Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the creator of the iconic Double Dragon series, as well as the Kunio-Kun series, which is best known in the West for River City Ransom, has passed away at the age of 64. This news was confirmed by his son, Ryūbō Kishimoto, across multiple social media accounts. On Facebook, he wrote:
This is the son of Yoshihisa Kishimoto. I am sorry to inform you that my father has passed to rest on 04/02/2026… I hope you will continue to enjoy my father’s works, including Kuno-kun. Thank you.
In a follow-up post made to Twitter, he continued by saying:
I’m sorry for not being able to reply, but thank you very much for the many heartfelt memory messages. I’m truly delighted to learn that there are people around the world who have played the Kunio-kun series extensively and understand my father even more deeply than I do. Please continue to enjoy my father’s works with a smile in the future.
Kisimoto began his career at Data East, working on laserdisc games, eventually joining several of his colleagues at Technōs. There, he would become integral in the beat-em-up genre that was hugely popular throughout the late 80s and 90s. This includes his 1987 game, Double Dragon, which helped explode the popularity of the genre, and Kunio-kun, which was known under the River City title in the West.
While River City Ransom saw huge popularity, it was divorced from the series in the West, with most of the franchise not seeing release outside of Japan till much later. River City Girls, a spin-off series developed by WayForward, uses two characters as the leads who appeared in a singular title that was only ported to the western audience as River City Girls Zero, after the release of the first game. The series has also seen some spin-offs, such as Super Dodge Ball, get released in the West, sometimes with very little advertising of the connection to the full series.
With his team at Technōs, they would be active for a long period in the industry, developing arcade games and games for multiple platforms. He departed Technōs in the 90s, eventually forming Plophet Co., Ltd. His final game, which he served as the director on, was Double Dragon IV, released in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC to mostly negative reviews.
Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Bluesky to keep up to date on everything we have going on!
