to the Castlevania collection. In our overview, we gave it 8.8, noting it “performs and feels virtually precisely just like the legendary Castlevania: Symphony of the Night time.”
Reflecting upon 20 years of creating video games with Ida, Igarashi famous in his tribute: “I’ve been working with him ever since Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. It’s not an exaggeration to say that many video games hailed as masterpieces wouldn’t have succeeded with out his contributions. His expertise was distinctive.”
“I really feel that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night time’s success was additionally in a big half right down to his unimaginable help,” Igarashi continued. “Trying again, he’s been supporting me for over 20 years. He was the form of one who at all times considered video games, tackling sport growth like he was burning his life away. I hope he can relaxation peacefully now as he was at all times working at full throttle.”
Ida’s remaining sport, Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement continues to be in growth and is due out later this 12 months. Igarashi described it as a useful work that Ida poured himself into. “We’ll tackle his aspirations for the sport and see that it’s correctly accomplished, in order to not disappoint him.”
Ida final tweeted again on January 30, saying that he felt the tip was close to as he was getting weaker every day. He completed with a easy request: “Please love Bloodstained 2 and all of the video games I made.”
The assertion from Ida’s household echoed this sentiment: “Shutaro’s adventures on this world have come to an finish, however his creations stay. We’d be glad if folks may proceed to benefit from the video games he made.”
Picture credit score: Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement YouTube channel.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance author who beforehand served as editor, contributor and translator for the sport information website Automaton West. She has additionally written about Japanese tradition and films for varied publications.
