Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the creator of the “Double Dragon” and “River Metropolis (Kunokun)” sequence, has handed away on the age of 64.
This was confirmed by his son Takabo Kishimoto on a number of social media channels.
“That is Yoshihisa Kishimoto’s son,” he wrote on Fb. “It’s with nice disappointment that my father handed away on April 2, 2026. We hope that you’ll proceed to patronize Kuno-kun and my father’s works. Thanks in your continued help.”
On Twitter/X, he wrote, “I am sorry I could not reply, however thanks for all of the heartfelt messages of recollections. I am actually completely satisfied to know that there are individuals all around the world who’ve deeply performed the Kunio-kun sequence and perceive my father higher than I do. I hope you proceed to get pleasure from my father’s works with a smile.”
Mr. Kishimoto is a widely known determine within the business, beginning his profession growing laserdisc video games at Information East and finally becoming a member of a number of colleagues at Technos. There he turned identified for his work on a lot of preventing video games through the years, notably Double Dragon and the Kunio-kun sequence, identified within the West as River Metropolis. His early work was based mostly partly on heartbreak he skilled as a scholar and on Bruce Lee’s martial arts movies reminiscent of “Enter Your Dragon”. From there, in 1986, he created the primary sport within the River Metropolis sequence, Nekketsu KΕha Kunio-kun, or the worldwide title Renegade. Along with his staff at Technos Japan, he created quite a few sequels for arcades and finally video games for NES, SNES, and PlayStation.
Kishimoto finally stop Technos, pissed off by his want to work on titles outdoors of the identical sequence time and again, and by the truth that the studio was spending much less and fewer cash on sport growth. Since then, he has been independently creating authentic work beneath the identify “Plophet” and consulting on different video games. His most up-to-date work was 2017’s Double Dragon IV, which he directed, revealed by Arc System Works after being licensed by Technos, however he has additionally collaborated and consulted on more moderen River Metropolis video games.
Takabo Kishimoto mentioned that his father’s personal funeral might be held tomorrow.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at videogameaddicted. Do you’ve gotten any story suggestions? Ship it to rvalentine@videogameaddicted.com.