Castlevania's Igarashi: '2D Is Still Somewhat Alive'


Veteran publisher Konami recently announced Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, the third Nintendo DS title in the twenty-year-running action platformer series.

Following the announcement, Gamasutra sat down with series producer Koji Igarashi, who is well known to fans by his nickname IGA and who has a tendency to appear in public somewhat theatrically wearing a cowboy hat and wielding a whip.

Igarashi, who has shepherded the popular series for the past few years, touched on his outspoken passion for the 2D format, his thoughts on experimenting with the Castlevania formula, his love of Bionic Commando, and why he harbors a fear of fans yelling at him.



Obviously, you're keeping the 2D fight alive on 2D with the Nintendo DS. You said last year you're the last hope for 2D games at Konami. Tell me how that's going.

Koji Igarashi: I did that speech over a year ago, and I'm glad that 2D is still somewhat alive. It's been fun.

More than one developer that I've talked to has said that they found your speech was inspirational.

KI: I'm glad.

Did you play N+ for Xbox Live Arcade?

KI: No, I have not.

You should check that out. It's a 2D ninja action game, and I think the creators like your stuff too.

KI: I will definitely try it.

You've talked about experimenting with the series and figuring out where it's going. Are you still trying to figure out more ways the series can evolve, or are you sticking with the DS for now?

KI: This time, I announced a DS title, but I definitely want to grow the franchise. It's something I'm really focused on. You guys will probably be hearing something from me.

When I spoke to you at GameStop Expo, you talked about how linear gameplay in the PSP version [Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles] was kind of an experiment, to see if users would accept it. Did you get any feedback?

KI: I was fairly satisfied, but the PSP install base in the U.S. isn't very strong, so it wasn't a very strong step. I was satisfied. It's not something that I can jump up and down and enjoy like I do with the DS titles.

I still believe that type of game is great, and I'm still a big fan of the PSP and thought it was a great game.

What kind of feedback did you get from fans on the linear game?

KI: I didn't get too much feedback, but there were some fans who came back and said, "Oh, this is great. This is nostalgic of previous Castlevania games." That was great to hear.

We've got the 25th anniversary of the series coming up soon. Do you have any plans for when that rolls around?

KI: We're really focusing on getting this game the best I can. Before you mentioned 25 year coming up, it really didn't pop into my head. And right now, when you mentioned it, I thought of it, and I realized yeah, I've got to think of something. (laughter)

It looks like you did incorporate some feedback from the fans, like getting rid of the anime-style art and moving to an illustrated style. Castlevania is a very fan-based series. It really has passionate fans. Is that the most important audience for Castlevania?

KI: To be honest, who I listen to the most is myself. Not to sound arrogant or anything like that, but the reason why I listen to myself is because I think really deep and hard, and I feel that if I can't tell it to myself, I can't tell it to the fans.

And yeah, I definitely do listen to the fans. I don't want to release something that's boring and not fun. It's just for the fans. They wanted it. If one of my games flops, I want to basically be able to say, "Sorry. That's my fault." I don't want to say, "I wanted so badly for it to do well."

Speaking of fans, it's becoming more and more important to have community elements, like a website, forums, podcasts. Have you thought about doing any of that stuff for your fanbase?

KI: Yeah, that's definitely something I want to do, but I'm a little scared that if I do something like that, fans will always be yelling at me and things like that.

But yeah, it's definitely very important to do that kind of thing. I do see the web address, and I'm trying to fill it with fan content. [IGA points at the whip he brought as a prop.] If I whipped that around... I can't whip it around. I would, but I don't want to get arrested.

I don't know if you're familiar with Capcom's Bionic Commando. It was very popular in America for the NES, but not in Japan, so they revived it recently, and they're making a 360/PS3 version. I bring this up because they're developing it in a Western, not Japanese, studio. But the producer is working out of Japan, and I was wondering if you thought this was a potential solution to such development issues.

KI: I believe it's called something different...

Yeah, Hitler no Fukkatsu: Top Secret.

KI: To be honest, I didn't know it wasn't very popular in Japan. I loved that game, and thought it was popular in Japan. I don't think whether it matters whether the game was developed in Japan or the United States.

There's fans that love it and think it's a great game. I think it will be fine. I think that something cool developed in Japan where it's like, "It was popular in America, and I don't know why it's popular," I don't think it will succeed.

Have you considered working with foreign development teams, or do you want to keep everything developed internally at Konami?

KI: It doesn't really matter where the game is developed. I want to be involved in it. I want to know what's going on. If we did decide to develop it in the U.S., I guess I'd have to move here.

Not fly very often?

KI: Yeah. I guess I'd have to stay here.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008 ... arashi_2d_is_st.php

Posted by Simon Carless on June 17, 2008 12:00 PM | Permalink


IGA是坚定的贯彻着2DACT游戏发展之路

记者问到其最近的PSP版恶魔城游戏得到的市场反应时，IGA直言不讳的回答说他相当满意，但限于PSP在北美的装机量。。。

IGA本人非常喜欢CAPCOM二十年前的那个希特勒复活。。。

总而言之，在DS第三作恶魔城公布之后，IGA声称他不日将带给FANS更惊喜的消息。


根据以上采访分析，恶魔城最新作的平台将是PSP

引用:

原帖由 古兰佐 于 2008-6-19 11:17 发表
把恶魔城传说再像历代记那样重制一次吧.

FC三代最高啊

我一直幻想着哪天出个3D版,当然要做出CAPCOM 3D游戏的水准,不然还是别做了

引用:

原帖由 大头木 于 2008-6-19 11:17 发表
这个是说PSP还有戏，而不是恶魔城还有戏

标题是我的意译:D

引用:

原帖由 趣味第二 于 2008-6-19 11:53 发表
真矛盾，PSP上可以玩到画面更精美的2d恶魔城。

但DS上的看地图和各种信息更方便。

矛盾。。。不知更期待出在什么上。

我倒觉得关键问题不是双屏

毕竟以前那么做作单屏恶魔城也玩下来了

引用:

原帖由 AZOE 于 2008-6-19 11:26 发表
记者问到其最近的PSP版恶魔城游戏得到的市场反应时，IGA直言不讳的回答说他相当满意，但限于PSP在北美的装机量。。。

推断出下一作是PSP。。。。。。。。。

我分析出下作出PSP上的依据,不是这句"PSP北美装机量"

而是全文:D

引用:

原帖由 rocktyt 于 2008-6-19 12:27 发表

没错，我也觉得这个逻辑需要解释一下
我不想看原文，太长，把怎样得出这个结论的过程描述一下就可以了
我记得不知道谁说过，血轮妇科是PSP上第一款也是最后一款恶魔城，是准备食言了吗？

IGA说满意PSP上那作或许是对游戏的质量

PSP北美装机量是IGA论述的PSP那作销量平平的一个客观原因

..........

得出下一作将出在PSP上的依据是看完了全文后的综合分析

理由其实也很明显

DS新作即将出来,所以不可能马上又出DS上

PS3和360开发成本过高,KONAMI不会拨出经费和人力给IGA

WII有一定的可能但限于IGA的思路尚未整理好,估计目前还在瓶颈阶段

采访全文的主题是2D恶魔城

综合分析得出结论:恶魔城下一作将是PSP平台的,2D的,复刻可能性有.

引用:

原帖由 rocktyt 于 2008-6-19 12:27 发表

我记得不知道谁说过，血轮妇科是PSP上第一款也是最后一款恶魔城，是准备食言了吗？

是官方说的?不记得KONAMI或者IGA本人这么说过啊?

谁食谁的言呢

引用:

原帖由 rocktyt 于 2008-6-19 13:22 发表
那前段时间Konami好像还注册了个Castlevania Judgement的商标有进一步消息吗

是啊

当时我感觉会是WII上的,但....情况不明

另外那个动画片的副标题不知道叫啥

引用:

原帖由 dogsoldier 于 2008-6-19 13:31 发表
平台是次要的，关键是品质如何。

我恨不得他按MGS4的制作规模做到360/PS3上去

但对开发商来讲,钱是决定平台的关键

现在开发大型PS3和360游戏,已经不是非热门游戏系列待遇了

引用:

原帖由 primos 于 2008-6-19 13:37 发表
PSP应该还是用血轮的引擎做3D的吧，五十岚说过PSP不会有2D恶魔城

血轮复刻的引擎就是2D啊,怎么做的出3D啊

引用:

原帖由 west2046 于 2008-6-19 13:38 发表
这游戏没找到好的方式前还是不要搞成3D！！！2D最高！

感觉3D后会变成DMC！！！

恶魔城风味的DMC不是更值得期待啊

或者说DMC风格的恶魔城.........

真正做动作游戏,鼻祖还是CAPCOM,无论是2D还是3D

最近重温ROCKMAN X4X5X6X8,再次深深体会到CAPCOM的魅力

引用:

原帖由 平野綾 于 2008-6-19 16:57 发表
　　《恶魔城》系列制作人五十岚透露，2D版恶魔城将只会在NDS上推出，PSP并不会推出2D版本的《恶魔城》系列作品。因为他觉得NDS将是最后的2D游戏平台，如果他能做出好的2D游戏吸引小玩家们会增加2D游戏的市场。

　 ...

这段话我也看到过

似乎是在PSP血轮公布之前说的?

引用:

原帖由 gwm0000 于 2008-6-20 00:30 发表
出在PSP上吧。怕再做出个死机城

那个死机城其实和烧录卡也有关系的

用组装KINGSTONE就没问题了,之前我用组装SANDISK打到我想把机器砸了