News Hiroshi Ono, pixel artist that worked on early Namco games such as Galaga and Dig Dug, has passed away.

[Krvavi Abadas]

(From his official Twitter account, the cause is Autoimmune Hepatitis.)

I really don't think it's possible to understate the massive legacy he left from his career at Namco. He joined in 1979, right when they were starting to get into the Video Game Industry (Their first internally developed Arcade game was only a year old by this point.) with his first role being designing the graphics for their earliest Maze game, Rally-X.

What followed was a whirlwind tour of work through some of Namco's most iconic titles. From the cartoon characters of Mappy, to the unique Nazca Line sketches of Xevious.

His tenure at the company lasted for quite some time, with him only leaving by 2013. After which he spent his final years as an independent artist, under the nickname of "Mr. Dotman".

His final Video Game project was a series of 1v1 fighters, developed in collaboration with former Namco composer Norio Nakagata, known as "ドットの拳 GIGA",
Currently it's locked to a set of (now sold out) physical releases, but hopefully someday it'll become more readily available.

 

[Cantaim]

RIP to an absolute legend

 

[WestEgg]

It's a shame I don't really know too much about him, given the legacy of his work. RIP, I'll try to read up on him some more.

 

[Handicapped Duck]

RIP

 

[Sailor Moon]

Holy shit. Those arcade games are basically my early childhood. I’d beg my grandma for quarters so I could play them. Sad news.

 

[Seik]

Oh shit.

RIP.

I played Dig Dug a bunch back then, will have a play for him today.