Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Profbeanburrito on January 06, 2008, 04:39:16 PM
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So it seems with all these great classic games there always seems to be one major person behind them as the creator. Examples:
Shigeru Miyamoto - Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, etc.
Gunpei Yokoi - Metroid, Kid Icarus, the Gameboy
Hironobu Sakaguchi - Final Fantasy
Hideo Kojima - Metal Gear
But what about Castlevania? Does anybody know if there is a person responsible for creating CV? in the credits of CV1 there are just stupid names based on classic horror film actors.
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James Earl Jones created Castlevania.
just like he created Star Wars but he let Lucas act like he created it cause back then no one liked black people, so that's why James Earl Jones never gave himself credit for creating them.
James Earl Jones also created the telephone
(research Bell Atlantic)
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In Reply To #1
It was probably some physco japanese dude who saw a Dracula movie and an Indiana Jones movie at the same time, and on top of that was drunk, then later said: "Hey, I think I'll make a video game about a whip-wielding guy who has to go kill Dracula! Yeah that'll work. I'll call him Simon Belmondo and it will take place in a place called Castlevania!" *the japanese dude then faints*
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In Reply To #3
"Castlevania" was an usa invention. In japan the castle's name was "Castle Dracula". Very original yeah. :o
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HOLY ****, Castlevania originated in USA???? o_o O_O
wow that's like the only super classic I think that
originated here instead of Japan. :P
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^ no it didn't originate here but we were the first to call the game "castlevania" instead of "demon castle dracula" which is it's japanese name. :)
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v119/c0mbat/intB.jpg)
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Haha, he's so coy.
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oh okay :) well anyways, I guess they knew.
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that's bull they can look into company records and see who worked on the castlevania team when the first one was created.
So why won't they release the authors name?
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Well I guess someone had to so it so I might as well:
Chuck Norris invented CV.
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that's bull they can look into company records and see who worked on the castlevania team when the first one was created.
So why won't they release the authors name?
There was a fire at one of Konami's buildings in the past that damaged or destroyed many game materials. This was the explanation for why it's now impossible for them to provide high-resolution or uncropped samples of certain Castlevania artwork, since the originals no longer exist.
Perhaps those "company records" got caught up in the blaze, too.
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wouldn't you be able to find out if you beat the original game? They got credits right?
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If it has normal credits yeah. Cv1's were all wacky though, with silly false names all over them.
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In Reply To #16
Yeah that was a disappointment. Christopher Bee? Boris Karloffice? Lol.
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http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/NewCV/cvlib-credits.htm#vkill
According to Mr.P's, Vampire Killer (essentially "Castlevania") was produced and designed by one, Akihiro Nagata. So, for the sake of argument, it would appear he's the most qualified to take title of "Creator of Castlevania". Oddly enough, it doesn't appear he had much if any involvement in any of the other games in the series. (though Mr.P's doesn't have the credits for Simon's Quest)
Unfortunately, I have looked around the net, and all other places sport KONAMI as being the producer of the game. That, and looking up his name doesn't produce much.....so I don't have anything to backup this tidbit of info.
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In Reply To #17 & 16
what about the japanese version? It souds from what you said, its just a absolutely horrid translation >.> which..... seems to happen to castlevania, even today.
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The credits are the same in the Japanese version. The tribute to old monster movies was intentional, not the result of bad localization.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/NewCV/cvlib-credits.htm#vkill
According to Mr.P's, Vampire Killer (essentially "Castlevania") was produced and designed by one, Akihiro Nagata. So, for the sake of argument, it would appear he's the most qualified to take title of "Creator of Castlevania". Oddly enough, it doesn't appear he had much if any involvement in any of the other games in the series. (though Mr.P's doesn't have the credits for Simon's Quest)
Vampire Killer's credits include a special thanks to the "FC Team," meaning the staff of the Famicom game, which came first. And considering how little any of the other games take after VK (especially compared to the Famicom game), I definitely wouldn't be comfortable jumping to the idea of that game's producer being the de facto father of the franchise.
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Well, before IGA, there doesn't appear to be any determinable one person that was consistent with the overseeing of multiple games in the series. There's no defined "leader". So, are we trying to prove who started the series itself, or who is responsible for the series extending past just one game and into a franchise?
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well,I wanted to know who the "father" of the series was. The guy who came up with the original and did the work.
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There is always the possibility that one solid person didnt make it. They could have had some sort of "idea discusion" and that just came up and was built on by multiple Konami people's.
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I wonder if anybody at Konami really knows this? I mean, there HAS to be some guys still working them who worked aroudn the time the original was made. A lot of Japanese video game companies have veteren game designers in the midsts. Even if the sole person who came up with the concept is gone, I'm sure someone THERE is aware who that person is. Unless they totally got rid of all the old peeps of Konami. Though it was before Metal Gear, maybe Hideo Kojima knows who created the series. He was there "around" that time.
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In Reply To #24
Maybe it WAS Hideo Kojima and he is secretly hiding it. He gave the honor to a dude named Bob, Konami didn't like the name Bob, so they refused to give out that information, and thus, we do not know of Bob, the end.
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There is always the possibility that one solid person didnt make it. They could have had some sort of "idea discusion" and that just came up and was built on by multiple Konami people's.
This is the most likely scenario, especially where "Konami" is credited for its creation. At one point (is there still??), there was a "Konami Music Club" that oversaw music production, which would have included more than one person. So the "director" or "creator" of the first game in a series may not necessarily be the ONLY person that thought of the idea, or perhaps did, but was molded and changed based on the suggestions of others.
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There is always the possibility that one solid person didnt make it. They could have had some sort of "idea discusion" and that just came up and was built on by multiple Konami people's.
Thats true, it is possible. Super CV 4 was made by like 3 people so, i don't think that it would be too large a group that made CV, but I'm still sure there's some one who should be mentioned as it's creator. Miyamoto was the creator of Super Mario Bros. but he still had his team to help, so thats kind what I was looking for head director or the guy who thought: "Let's make some dude go through a castle to fight Dracula and on the way he'll fight so cool undead monsters......with a whip!"
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The question I answered was already answered. My bad.
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In Reply To #27
Well yeah, everybody needs their team. In the case of CV, one of these "teams" may have indeed created CV.
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I'd like to think there was one creator/definitive producer (even if it was the mind who just said, "hey, let's do a Dracula game!"), and given IGA's response it hints at one person.
Akihiro Nagata is listed as the Producer and Game Designer of Vampire Killer, but I can't find him on any other MSX1/2 game credits to see if he was busy on those platforms with other games.
Interestingly, Metal Gear on MSX2 (07.07.1987), like Vampire Killer, has a Game Designer entry listing Hideo Kojima. The NES version which came later (22.12.1987) has no such entry, nor even a Special Thanks to Kojima.
The NES version Maze of Galious, which I believe shipped well after its superior MSX counterpart, lists a completely different staff team from the MSX version, although they nod with a Special Thanks to Ryouhei Shogaki, Graphic Designer and Planner/Director of the MSX version.
It's rather here-or-there if you were to take any stock in that kind of thing. With Vampire Killer, given the release dates, there's not much in it:
26 Sept 1986 Akumajo Dracula (Castlevania) - Famicom Disk System
30 Oct 1986 Akumajo Dracula (Vampire Killer) - MSX 2
(Source: msx.org)
But who can truly say which was programmed first? Also, the Special Thanks nod to the FC Team could have been in relation to anything; i.e. help with disk to cartridge (although unlikely). And while it seems more logical to suggest different platform teams would share the same producer, there's no real evidence to suggest this would be the case, given that teams appear to be "platform-specific".
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^ I think both games were probably programmed around the same time, some elements that wouldn't work on the MSX (side scrolling for instance) were never implemented and diff. ones were incorporated into the MSX game as a result. (making you find keys to progress instead of the doors just all being unlocked). They seem to be two very diff. games which just share some similar sprites and ideas. Even the main weapons for each game are different. It seems more or less like Konami gave the idea which was thought up and discussed by maybe some of it's higher ups to the Famicom and MSX divisions and let them create 2 different games. The different divisions probably had little to no contact as was standard in japanese companies back then, especially in big corporations. Different divisions were also known to not like each other some times back then. (sony is a good example of this)
As a result they created two very diff. games with the nes one fairing better then it's MSX counterpart and spawning many direct sequels as a result. (Though the MSX version is included in the official canon now as an alternate telling of Simon's Encounter) It would seem Konami just took a gamble and it payed off. It would seem they kept better records of the MSX team than the Famicom team or they were lost over the 21 years since the famicom game first came out. I don't know if anyone has scanned the rom code looking for hidden stuff, but the actual credits for the original game might be hidden in the rom somewhere. :)
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Indeed, good points. You know, given the size of the teams back then, it wasn't uncommon for a producer or director to be directly involved with the coding or graphic design, although that doesn't seem to be the case with Nagata (same for Kojima too with Metal Gear), which might suggest he was higher up and overseeing the affairs of both teams.
At any rate, Nagata's input cannot be neglected and is perhaps considerable: Vampire Killer has much in conjunction with Symphony of the Night, such as the free room-by-room feel and item collecting/bartering elements. Qualities which may have been done before (Metroid, Maze of Galious), but not in the context of Castlevania as we know it.
And you're right on the money with the hardware limitations: the MSX2 version would have been programmed in Z80, and the NES is 6502 architecture. The original MSX was notoriously bad for side-scrolling. If development had began during the MSX period, Vampire Killer would have been designed with rooms from the outset.
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Interestingly, Metal Gear on MSX2 (07.07.1987), like Vampire Killer, has a Game Designer entry listing Hideo Kojima. The NES version which came later (22.12.1987) has no such entry, nor even a Special Thanks to Kojima.
OK, lets never speak of NES Metal Gear games again. Kojima had nothing to do with both those abominations. They came after the MSX versions and are terrible! God....Col. Cataffy..
On the plus side, thanks. This "Akihiro Nagata" may be the person I was curious to begin with so that may be the closest we get.
Also, this site http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/NewCV/cvlib-credits.htm
has the credits for all the games with "A. Nagata" as game designer and produced by.
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Whoever made castlevania, i love him/her! they made the greatest game of my life!
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Also, this site http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/NewCV/cvlib-credits.htm
has the credits for all the games with "A. Nagata" as game designer and produced by.
How come Simon's Quest isn't on the list?
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At any rate, Nagata's input cannot be neglected and is perhaps considerable: Vampire Killer has much in conjunction with Symphony of the Night, such as the free room-by-room feel and item collecting/bartering elements. Qualities which may have been done before (Metroid, Maze of Galious), but not in the context of Castlevania as we know it.
Nope. Igarashi has stated in interviews that Symphony's Metroid-like elements were inspired by Metroid.
OK, lets never speak
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Nope.
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In Reply To #36
Oh, believe me, I know. I'm a huge Metal Gear fan....but still....there should be none of that
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In Reply To #36
Oh, believe me, I know. I'm a huge Metal Gear fan....but still....there should be none of that
Yeah the nes metalgears were boring and I could never figure out what the hell to do in the nes original, at least you get hints and it's pretty straightforward where you have to go next and what your different objectives are in the MSX ones.
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The MSX was my first personal computer, but I couldn't afford an MSX2 so I sadly missed Metal Gear (and Vampire Killer) back then. I was annoyed about missing them too, but there was nothing I could do.
Thus the NES version was the first Metal Gear I played, and I must profess I enjoyed it (!).
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Wikipedia turned up nothing as far as A creator, but it did have the music composer: Kinuyo Yamashita
It's most likely that Konami based the game (very loosely) on Bram Stoker's book, hence Konami could not actually claim creative credit for the story. So it has no creator.
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The game has nothing to do with Bram Stoker's book. If anything, it's a pastiche of Universal's old monster movies.
And even if it were an adaptation, that never precludes the makers of said adaptation from being properly credited for their work.
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Pardon my ignorance, but isn't Konami's own lil' bunch o' musicians called the "Konami Kukeiha Club?" ^^
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In Reply To #43
Konami Kukeiha Club is their collective name, yes, but it's not like the entirety worked on every single title. Each game still has one to several individual composers who deserve their own credit. Saying a soundtrack was handled by "Konami Kukeiha Club" (which is done all the time on the Internet) is just a cop-out.
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I've just fired off an e-mail to Kinuyo Yamashita asking her for her input. She's still very much involved in music, and appears to be working as a consultant music producer/composer:
http://yamako.ciao.jp/html/about.html
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Actully Bram Stoker and the bible should receve the credit...Bram Stoker help start "Dracula" by wrighting his book influenceing several movies and games. Also several mosnters in Castlevania are from biblical refrence such as beaslbub and legion. But the only problem is there is a very small percetage of christains in Japan so it must have been a american born person or even europian.
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Actully Bram Stoker and the bible should receve the credit...Bram Stoker help start "Dracula" by wrighting his book influenceing several movies and games. Also several mosnters in Castlevania are from biblical refrence such as beaslbub and legion. But the only problem is there is a very small percetage of christains in Japan so it must have been a american born person or even europian.
no it was created in Japan so I'm sure the creator was Japanese. It pays tribute to all the universal monsters (wolfman and creature of the black lagoon aside). Judging from the credits the first one may have actually been teasing them as well.
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I just received a reply from Yamako (Kinuyo Yamashita), but unfortunately her English is not so good, and she didn't know who the creator was or, indeed, who A. Nagata was.
> I have a quick question on Demon Castle Dracula/Castlevania. Please, do you
> know, who was creator of the series, maybe the person who said, "let's do
> Dracula game"? Was it A. Nagata? Did he also produce/manage the Famicom (FC)
> team?)
Maybe somebody with some Japanese language skills would fair better.
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As far as I'm concerned, Koji Igarashi should be the creater, since the SotN game was the first CV game he did, then so forth. He has done the best Castlvania games in the whole franchies.
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As far as I'm concerned, Koji Igarashi should be the creater, since the SotN game was the first CV game he did, then so forth. He has done the best Castlvania games in the whole franchies.
Yeah, well, thats stupid. Iga's cool and all, I've got no beef with him, I like his games, but there's no way I'd consider him the creator.
Would you consider the dude who was in charge of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to be the creator instead of Miyamoto cause he made an awesome game? The answer is NO
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Iga has changed the castlvania world, not just one game. He made the bunch of lose games into one story and made magic with it.
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Iga has changed the castlvania world, not just one game. He made the bunch of lose games into one story and made magic with it.
The games in castlevania series have always told one story and had an order to them, Iga has just added his own games and twists to an already existing story so no, I wouldn't consider him the creator, he just expanded on what someone else originally did.
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Well imo, Igarashi if like the adoptive father of the games.
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It pays tribute to all the universal monsters (wolfman and creature of the black lagoon aside).
Maybe Konami can claim the Mermen are tribute enough to The Creature from the Black Lagoon, but the original Castlevania definitely came up short as far as werewolf representation. How could they reference Lon Chaney, Jr.'s name in the credits and neglect to include his most famous role as The Wolf Man in the actual game?
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In Reply To #48
Wow, I'm surprised some famous person actually replied to your question...
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Yeah, and she was very nice. I also paid compliment to her work; told her that I was a devotee of the MSX era and loved the BGM compositions back then.
It's quite a humbling thought to think that Yamako created early pieces like Heart of Fire, Vampire Killer, Wicked Child, and Aquarius (CVIII). *swoons*
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The credits in CV1 says much...
But is it the same team that did Simon's Quest?
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I do not think it was any one person to be honest.
I was under the asumption that it was the idea of a few people at Konami that were sitting around brainstorming ideas for a game... so.. i do not think it was just one person, but i think IGA helped make the franshise more recognized around the world.