Koji Oda

Koji Oda is a video game designer that has worked for Capcom for over twenty-five years, and is also the current lead designer of the Mega Man series, having directed Mega Man 11.

History
Oda grew up in the 1980s with games from Capcom, concluding that a game from Capcom was "always promising", unlike games from other companies that his younger self bought and found disappointing. He joined Capcom in 1991 mainly due to this, as he figured that "if a company was able to make games that were this fun, it had to be fun to work there".

Following his work on Strider, Oda decided to submit an internal pitch for a new Mega Man game. Capcom has received internal pitches to continue the series after the departure of Keiji Inafune before, and he considered it'd be a waste to ignore or treat the franchise as a thing of the past just because someone left. Oda would eventually become the lead director in the series' to direct Mega Man 11.

Oda opted to drop the 8-bit retro style of the previous two titles in the series and use a modern 2.5D look, thinking that after a long absence it wouldn’t be right to go back to a retro style. The new Double Gear System was implemented because he wanted to make a system that was easy to access for first-time players, but at the same time it wouldn’t interfere with the veteran, long-time fans who want a challenge.