Call me ungrateful

[Legendary Goken]

Fans are celebrating because people know the truth. Dead or Alive 5 went through many hurdles trying to become good. When vanilla first came out, it was okay, not great. Bland to say the least. Until Team Ninja partnered up with Sega for Ultimate and gave it some underlying fighting game mechanics, showing how it's done, and then Shimbori learned a little on how to construct fighting games for Last Round. Just a little bit though, enough to know how to milk the cash cow a little more. And then obviously the major fail in DOA6.

But it's no surprise to me that he's left. He's not a good lead designer, and he was never good to begin with. I'm sorry, but that's the truth, and he knows it too. He was just given a position based on some weird Japanese politics (out of respect) or what have you, and he tried his best, but couldn't cut it.

There are people who like making games, and there are people who are passionate about making games. He was just someone who liked making games, just as a job, not something he wanted to dive head first. You could see it in his words and body language.

You get someone who is crazy about fighting games, who will draw out every last idea on paper and present in an appropriately coloured package. Someone who is excited and eager to make sure every last detail of his vision is complete. A designer who understands what cool is as part of the fighting game community, not as a title designer found on a resume.

Don't get someone who's a perv, who will relentlessly go in that direction over and over. It doesn't pay off in the end. That pervy shit needs to go, no matter how many "fan" letters you get saying "Make them bigger!" Those are not real fans. They're bullshitters trying to fuck up the game.

 

[deathofaninja]

I think you are using bitterness and resentment to hide the facts that you are upset about the future of the series.

It’s not right to blame him for everything and his credentials go far beyond DOA5 and DOA6 so to say he was never good is quite belittling and rude.

You can say the fans that like that stuff are in the wrong and have done no good but they served their purpose to the game with their wallets. Competitors showed up and kept DOA5 at tournaments for a very long time. I would argue both of these types of supporters are far more valuable than you getting on your soap box and not offering anything to the betterment of the series or the community.

To be completely honest there is not one current 3D fighter that I enjoy. They are all kind of doing the break blow thing IMO.

DOA5 was my favorite because I felt like it was the sweet spot that Team NINJA (and all of us) were looking for out of a gameplay experience. DOA6 was a game that in my opinion was not as bad as everyone tries to say, but was not moving the series forward either. It’s really that simple.

 

[Legendary Goken]

I think you think I'm trying to belittle him because you want to believe that everyone was on the same page and all the mistakes was happening by chance. I'm not someone who turns a blind eye on the situations that happen behind the scenes just because I appreciate something. If I think there was a problem with something or someone I'm going to say it. I'm not saying he's a bad guy. He could have been the nicest guy in the world. That's probably what got him the job in the first place. Because he was probably respectful to his superiors in the right situations. But that doesn't mean he was good at his job. And yeah, I'm glad he's gone, not because of him personally, but because I would like someone to know what he's doing to have the job.

I know I wouldn't like to be in a team if I thought I could make a better game than my lead designer. That's not the position you want your lead designer to be. You want to say to yourself, "Dang, that guy really knows what he's doing. I don't know where he gets his ideas, but pretty much every game he's worked on, especially this flagship title has been gold."

It becomes a little hard to support the game to which you don't like any more because of the people that led it there. But I've initiated and put out so many ideas on many threads. But some have been removed it seems. I speak to anyone I get in touch with to get my message across, I don't just sit and hope for the best. There's a reason why it wasn't going forward, and I'm not afraid to speak about it.


Edit: No. There is a separate community of fans, there is people who like the fighting system, and then there are pervs who just like to jerk off to the game, and write insanely consistent letters to the devs asking to up the perviness. You make a good game and the fans will like it, you don't make a good game, and the fans won't like it. There's no denying it. But the real fans here have been drastically trying to reach to the devs for years and pretty much begging them to make the game in certain ways because they've played thousands of hours and know what they're talking about. But instead the devs are just shaking their heads in denial to us while sipping their piña coladas in a beach somewhere, and nodding the heads in agreement at the pervs who upped their sales, celebrating their short-lived mediocre cash grabs and telling us, the real fans "We're trying to adhere to everyone's wishes in most economical way possible." Meaning basically doing nothing but making more revealing costumes.

It's a sham, and it's a shame.

 

[KasumiLover]

I don't think it's right to blame everything on Shimbori, he made mistakes but that doesn't mean roast him in a fire. At this point I think topics and threads like this are kinda redundant, we get DOA6 wasn't good and we want better, I feel like I've seen this said multiple times but people still play the game that complain

As far as the sex appeal that's always been apart of DOA, it's not going to suddenly change since it's actually a large bulk of Japanese casuals and other regional players who buy the content and keep the game afloat revenue wise even if they just fap to the game and play for the sex appeal. I think for now one should just wait and see what happens, making threads and such isn't gonna do anything especially if it's all just the same thing every time

 

[deathofaninja]

The people I have seen throwing shade at Shimbori are typically the people that don’t support the game anyway.

You are basically saying that if the fan base likes something they shouldn’t continue to get it even though it was with the game sense it started. SC and other fighters do the saaaaaaame damn thing so IMO you don’t even have an argument.

The fact that you would take any time at all out of your day to insult him isn’t doing any of us any favors.

 

[Legendary Goken]

Obviously you guys will jump through hoops talking positivity about the people who were involved. Or else you wouldn't be on this site almost every day supporting a dead game. Sorry, but I'm not gonna pat someone on the back just because they served their time.

Shimbori was the director and producer. He was the guy responsible and no one else. If I was a head of a company and I saw a leader in one of my subdivisions mess up a flagship game, I would probably ask him to step down.

There's a lot of respect and honor involved the Japanese society. They walk on eggshells all day long with the amount of respect they give each other. Even if you fuck up a game they'll still give you the benefit of the doubt as a human being because you showed respect to your superiors all along the way. They're very hierarchical. Which is fucking bullshit if you ask me, because you should never judge a man based on the amount of respect he shows, but how hard working he is. This is another example of how backwards everything is in Japan.

 

[Onryoki]

Where is he blaming Shimbori for everything though? Sometimes it takes a reread or 2 to find out what someone is saying. He just says that Shimbori in his opinion wasn’t good at his job, that he was also a bit of a perv and that he wants someone that’s actually passionate about DOA to work on the game.

Goken also feels like the devs listened more to the fanservice jerk off community aka people like in the DOAX thread.

Obviously you guys will jump through hoops talking positivity about the people who were involved. Or else you wouldn't be on this site almost every day supporting a dead game. Sorry, but I'm not gonna pat someone on the back just because they served their time.

Shimbori was the director and producer. He was the guy responsible and no one else. If I was a head of a company and I saw a leader in one of my subdivisions mess up a flagship game, I would probably ask him to step down.

There's a lot of respect and honor involved the Japanese society. They walk on eggshells all day long with the amount of respect they give each other. Even if you fuck up a game they'll still give you the benefit of the doubt as a human being because you showed respect to your superiors all along the way. They're very hierarchical. Which is fucking bullshit if you ask me, because you should never judge a man based on the amount of respect he shows, but how hard working he is. This is another example of how backwards everything is in Japan.

Babe, that’s not entirely true. Even though Shimbori was the director and producer, some stuff was still outside of his power. The publishers also play a huge part in this. The reason 6 was a cash grab and was so limited at launch, was because the publishers were being greedy and didn’t give TN enough budget. So they had to outsource the game and sell these cheap copy paste costumes to gain some cash for nee improvements.

Something I can blame Shimbori for is the mechanics and how he wanted to create something new without listening to the competitive community.

 

[Project Bokuho]

You also have to Blame Nakamura, who HATED the competitive community (all because of a chick). Ask Rikuto for the whole story.

 

[deathofaninja]

Where is he blaming Shimbori for everything though? Sometimes it takes a reread or 2 to find out what someone is saying. He just says that Shimbori in his opinion wasn’t good at his job, that he was also a bit of a perv and that he wants someone that’s actually passionate about DOA to work on the game.

Goken also feels like the devs listened more to the fanservice jerk off community aka people like in the DOAX thread.

Babe, that’s not entirely true. Even though Shimbori was the director and producer, some stuff was still outside of his power. The publishers also play a huge part in this. The reason 6 was a cash grab and was so limited at launch, was because the publishers were being greedy and didn’t give TN enough budget. So they had to outsource the game and sell these cheap copy paste costumes to gain some cash for nee improvements.

Something I can blame Shimbori for is the mechanics and how he wanted to create something new without listening to the competitive community.

Right well let’s see how passionate he really was when you don’t see a DOA game again. If it wasn’t Shimbori more than likely DOA5 wouldn’t have happened.

Like I’ve always said the EVO Japan thing was on him, no question. Everything else: blame KT. They saw an opportunity he caved into it because he had no choice. Was he given an outstanding budget or a big enough team to work with? Hell no, but he made another game anyway because he saw the passion and how hard the community worked. Maybe he thought DOA6 would be a hit - IDFK.

I was honestly going to write a simple appreciation post for this man on the news page, but I waited to see how people would react and I highly don’t want to do it. Yet another way for ungrateful fans to dismantle his great work over the period of his career. I don’t care to see anymore of that bs. I can’t publicly dismantle someone like that for one slightly below average game.

Every fighting game franchise has a game that didn’t pan out well with the fans. This includes Mortal Kombat (which in my opinion has never been good, and so ugly, gross and violent I would take big bare tits in my face any day of the week), Tekken, Soul Calibur, BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, King of Fighters.

But for Goken to say he was never good to begin with is absolute bullshit. It’s a stupid and highly subjective opinion and I will not listen to it.

 

[Onryoki]

Right well let’s see how passionate he really was when you don’t see a DOA game again. If it wasn’t Shimbori more than likely DOA5 wouldn’t have happened.

Like I’ve always said the EVO Japan thing was on him, no question. Everything else: blame KT. They saw an opportunity he caved into it because he had no choice. Was he given an outstanding budget or a big enough team to work with? Hell no, but he made another game anyway because he saw the passion and how hard the community worked. Maybe he thought DOA6 would be a hit - IDFK.

I was honestly going to write a simple appreciation post for this man on the news page, but I waited to see how people would react and I highly don’t want to do it. Yet another way for ungrateful fans to dismantle his great work over the period of his career. I don’t care to see anymore of that bs. I can’t publicly dismantle someone like that for one slightly below average game.

Every fighting game franchise has a game that didn’t pan out well with the fans. This includes Mortal Kombat (which in my opinion has never been good, and so ugly, gross and violent I would take big bare tits in my face any day of the week), Tekken, Soul Calibur, BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, King of Fighters.

But for Goken to say he was never good to begin with is absolute bullshit. It’s a stupid and highly subjective opinion and I will not listen to it.

Well I never denied it was his opinion, nor does he himself deny it. I mean personally I changed my opinion on Shimbori after reading some posts of other members. I appreciate his work until DOA5U, after DOA5U/LR I can’t really thank him besides the fact that he continued with the series. You can’t blame KT for everything as well. KT didn’t say we want x type of mechanic in DOA’s gameplay. That’s all Shimbori and his team at TN.

 

[Uberprinny]

Here is another thing. People any fighting game community brands you being a hater when you are critique. You should have been there in the steam forums for doa 6 day one. Everyone is pushing for the fanservice shit and only a handful of us are just saying that it can be better if the game is focused on gameplay and features in the steam forums. It was really ugly.

Legendary Goken is right. I wish fighting game devs should put some love into the games they produce. Nowadays devs are just trying to come up with ways to milk us for money. Like selling old characters from previous iterations of the franchise as "new" dlc characters. Also I have a score to settle with your Genfu Legenadry Goken! DM me if you wanna have a match for old time sake.

 

[Legendary Goken]

Don't think Shimbori was a catalyst to the DOA franchise. The DOA series was a very successful before Shimbori stepped foot into the leading position, and that was thanks to Itagaki. And Itagaki was developing DOA5, it was only halted because of Itagaki's payment issues he had with KT and later his assault charges that hammered the nail to the coffin. If Shimbori didn't step in, someone else would have, it was a flagship game.

Yeah, Shimbori was never good to begin with, and like I said before and I'll say it again, he made DOA5, which was bland, until KT signed Sega to step in and fix some of the underlying mechanics, and then Shimbori stepped in again to milk it with LR. You could even say that he never made a successful DOA game. It was only out of mercy that KT stepped in to sign Sega for a subcontract that gave DOA any kind of leverage.

You're acting like I said he didn't try his best. I'm sure he tried his best. But his tactics as a lead designer was shit.
And that's the bottom line.
He just didn't know what to do with his spendings. Instead of spending on the costumes, he should have spent it on creating characters and altering the mechanics to what us real fans really appreciate.

When friends get excited at other friends who want to beat each other at a good fighting game with cool characters and mechanics, that's how you earn money as game designer, accumulating more players who will invest with appreciation.

He didn't sit down before he made the game to say, "Okay, what do the fans really want."

Instead he sat down and said,

"Okay, what do I think DOA should be. I got it! Fighting entertainment!!!
We'll have amazing stages!
Dynamic camera angles!
Dynamic colors!!
Amazing costumes!!!
Slow motion!!!!
Amazing explosions!!!!!
And We'll Make It Easier. People Love Easy."
(After a generation and a half of Dark Souls)

"Uhh sir, what about new characters, new moves, and new mechanics?"
"Hmmm. We'll just remove some mechanics and do what we did last time, but switch the buttons around so it looks like we did something different...And characters...we're already way over our budget with my plans."
"Genius sir...pure genius..."

You don't have to like my opinion. It's just my opinion. But don't believe that just because he's a good guy and he tried his best, that makes him a good lead designer. It doesn't, and it never will.

(One day, Prinny. One day )

 

[DestructionBomb]

He's not a good lead designer, and he was never good to begin with. I'm sorry, but that's the truth, and he knows it too. He was just given a position based on some weird Japanese politics (out of respect) or what have you, and he tried his best, but couldn't cut it.

And Itagaki was developing DOA5, it was only halted because of Itagaki's payment issues he had with KT and later his assault charges that hammered the nail to the coffin. If Shimbori didn't step in, someone else would have, it was a flagship game.

To be fair, Shimbori was the "only" one who pushed for DOA though. No one else stood up. This isn't zeroes and ones. This is literally how DOA went after all these years, Itagaki was long gone after DOA4. Like what, did people expect Hayashi to do it? knowing full well he wants to avoid DOA as much as he could? granted I also dislike DOA6 (I don't even play the game competitively) but people can't be oblivious to the fact that Shimbori still in fact gave a shit about DOA after Itagaki's departure, and the only one who pushed for it with Tom Lee back on 5. If he truly didn't care, 5 wouldn't have existed. Knowing full well that any other genre out there would of been more worth it than a fighting game one if he had to choose.

The man wasn't the best sure but he had a team for it, that's precisely why you had a team to begin with to cover most of the issues and direction. This is rather ironic actually that this type of situation also applies to Itagaki as it involves the team. People think it's all sunshine and rainbows for Itagaki but that man was most definitely not the best at fighting games and made poor decisions himself, he also had his team do most of the work of the stuff he couldn't or didn't understand, but that is why you needed a team to do it. Itagaki really isn't that guy that people make him out to be as people give him far too much credit when it comes to DOA. You can literally ask Matt for some stories with that guy. Itagaki only made things happen because of his team, budget, and support from Xbox at the time. He literally said it himself on FB:

"If it wasn't for Microsoft, I don't know where I'll even be. If Microsoft reach out to me again, it will be an honor for me."

Know where Itagaki would be if it wasn't for Xbox funding and support at the time? in the same situation as Shimbori. Because people seem to forget that as long as KT exists, these types of problems will continue to exist. If Itagaki still worked for them at this time and age he too would feel the grip of KT because of the new business standards, marketing, and how games are getting more expensive, and it's one of the reasons why he stated he didn't want to go back after finally giving up on DOA postings on FB, mentioning that he can now do his own thing. Shimbori is now officially on that same boat where he can actually do "his own thing" instead of the tops breathing down his neck. Realistically, it's more of a blessing he bounced out of there.

You get someone who is crazy about fighting games, who will draw out every last idea on paper and present in an appropriately coloured package. Someone who is excited and eager to make sure every last detail of his vision is complete. A designer who understands what cool is as part of the fighting game community, not as a title designer found on a resume.

You can also get someone crazy about fighting games and still not make things happen because the company you work for doesn't want to put in the effort to draw out every last idea on paper. All Shimbori did was steer the ship, but if you are sailing on a wooden ship given by the higher ups expecting to make bank with the least amount of effort instead of a fast top notch cruiser well there you go.

People in real life can say things like "I want to become the president of this country", but do people even know the hurdles into making that happen? saying and doing it is two different things, and to make it happen relied on another entity which is nothing you can do. On top that it's a fighting game which is a relatively niche genre. Shimbori could of done something else and he wouldn't have looked back.

Yes he made poor balance decisions, but DOA6 would of actually gotten away with it if it was properly supported where they can fix that problem while keeping in the new mechanics instead of just thrown in there. Part of this solely goes beyond than just "It was definitely Shimbori without a doubt".

Until Team Ninja partnered up with Sega for Ultimate and gave it some underlying fighting game mechanics, showing how it's done, and then Shimbori learned a little on how to construct fighting games for Last Round. Just a little bit though, enough to know how to milk the cash cow a little more. And then obviously the major fail in DOA6.

Team NINJA partnered up with Sega since vanilla though, it's in the DOA5 vanilla credits. Want to know how Sega got on board? it's because Team NINJA had the budget and backing to make that happen. Sega is expensive and not a company you can just walk in and say "hey jump on in our game" without some incentive behind it. A company at the time who had very strong spirit into lending their characters to support DOA that it can be considered as a serious fighter. But that only happened because they had the support and budget for it, otherwise they wouldn't have even approached Sega.

Like I’ve always said the EVO Japan thing was on him, no question.

That wasn't Shimbori either though. This is another example that it was just KT's marketing staff.

And yeah, I'm glad he's gone, not because of him personally, but because I would like someone to know what he's doing to have the job.

Alright so Shimbori retired. Then what? Nakamura stepped up and DOA6 is still the same. Know what changed when he stepped down? nothing. You can have a bunch of people step up and it wouldn't have mattered in the end if you are not backed up for it. Team NINJA is in fact a good development team if they are properly supported as well giving them the right budget (Nioh), but if you give them crumbs then they'll work with crumbs. That's how things generally go.

Instead of breaking twigs, people need to seriously go for the root of the problem or just let these kinds of topic die already since it's sounds like people want to continuously get baited by KT for blaming one single man for DOA6's problems.

 

[Legendary Goken]

To be fair, Shimbori was the "only" one who pushed for DOA though. No one else stood up. This isn't zeroes and ones. This is literally how DOA went after all these years, Itagaki was long gone after DOA4. Like what, did people expect Hayashi to do it? knowing full well he wants to avoid DOA as much as he could? granted I also dislike DOA6 (I don't even play the game competitively) but people can't be oblivious to the fact that Shimbori still in fact gave a shit about DOA after Itagaki's departure, and the only one who pushed for it with Tom Lee back on 5. If he truly didn't care, 5 wouldn't have existed. Knowing full well that any other genre out there would of been more worth it than a fighting game one if he had to choose.

I feel like you may have skimmed over what I wrote and not read the entirety of it, because now I find myself repeating the same points I already addressed to similar statements.

Shimbori was given the position because he had interest in the franchise and most importantly because of his resume after most of the good designers left with Itagaki. It was a split decision. If he didn't do it, someone else would have. He wasn't the proprietary candidate. 5 would have still existed, because again, it was team ninjas flagship game. The company wouldn't squish a flagship game.

The man wasn't the best sure but he had a team for it, that's precisely why you had a team to begin with to cover most of the issues and direction. This is rather ironic actually that this type of situation also applies to Itagaki as it involves the team. People think it's all sunshine and rainbows for Itagaki but that man was most definitely not the best at fighting games and made poor decisions himself, he also had his team do most of the work of the stuff he couldn't or didn't understand, but that is why you needed a team to do it. Itagaki really isn't that guy that people make him out to be as people give him far too much credit when it comes to DOA. You can literally ask Matt for some stories with that guy. Itagaki only made things happen because of his team, budget, and support from Xbox at the time.

And if it wasn't for Itagaki, you wouldn't even have DOA. We wouldn't even be having this discussion if it wasn't for him. Period.

Know where Itagaki would be if it wasn't for Xbox funding and support at the time? in the same situation as Shimbori. Because people seem to forget that as long as KT exists, these types of problems will continue to exist. If Itagaki still worked for them at this time and age he too would feel the grip of KT because of the new business standards, marketing, and how games are getting more expensive, and it's one of the reasons why he stated he didn't want to go back after finally giving up on DOA postings on FB, mentioning that he can now do his own thing. Shimbori is now officially on that same boat where he can actually do "his own thing" instead of the tops breathing down his neck. Realistically, it's more of a blessing he bounced out of there.

You're assuming a lot about video game development and business models. Video game engines become easier to use as technology and programming progresses, not more difficult. But KT is a bunch of greedy cheap fucks who will give any opportunity to make more money from making a variety of cheap games, instead of focusing on making one quality game. I'll give you that.

You can also get someone crazy about fighting games and still not make things happen because the company you work for doesn't want to put in the effort to draw out every last idea on paper. All Shimbori did was steer the ship, but if you are sailing on a wooden ship given by the higher ups expecting to make bank with the least amount of effort instead of a fast top notch cruiser well there you go.

People in real life can say things like "I want to become the president of this country", but do people even know the hurdles into making that happen? saying and doing it is two different things, and to make it happen relied on another entity which is nothing you can do. On top that it's a fighting game which is a relatively niche genre. Shimbori could of done something else and he wouldn't have looked back.

That's what I'm saying, he steered the ship right into a lighthouse. It takes a lieutenant to be captain, not a sailor. You yourself can manage a DOA character that you think you're not particularly good with in your eyes better than the people who've used that character as their main from the very beginning. It's because you know how to sail with any ship because of your greater experience and understanding of how the game works.

You can make things happen if you just keep at it. Donald Trump did it and look at what an airhead he is. He's the perfect example of how any idiot can do anything if they put their mind to it. But that still doesn't mean he was a good president.

Team NINJA partnered up with Sega since vanilla though, it's in the DOA5 vanilla credits. Want to know how Sega got on board? it's because Team NINJA had the budget and backing to make that happen. Sega is expensive and not a company you can just walk in and say "hey jump on in our game" without some incentive behind it. A company at the time who had very strong spirit into lending their characters to support DOA that it can be considered as a serious fighter. But that only happened because they had the support and budget for it, otherwise they wouldn't have even approached Sega.

That was character licensing for the VF characters in vanilla. If you notice any other game who licenses a guest character, you'll see their company credited. 5U was a subcontract with Sega, they worked with the devs into building new mechanics such lowering the juggle gravity and giving the back roll stun. That was Sega's influence. Hence also showing the Sega logo on the cover of 5U. Giving DOA a taste of VF mechanics. In 5LR, Sega's subcontract was over and the back roll stun was tweaked so it wouldn't look like the same one in 5U. No longer showing Sega's logo on the front cover. The direction download conversion of the 5U mechanics to LR shows how much of an overwrite TN wanted LR to be. They wanted any visible influence of Sega's 5U mechanics to be ridden due to their contracting agreements.

Alright so Shimbori retired. Then what? Nakamura stepped up and DOA6 is still the same. Know what changed when he stepped down? nothing. You can have a bunch of people step up and it wouldn't have mattered in the end if you are not backed up for it. Team NINJA is in fact a good development team if they are properly supported as well giving them the right budget (Nioh), but if you give them crumbs then they'll work with crumbs. That's how things generally go.

Instead of breaking twigs, people need to seriously go for the root of the problem or just let these kinds of topic die already since it's sounds like people want to continuously get baited by KT for blaming one single man for DOA6's problems.

And what will happen to DOA6 still remains to be seen. Shimbori's departure was a necessity for DOA's outlook and influence. Now that he's gone, the wheels will start turning again for DOA in a new direction.

Itagaki stated he could now work on his own projects in Valhalla because he was still passionate about making games, he was in his 40s at the time. Look at Shimbori, retired in his 40s...

Anyway DB, I know you and I can go back and forth beating this dead horse, but I've pretty much said everything I needed to say.

 

[DestructionBomb]

If he didn't do it, someone else would have. He wasn't the proprietary candidate. 5 would have still existed, because again, it was team ninjas flagship game. The company wouldn't squish a flagship game.

And once again, no one stood up. Only Shimbori did at the time. Nakamura was his right hand man and was practically handed it down to him. Nakamura is a regular DOA player that got the job out of nowhere and nothing's changed.

Shimbori’s credits on the Dead or Alive series are as follows:

Dead or Alive Ultimate (2004) – Planner
Dead or Alive 4 (2005) – Game Designer
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (2006) – Game Designer
Dead or Alive Paradise (2010) – Director
Dead or Alive Dimensions (2011) – Director
Dead or Alive 5 (2012) – Director
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (2013) – Director
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (2015) – Director
Dead or Alive 6 (2019) – Producer and Director

He was the "only" one that stood up after DOA4. And I doubt Hayashi wants to go back to DOA again.

The issue here is that no matter who steps up, if you don't have the backing and necessary budget to make that happen, what you get is what you'll get.

And if it wasn't for Itagaki, you wouldn't even have DOA. We wouldn't even be having this discussion if it wasn't for him. Period.

Without budget and support, you wouldn't have had a DOA with or without Itagaki. All that man did was create it and he even admits that, no discussion whatsoever is needed to answer that. You can't make a game with a body. To make a body, you'll need money and support. He was granted that money and made it. For all we know someone else would of made DOA or a completely different titled game and it still would of been the same outcome. For Pete's sake, Itagaki didn't even know where to begin to make a fighting game, he lucked out because of his team and his talent for action-packed shenanigans saved him, it's one of the reasons why he was more favored for NG than DOA. He had to hit up Yu Suzuki on how to make one because everybody has to start somewhere right?

The only way someone (one individual) can truly mess up a game if he was granted everything in his disposal and dropped it. Budget, time, promoting the game, every single thing you can think of, invested thousands and thousands of dollars, and then screw it all up. That is when you truly determine if it was the cause of the single man, but he wasn't even granted any of that in the first place so who's to truly blame here.

You're assuming a lot about video game development and business models.

I didn't know that doing research and compiling said research from how typical modern JPN game companies approach their games, dev time, reading interviews from different developers (specifically fighting game developers such as Harada, Ono, Daisuke), the amount of time it makes a game, feedback, and the competition to sell the game vs the other fighting games out there is putting me on that assumption that somehow Itagaki would be the savior and not Shimbori. But alright go on.

I mean hey, if you want to play that card, you assumed most of DOA6 was Shimbori's fault when it was already obvious on who the real culprits are. But by all means, continue to be baited by KT I guess.

That's what I'm saying, he steered the ship right into a lighthouse. It takes a lieutenant to be captain, not a sailor. You yourself can manage a DOA character that you think you're not particularly good with in your eyes better than the people who've used that character as their main from the very beginning. It's because you know how to sail with any ship because of your greater experience and understanding of how the game works.

He definitely crashed the ship yeah, but the ship he was given was abysmal in the first place. So he and the rest of the crewmates took the life boats and sailed back as he knew it wasn't worth the risk to keep going from there. Abandon ship they say, and abandon ship they did.

That was character licensing for the VF characters in vanilla. If you notice any other game who licenses a guest character, you'll see their company credited. 5U was a subcontract with Sega, they worked with the devs into building new mechanics such lowering the juggle gravity and giving the back roll stun. That was Sega's influence. Hence also showing the Sega logo on the cover of 5U. Giving DOA a taste of VF mechanics. In 5LR, Sega's subcontract was over and the back roll stun was tweaked so it wouldn't look like the same one in 5U. No longer showing Sega's logo on the front cover. The direction download conversion of the 5U mechanics to LR shows how much of an overwrite TN wanted LR to be. They wanted any visible influence of Sega's 5U mechanics to be ridden due to their contracting agreements.

So I just asked people who were around during that development period to confirm this, and apparently they also worked on 5 vanilla. DOA5 is unfortunately old news at this point as getting any answers regarding their involvement will be tough to ask due to DOA currently being shelf and stored in closets by them. When DOA gets put in the spotlight in like 7-8 years or something, maybe someone at TN during an interview will confirm this or something. I tried to look this up but found nothing if it was only 5U.

And what will happen to DOA6 still remains to be seen. Shimbori's departure was a necessity for DOA's outlook and influence. Now that he's gone, the wheels will start turning again for DOA in a new direction.

Can't say a necessity when he had good intentions while the peeps behind him flunked and dipped with only crumbs and a skeleton crew while everyone else worked on other games.

If DOA does go in a good direction from here, then it's because KT learned their lesson. Which I doubt it. And if it does happen, DOA is on the shelf for who knows how long so it might be 4-5 years from now. Maybe less if they truly do care.

Anyway DB, I know you and I can go back and forth beating this dead horse, but I've pretty much said everything I needed to say.

It is beating a dead horse, but topics like this are the reason why it returns in the first place. If anyone wants to blame Shimbori, by all means. People already know who's the bigger hiveminds to this situation so it is what it is. As they say, believe what you want. Play what you want.

 

[Legendary Goken]

You're highlighting points that are negligible.

Saying a team wouldn't be anything without money is transparent. Where would anyone be without money? No where.

 

[DestructionBomb]

What i'm trying to point out is that your topic suggests that Shimbori was the downfall of DOA6. Which is false because it was going to fall either way, it's DOA having a disconnect with the main bits of people looking to use it as a cash grab. One of the most niche 3D fighters out there (compared to the main market of fighting games), somehow comes down to one man. Oh no.

- Shimbori contributed DOA5, DOA5U, and DOA5LR. Did positively well. Also vanilla did positively well by the way and had good general feedback for the early bits of it's lifespan. Not like they were going to make a DOA5U because of how good 5 did right? of course they did. It wasn't even DLC hungry and still managed to do alright.

- Shimbori contributed DOA6. Did not do so well.

You are throwing rocks at ballons and none of them are landing because they just don't land on the first place. And yet somehow it's extremely difficult for people to differentiate between the two. Shimbori was used as a scapegoat and you took the bait which is the problem here and the discussion you brought up in the first place. If you can't deal between knowing right or wrong of how the game product was handled, then what is the point of such a topic existing then if it's constant delusion. Might as well let the topic die if that's what you truly believe to be the work of one man.

 

[Legendary Goken]

You thought it was gonna fall either way? That is the most bullshit brainwashed answer that I've seen from you so far. I'm not surprised that you're jumping the bandwagon on this one and blindfolding yourself "For The Love of DOA!"

It's not false. For you to think it's false based on your all too try hard non-answer statements is all the reason to believe that you've given up on trying to be rational and taken the route of trying your best to sound the loudest even when none of your answers make any sense.

 

[DestructionBomb]

For all that is holy, look at DOA6's reception in general even when Nakamura stepped up, it's the same exact thing. You speak of brainwash but you are the biggest one in here. You literally took that nice juicy bait from the people upstairs with one guy being the meatshield, so you direct every bits of your anger towards the guy as intended because it's typical shit.

Did Shimbori screw up? yes he did, shit balance is typical shit. Was he the reason why DOA6 fell? No, because support doesn't just grow out of trees. My man, this discussion wasn't even rational the moment you even made the thread from what you posted, shits on you. You make a thread, people respond it with details of how it is with the game, you take it with a grain of salt for how it was handled or you grow the fuck up.

There is a time and place for things for when you wanna speak out your ass, but making a thread about a topic that's long been done and covered for the results of the game isn't the way to go. Ain't nobody hopping on a bandwagon but you. You and the rest of us don't work for the game so go sit down.

DOA got where it's at because of KT, no matter who steps up. If you want to believe it's not false then go ahead. Regardless, it won't adjust DOA6 so move on. Wait for DOA7 and then go complain there.

 

[Onryoki]

You thought it was gonna fall either way? That is the most bullshit brainwashed answer that I've seen from you so far. I'm not surprised that you're jumping the bandwagon on this one and blindfolding yourself "For The Love of DOA!"

It's not false. For you to think it's false based on your all too try hard non-answer statements is all the reason to believe that you've given up on trying to be rational and taken the route of trying your best to sound the loudest even when none of your answers make any sense.