Fire Pro Wrestling creator Masato Masuda dies
"He was 48 years old, still young."
Masato Masuda, creator of Fire Pro Wrestling, has died aged 48.
Grasshopper Manufacture boss Goichi "Suda51" Suda, who worked on the series in the early 90s, confirmed the news today.
"He was 48 years old, still young," he wrote on Twitter. "I genuinely pray for his happiness in the next world.
"He was one of the greatest creators of video games and he was my direct teacher. Thank you for giving us our favorite Fire Pro-wrestling. You are the god of it."
Masuda created the Fire Pro Wrestling series while at Japanese developer TRY, which later became Human Entertainment. The series began in 1989 with the release of Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag for the PC Engine in Japan. Since then, over 20 Fire Pro Wrestling games have been released, including a number of spin-offs, mostly in Japan.
In 2000 Spike took over development duties, releasing Fire Pro Wrestling for platforms including the WonderSwan, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 2. It most recently released Fire Pro Wrestling for Xbox Live Arcade in 2012.
