Topic: Is Koji Igarashi the greatest Castlevania producer?

[Pfil]

It becomes more and more frequent that fans see the N64 games as the right path for 3D Castlevania, something I strongly agree.

By the way, which would be that game you'd have on your top 10?
Top 10 Castlevania or Top 10 of everything?

[RichterB]

It becomes more and more frequent that fans see the N64 games as the right path for 3D Castlevania, something I strongly agree.

By the way, which would be that game you'd have on your top 10?
Top 10 Castlevania or Top 10 of everything?

Oh, I was talking top 10 Castlevania games. The last time I compiled a list of my favorite CV games titles a year or so ago (excluding Harmony of Despair and Order of Ecclesia, which I still haven't played), IGA's titles didn't fare too well in a list of 23 CV games. I was judging on an aggregate of overall atmosphere, fun, level design, and gameplay over a number of years of playing, with an eye toward the old-school "core" of the franchise. So, the scale was weighted, and I thought to myself some titles could have been +/- positions on the list. All that said, Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth hit #10, and Symphony of the Night hit #13. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a number of IGA's games, even gushed about some, but most of them just don't hold up over time for me compared to games made previously. (Perhaps this is inevitable due to the Metroidvania format?). By the end, despite his respectable efforts, I just found myself skeptical of Castlevania's direction as a franchise. Though, LoS has taken that to a whole new level of doubt.

[beingthehero]

That's actually one reason I wish WayForward would make a handheld 2D CV title. As much as I respect both IGA's and Cox's vision on the series, I wish someone would properly emulate the certain feel of the SNES-era titles, which to me was the high point of the series. Granted, I felt IGA definitely did do that with OoE and he said as much (Mr. Hed, Puwexil (as EVIL FORCE), plus Tymeo Mountains was pretty much Love Letter To Super Castlevania IV: Mountain Edition), and several points through Lords "felt" like a 3D SCIV.

But on the whole I think WayForward would definitely emulate the look and feel of a CVIII/SCIV title quite well.

[Lelygax]

Oh, I was talking top 10 Castlevania games. The last time I compiled a list of my favorite CV games titles a year or so ago (excluding Harmony of Despair and Order of Ecclesia, which I still haven't played), IGA's titles didn't fare too well in a list of 23 CV games. I was judging on an aggregate of overall atmosphere, fun, level design, and gameplay over a number of years of playing, with an eye toward the old-school "core" of the franchise. So, the scale was weighted, and I thought to myself some titles could have been +/- positions on the list. All that said, Castlevania The Adventure Rebirth hit #10, and Symphony of the Night hit #13. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a number of IGA's games, even gushed about some, but most of them just don't hold up over time for me compared to games made previously. (Perhaps this is inevitable due to the Metroidvania format?). By the end, despite his respectable efforts, I just found myself skeptical of Castlevania's direction as a franchise. Though, LoS has taken that to a whole new level of doubt.

Rondo is above 5 in your list? :O

[Beaumont_Belmont]

I would have 5 games on my list before I even thought about Rondo.

[Johnny]

Does Igarashi still even work for Konami? I know many of the key people who created some series like Inafune left their respective companies. I would think Igarashi would probably be the next to ditch Konami and throw a Kickstarter up.

[RichterB]

Rondo is above 5 in your list? :O

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was actually at...spot #14 of 23 positions as of 2012. (I don't know how involved IGA was with that game, though, and it's worth noting that I have only played the Original Rondo's port for PSP). And again, I'm not saying these spots are set in stone by any means; plus, I certainly weighted them on a very off-beat scale, which I previously described. My personal top 3 CV games on those parameters, which shift positions constantly, have been CVIII:Dracula's Curse, Super CV IV, and Dracula X SNES. (Bloodlines and Belmont's Revenge rounded out the Top 5 in my mid-2012 assessment). If you try to rank every CV game you've played, you'll find it gets into a lot of gray areas. Castlevania 1 is very hard to place, for instance. It's certainly solid, it's classic, it started so much...but it's sort of plain and not tons of fun at this point, IMO.

Now, objectively, Rondo marks a significant transition for Castlevania in terms of the flow of gameplay and level design, as well as technology; but as an experience in the pantheon, I find it admirably ambitious to a very high degree, but rather indecisive and meandering in design to the point that it's cool to watch but not as much fun to play as it should be. (It sort of feels more like the stuttered design of Vampire Killer now that I think about it--a lot of set pieces strung together, but with shortcuts that accidentally break certain choices of design). But that's just my opinion as I see it. As one of the earlier individuals to champion the N64 games around here, which I had placed at spots #8 and #9, I'm not the most conventional. But I have my reasons, and can make a case for those reasons, as we all likely can.

I would have 5 games on my list before I even thought about Rondo.

That was quick. It seems I'm not alone in this as I once was...

[Intersection]

Interesting. In my ranking, 7 of the top 10 spots were attributed to IGA's titles. The other 3 were given to SCIV, CVI, and CVIII. Bloodlines and Belmont's Revenge come out 10th and 11th.
But the grey areas are there. For instance, the 6 GBA-DS titles are extremely difficult to separate -- they are all excellent games, but fundamentally so similar that ordering them makes little sense.

[e105beta]

Order of Shadows should be #1

Way better than crap like CV3.

[Belmontoya]

My top 10.

1. Super Castlevania 4
2. Castlevania 1
3. Castlevania Bloodlines
4. Castlevania Rondo of Blood
5. Castlevania 3
5. Castlevania Simons quest
6. Castlevania Dracula X
7. Castlevania Symphony of the Night
8. Castlevania Lords of Shadow
9. Castlevania Lament of Innocence
10. Castlevania X68000

[Pfil]

Mine...

1. Portrait of Ruin
2. Order of Ecclesia
3. Aria of Sorrow
4. Symphony of the Night
5. Legacy of Darkness
6. Curse of Darkness
7. Rondo of Blood
8. Simon's Quest
9. Bloodlines
10. Lament of Innocence

Edit: Nevertheless, there are 2 fan games that would make it into this list: Dracula's Shadow and Lecarde Chronicles.

[Beaumont_Belmont]

Here goes:

1. Bloodlines
2. SCV IV
3. Dracula's Curse
4. Castlevania (NES)
5. Legacy of Darkness
6. Circle of the Moon
7. Simon's Quest
8. Aria of Sorrow
9. Lament of Innocence
10. Belmont's Revenge

[PyramidHead]

That question is evil! Iga is a great producer - I hope he's doing well - but for the series like Castlevania he may be... too Japanese. Homosexual Characters, happy-ends, cliched storylines, random stuff (like collecting chairs), school boys and girls... I'm not a fan of those things to be honest. The best Iga's Vania IMO is Order of Ecclesia. It's dark again! It's hard again! It's sad again! Never expected anything like that from Igarashi.

[Pfil]

With all respect, don't take this the wrong way, but I believe your opinion is influenced by your personal perceptions about Iga.
You forgot to mention that under his direction Castlevania had the best music ever. The RPG elements that made the most immersive games ever. The side quests and secrets that you just don't have in ClassicVanias. The map percentage, spells, habilities, alternate modes... and the most beautiful gothic designs I've seen in a game.
Also, I never saw a homosexual character, with perhaps only Isaac as an exception, but that's more a guess than a fact, not to mention there's nothing wrong with being gay.
About happy ends, need I remember that almost every VG in history have a happy ending? That said, I don't think Iga's ending were happier than other CV games. On the contrary, he used tragedy pretty often for his stories. What about Stella and Loretta's story in PoR? What about Soma's dark ending from AoS? And almost all endings from SotN? And the tragic story from LoI? It can't get sadder than that, it literally brought tears to my eyes. And the one you mentioned, from OoE. Really sad story. However, I DID expect something like that from Iga, except the difficulty. OoE is my 2nd favourite CV ever.
I really don't care about boys, I really dislike Eric Lecarde from Judgment for example, since I like men better. Men like Alucard, Leon and Juste. Those are from Iga. But also Julius was born under Iga's direction, and he is the ultimate CV macho. You also have Hammer. And I didn't see a schoolgirl, with the exception of Charlotte, the rest are just young women, or gothic lolis at most, but we had Maria when Iga still wasn't directing, and you can't get more kawaii and schoolgirl than that. That was CV and that wasn't Iga directing. Iga even made Maria grow up for his first game.
Iga IS the best producer, not only for CV. For anything.

[Intersection]

Interesting. I was expecting to see more of Symphony and SCIV among the top 2... I'd always thought that was how most brains were wired at the moment. It seems I was wrong.
I'm also surprised to see games like SQ or LoD up there (not to mention DX and X68000). But it's nice to see we're all open minded in that respect. It's not a bad thing at all, not at all...

That question is evil! Iga is a great producer - I hope he's doing well - but for the series like Castlevania he may be... too Japanese. Homosexual Characters, happy-ends, cliched storylines, random stuff (like collecting chairs), school boys and girls... I'm not a fan of those things to be honest. The best Iga's Vania IMO is Order of Ecclesia. It's dark again! It's hard again! It's sad again! Never expected anything like that from Igarashi.

I don't quite understand this either. If you can recall, Castlevania is Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised with what IGA did with it. 
Homosexuals? Well, maybe there's Isaac, but I don't see anyone else. Happy endings? That isn't new at all -- if anything, IGA introduced the "not-so-happy" ending. Random stuff? Well, that's part of the charm of any game.
But "school boys and girls"? Where is that from?