While it might be vastly different from Skyrim, which was released a year before and gave many the impression that that’s what an open-world RPG should be like, Dragon’s Dogma was intentionally weird. And it’s a title that’s a diamond in the rough. And instead of relying on an online coop, you get AI companions who are intentionally flawed to simulate playing with other players. With gameplay that allowed players to mix and match the styles they liked. Who would imagine that a team whose expertise lies in fighting games with responsive gameplay that can entertain for hundreds of hours could make a fun and focused single-player experience? Devil May Cry 3 was just as cool as its protagonist Dante and was so successful that a sequel for the upcoming next generation of consoles was ordered. And it is a bar that only a few titles reach. Say what you want about Devil May Cry 3, but even 16 years after its initial release, it still is the bar of quality any action game should strive for. So Itsuno and his team requested the Capcom higher-ups to greenlight a prequel to the original Devil May Cry instead so they could redeem themselves in the eyes of the fans.Īnd oh man did they ever. They shipped, but it left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. And while the original Devil May Cry was well received, Devil May Cry 2 couldn’t follow up on that success because the team focused on the aspects they thought defined Devil May Cry and not what fans ended up loving.īut six months before release, Hideaki Itsuno was brought on to bring the game to a shippable state. Their expertise was solely in arcade games. But to cut it short, the team working on it was mostly composed of developers who had never worked on console games before.
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Now, the story of Devil May Cry 2’s development is a very complicated one. Devil May Cry 2 was greenlit for development before the development of the first game had concluded. Instead, he was brought on to fix the sequel to Hideki Kamiya’s Devil May Cry. An RPG based on his love for Dungeons&Dragons and the ideas for that game would be taken by other staff at Capcom and birth the insanely successful Monster Hunter franchise. You see, initially, Itsuno was about to work on his dream game. SNK.īut fate would have it that Itsuno would find himself trying to fix a mess that would end up cementing his legacy. After that, Itsuno became one of Capcom’s go-to directors/planners for fighting games and was responsible for some all-time classics like the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fighting game and Capcom vs. And it’s impressive that just a year into the business, Itsuno got to work on one of Capcom’s crown jewels.
In Japanese game development, a planner wears a lot of hats, from calling the shots on design decisions all the way to team management. Mro really got his start as a planner on the Street Fighter prequel, Street Fighter Alpha.
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The revelation that Itsuno got his starting in fighting games also explains why the man’s focus is on smooth gameplay. He joined Capcom in 1994 because he was of fighting games and it was just an easy commute, even though he was more a fan of Capcom’s rival in fighting games SNK.
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Not only has he been one of the cornerstones of Capcom for over 30 years, and his name is on some of the greatest action titles in all gaming. Hideaki Itsuno is a certified legend and hero of the industry. ESTNN wants to congratulate and pay tribute to one of the best video game directors in the world. On August 25, 2022, Capcom mainstay and absolute Legend Hideaki Itsuno is 52 years old.