Topic: When did SotN begin development?

[Nagumo]

Does anyone know this? The 32X game got cancelled in 1994 according to IGA. I'm thinking perhaps early 1995 but that may be too early. I suspect there was some overlap with Dracula XX, but that's because of a personal theory.

[beingthehero]

I suspect there was some overlap with Dracula XX, but that's because of a personal theory.

What's your theory? Something about the spritework?

[Shiroi Koumori]

It took 2 years to develop, If i recall correctly, then counting backwards, it would mean they must have started sometime in 1995.

[Nagumo]

What's your theory? Something about the spritework?

Nope. Dracula XX got advertised in a magazine as "Dracula X II" at first. That may have indicated it was supposed to be a sequel to Rondo instead of the weird watered down version we got instead. Since SotN was also developed as the sequel to Rondo I thought maybe the Dracula XX team gave precedence to that project (because Hagihara directed it) and instead made a weird alternate version of the original.   

It took 2 years to develop, If i recall correctly, then counting backwards, it would mean they must have started sometime in 1995.

Yeah, I thought so as well. Do you remember where that was mentioned?

[beingthehero]

That may have indicated it was supposed to be a sequel to Rondo instead of the weird watered down version we got instead.

Huh. Maybe from remnants of the sequel idea remain, like Richter and Annette already knowing who Maria is, and, well, the completely different layout of the castle. Assuming it was originally meant to be a sequel to begin with, that is.

[NagoriyukiSlayer]

I think it began development as the 32X game, and then the work they accomplished on that was probably ported to the Playstation. The reason I say this is because, according to The Cutting Room Floor Wiki, there was the sprite of the Pork Chop from the Classicvanias found on the disc. Obviously an unused pickup, it was most likely a leftover from the 32X Castlevania, as it seems that game would have played more akin to the Classicvanias. But now we're heading into speculation territory.

Speaking of Rondo of Blood, I was at a gaming event this last weekend (The Midwest Gaming Classic, to be exact), and I saw a PC-Engine playing Rondo of Blood. From the little I played of it (the game was on Stage 4), it definitely is a LOT better than Dracula X, with the smoother whip controls and the MUCH faster gameplay.

[Ahasverus]

I think it began development as the 32X game, and then the work they accomplished on that was probably ported to the Playstation. The reason I say this is because, according to The Cutting Room Floor Wiki, there was the sprite of the Pork Chop from the Classicvanias found on the disc. Obviously an unused pickup, it was most likely a leftover from the 32X Castlevania, as it seems that game would have played more akin to the Classicvanias. But now we're heading into speculation territory.

Speaking of Rondo of Blood, I was at a gaming event this last weekend (The Midwest Gaming Classic, to be exact), and I saw a PC-Engine playing Rondo of Blood. From the little I played of it (the game was on Stage 4), it definitely is a LOT better than Dracula X, with the smoother whip controls and the MUCH faster gameplay.

Rondo is just marvellous.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Yeah, I thought so as well. Do you remember where that was mentioned?

It was somewhere on an interview article. I don't know which one exactly.

The best I could muster was this: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-04-03-unfinished-symphony-castlevanias-keeper-speaks

His superiors relented and, to Igarashi's astonishment, produced a list of all the game projects currently in development at the company. "He told me that due to Tokimeki Memorial's success I was allowed to pick the game I wanted to work on next." Igarashi spotted Castlevania and jabbed his finger onto the page. "I immediately said: 'That one.'"

1. Tokimemo was released for the PCE on May 1994, so IGA was free by then. But he would only be given the choice to choose which project he likes when the game he wrote for showed tremendous success which would come at a slightly later time.

Then according to my translation of this: http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php/topic,7118.0.html

2. IGA was asked to help with Tokimemo PS remake (released in Oct 1995) while he was working on the scenario for SotN.

Then back to the interview:

His team had no inkling that Symphony of the Night was a special game, or that it would establish new conventions in the medium which would go on to define all subsequent 2D Castlevania games. "We were so busy we had no free mental time to really reflect on what we were creating," he says. The workload was gruelling. Igarashi and the rest of his team worked over the New Year in 1996, a time when the country traditionally ceases work. "On midnight the New Year's bell is rung at temples," Igarashi says. "I remember being at my desk when the bell tolled. We worked hard then, but our sense was that this was just a mere offshoot to the main series. Nobody thought it would end up having the impact that it did."

3. They were still working hard by the new year of 96.

4. SotN was released in Mar 1997.

So, we can just more or less assume 2 years of development.