Pacman and Galaga pixel designer Hiroshi Ono, known as’ Mr. Dotman ‘, passed away last Saturday, October 16
The graphic designer of several classic Namco games such as Pacman and Galaga, Hiroshi Ono, passed away on Saturday, October 16 at the age of 64.
Known as ‘ Mr. Dotman ‘ , Ono suffered from autoimmune hepatitis, a disease for which he was hospitalized, although the causes of his death have not yet been revealed.
Several personalities from the video game sector have taken to social networks to offer condolences for the death of the designer and remember his work, such as Yuzo Koshiro, composer of the Streets of Rage saga, or Katsuhiro Harada, producer of the Tekken series.
It was in 1979 that Hiroshi Ono joined Namco and the first titles he worked on were Diu Dug, Xevious, Pacman, Galaga, Mappy, Pole Position, among others, leaving the company in 2013 to continue working as a freelancer.
The pixel graphics that we know as classic games have behind the work of ‘Mr. Dotman ‘, who created some of the most iconic pixel drawings in the industry.
10 years ago, in 2011, the creator of Galaga, Shigeru Yokoyama, pointed out that ‘Mr. Dotman ‘ was the one who designed Galaga’s alien enemies, changing the initial concept.
“They were drawn by Hiroshi Ono, a designer who, starting with Galaga, became famous for drawing these kinds of sprites (bits). He became known as Mr. Dotman, an authority on pixel design, but these characters were the first he created, ”Yokoyama mentioned in an interview.
3D Artist
Earlier this year saw the death of another renowned video game designer: Mike Nash. This concept artist and video game designer like Horizon Zero Dawn passed away at the age of 36. As in the case of Mr. Dotman, Nash was also honored by his professional colleagues.
“He was a hard-working individual who put in hours to improve and try to do the best job possible. Mike has sadly left us and passed away. I would like to be remembered by the CG and art community for his legacy of outstanding 3D visual work.” then said his friend Gavriil Klimov.
Pacman and Galaga are still valid
Although titles such as Pacman and Galaga were released in 1980 and 1981 respectively, both games continue to be a classic in the video game industry and have received several remasters to be enjoyed on several generations of consoles.
Just Pacman , it has more than 40 versions. While Galaga has a total of 10 games in the same way for different platforms through conquel, PC and cell phones.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
