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Koji Igarashi speaks on Castlevania; comments '2D is still alive' photo

My first encounter with Koji Igarashi was at E For All in 2007. Dale North and myself were at the Konami booth trying to control ourselves from buying every Silent Hill shirt available to us, and I looked up and saw a Japanese man wearing a leather hat and rocking that kind of style that tends to leave Westerns baffled.

He also happened to be standing next to Akira Yamaoka, the composer for all the Silent Hill games, and I'll be honest: between the two of them, I was a little starstruck. If you don't know Igarashi, he is the series producer for Castlevania, and one of the few big names in the industry who still champions 2D, making retro fans everywhere just a little bit happier.

In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Igarashi spoke a bit about the future of Castlevania, commenting on the state of 2D on the DS and how the series may evolve:

"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."

We have had a conversation about this topic on RetroforceGO! about our love for Castlevania and whether we felt the series needed to evolve. The general consensus was that as much as we love it, we do want to see it change in some way, but the hard part was clarifying where we might want it to go. Do you want to see it change? If so, in what ways?

[Thanks, Jonathan]


Continue: More Castlevania stories





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21 comments | showing # 1 to 21

Zulu's Avatar
Zulu at 06/16/2008 12:11
I'd like to see the Castlevania franchise hit a console again with all of it's 2d wonder.
thelowestpartisfree's Avatar
thelowestpartisfree at 06/16/2008 12:15
Yeah, I'd love to see a console 2d Castlevania that is HUGE!

And maybe a game starring flea man where you have to master hopping?
linuxguy's Avatar
linuxguy at 06/16/2008 12:17
of course 2D gameplay is still alive
whether it's sprites or polygons as long as it is beautiful
Dale North's Avatar
Dale North at 06/16/2008 12:20
I remember that day. It was good times. I worse a shirt I bought there yesterday.
Brahms's Avatar
Brahms at 06/16/2008 12:23
Igarashi has always been a polisher, not an innovator. Every gameplay mechanic in his games has been done before: free roaming side-scrolling, weapon smithing, monster collecting- but even then, the elements he uses are usually extremely well polished.

That said, I don't expect a huge triumph in the leap from 2D to 3D- I'm not expecting Metroid Prime. I expect that he'll find his inspiration in a newly released current gen game, and polish that with a proper budget from Konami to make a proper console Castlevania game.

That said, a console 2D Castlevania would be incredible.
Passionate Styos's Avatar
Passionate Styos at 06/16/2008 12:26
I agree with Brahms in that aspect on how IGA works with his games. Still, a 2D Castlevania for a console would be really great and I still have hopes that a Castlevania game can do great as a 3D one. Either way, don't change IGA :3
Wexx's Avatar
Wexx at 06/16/2008 12:35
2D pl0x.
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 06/16/2008 13:20
Oh god... the prospect of a 2D super high-res Castlevania on 360... DO WANT
Demtor's Avatar
Demtor at 06/16/2008 13:21
With a hat like that, his whip must be pretty amazing.
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 06/16/2008 13:21
Honestly, I don't think he has to do anything vastly different. Every time he releases a sort of SotN clone, I will buy it.

Also, I was there at E for All. Why didn't I see IGA!?
necrozen's Avatar
necrozen at 06/16/2008 14:32
I'd like to see a widely released Console version delivered via PSN, WiiWare and XBLA that has cooperative play.
moot button's Avatar
moot button at 06/16/2008 15:04
hmmm, i always thought 2d gameplay with a 3d castle would be awesome. I don't mean characters made from polygons, though. It would be more like Fez or Paper Mario, but the change in perspective would be going into doors or hallways. Its just the backgrounds in Castlevania games have a bunch of neat shit in them that i can never go to, this would fix the problem.
vonrichter's Avatar
vonrichter at 06/16/2008 16:29
Hmm. I'm a little tired of Metroidvania games. I'd like to see Castlevania return to it's pure action roots for a game or two. And please, no girly-men as characters.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 06/16/2008 16:58
I love this man and his hat.
KamikazeTutor's Avatar
KamikazeTutor at 06/16/2008 17:45
Koji, meet Odin Sphere, you know what to do from there.
moot button's Avatar
moot button at 06/16/2008 17:56
Maybe a large Metroidvania map that acts as a hub world to linear action stages?
kevinski's Avatar
kevinski at 06/16/2008 18:35
I'd like to see a new 2D Castlevania game that isn't on a handheld system. Also, it'd be nice to include some better online modes, rather than just boss rush and whatnot. I'd actually like to see a four-player online co-op mode, with each player being able to play as a different class of character, based on classic Castlevania characters.
Superfluous Moniker's Avatar
Superfluous Moniker at 06/16/2008 18:42
@Moot: Sounds like Portrait of Ruin.
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 06/16/2008 19:12
Who said 2D wasn't alive?
moot button's Avatar
moot button at 06/16/2008 19:44
Yeah, I realized how similar that was right after i posted it. The exploration type of play (in the main world) to find a relic that allows you to access a 'portrait' world. Then the portrait world could be a straight forward level like classic Castlevania based around whatever mechanic or ability the relic enabled. To make it feel less Metroidy, I suppose the goal of the classic type level would have to be the destruction of the relic (don't worry you get all these powers back before you defeat Drac :D). Aach, hard to describe what game is happening in my head right now.
Mista Smegheneghan's Avatar
Mista Smegheneghan at 06/17/2008 05:11
i'm all right with how the games are right now. if anything changes, i hope the microphone gets little to no use. it's always annoying when that happens...

and if there's a hard mode, level caps i'm fine with, but bats that can kill you in three hits?! no thanks
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