Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the creator of the Double Dragon and River Metropolis (Kuno-kun) franchises, has died at the age of 64.
This was confirmed by his son, Ryūbō Kishimoto, on a number of social media channels.
“That is the son of Yoshihisa Kishimoto,” he wrote on Facebook. “I’m sorry to tell you that my father has handed to relaxation on 04/02/2026… I hope you’ll proceed to get pleasure from my father’s works, together with Kuno-kun. Thanks.”
In a follow-up publish on Twitter/X, he continued, “I am sorry for not having the ability to reply, however thanks very a lot for the numerous heartfelt reminiscence messages. I am really delighted to be taught that there are individuals around the globe who’ve performed the Kunio-kun collection extensively and perceive my father much more deeply than I do. Please proceed to get pleasure from my father’s works with a smile sooner or later.”
Kishimoto is an trade luminary, starting his profession at Information East engaged on laserdisc video games, and ultimately becoming a member of a number of colleagues at Technōs. There, he turned identified for his work on quite a few beat-em-ups over time, particularly Double Dragon and the Kunio-kun collection, which was identified within the West as River Metropolis. His early work was based in part on a breakup he went by means of throughout his faculty years, in addition to Bruce Lee’s martial arts movies reminiscent of Enter the Dragon. It was from this that in 1986 he created Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, or Renegade because it was titled internationally, the primary sport within the River Metropolis franchise. Together with his workforce at Technōs Japan, he went on to create quite a few sequels for arcades and, ultimately, video games for the NES, SNES, and PlayStation.
Kishimoto ultimately left Technōs, citing a desire to work on something other than the same franchises over and over, in addition to frustration that the studio was spending much less and much less cash on sport growth. Within the years since, he labored independently beneath the title “Plophet”, making his personal unique work in addition to consulting on different video games. His most up-to-date work was as director on Double Dragon IV in 2017, which was printed by Arc System Works after it acquired the license from Technōs, although he additionally collaborated and consulted on newer River Metropolis video games.
Ryūbō Kishimoto said {that a} non-public funeral for his father would happen tomorrow.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.