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[SlimeGooGoo]

Yoshitaka Tamaki passed away from lung cancer on July 13, 2023. He had continued to receive medical treatment in accordance with his wish to continue working until the end, but he passed away from the disease. The funeral was attended only by close family members.I hope that the work that he dedicated his life to as a game creator will always be remembered.Thank you very much.

 

[graywolf323]

R.I.P.

 

[EviLore]

55 years old. Too soon, RIP.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Rest in peace. I liked that art style of Alundra and the anime of the 80s - 90s

 

[dave_d]

Also did work on Landstalker. (Definitely a lost classic and another game Sega for some reason didn't advertise.)

 

[abstract alien]

Hopefully he knows how many lives he's touched, and to what extent he's done so. A truly honorable figure, and one that anyone, from any culture, can aspire to. Sweet dreams, king

 

[zeldaring]

Don't really know his work, but RIP. One minute we Here, the next minute we are gone. Life is weird.

 

[Northeastmonk]

He has some very iconic work. The Shining series can be found in Sega Genesis Collection and Alundra was released digitally on PSN back on PS3. Those games are part of Sega’s console RPG legacy. You’ll hear about them quite often. RIP

 

[Strider7]

Sucks. Coincidentally, I just ordered a custom steelbook for Alundra featuring his artwork of course. It shall stand on my shelf in his honor.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I loved Shining Force II.

This is both sad and frightening.

 

[Little Chicken]

Rest in peace, legend

 

[B_Boss]

Damn….

 

[Hudo]

Fuck, man...

 

[Dirk Benedict]

God...

 

[shamroxor]

Welp! There goes another part of gaming history, Shining force was my introduction to strategy games. His work was the first time I could recognize an artist's style across different games. Years ago I imported Japanese copies of landstalker and Shining Force 1/2 which had color manuals with his lovely artwork.

 

[struggler_guts]

Loved Alundra, a hidden gem. RIP

 

[dave_d]

Note to self, I should go back and play Alundra. Hopefully my PS3 still works.

 

[Holammer]

Checked out his twitter page, I love how he continued drawing with his trademark goofy 90's anime style even when it's considered hopelessly dated.
Sega should have let him do chara designs for another game while he still lived.

 

[Keihart]

This sucks, another one going out at 50, way too young.

 

[Little Mac]

Those were some heavy hitters from my childhood. Sad. My heart goes out to his friends and family.

 

[Majormaxxx]

Rest in peace. My condolences to his loved ones. You will be remembered. Thank you for a life full of beautiful creativity.

 

[near]

holy shit this is sad news. I've loved he's work since Landstalker, he will be remembered. RIP.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Rest in peace. x

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Fuck cancer

 

[Sojiro]

Obligatory fuck cancer. Yoshitaka's work for shining force and alundra is damn good, I absolutely love that 90s style of anime. 55 is way too young, damn, RIP man.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Don't really know his work, but RIP. One minute we Here, the next minute we are gone. Life is weird.

You should start with one of the classic Shining Force games, either on the Genesis/MegaDrive, Sega CD/Mega CD, or Saturn. I just got into the Shining Force series recently with SFIII S1 and loved the hell out of that game. Even with the pre-rendered 3D models his character design aesthetic still comes through, and it's nice to see some more traditional high-fantasy anime-ish design work (his in particular reminding me some of the Record of Lodoss War manga & OVA) when a lot of modern high-fantasy anime designs veer heavily into more royal political or sci-fi influenced looks.

I don't know a lot about his work history but from what others are saying ITT he did artwork for the Alundra games too. I haven't played those yet, but I do know they're considered very hard, like hardcore Zelda-style titles. Would be interested to see what other games he's contributed to.

 

[Isa]

What a legacy. Rest in Peace. For some fun side content still related, I believe he also did Lady Stalker which didn't get released in the west but did get a fan translation iirc. Funnily enough on the SNES as a spiritual successor. Sega was foolish to let some of these go. I did struggle to get into Time Stalkers though, I should go back one of these days.


Also a side thing, maybe related, released by Enix back in the day with seemingly same art style is Fangs: The Saga of Wolf Blood. Amazing channel btw.


The influence of the Shining series on me cannot be understated. It got me into dungeon crawlers and strategy rpgs. I'll never forget how bummed I was when I learned that Camelot was bought by Nintendo. That style was so unique, I really wish that people would try to learn and emulate some of these more unique forms to help stand out from the pack. Its just so charming. The colors back then were also much warmer which I really prefer. Literally brightens my day when I so much as remember them.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Note to self, I should go back and play Alundra. Hopefully my PS3 still works.

You should, I finished that game recently and it's an excellent experience. In my Top 20 to Top 10 PS1 Games of All Time

 

[cireza]

His unique style gave life to Landstalker and the Shining series and I very fond memories of these games. I pretty much associated medieval fantasy to his style when I was a kid.

 

[Champomade]

RIP
Will never forget my summer playing Alundra 2 with a friend every morning

 

[Lupin3]

Knew it was cancer before I opened the thread. Fuck this shit. Hard!

RIP!

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Too bad SEGA cancelled the Shining Force remake.
I believe he also did character design for the project, considering how close the designs look to the originals.

That actually looks good..

 

[cireza]

Too bad SEGA cancelled the Shining Force remake.
I believe he also did character design for the project, considering how close the designs look to the originals.

It was going to be more mobile trash. Excellent visuals though.