Topic: Castlevania IV wasn't developed by "Konami"?!

[RichterB]

UNCONFIRMED: (See bolded "updates" down the thread for sources)

According to the Castlevania Lore fansite (a long-running, excellent site like the 'Dungeon for encyclopedic CV info), and seemingly backed up by a 1UP.com article, Super Castlevania IV was not developed in-house by Konami, but rather commissioned to independent programmers who would go on to form the successful company known as Treasure (Gunstar Heroes, Sin & Punishment, etc).

If this is true, then it's pretty funny. SCV-IV, in my mind, defines Castlevania near [or at] its best, and Lords of Shadow has been greatly inspired by it. And yet, IV may have been more of a Treasure game than a Konami game. I suppose it would explain why so many mechanics and visual techniques from it never reappeared to any great degree in future titles up to this point.

[thernz]

Treasure was a group of former employees from Konami, you know.

[Koutei]

Super Castlevania IV was not developed in-house by Konami

NO.
Akumajo Dracula Super Famicom 1991.
Treasure Establishment 1992.

The correct answer is here.
The SCV4 programmer "YAIPON" left Konami, and joined Treasure.

The president of Treasure is Masato Maegawa.
programmer of Castlevania Adventure.

[Wallachia]

The SCV4 programmer "YAIPON" left Konami, and joined Treasure.

The president of Treasure is Masato Maegawa.
programmer of Castlevania Adventure.

nice tid bit. Thanks. Explains why I liked CV Adventure.. it has that desolate creepy feel that I also sometimes got from my favorite CV, Super CV IV.

[shelverton.]

Sooo.. Treasure was basically formed after Super Castlevania 4 was already created? I'm not a big fan of Treasure though. Many of their games were kinda unpolished and/or downright overrated. Super CV4 on the other hand, is one of the most polished games I can think of. I did like Gunstar Heroes, but IMO it's nowhere near as fantastic as everyone else would have you believe..

[Super Waffle]

I don't remember



appearing in Castlevania IV, so I'm not sure I believe that.

[Inccubus]

Belief is irrelevant.
It's a fact that the programmers who formed Treasure made most of Konami's best 16-bit era games.
Contra 3 and Axelay are also proto-Treasure games IIRC.
I think Contra Hard Corps and Bloodlines was theirs too, but I may have imagined that.

[Abnormal Freak]

The lead designers of Super Castlevania IV, Bloodlines, Contra III, Hard Corps, etc. are employees of Konami, or were. I don't think (m)any of the lead guys for any of these games went on to be a part of Treasure, although yes, Treasure was founded by ex-Konami employees. So all of the games mentioned are Konami games, not games made by Treasure people. I'm sure they were involved with the games (programming, etc.), but not in a "key creative" way like direction or any of that (although back in those days, with such small production teams, certainly one programmer contributed a lot in that regard). Nobuya Nakazato, who supervised Contra III and Hard Corps also made games like Rocket Knight Adventure and is to my knowledge still at Konami. That and Bloodlines and Hard Corps were made after Treasure had formed, so...lol.

I like Treasure, but I think it's a stretch—and also false information—to say that any of those games are, in essence, "Treasure games," particularly since the main creative forces of those games didn't leave to form Treasure, and continued making games at Konami for quite some time.

Also, I equate Treasure games with goofy controls and, well, goofy everything (quirky)...and Castlevania IV is a very well-polished game with super tight controls and design and everything.

[Dremn]

That explains why it's so perfect.

[Inccubus]

Yeah, I believe most of the Treasure guys that came from Konami were programmers, not designers.

[Rugal]

Yeah, well these Treasure guys need to make me a Gradius VI right now. Gradius V was amazing, and they need to make a new one! WHO IS WITH ME?!

[shelverton.]

If there ever was a Gradius VI, I fear they would make it a downloadable only with 8-bit graphics or something. I am ususally not a graphics wh**e, but Gradius V was so slick and that didn't exactly hurt the game... I don't want them to go all retro on us with VI... If they do I blame Mega Man 9 and 10.

[Inccubus]

I don't think you should have any fear of that.
Unlike Megaman, Gradius didn't have it's prime with the 8-bit iterations which were all ports anyway.
Besides that they already did a retro-ish throwback game for Gradius and it was called ReBirth.

At any rate, Treasure should totally be hired for another Gradius game... or maybe it would be interesting to see them tackle a next-gen Parodius?

[darkwzrd4]

I don't think it's true.  I still have CV4 and when I turn on my ancient SNES with the CV4 cartridge in it, the first thing that comes up is the Konami logo.

[RichterB]

(I know it says "Konami," and I'm not saying "for sure" it wasn't, but the question has been raised...)
UPDATES:
I found a 1UP.com article about Treasure which reads: "It was this restless sense of creativity that lead to Treasure's founding in the first place. In the early '90s, Maegawa and other future Treasure staff were working as game developers at Konami, which was well on its way to becoming the monolithic software mega-publisher it is today. Working on classic games like Super Castlevania IV (SNES), Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES), Axelay (SNES) and Bucky O'Hare (arcade, NES), Maegawa and his colleagues began to chafe under the repressive yoke of Konami's management..."
~ http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3145006

Castlevania Lore stated: "For those of you who aren't aware of its history, you'll be interested to know that this title was not created in-house by Konami; rather, the company instead commissioned a smaller group of its independent programmers and designers to come up with a concept and make it all work within an allotted time-frame. That group, which came out of nowhere to succeed big time in producing a hit, would later disassociate itself from Konami and form its own game-developing company called "Treasure." It was Konami's loss." ~ http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/rev-cv4.htm