Images courtesy of Castlevania Wiki, ArtPlay
Shutaro Ida had been a developer in the Castlevania series as well as its spiritual successor, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Japanese game designer Shutaro Ida, known for being a developer on the classic Castlevania games on the Nintendo DS, announced that he has been diagnosed with cancer. As a result, he has stepped down from the development of the sequel to Castlevania spiritual successor, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Ida revealed his diagnosis on a post on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, where he hinted at his role in the development of the Bloodstained sequel so far before he had to leave in order to focus on his treatment. A machine translation of his statement reads:
“I, Shutaro, also known as Curry Boy and Curry Sage, have been diagnosed with cancer and have now begun my battle with the disease. I had already started discussing the sequel to Bloodstained and I have various ideas for the game. From now on, I will hand over this work to others. Thank you for your support.”
Koji Igarashi, a producer on both the Castlevania and Bloodstained series, quoted Ida's post, where he offered his best wishes to the developer and bemoaned his absence in the Bloodstained sequel's development. A machine translation of his statement reads:
“Up until now, the [Castlevania] series on the [Nintendo] DS and Bloodstained have been produced primarily by director Shutaro. They can truly be called his works. It is a great blow that he is stepping away from the project, but we will do our best to make up for this. We hope that he will recover soon so we can work together again.”
Shutaro Ida began his career in game development with Konami in 1996, staying there until 2015 and mainly working as a programmer in various projects. He is known most for his work in the Castlevania entries for the Game Boy Advance and Nintento DS, including Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence in 2003, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow in 2005, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin in 2006, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia in 2008, and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair in 2010.
Aside from the Castlevania series, Ida also worked in Sexy Parodius (1996), Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus (1997), TwinBee RPG (1998), Ganbare Goemon: Kuru Nara Koi! Ayashige Ikka no Kuroi Kage (1998), Gungage (1999), Shadow of Memories (2001), Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014), and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015).
After leaving Konami, Ida also worked with 505 Games, Armature Studio, Inti Creates, and ArtPlay. He was notably enlisted by Igarashi to be part of the development team for Castlevania's spiritual successor, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a side-scroller Action RPG that was released in 2019.
A sequel to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was confirmed back in 2021, where Ida was known to be among the development team before having to step down due to his cancer diagnosis.
