Game designer Masahiro Sakurai, best known for his work on the Super Smash Bros. and Kirby series, shared a photo from a dinner with several fellow game creators on his personal X／Social Media account on October 5, dubbing the occasion “the game director Avengers assembled.”
The photo immediately blew fans away. Including Masahiro Sakurai, ten people were seated around the table—and together, they represent some of the most influential game creators not only in Japan, but across the global industry.
The all-star lineup featured Kazutaka Kodaka, Yoko Taro, Toby Fox, Shinji Mikami, Hideki Kamiya, Goichi Suda, Keiichiro Toyama, Masahiro Sakurai, Jiro Ishii, and Fumito Ueda.
Just imagine what ten creative heavyweights like these might have been discussing over dinner.
It is a fascinating guest list—essentially a gathering of creators who have each left a distinctive mark on gaming in Japan and around the world.
1. Kazutaka Kodaka
Kazutaka Kodaka is a Japanese game writer and creator best known for the Danganronpa series. He previously worked at Spike Chunsoft, where he served as the series’ principal scenario writer. His work is known for blending murder mysteries, school settings, dark comedy, larger-than-life characters, and plenty of dramatic twists.
His best-known projects include the Danganronpa series, Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE, TRIBE NINE, and Death Come True.
2. Yoko Taro
Yoko Taro is best known for the NieR and Drakengard series. His games frequently explore philosophical questions surrounding humanity, machines, life, and what it truly means to be human. His most widely recognized work is NieR:Automata. Yoko Taro also has one of gaming’s most unmistakable public personas, frequently appearing at events while wearing an Emil mask.
3. Toby Fox
Toby Fox is an American indie game developer and composer. Although he is not Japanese, his enormous profile within Japan’s gaming community makes his place at the table hardly surprising. His most famous works are Undertale and Deltarune, with Undertale widely regarded as a landmark in indie game history.
One of Fox’s defining traits is the range of roles he handles himself, including game design, writing, and music. He has also contributed music to the Pokémon series and other Japanese games, making him one of the clearest examples of an independent creator successfully breaking into the mainstream.
4. Shinji Mikami
Shinji Mikami is one of Japan’s most important game producers and is widely considered a key architect of the survival-horror genre. His defining work is the Resident Evil series, though his credits also include P.N.03, the Ace Attorney series, and The Evil Within.
5. Hideki Kamiya
Hideki Kamiya is a celebrated Japanese game director and designer who was a central creative figure at Capcom, Clover Studio, and later PlatinumGames. His major works include Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Bayonetta, and The Wonderful 101. His signature is unmistakable: fast, flashy, deeply satisfying action. Kamiya is also famous on X／Social Media for interacting directly with players, often responding with characteristic bluntness and plenty of sharp-witted commentary.
6. Goichi Suda
Goichi Suda, better known as SUDA51, is the founder and CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture. His major works include The Silver Case, killer7, No More Heroes, and KILLER IS DEAD.
Grasshopper Manufacture’s creative identity is rooted in a punk spirit, with an emphasis on making games that feel fresh, provocative, and different. When it comes to creators who consistently refuse to follow the conventional playbook, Goichi Suda is unquestionably one of Japan’s most distinctive voices.
7. Keiichiro Toyama
Keiichiro Toyama is a Japanese game director and designer whose most important works include Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity Rush. His career spans both horror and highly stylized action-adventure games, with an emphasis on unsettling worlds, distinctive art direction, and unconventional gameplay experiences.
After leaving Sony in 2020, he founded Bokeh Game Studio and went on to release Slitterhead.
8. Masahiro Sakurai
Masahiro Sakurai is probably one of the most recognizable names on this list. He created the Kirby series and has been the central creative force behind Super Smash Bros. While many of the others feel like game auteurs, Sakurai often comes across as gaming’s ultimate design teacher.
9. Jiro Ishii
Jiro Ishii is a Japanese game producer, director, and scenario writer whose best-known works include 428: Shibuya Scramble. He later worked on Time Travelers and the Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer series. His anime credits also include BBK/BRNK, Monster Strike, and MAZICA PARTY.
10. Fumito Ueda
Fumito Ueda is best known for his work with Team Ico. His three signature games—Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian—are widely regarded as classics of video game artistry. His work has a strikingly distinct identity, combining minimalist storytelling, vast environments, loneliness, dramatic use of light and shadow, and powerful emotional bonds between characters. Ueda later founded genDESIGN, where he continues developing original games.
The lineup stunned fans in Japan, while overseas players were equally impressed, describing the dinner as a meeting of gaming gods.
If nothing else, the photo shows that these legendary creators are plenty friendly behind the scenes and regularly exchange ideas. No wonder fans are calling it a gathering of the gods.