Kunio-kun and Double Dragon series creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto has tragically died this week, news confirmed by his son.

“I am the son of Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the director of Kunio-kun. I am writing to inform you that my father passed away on April 2, 2026,” his son said in a new update celebrating the series’ 40th anniversary. “Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions or need further details. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all Kunio-kun fans for the wealth of information you have shared over the years. I look forward to your continued support.”

Originally getting his game industry start with Data East in the early 1980s, he eventually left and joined Technos Japan where he designed the Kunio-kun and Double Dragon franchises. Both franchises became immensely popular and were inspired by Kishimoto’s love of Bruce Lee’s films, as well as memories of his childhood where he got into fights on a daily basis (some due to a bad breakup with his girlfriend).

While not the first games in the beat ’em up genre, Kunio-kun and Double Dragon largely influenced everything afterwards, which lead to Kishimoto being considered the grandfather of the beat ’em up genre (known as belt scroll action games in Japan).

Since both Kunio-kun and Double Dragon became the main franchises, Kishimoto said he eventually only worked on those titles and later departed from Technos in the 1990s and became a freelance designer and producer. More recently, he ended up working on new Kunio-kun and Double Dragon games again as a producer or consultant on titles like Double Dragon Neon, River City Ransom: Underground, Double Dragon IV, and Stay Cool, Kobayashi-San!: A River City Ransom Story.