While the late Akira Toriyama is best known for creating Dragon Ball, the incredibly talented manga artist and character designer also had an impact in the world of video games. Toriyama worked on several popular video games in his lifetime, including the Dragon Quest series, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon.
So when he unfortunately passed away earlier this month at the age of 68 years old, the loss was felt by many.
Looking to honor the legendary creator, Xbox has released a free dynamic dashboard background featuring Blue Dragon. Toriyama served as the character designer for the game which was released on Xbox 360 more than 15 years ago.
Developed by Mistwalker and Artoon and published by Microsft Game Studios, Blue Dragon is a role-playing game based on a design by Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. The game is set in a fictional open-world environment with a story focused on five friends as they travel the world to confront Nene, the evil ruler of the Grand Kingdom. It is a setting inspired separate animation and comic adaptations.
Xbox wasn't the only game company to pay tribute to Akira Toriyama. PlayStation, which is home to multiple Dragon Ball games, also posted a message about Toriyama's passing. It was a simple "thank you" for everything he had done.
Toriyama passed away on March 1, 2024, at the age of 68 years old. His death was confirmed a week later in a statement by his manga and design production company, Bird Studio, and Capsule Corporation Tokyo. The statement revealed that the cause was acute subdural hematoma.
"It's our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm," the companies wrote in the joint statement. "Also, he would have many more things to achieve."
"However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world," the statement read. "Thanks to the support of so many people around the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities for over 45 years. We hope that Akira Toriyama's unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come."
Toriyama's work had so much cultural influence across numerous industries, but ultimately he only sought to entertain. In an interview in 2013 with the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun, Toriyama stated: "The role of my manga is to be a work of entertainment through and through."
Dragon Ball, of course, is one of the most well-known, popular, and entertaining mangas of all time and has sparked anime series, movies, and video game adaptations.