When I recently found myself with a little free time wandering the streets of Tokyo, I gave some ex-Team NINJA members a call to see what they were up to. After all, what Tomonobu Itagaki and his loyal band of producers, designers, programmers, and artists most recent projct has been a mystery since the last time I interviewed him, back in July of last year. Some obvious questions were on my mind, like, "Is Itagaki working on a new game?" "Is it for Xbox 360 or has he moved on to other platforms?" "Does he have a new team, and, if so, what is it called?"
Within a couple of hours I secure both Itagaki and former Team NINJA art director, Hiroaki Matsui (together they were the creative force behind the Dead or Alive franchise and the current Ninja Gaiden revival). Matsui, who knows some English, has a fine appreciation for classic British and American heavy metal music, and (after he's had a few shots and starts singing classic rock songs at karaoke) reminds me of a Japanese Ronnie James Dio. He asks me to meet him and Itagaki at a bar near Waseda University (Itagaki's alma mater). Upon entering the dimly lit bar, I immediately spot Matsui, but also notice that Katsunori Ehara and Yoshifuru Okamoto were drinking there too. Ehara is Itagaki's right-hand man in charge of game design, and Okamoto (the producer on Ninja Gaiden 2) is second-in-command under Itagaki. Itagaki, on the other hand, is nowhere to be found. Yet. I figure he'd eventually roll in, like he usually does.

1UP: Hey, Matsui-san. Hey, guys. Good to see you. How are you doing?


Hiroaki Matsui: Never been better.

1UP: I'm guessing you didn't stick around for the Tecmo/Koei merger.


HM: Tecmo? Tecmo was a long time ago. I actually quit last July. I wanted to get into an environment where I can really concentrate on making games I like. So we made our own company to do just that.

1UP: Then the rumors were true. How many of you are in the new company?


HM: Just counting the guys who used to be in Team NINJA, we have enough people to make an American football team. In fact we can make an entire offensive team and a defensive team. [Laughs]
1UP: Which means you have at least 22 people. I see Ehara and Okamoto are here; I assume you guys are in this new company as well?


Katsunori Ehara: Yeah, that's right. It's just like Matsui said. We already did all of the things we could do at Tecmo. Now we want to make the best game with just the best people.

Yoshifuru Okamoto: We're making a groundbreaking all-new title right now. We gathered together a team of really skilled individuals, so we're going to bring out something amazing.

1UP: Can you tell me who else from Team NINJA is in your new company now?


HM: Well, I can give you a list, but it's probably faster to just tell you that we got all of the leads and directors and such.

1UP: All of them?


HM: Well, you see Okamoto, the producer here, and Ehara and me, the directors. We got Maeda and Sasaki, the engineering leads. These guys are amazing, they put together a brand new game engine in less than a year.

1UP: Does that mean you're coming up with a brand new title?


KE: That's right. That's why we made an entirely new company.

HM: We also got Motosa, the animation lead. He worked with me to create the high quality and quantity of animations in Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden. This guy is young, but he's good.

YO: We're also working with Onishi, the cinematics lead.

HM: He was in charge of all of the cut-scenes in Ninja Gaiden. He's also always been my right-hand man. We also have Inamori, the audio lead, and the guys from the level design team.

1UP: So that's really almost all of the core staff behind Ninja Gaiden 2. You pulled together quite a roster.


HM: We also have a team of young but skilled engineers working in a new environment and putting together something completely new. We have the young programmer who realized Itagaki-san's new ideas on Ninja Gaiden DS, along with a whole team of other great programmers.
1UP: I take it that's what it would take to create a game engine from scratch in under a year.


HM: Same goes for animation, environmental art and character art. We really have the cream of the crop here, the best of the best. That's the philosophy behind our new company. That's why we have people from not just Tecmo, but from other places as well.

1UP: Really? Like who else?


HM: For starters, the superb art director who led the character design efforts for Virtua Fighter 5 is also on our team. He supervised the modeling for all the characters. We also have the guy who did the modeling for Akira, Kage, and the Lucha Libre character.

1UP: That's pretty cool. How many people do you have total?


HM: Well, I just told you that we can make a football team from just the guys from Team Ninja. But if we add the other guys, let's just say we can actually play a football game.

1UP: That's like, what, 44 people or more? That's a pretty big team.


HM: We might even be able to set up a special team on top of the offense and defense. [Laughs]

1UP: Can you tell me the name of your new development team?


HM: We're planning on an official release sometime in the near future, but I'm going to call ourselves the "Tokyo Vikings" for now. [Laughs]
[From our left, a voice interrupts the conversation...] "Hey, sorry to be late." And finally the familiar face of Itagaki shows itself, wearing his sunglasses as usual, even at night in this dark bar.

HM: You're late, Itagaki-san!

Tomonobu Itagaki: Sorry, sorry. The photo shoot took too long.

1UP: Hey Itagaki, good to see you. I heard rumors that you're a photographer now, but what is it that you really do?

TI: Hey, relax. Let me get some alcohol in my system.
[Editor's note: there's this Japanese ritual, the "Kaketsuke Sanbai," in which the rules are: If you're late to a party, the first thing you do is drink three shots. It's a drinking game designed to punish latecomers, but if you knew how much alcohol Itagaki could cram into his body, you'd realize this wasn't such a big deal. Itagaki totally overshot the rule and consumed several glasses of whiskey on the rocks before breaking out the news.]

TI: I have my own production studio now. So I'm a photographer, and a scale model designer, and a couple of other things. Scale models these days are really accurate, so I bought new glasses for the smaller stuff. [Laughs]

KE: Model trains, right? Are those new glasses tinted as well?

TI: Haha, very funny. [Laughs] Those glasses are for pinpoint accuracy, it has special lenses that boost my vision within two meters to 20/10.

1UP: Hey, I didn't come all the way to Tokyo to listen to you talk about your new glasses. The fact that you're here means you're on Matsui's football team, right?


TI: Haha, I said calm down. And I drink here all the time. It's near my alma mater, Waseda University.
1UP: I know. When Matsui told me to come to this bar, I knew you would show up as well, since this is your favorite spot.


TI: The guys here have been my comrades since the first Dead or Alive; my right-hand men, so to speak. I love drinking with them.

KE: What were you shooting today?

HM: Trains, no? [Laughs]

YO: Nah, ladies in bikinis, I'm sure. [Laughs]

TI: If only. [Laughs] It's a portrait picture of a new jazz artist who's debuting soon. It's going to be on the cover of the CD.

1UP: Well, as much as I'm enjoying learning about your new photographic ventures, I have to ask you this, on behalf of the gaming community. Are you still making games?


TI: What else would I do?

1UP: I don't know, that's why I'm asking. [Laughs]


TI: Game making is my true calling. I'm aware that I have fans all around the world waiting for me. The rest I leave up to your imagination.

1UP: I was told a few minutes ago that a couple guys who worked on Virtua Fighter 5 joined your team. Is this new game a fighting game?


HM: [Bursts out laughing] No, no that would be impossible.

KE: Yeah, we did all what we can do for a fighting game. We have no more reasons to make another fighting game.

TI: It'd be more fun if we made something new, right?

1UP: Given your past history, can I assume that you're developing something exclusively for Xbox 360? If so, is it because of the hardware's power, or because of its bigger-than-PS3 user base?


TI: I'm trying to be flexible in that respect, but I do feel that the Xbox 360 still has a lot of potential that I haven't been able to play with yet. I also have many good friends [at Microsoft's Xbox team] too, and being in a comfortable environment is best.

1UP: Have you heard how Koei president, Kenji Matsubara, has stated that, "There's no possibility of Tomonobu Itagaki being employed with us?" How do you feel about this? I can't imagine you'd want to have to work on one of this year's fifteen Dynasty Warriors games, so I'm imagining you don't care in the least.


TI: I have nothing but total respect for [Koei founder, Yoichi] Erikawa-san, who created all of the historical war simulation games, but who is this Matsubara guy anyway? Were we talking about dynasties? Unfortunately, I have absolutely no interest in the Dynasty Warrior franchise. In fact, I prefer that old American TV show, Dynasty. I used to watch it when I was a student.
1UP: I thought it was pointless of him to say that; it was obvious to everyone but him that you would never want to work for that company.


TI: The thought never even crossed my mind. I couldn't care less what he says. [Laughs]

1UP: Could you give me a year when you plan for your next game to be complete?


TI: Rule of thumb; never rush a game. You know, that, right?

1UP: How do you feel about the plans for Yosuke Hayashi and the abilities of the remaining Team NINJA at the newly merged KoeiTecmo to continue both the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises? Do you think they're up to the task?


TI: I believe I created a certain era in Tecmo's history, and I hold pride in that fact. So, if I were to speak negatively of Tecmo, it would be the same as me disrespecting myself. They should strive to do their best, that's all.

1UP: Assuming you're going to save the details of your game for the official unveiling, can you tell me what your plans are for the future?


TI: Well, I'm going to E3 next month, for sure.

YO: E3? Not Vegas? [Laughs]

TI: [Bursts out laughing] Both.

1UP: I'm guessing you're not concerned with the swine flu scare like most of the Japanese developers then, eh? Although, considering how you manage to survive exclusively on a diet of whiskey, coffee, cigarettes, and red meat, I doubt there's anything that can kill you.


TI: I would be surprised if the virus had the guts to get in my way. [Laughs] In terms of floating particles, I'm more annoyed by the dust that gets on my Digital SLR imager.

1UP: Are you going public with your new game at E3?


TI: No, no. It's too early. I wouldn't mind having a photo exhibition, though. [Laughs] Anyway, I feel it's my duty to make the best game possible to deliver to my fans. So I don't intend to stay out of the game for too long. To any of my fans reading this, if you see me at E3, feel free to say hi.