Tomonobu Itagaki is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the Dead or Alive series and also reviving the Ninja Gaiden franchise in 2004. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a 2008 action-adventure video game released for the Nintendo DS, developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo. A main installment in the Ninja Gaiden series, it features Ryu Hayabusa as the protagonist. The game is the first portable video game title in the series to be developed by Team Ninja and the first game developed by this company to be released for the Nintendo system. Dragon Sword is set between Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II.