Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Abnormal Freak on August 23, 2013, 05:22:51 PM
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Nothing to report yet on what the interview actually contains, but keep yer peepers open for the interview with the lead programmer on Super Castlevania IV.
Gonna check out Barnes & Noble in a few weeks to see if they get it in stock. It's a UK mag, and those usually take 3–4 weeks from release to arrive here.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimageshack.us%2Fa%2Fimg191%2F3859%2Fnbo4.jpg&hash=c21e0d4cfb4aa79160cb87faa6a875e7)
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Good find :)
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I got mine in the mail two days ago. I haven't had a chance to finish the CV4 article, but there's some new info in there already. For example, that CV1-CV3 were all done by the same team, and also that early Konami games don't have the true names in the credits because Konami would not allow them credit for their work. I'll scan the article when I can, but I probably won't have time til Sunday night at the earliest.
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More information about the early history of Castlevania? Consider me intrigued.
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I got mine in the mail two days ago. I haven't had a chance to finish the CV4 article, but there's some new info in there already. For example, that CV1-CV3 were all done by the same team, and also that early Konami games don't have the true names in the credits because Konami would not allow them credit for their work. I'll scan the article when I can, but I probably won't have time til Sunday night at the earliest.
I'll await your scans.
That article is very interesting.
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I'm interested in this.
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I'm very interested in this as well. :)
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I too, approve of this article being scanned.
Also, Konami was a bit of an asshole not giving proper credit to its programmers/designers. I don't understand the reasoning behind it. Did this apply to other games than Castlevania too? My memory escapes me.
Though I guess times were different back then, but other companies at least had real credits.
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I dunno, Yuzo Koshiro was never credited at Falcom, which is why he left there in the late 80s.
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I think Keiji Inafune said that many of the original developers of Mega Man 1–3 (I think it was largely the same team) used fake names because video games had a certain stigma attached to it in Japan at the time, so if that's the case, then the staffers at Capcom chose to do aliases. The creator and original director has never wanted to be named, I believe, and that could also be why IGA never mentions by name some of the key folks behind the original Castlevanias.
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And that could be the case of Michiru Yamane behind themes like Riddle in Castlevania 3, many years before she made a remix.
Manami Matsumae used the nickname Sato in some Megaman titles, for example, and that might be just what Keiji was referring to.
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She was never part of KKC and I have absolutely no idea where you got that from. She has said in a zillion interviews that the first Castlevania game she ever worked on was Bloodlines. Here:
http://www.castlevaniacrypt.com/yamane/2012/11/07 (http://www.castlevaniacrypt.com/yamane/2012/11/07)
1up: I'd like to talk more about Castlevania, since that seems to be what you're best known for. How did you first become involved with the Castlevania series?
Michiru Yamane: I moved to the Tokyo office, and the first title I worked on was Vampire's Killer [Castlevania Bloodlines], for the Mega Drive.
EDIT: I didn't mean this in a harsh way or anything, but I'm just legitimately confused where you heard Yamane did music for CVIII.
EDIT TO THE EDIT'S EDIT: Whoops, forgot she did some of the music for Gradius III and other MSX stuff, and I think there she was credited as part of the KKC. But she has confirmed that Bloodlines was the first Castlevania she ever worked on.
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Although I found PDF of this by the Google search, I think that I will wait for PFG9000's scan. That one will become the contribution of Castlevania Dungeon.
*Michiru Yamane
http://www.squareenixmusic.com/features/interviews/michiruyamane.shtml (http://www.squareenixmusic.com/features/interviews/michiruyamane.shtml)
CVIII isn't anywhere in this report.
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She was never part of KKC and I have absolutely no idea where you got that from. She has said in a zillion interviews that the first Castlevania game she ever worked on was Bloodlines. Here:
http://www.castlevaniacrypt.com/yamane/2012/11/07 (http://www.castlevaniacrypt.com/yamane/2012/11/07)
EDIT: I didn't mean this in a harsh way or anything, but I'm just legitimately confused where you heard Yamane did music for CVIII.
EDIT TO THE EDIT'S EDIT: Whoops, forgot she did some of the music for Gradius III and other MSX stuff, and I think there she was credited as part of the KKC. But she has confirmed that Bloodlines was the first Castlevania she ever worked on.
No because Bloodlines was her first solo work in CV, but a couple CV games were credited by the KKC, and until I find out if she was in KKC at the tim of CV3, I will still have the doubt.
The way I see it, it's more probable that she was in KKC when CV3 was made, because she entered Konami and entered right away in KKC, and when she left KKC and went solo, she did it to make Bloodlines.
It's just that I can't find info about one info or the other.
Until something official appears, we don't know.
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Dude she literally says in the interview I quoted that the very first Castlevania she ever worked on period was Bloodlines. Not the first one she did solo, but the first one ever.
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In these 2 interviews she says (yeah, so she is the source) that the first Castlevania project that she worked was Bloodlines. In Koutei link you can even read she mentioning what another titles that she worked while in KKC.
Its worth reading.
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I've read the article already. Although the scans have not been posted yet, I hope nobody minds if I share some interesting bits already. Apperently, this game started production alongside Castlevania III. Ueno says they started working on it as soon as they heard about the creation of the SFC, and they had people from CV1 and 2 on the team. He's also asked if SCIV is truly a remake, and he says he considers it partially to be so. Sadly, he doesn't really elaborate on it.
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Dude she literally says in the interview I quoted that the very first Castlevania she ever worked on period was Bloodlines. Not the first one she did solo, but the first one ever.
Alright, I guess we have our answer. Thanks.
But not "dude", more like... I don't know... "gal"?
Yesterday I've been told I am flatchested, and now they are already calling me "dude"... I mean... really?
Not for liking girls and having small cup I become a "dude".
I like to think that, despite my jokes, I'm pretty feminine :P
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"Dude" for me and perhaps for him is a generic term. Don't take it too seriously. The female form is "dudette".
Besides, you have bigger breasts than normal east asian women. (do not count those gals who did plastic surgery)
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He's also asked if SCIV is truly a remake, and he says he considers it partially to be so. Sadly, he doesn't really elaborate on it.
In the interview he says he considers it a remake to an extent and then explains how they made gameplay improvements and additions but wanted to keep it aligned with the original. I think that is a pretty sufficient elaboration on the matter.
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Alright, I guess we have our answer. Thanks.
But not "dude", more like... I don't know... "gal"?
Yesterday I've been told I am flatchested, and now they are already calling me "dude"... I mean... really?
Not for liking girls and having small cup I become a "dude".
I like to think that, despite my jokes, I'm pretty feminine :P
Hey, don't get mad, you are very sweet for your age. ;)
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Hey, none of that sweet shit in this thread, it's all SRS GAMIN' BZNS HERE.
I thought Ueno had commented on the whole remake thing before. Thought it was in play, August 2003 issue, but it ain't there. But I think I read something once that caused some confusion. The game's a remake in the sense that the story is such, but the play mechanics are far from being like the original's while still retaining its atmosphere and linear, non-RPG style. So I think a Japanese developer might have qualms with calling it a remake because they factor in that stuff.
Or maybe I made all that up? Or IGA said something similar to that.
Anyway, the fact that in Japan it has the exact same name as the original game and all the other reimaginings, I don't know why there would be any question to its (story) remake status.
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Really? If you find out more, please let us know.
Of course the story is the same but that is not sufficient reason to call it a remake. That's why I'm always annoyed when people call it that. I'm curious though, why reuse the same story for a new game? In case of Akumajo X68000 it's because the project evolved from being an enhanced port (source is an interview with the game's director), and I'm guessing in case of Vampire Killer and Haunted Castle because versions for arcade and MSX were requested that intentionally differed from the Famicom version (which was common practice for Konami at the time). But what's the deal with CVIV?
On another note, I was thinking that if CVIV has the same staff from CV1 and CV2, if we are able to find out their real names we find out who the original creators of Castlevania are. Didn't part of the team leave Konami to begin Treasure or something? There might be a lead there. I also noticed one person of the staff, Satoshi Kushibuchi, is still frequently involved with the series. I wonder if his involvement in the series dates back to the first game?
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What if every Castlevania game would have had the same story? It was always Simon Belmont going up against Dracula, but the gameplay and setting would vary. Also, Simons powers (and appearance) would have to vary greatly in order to fit something like Symphony and the Sorrow games.
We wouldn't have the problem with different timelines. We would, however, be pretty tired of the same story over and over, lol! I can't think of another series that has done this. Maybe because the idea flat out sucks :D
But it worked with CV4, at least.
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I wonder if the article explains how the old developers feel about Lords of Shadow and how disgusted they are with the series.. :-\
I know I'd be livid if my once masterpiece of a series of games became something so putrid. Not trying to start anything here, but in my eyes it is a shame. Perhaps the developers think Lords of Shadow is amazing, though. If that's they case, good for them and at least they are happy.
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@Koutei: Hey, how about sharing this PDF with us, its possible? I want PFG9000 scans and keep them in my HDD, but I want to read it while PFG9000 doesnt scan it. :P
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Nagumo, I believe Koutei commented on the Treasure thing before. If I recall, the ties to Castlevania are very thin. The lead programmer on The Adventure was one of the founders and possibly CEO, and I think one or two of the programmers on IV left for Treasure. I think the latter hadn't worked on Konami games prior to the Super Nintendo but I could be wrong.
If I had to guess, since Simon was the most well-known Belmont, Konami just figured, "Let's do a souped-up 16-bit version of his adventure," almost like how Mega Man's first proper game on the console was a darker reimagining with new moves and that.
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Hey, none of that sweet shit in this thread, it's all SRS GAMIN' BZNS HERE.
♥♥♥♥ pru-nyaa ♥♥♥♥
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fzonters.com%2Fimage%2F2013%2F03%2Fwhit_cute_puppy_dog_wallpaper-HD.jpg&hash=5c8b64867f4187647dbe7e4f01b886c9)
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@Koutei: Hey, how about sharing this PDF with us, its possible? I want PFG9000 scans and keep them in my HDD, but I want to read it while PFG9000 doesnt scan it. :P
retro gamer 119 pdf download
Google search.
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Thanks, I never thought it could be so easy.
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stuff stuff putrid stuff stuff
Actually, Eno was consulted about and approved LoS, that was said by Cox.
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But that cant be one more of Cox lies?
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How 'bout we not discuss Cox here unless Ueno or somebody says something on him, eh? Frankly, I'm sick of seeing the dipshit's name, so let's move on; this is about Ueno.
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Alright gang, here's the links. Sorry I couldn't get these to you sooner; I've been out of town the past two days. I think Photobucket reduces image size, so I will zip the files and post a link here to download them as one bundle so you can get the original quality.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P30_zps18f11e69.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P30_zps18f11e69.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P31_zps747f4d7d.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P31_zps747f4d7d.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P32_zps934e37da.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P32_zps934e37da.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P33_zps2928a306.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P33_zps2928a306.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P34_zpsca72e6eb.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P34_zpsca72e6eb.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P35_zps89f2f12a.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/pfloydguy2/P35_zps89f2f12a.jpg)
All scans in original quality, zipped:
http://rapidshare.com/files/131335375/CV4scans.zip (http://rapidshare.com/files/131335375/CV4scans.zip)
Please let me know if this doesn't work, I'm not the best with this stuff.
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Thanks, I never thought it could be so easy.
You're welcome :)
zipped:
I downloaded. Thank you!
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"Dude" for me and perhaps for him is a generic term. Don't take it too seriously. The female form is "dudette".
Besides, you have bigger breasts than normal east asian women. (do not count those gals who did plastic surgery)
Ummmm... Hitomi Tanaka
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"Dude" for me and perhaps for him is a generic term. Don't take it too seriously. The female form is "dudette".
Besides, you have bigger breasts than normal east asian women. (do not count those gals who did plastic surgery)
I know, I wasn't really serious :)
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I did some digging on Treasure and it turns out Yaiman's real name is Mitsuru Yaida. There's a good chance that he is one of the creators of CV1.
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How do you figure? Any information I've ever found on him (though I admit I haven't looked too hard) states that his first (published) games were in the early '90s.
And now I know that Yaiman and Yaipon are the same person, heh.
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Becaus Ueno said CV4's team contained the creators of CV1 and CV2 (who were responsible for both games). Didn't you read the article!? >:(
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I did, but I didn't catch any mention of that. On page two he says, "CVIII on the Famicom was developed almost in parallel with CVIV, by the same people behind CV and CVII." He's talking about I–III being developed by the same team, while IV was assembled by a whole new one while III was in development.
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Oh, I see. Admittedly, that does make more sense. Well, in that case, it's even easier to discover who the creators are since they didn't use any aliases.
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Thanks for the scans, i'm downloading them right now.
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Looks like an H. Akamatsu directed III and probably II, according to MobyGames, and possibly the first if we're to assume the same guy supervised all three projects.
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Thanks for the scans!! :D
I'll read them later.
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Some more information about the developers of the NES games I found on MobyGames:
- M. Takemoto: Besides Castlevania he also worked on Top Gun and Contra Force. He seems to disappear from Konami in the early '90's.
- Y. Okuda: His full name is Yasuo Okuda. Noteably, he also worked on Snake's Revenge, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Legend of the Mystical Ninja. As of 2009, he's still with Konami.
- S. Kitamoto: Full name is Shinji Kitamoto. His work besides Castlevania includes, Top Gun, Contra, Esper Dream, And Knightmare II. After Castlevania III he seems to have disappeared.
- T. Fujimoto. First name is Takehsi. Worked on Parodious, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc. Afterwards, he joined Square Enix. Noteably, he also worked on Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
- N. Togakushi: Not much known about this guy. Besides Castlevania, he only worked on Gyruss.
- K. Ogawa: Kumiko Ogawa. Interestingly, he also worked on Curse of Darkness. Afterwards he joined Capcom and worked on several Resident Evil games and Dragon's Dogma.
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Now that I've finally had a chance to read this article, I see that Kurt Kalata (DiscoAlucard here) helped out with it. The very end of the article thanks him.
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GREAT INTERVIEW! Besides what's been mentioned, the biggest things I picked out were:
1.) Had Super Castlevania IV been developed after and not during CVIII, it would have had branching paths! :o
2.) Super Castlevania IV was no fluke; the things we've picked out as great were on purpose. The team was really dialed in and enthusiastic.
3.) The balance issues with the whip were likely a combination of crunch time to get the game done and the tinkering of levels and whip mechanics after some structures had already been laid down. Seems like the dialogue between the whip designer and level designer was back and forth with experimentation rather than set in stone. Ueno says the whole thing could have had more polish.
4.) We now have an answer about the famous Beta "fight through a ROOM!"
5.) Ueno gave some pointers/opinions to the Bloodlines team, it sounded like.
6.) Somebody hire this guy to do a new 2D Castlevania with all the bells and whistles!!! He passed the job interview!
7.) Kurt is still out there in the fandom!
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I see most of you have already read the article by now, but I got this from the actual author (He's over at HG101) so I thought I'd share this with y'all!
"The CV1, CV2, and CV3 team were the same group - they also did Snake's Revenge, which I think is amazing.
The CV4 team, headed by Mitch, was entirely separate, though according to Mitch there was definite overlap in the development periods. CV4 began development prior to CV3 coming out. It must have started just as Nintendo was informing companies about the SFC, since they only had design specs, not actual dev hardware at first.
As for the creators of the original CV, that's very interesting. The Famicom Disk System release was first, and predates the MSX2 version, which was by an entirely different team (Konami kept the FC, MSX and arcade divisions all separate in those days).
I interviewed the creator of Haunted Castle (it's unpublished), and he said that the head of CV1 was Hitoshi Akamatsu, the same as the sequels.
Now, Derboo on HG101 did some digging, and found that Hitoshi Akamatsu at Konami also worked on Time Pilot, and filed a patent regarding this, which listed his home address. It was missing the postal code, so I checked it against the city and found 5 possible codes. I sent 5 letters to Japan, with slightly different addresses.
I recently received the last one back - all were marked undeliverable. It seems he doesn't live there any more.
Will we ever get hold of the true mind behind the original? I have no idea.
Also, someone spoke about MegaMan's creator. If I'm not mistaken it's not Keiji Inafune, but rather Akira Kitamura.
Glad everyone enjoyed the article. It's my last one until I've finished my book.
Best regards
John S"
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Excellent article! Plenty of rare and valuable information!
Thanks for sharing it!
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How 'bout we not discuss Cox here unless Ueno or somebody says something on him, eh? Frankly, I'm sick of seeing the dipshit's name, so let's move on; this is about Ueno.
Sounds good to me
All scans in original quality, zipped:
http://rapidshare.com/files/131335375/CV4scans.zip (http://rapidshare.com/files/131335375/CV4scans.zip)
Thanks, D/Ling it right now.
I interviewed the creator of Haunted Castle (it's unpublished), and he said that the head of CV1 was Hitoshi Akamatsu, the same as the sequels.
Also, someone spoke about MegaMan's creator. If I'm not mistaken it's not Keiji Inafune, but rather Akira Kitamura.
So we get good news only to discover that Keiji Inafune is lying? Who is Akira Kitamura?
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An interview with Haunted Castle's creator? This guy is amazing. Can't wait to read it. I have a theory Castlevania, Vampire Killer, and Haunted Castle were all born from an initial idea and developed alongside each other. I wonder if that's true?
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About the creator of Mega Man, here's something from a Gamespot interview 6 years ago:
"Inafune also revealed that he wasn't responsible for the creation of Mega Man himself. "I'm often called the father of Mega Man, but actually, his design was already created when I joined Capcom," he explained. "My mentor [at Capcom], who was the designer of the original Mega Man, had a basic concept of what Mega Man was supposed to look like. So I only did half of the job in creating him. I didn't get to completely design a Mega Man [protagonist] from scratch until Zero (Mega Man X, SNES). Back when the SNES was coming out, I was asked to give Mega Man a redesign, so I created this character. But I realized that this design wouldn't be accepted as Mega Man, so I had another designer create the new Mega Man, and I worked on Zero to release him as the 'other main character' that would steal all the good scenes!"
I'm guessing this 'mentor' was Kitamura?
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Thanks for clarifying, yes it should be Kitamura.
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I interviewed the creator of Haunted Castle (it's unpublished), and he said that the head of CV1 was Hitoshi Akamatsu, the same as the sequels.
Cool stuff. Nice to know his first name and that he also headed CV1. Seems we have our original Castlevania director.
Also, someone spoke about MegaMan's creator. If I'm not mistaken it's not Keiji Inafune, but rather Akira Kitamura.
I had mentioned this. Inafune is often credited as the creator of Mega Man, but in the Mega Man Official Complete Works artbook he talks about what you later mentioned, that Inafune came on board after MM had already been created and drawn out in pixel art. I believe it was Inafune's job initially as illustrator to take that dot art and put it to pen and ink, and I believe he also designed some of the boss enemies, though a few like Elec Man were already created and drawn in dot art. I think that's how it went. (I could crack open the book if anyone's interested in knowing for sure.)
I don't think he ever mentioned the project leader's name, and I don't think I've seen the name Akira Kitamura before. It's nice to know the name of another original director of a famous franchise.
I sure hope that Haunted Castle interview sees the light of day soon.