Benimaru Itoh: Difference between revisions

'''Benimaru "Ashura" Itoh''' (Japanese: '''伊藤「アシュラ」丸''') is a manga artist, designer and musician who began drawing comic strips for various [[Nintendo]] franchises, including {{wp|Star Fox (series)|Star Fox}} and {{wp|Metroid (series)|Metroid}}. Itoh then worked closely with game designer [[wp:Shigesato Itoi|Shigesato Itoi]] whilst at Ape, Inc. on the {{wp|EarthBound (series)|EarthBound}} (Mother in Japan) series of games. Ape, Inc. later became known as [[Creatures, Inc.]], where Itoh became involved in the development of several Pokémon titles, and also illustrated a handful of cards for the [[Pokémon Trading Card Game]]. During this time he became more involved in 3D development, serving as a chief designer and supervisor on a number of games. He eventually moved to [[HAL Laboratory, Inc.]] in 2002, where he has continued to work on the {{wk|Kirby (series)|Kirby}} franchise.<br>

Itoh is also an accomplished guitarist, and was the guest host for the {{smw|Mario & Zelda Big Band Live}} concert, held at Nihon Seinenkan Hall, Tokyo on September 14, 2003. The concert featured performances based on music from {{smw|Mario (series)|Mario}} and {{zw|The Legend of Zelda (Series)|The Legend of Zelda}}, as well as original music. The collaboration of The Big Band of Rogues, Yoshihiro Arita and his band performed jazz, Latin, country, and bluegrass arrangements – Itoh himself started the concert off with a guitar solo rendition of the Mario opening theme. The concert became the source of a CD and DVD.<br>

{| border="1" style="border: 1px solid #88a; border-collapse: collapse;" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2"

|- style="background: #ccf;"

| {{wb|EarthBound}} || [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]] || 1994 || Character Design/Special Thanks

| {{wp|SimTunes}} || {{wp|Microsoft Windows}} || 1996 || Composer/Special Thanks

|-

| {{lw|Star Fox 64}} || [[Nintendo 64]] || 1997 || Special Thanks

|-

| [[Pokémon Stadium (Japanese)]] || Nintendo 64 || 1998 || Pokémon Modelling Director

|-

| [[Pokémon Trading Card Game (game)|Pokémon Trading Card Game]] || [[Game Boy Color]] || 1998 || Card Illustrator

|-

| [[Super Smash Bros.]] || Nintendo 64 || 1999 || Original Game Staff/Source Modelling Chief: Pokémon Stadium

|-

| [[Pokémon Snap]] || Nintendo 64 || 1999 || Super Duper Special Chief Designer

|-

| [[Pokémon Stadium (English)]] || Nintendo 64 || 1999 || Pokémon Modelling Director

|-

| [[Pokémon Stadium 2]] || Nintendo 64 || 2000 || 3D Pokémon Director

|-

| {{wb|EarthBound 64}} || [[Nintendo 64DD]] || Cancelled || Art Director/Character Design

|-

| [[Super Smash Bros. Melee]] || [[Nintendo GameCube]] || 2001 || Supervisor: Creatures Staff Management

|-

| {{wk|Kirby: Nightmare in DreamLand}} || [[Game Boy Advance]] || 2002 || Supervisor

|-

| {{wk|Kirby Air Ride}} || Nintendo GameCube || 2003 || Graphic Design

|-

| {{wk|Kirby Super Star Ultra}} || [[Nintendo DS]] || 2008 || Design Advisor

{| border="1" style="border: 1px solid #88a; border-collapse: collapse;" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2"

|- style="background: #ccf;"

!Title

!Album

!Date

!Label

|-  

| ''Opening Theme of Mario'' || Mario & Zelda Big Band Live CD || 2003 || Sony/Columbia

{| border="1" style="border: 1px solid #88a; border-collapse: collapse;" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2"

|- style="background: #ccf;"

| ''{{wb|Ness's Adventure Chronicles|Ness's Great Adventure}}'' || 1994 || Shōgakukan, Wonder Life Comics

| ''[[Bulbasaur's Trouble]]'' (Pokémon Tales #3) || 1997 || Shōgakukan

| ''[[Totodile's One Gulp]]'' (Pokémon Gold & Silver Tales #3) || 2000 || Shōgakukan