Topic: Is Koji Igarashi the greatest Castlevania producer?

[olrox2]

I have often noticed there are often mixed opinions about Koji Igarashi. Some people dislike him and blame him for having made some Castlevania games non canon, having had weird ideas like the whip not being able to be used by a woman.
(because its easier to have weak female characters
On the other hand, many people worship him for having made all the GBA and ds games, his part in Sotn, his skill in making metroidvania games.

His main failures could be the ps2 games, but even there those games have qualities, decent musics, and for curse of Darkness the innocence pets.

To be honest i would never have heard about Castlevania without the games he produced, and i enjoyed most of his games, previous Castlevania are good, but well, they are Platform games so this is hard to compare them with Iqa'swork.

[A-Yty]

the whip not being able to be used by a woman.
(because its easier to have weak female characters

What is this I don't even

[Shiroi Koumori]

This is a touchy topic. Tread lightly.

Since you are new to the dungeon, you may want to know that there were people in the dungeon were hating IGA during his stint. As much or more than the Cox hate we are hearing nowadays.

What i wanted to say is no one can please everybody. Thus, there is no such thing as a greatest producer, in my opinion.

If this topic turns ugly, you guys would know what would happen.

[Ahasverus]

(click to show/hide)

No. Toru Hagihara is the best Castlevania producer as he made the most important titles in the franchise, Rondo and Symphony. IGA just copied his ideas to no end and NEVER surpassed them.

[Koutei]

Akamatsu is GOD.

[beingthehero]

As mentioned to you many times already ahasverus, Hagihara only worked on SotN when it was on the 32X as Bloodletting and remained credited as producer in SotN. SotN was all IGA's, even Michiru Yamane confirmed it.

Also producers really don't matter in the grand scheme of things, the directors do.

[olrox2]

Maybe yes, its just that when people talk about metroidvania games , they use to say " i prefer iga castlevanias" referring to the concept of metroidvania.

About the woman commenti was referring to an interview i saw on a wikia, where iga says
" think that you become one with the character, and since Castlevania has a lot of male players, it's natural to have male characters. In Rondo of Blood, Maria was a silly, cute aside, but you still had Richter to make it serious. 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."

"lthough, I purposefully left the Sonia Belmont character (from Castlevania: Legends for GBC) out of the official Castlevania chronology. (laughs) Usually, the vampire storyline motifs, females tend to be sacrificed. It's easier to come up with weak, feminine characters. I'll think about it more in the future, though. It's tough to fit a female hero into the early history of Castlevania, but as you move into the modern day, females can then more easily become a hero."

Well i know on a french forum Iga wasnt liked by everyone, like everywhere there are haters and fans.
Maybe Iga used some ideas from previous castlevanias, but there had never been metroidvanias before, so  he most likely brought a lot of concepts all by himself.
The Sorrow episodes are for example extremely addictive because of their soul systems to collect, that bring a kind of gotta catch them all value.
In Sotn, he had that idea of the reversed castle, Alucard has the widest variety of powers of all castlevania games i think(except sorrow games maybe) and a very impressive list of items to find.

The only Metroidvania not made by Iga is Circle of the Moon. It has a nice graphic design, but maybe difficulty wasnt fit for all players. And light problems, i remmber myself trying to play with the sun on my gba to be able to play without hurting my eyes.
I cannot say Circle of the Moon is better than other metroidvanias,its just different. But Iga created the Metroidvania system and made it successful, each episode being awesome, at the exception of Harmony of Dissonance which looked a poor copy paste of Sotn.

[X]

Is IGA the best producer of Castlevania? No. He had some good ideas and came on strong in the beginning, but after a few titles had gone by he was losing his steam. He brought some interesting things to the series but his pothole-filled stories and his habit of shoehorning them into his games last was an unorthodox move that made no sense. The story always comes first, then the game concept itself. Also his reluctance to make female protagonists was just one of the many nails in the coffin of his career. Shanoa his first attempt for such a strong lone female protagonist, but personally I was hoping for something much more from him; A woman Belmont, vampirekiller wielding protagonist. He feels that they are unrealistic, but it's obvious he didn't study nearly enough European history to know what he was talking about when interviewed. IGA was okay in his prime, but he's not by any means the best producer.

[Lashen]

You guys disappoint me.

The correct answer is clearly Trans Fishers.

[Nagumo]

You guys disappoint me.

The correct answer is clearly Trans Fishers.

Akamatsu is GOD.

[Lashen]

I'm afraid I don't understand?

I wasn't under the impression Akamatsu worked on the first Castlevania game, but how I couldn't still make that joke under the assertion I was is beyond me.

Internet.

[Pfil]

He made SotN, AoS, PoR and OoE, my 4 favourite CV games.
He is the one that told composers how the music needed to be, the designers how the characters need to look like, and he designed stages and gameplay, so I believe like 70% of that games or more were his responsibility.
If you add to that the fact that LoI and CoD were also his games, and add another 2 games I like (HoD and DoS), and CV:HD and Judgment soundtracks, and you add Rebirth and Chronicles, and that he allowed me to play the original SotN with Maria in PSP thanks to DXC, well... you have my answer.
As much as I love ClassicVanias, there's no comparison for me when I have to choose between them and the MetroidVanias.
ClassicVania will always be one of my favourite "genres", but MetroidVania will always be BY FAR my favourite thing in the world, not only in videogames.

[Intersection]

Hmm. I'm seeing IGA being criticized a little too often for my taste. A few words in his defense...

Can we consider Koji Igarashi as Castlevania's greatest producer? We certainly could.
He's been around for quite a long time; and during his stay, he's given us some of the best Castlevania has to offer.
Nearly half of the series' most noteworthy titles can be attributed to him. Symphony of the Night was born under his tutelage, and the quality of the games it later inspired never faltered. He consistently delivered Metroidvania's best; always remaining close to the spirit of the series, and never straying far from what earned him his greatest success, he was nevertheless always moving forward, little by little, always infusing fresh air into a franchise that has often threatened to grow stale. His works on handheld was acclaimed without exception, and many of them remain as masterpieces even today. He had dedicated himself to create a unified Castlevania universe; he strove to maintain coherence and cohesion within the series. He has been with us longer than any other producer has; and during that time, he has shown involvement, dedication, and care in everything he did.
For that, he deserves credit.

[beingthehero]

The best producer is H. 'Axelay' Ueda, because he did my favorite Castlevania title, Castlevania X68k, and because Axelay is a great game.

[Pfil]

Hmm. I'm seeing IGA being criticized a little too often for my taste. A few words in his defense...

Can we consider Koji Igarashi as Castlevania's greatest producer? We certainly could.
He's been around for quite a long time; and during his stay, he's given us some of the best Castlevania has to offer.
Nearly half of the series' most noteworthy titles can be attributed to him. Symphony of the Night was born under his tutelage, and the quality of the games it later inspired never faltered. He consistently delivered Metroidvania's best; always remaining close to the spirit of the series, and never straying far from what earned him his greatest success, he was nevertheless always moving forward, little by little, always infusing fresh air into a franchise that has often threatened to grow stale. His works on handheld was acclaimed without exception, and many of them remain as masterpieces even today. He had dedicated himself to create a unified Castlevania universe; he strove to maintain coherence and cohesion within the series. He has been with us longer than any other producer has; and during that time, he has shown involvement, dedication, and care in everything he did.
For that, he deserves credit.

YEAH!