Topic: Is Koji Igarashi the greatest Castlevania producer?

[Chernabogue]

IGA

[beingthehero]

To follow up on my first post -





http://www.1up.com/features/catching-castlevania-composer-2 :

1UP: It seems like there's a very eclectic sound to Symphony of the Night. You have intense heavy metal in places like the area leading up to the clock tower, but then in the Long Library, it's almost like chamber music, with the harpsichord and violin. Can you talk about the influences you drew on, and the thinking behind creating such a varied soundtrack?

YM: After I'd compose a track, I would go to the team and have them listen to it. Some people would say, "Well, it doesn't match the Castlevania series..." But I remember that Igarashi-san said, "Okay, this might be a little different, but a difference might be a good thing. Why don't we just try it out?"

IGA was behind most of the SotN, created the Metroidvania system (both points already confirmed in the Chronicles interview), brought in Kojima, and approved of Michiru Yamane's music. Let this post put the whole dumb and disingenuous "SotN was really Hagihara, IGA is a frauuuuuuud!!" argument to rest.

This isn't the first time that argument has been disproven yet reposted again as though fact, so if you see the usual suspects trying to mislead others again feel free to quote this post.

[Pfil]

You just showed me my CV dream team...
How I miss them 

[Neobelmont]

I'll keep it short. Is he perfect? No... Are his games good? I have them so that's a yes but a very ehh kind of yes like 50/50. Could he and his team done better in the 3d field? Oh Yes. The team never improved upon what was done in Lol instead it got worst and then there were a lack of belmont's to me and the ones that were the mc's their games were alright(HoD) to decent(Loi). Yeah DxC and CvA:Rebirth were aokay in my book but it's just that overtime all those MV's and lack of belmont's and really not having constant improvement  started to make me not to favorable with him.

Sure it has been said that Ooe was a step in the right direction but one correct action cannot make up for all the other things that occurred like judgment. Which is why I'm glad the Alucard game was never made because by past experiences it was either going to be decent like Loi or since it was Alucard it might of ended up like CoD which was very lackluster even with all the backtracking and rpg elements it was just put into a bland playing environment.       

Point is he's done some mistakes then and there but what kills it for me is that he and his team are just not consistently improving.

[Lelygax]

Well, if he is not the greatest, then he would at last be one of the greatest.

Also I've discovered why IGA isnt working in Castlevania for now, he needed some time to work in his own business:

[Neobelmont]

Well, if he is not the greatest, then he would at last be one of the greatest.

Also I've discovered why IGA isnt working in Castlevania for now, he needed some time to work in his own business:

Slaps Lelygax on the head   

But yeah why use rondo sprites four times in a row why? Crazyness I tell ya also after awhile I started to look for Mv's in different games like muramasa, cave story, even megaman zx and I love those games. maybe I just got bored of this style and how under his reign it just became lackluster to me it never improved much to me while other games were doing it better or had something that was missing in those games like platforming which megaman zx had.

 Zx is not as good as the rest of the mvs  yes but at least it had platforming

(click to show/hide)

and Aile 

.

[Lelygax]

Slaps Lelygax on the head   

Hey! *bites Neobelmont finger*

[Beaumont_Belmont]

I don't know if he's the greatest (considering I only know one producer off the top of my head and it's Iga, unless Boris Karloffice is one of them), but I've always liked the enthusiasm for the series, even if I wasn't personally thrilled by about 3/4 of his Castlevania games.

[Abnormal Freak]

IGA was behind most of the SotN, created the Metroidvania system (both points already confirmed in the Chronicles interview), brought in Kojima, and approved of Michiru Yamane's music. Let this post put the whole dumb and disingenuous "SotN was really Hagihara, IGA is a frauuuuuuud!!" argument to rest.

IGA was greatly responsible for SOTN, yes, but where is this proof that Hagihara only worked on it when it was a 32X game and that he was credited as director out of respect for what he had contributed to what could be considered a completely different game? To downplay IGA's role is ludicrous, but to similarly downplay Hagihara's is perhaps likewise unless there's been some concrete confirmation that he wasn't deeply involved with the game when it became SOTN. There's no mistaking that SOTN has a tightness and cohesive feeling in the gameplay, a/v aspects, programming, and FUN FACTOR that is lacking in the later IGA titles, and if you ask me, Hagihara likely led these aspects even if IGA did come up with the non-linear idea and had a hand in other aspects of design.

[shelverton.]

I have great respect for IGA and he made some of my favourite handheld games ever. I don't even mind that he reused sprites and such, because the games were still very good. However, with Harmony of Despair, I was completely over him. I still think that game is embarrasing as hell, and it felt like IGAs way of saying that he had lost all his inspiration and just wanted to move on.

Judgment was different. I personally didn't like it at all, but at least it was something different. Harmony of Despair on the other hand, looked like a half-assed fan project, and while re-using graphics worked for individual games IMO, this time it was just too much. It didn't feel like a new game at all, just a random hodgepodge of the games that came before it. Even the name itself sounds like tired fanfiction.

But in the end, IGA still has my respect. Symphony, Chronicles, Dissonance, Aria, Dawn, Portrait, DXC, Ecclesia, Adventure Rebirth... most of them are great games, and the other ones are at least solid. (Curse and Lament were not my favourite games ever, but I don't hate them. They just failed to live up to my expectations. Except the music in Curse, which still stands as my favourite CV soundtrack, even beating Symphony)

[beingthehero]

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2012/09/feature_the_making_of_castlevania_symphony_of_the_night

Contrary to popular belief, Koji ‘IGA’ Igarashi was not employed as Primary Director on the project – that honour fell to Toru Hagihara, who was also responsible for the excellent Dracula X: Rondo of Blood on NEC’s PC Engine Super CD-ROM system. IGA - who would go on to become the overall producer of the entire franchise - served as Assistant Director as well as participating in the writing of the scenario and general programming, so it could be argued that he had the most telling influence over the creation of the game.

The article goes on state that IGA was the one behind the experience system, bringing in Alucard as the hero, and using "X" in the title:

“Action games could be cleared in a short time, but I wished to create a game which could be enjoyed for a long time” explains IGA.

This particular evolution was borne out of the common perception that the series was a something of a tough nut in terms of challenge, as IGA explains: “I wanted to change the impression that Castlevania was a difficult action game. When we decided to adopt RPG elements, we agreed that users would deserve something good when beating enemies. So, I thought of Experience Points.”

The concept of earning experience for every enemy successfully slain also prevented the inevitable back-tracking from becoming too arduous, and in many ways made the game more accessible for less skilled gamers. “I thought that even the users who were not good at playing action games would be able to clear the game if I adopted the system,” reveals IGA.

Not content with shaking things up gameplay-wise, IGA also turned a few heads when it came to selecting the major character for the game. Traditionally, the vampire-hunting Belmont clan took centre stage in Castlevania titles, but SotN saw the player controlling the half vampire, half human offspring of Dracula himself - Alucard. “I chose a character that had a special link to the previous Castlevania titles,” comments IGA.

“The Japanese title was “Akumajo Dracula X”. I used “X” to show that it would be apart from the main stream of the series. But, surprisingly, it has become the mainstream,” he comments with a degree of satisfaction

Interestingly enough, not only is his favorite track Dracula's Castle, but IGA was the one who programmed the moment in the entrance hall when the castle goes from being pitch black to light:

When asked which tune was his favourite, IGA playfully admits that he’s slightly biased: “My favourite is “Castle Dracula” which starts to play when Alucard enters the castle for the first time. I am impressed that the music starts to play once Alucard enters the dark castle and then suddenly the castle gets bright and Zombies appear. It might be because that part was programmed by myself!”

[beingthehero]

Here is all we know of Hagihara's involvement in SotN:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.fan.nb/MKYmUPKsZxw/8U8cEbD69IoJ

IGA: Plus, Mr.Hagihara (the director) had a playful sense of humor. He worked on Symphony as well, and he made the telescope part where, if you pan over to the left you can see a little mouse, and also where Alucard can sit down on the chair and prop his feet up.

IGA created the Metroidvania system, brought in Alucard as the main character, brought in Ayami Kojima, oversaw Michiru Yamane's score, implemented the RPG/experience point system, added in the X subtitle to show that, initially, it was a side-story.

Hagihara did add in the telescope and mouse.

SotN is Hagihara's.

[Abnormal Freak]

Because clearly Hagihara's only involvement was a few little quirks.

Yes, it's been established IGA brought in the leveling up and non-linear gameplay and is credited as scenario writer. Ken Levine (BioShock) is also credited as scenario writer and concept creator for Thief: The Dark Project, but it was other folks who did the rest of the work, including direction and polish.

IGA oversaw much and it's clear he made a lot of changes, and perhaps his assistant director chair could be changed to overall director, who knows? I've just never heard much on Hagihara's involvement either way, and a few little words from IGA doesn't mean much because he's reluctant to even talk about other people's involvement, evidenced by him not wanting to namedrop the so-called "creator" of Castlevania in an interview. But the fact remains that Hagihara is credited as producer (and by assumption, director), and any statement that he had little to do with the game after it became what it is, is merely speculation.

KOJI IGARASHI DID EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING! EVEN PROGRAMMED THE SUMBITCH!

[Lelygax]

So maybe thats why they never did a game better than SotN, they forgot to add a telescope and a mouse LOL

[beingthehero]

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091011173653/castlevania/images/b/b5/Egm206.jpg

IGA: I joined the Symphony of the Night team as a programmer in the early stages of development and was able to take over as director when the original person in charge was promoted to another project.

EGM: Is it true that SotN is connected to the doomed Sega 32X game Castlevania: The Bloodletting?

IGA: Well, there was another Castlevania title being developed on the 32X, but I don't believe the title was The Bloodletting. The game was cancelled before the name was confirmed. This is actually the game I worked on after Tokimeki Memorial. The team for this game was disbanded, but several members, including myself, went to work on SOTN.

And he did program the sumbitch. *shrug*

Since the game design, RPG system, Alucard, Ayami Kojima's art, Yamane saying he oversaw her composing, are attributed to IGA it is clear that SotN is his game. Hagihara's involvement was minimal, and as posted Bloodletting was SotN's early days.

As IGA said he assumed total control after Hagihara left - and IGA was the one behind the basic gameplay, hero, title, and system of the game - it's safe to say that yes, most of SotN is his work. It'd be utterly strange to say that SotN is Hagihara's since he left early in development and everything in SotN was IGA's idea. Some may hate that, but I'm just linking da facts n shit.