Hiroshi Ono, the Namco pixel artist who helped create some of the greatest games of the golden age of arcades, has died. He was 64.
Better known as "Mr. Dotman," "God of dot picture," or "The Magician," Hiroshi Ono joined Namco as a designer and artist in 1979. At the time, Japanese games didn't often have credit rolls, so his work on some of the biggest games of the era went uncredited. Ono's works included Dig Dug, Xevious, Pac-Man, Galaga, Mappy, Pole Position, and many more Namco classics.
News of Ono's passing came from the official Team Dot Man Twitter account (via Kotaku), which is the production company behind an upcoming documentary detailing Ono's life and work. The documentary will be crowdfunded after more than doubling its goal of $17,500 USD in less than a week after the campaign went live. Ono was hospitalized soon before the crowdfunding campaign started, and you can see Mr. Dotman in a hospital gown in the campaign's opening message.
Condolences have come in from all around the gaming community, including a heartwarming "thank you" from Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada.
Hiroshi Ono came to define what a video game could look like during an era where all he had available were mere dots. It's amazing to see Ono's work branch from something as simple as Pac-Man into something as incomprehensibly beautiful as Elden Ring.
Rest easy, Mr. Dotman. You will be missed.