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Koji Igarashi (Castlevania) Leaves Konami, Founding New Studio, Metroidvania GDC talk

Xeno_V

Member
This sounds like a win-win scenario to me.

Konami (if they care) will be able to move on with something new as after so many IGA-Vanias I felt that he ran out of ideas. Someone should try a different approach to those games, it is finally time for this.

IGA will be able to work on his own on what he has in mind. I wouldn't mind a polished metroidvania for PC/PSN/XBLA etc and I would be glad if he tried a different setting for once.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Now he can remake the same game over and over on his own.

JordanLaughing.gif

But seriously, as true as that is: I'd continue buying them if they're on par with Dawn of Sorrow and the Symphony of the Night.
 

Ridley327

Member
Konami used to be such a great developer. It's shame they don't respect all of their old IP's that lay dormant.

I would say that they're dormant, if they didn't go out of their way in most cases to straight up kill them, including literally straight up killing Hudson Soft's slate. As far as I'm concerned, they're franchise genociders.
 

Tenki

Member
So what if Nintendo hires him to make a new 2D Metroid?

e6z71vm.jpg
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Personally I never felt Iga truly ran out of ideas for metroidvania. More that Konami really shafted him in terms of budget on every project, not wanting to commit major resources to Castlevania anymore. Order of Ecclesia is one of the best imo, and has plenty of interesting ideas. Good game system.

I actually would like to see him go the Mighty No. 9 route and create a new gothic universe in tribute to Castlevania / Dracula. Especially since Komani has jettisoned the past lore.
 
This is great news for Metroidvania fans, but I don't know if I'd be interested in a Castlevania-like game that isn't based around the awesome Dracula mythos Konami has built over the years.
 

mihon

Member
This is great news. Always loved his Castlevania games (though I prefer a bit the old level based design of Rondo of Blood). Order of Ecclesia was easily his best game and I hope that he can continue producing games of that caliber.

Considering what he said, he probably is going to make new Metroidvanias.
 

Foffy

Banned
This is great news for Metroidvania fans, but I don't know if I'd be interested in a Castlevania-like game that isn't based around the awesome Dracula mythos Konami has built over the years.

They got rid of those mythos with the reboot anyway, so why is it an issue?
 

injurai

Banned
I wonder if the game with revive the Vampire mythos or do something completely new. I think I would be fine if he goes either way, and am excited to see comes of all of this. After so much time with Castlevania it would seem better to go for some Lovecraftian horror, or maybe really diverge with some entirely different premise.
 
I'd like to see what kind of twists he can add to Metroidvania titles. Aria of Sorrow is probably my favorite Metroidvania that isn't SoTN, and a big reason for that is because of the Soul System.

Can't wait to see what he cooks up. Good that he got out of Konami.
 

Foffy

Banned
When Ahaversus told me about this I was stuck in a state of stupor for a good minute.

Yeah. It's so insulting to know how Konami expressed disdain for the previous works of others. I really wonder if that was a reason Yamane left. How do you talk shit about one of the best composers in video games, let alone someone who defined the series in terms of music for around 14 years?
 

A-V-B

Member
Okay, Koji! Kickstarter time! Whatever you've got in mind, you're already funded in the millions, so let's rock and roll.
 

Retro

Member

You raise a good point here though. Given the reaction in this thread, I won't even pretend to speak for everyone, but one of the best parts of Castlevania for me was always the music. Whatever IGA cooks up, no matter how close it hews to Castlevania, it will be missing those iconic themes.

Unless Yamane tags along for the ride, in which case, rock on. SotN's soundtrack managed to get the general vibe and atmosphere of the series without using any of its established tunes, so she'd probably be able to pull off something similar in this case.
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
This is great news for Metroidvania fans, but I don't know if I'd be interested in a Castlevania-like game that isn't based around the awesome Dracula mythos Konami has built over the years.
Aside from use of specific names of characters and clans, there's nothing keeping him from stepping all over CV's toes. The franchise's big claim to fame is that it's a big pastiche of monster folklore, and all of that is public domain.

I'm just worried that he's going to try to avoid ruffling feathers like that and we're going to end up with another Nanobreaker.
 

TreIII

Member
I wonder if the game with revive the Vampire mythos or do something completely new. I think I would be fine if he goes either way, and am excited to see comes of all of this. After so much time with Castlevania it would seem better to go for some Lovecraftian horror, or maybe really diverge with some entirely different premise.
If it were me, I would go deeper into the Vampire folklore on a worldwide scale. There's not too many places in the world where some type of twist on vampiric mythos doesn't exist. And to me, sticking strictly with Dracula and Transylvanian tradition for vampires made no sense by the time they were seriously interjecting stylized representations of demons/supernatural creatures from all over the globe, like Ifrit, El Chupabacabra and Valkyries, and the only actual vampire you fought was Drac himself.

You can still have Dracula be the "Lord" of them all, but he could stand to diversify his repertoire of direct followers and subordinates beyond the familiar Olrox, Carmilla and etc.
 

Game Guru

Member
Sherlock Holmes comes to mind.

The BBC recently made a great modern adaptation of the old material called "Sherlock", and then CBS met with them and wanted to bring it to America. But CBS wanted to make some major changes, and BBC didn't see eye-to-eye with CBS, so CBS left and said "Screw you, Sherlock Holmes is public domain, so we don't need your permission."

The BBC's response was that Sherlock Holmes may be in the public domain, but the BBC's lawyers know exactly what the BBC added to the mythology and what was there in the first place, and they'll be watching CBS's show very closely. So long as CBS puts their own creative spin on the original material and doesn't copy Sherlock, they'll be fine. And that's how the show "Elementary" was born.

- Maybe Iga can't rip off SotN without risking a lawsuit, but he can obviously rip off Metroid again (unless Nintendo objects).
- He can call his game "Transylvania". It might even be safe to casually refer to it as a "Metroidvania".
- He can make "Dracula" the main villain (so long as it's based on the original story or a new one).
- He can make "Alucard" the hero, as long as he's not the same character as we had in the games.
- He can include Frankenstein and the Wolfman. He can have Medusa, but he probably can't have flying Medusa heads.
- No Belmonts. No Vampire Killer whip. No Shaft. No 1999. His whole canon is toxic and must be rebooted.
- None of the music can directly remake classic Castlevania music.


Very exciting.

Indeed, so long as IGA avoids stuff in the Gothic Horror mythos that is exclusive to Castlevania specifically, he can make a Gothic Horror Metroidvania which involves you as a vampire hunter, hunting down Dracula and his forces of evil. No different from Elementary or Oz the Great and Powerful, except that IGA now has creative freedom to pick and choose what public domain elements to add or not without be hamstrung by the Belmont Clan or the Castlevania timeline.
 

Foffy

Banned
Zero chance of recycled sprites. Kickstarter will easily give him the money for new HD sprites that Konami was never willing to.

This will either break Iga, or silence all the haters.



Sherlock Holmes comes to mind.

The BBC recently made a great modern adaptation of the old material called "Sherlock", and then CBS met with them and wanted to bring it to America. But CBS wanted to make some major changes, and BBC didn't see eye-to-eye with CBS, so CBS left and said "Screw you, Sherlock Holmes is public domain, so we don't need your permission."

The BBC's response was that Sherlock Holmes may be in the public domain, but the BBC's lawyers know exactly what the BBC added to the mythology and what was there in the first place, and they'll be watching CBS's show very closely. So long as CBS puts their own creative spin on the original material and doesn't copy Sherlock, they'll be fine. And that's how the show "Elementary" was born.

- Maybe Iga can't rip off SotN without risking a lawsuit, but he can obviously rip off Metroid again (unless Nintendo objects).
- He can call his game "Transylvania". It might even be safe to casually refer to it as a "Metroidvania".
- He can make "Dracula" the main villain (so long as it's based on the original story or a new one).
- He can make "Alucard" the hero, as long as he's not the same character as we had in the games.
- He can include Frankenstein and the Wolfman. He can have Medusa, but he probably can't have flying Medusa heads.
- No Belmonts. No Vampire Killer whip. No Shaft. No 1999. His whole canon is toxic and must be rebooted.
- None of the music can directly remake classic Castlevania music.


Very exciting.

Could he? The PS2 game Van Helsing features a lot of Castlevania things, and in fact drops the Belmont clan by name in the game. Though I guess the difference here is Igarashi worked on the series, and Konami, the IP holder, will not want a solid clone.

Or maybe they will. They don't seem to care for legacy.
 

Game Guru

Member
Could he? The PS2 game Van Helsing features a lot of Castlevania things, and in fact drops the Belmont clan by name in the game. Though I guess the difference here is Igarashi worked on the series, and Konami, the IP holder, will not want a solid clone.

Or maybe they will. They don't seem to care for legacy.

To be fair, parts of Castlevania itself has influenced part of the mythos itself as people know Belmonts are associated with whips and vampire hunting and even one of Pathfinder's modules used a Beheaded of a Medusa and called it a Medusa Head. However, IGA will likely avoid these elements because they are iconic to Castlevania and Konami is more likely to look in his general direction.
 
Wtf?
Sotn is still the best. I can play the game even today.

The only problem with iga was that he made epitome of his work too early. Sotn is the hallmark of his work and everything after that was lesser inferior copies of his previous glory.

Nah. The Sorrow games eclipsed it.

You know, I like a number of Iga's entries just fine but given his history with the franchise it should be Iga joining Hagihara, not the other way around if it came to that. Hagihara is really the unsung hero of the franchise and was in charge of most of the best-regarded/most popular entries in the franchise.

Hagihara only ties with Igarashi. Only beating him if more weight is placed on Rondo IMO.

Makes sense, it has the best gameplay out of the DS games.

PoR was too lacking in exploration for a Metroidvania.
 
Fingers crossed for a Mighty Monster Castle Translyvania#9 kickstarter if that's what it takes to save his games from cell phone hell.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
Could he? The PS2 game Van Helsing features a lot of Castlevania things, and in fact drops the Belmont clan by name in the game. Though I guess the difference here is Igarashi worked on the series, and Konami, the IP holder, will not want a solid clone.

Or maybe they will. They don't seem to care for legacy.

Making a reference or giving a wink to another franchise is not illegal, I believe.

Look at Stick of Truth, the Master Sword's in it in everything but hilt color and name and Kenny's costume is straight up Zelda's dress. Nintendo aren't gonna sue for that.
 
Making a reference or giving a wink to another franchise is not illegal, I believe.

Look at Stick of Truth, the Master Sword's in it in everything but hilt color and name and Kenny's costume is straight up Zelda's dress. Nintendo aren't gonna sue for that.

Do alternate media works count? Because Li'l Slugger from Paranoia Agent is seen wearing Erdrick's Armor at one point. No lawsuits there AFAIK.
 

Respawn

Banned
I've decided to break out on my own to have the freedom to make the kind of games I really want to make -- the same kind I think fans of my past games want as well," Igarashi told IGN.
These words give me hope. Bring it Iga.
 
"I've decided to break out on my own to have the freedom to make the kind of games I really want to make -- the same kind I think fans of my past games want as well," Igarashi told IGN.

You already have my money Iga!
 

TreIII

Member
Do alternate media works count? Because Li'l Slugger from Paranoia Agent is seen wearing Erdrick's Armor at one point. No lawsuits there AFAIK.

It really depends on where you are. In Japan, especially, "parody" and "fair use" allows makers to get away with a lot, often in the name of being a "loving homage".

Castlevania itself has made numerous shout outs/call backs to the likes of Street Fighter/Darkstalkers, Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, Guilty Gear, Fist of the North Star, Kamen Rider, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and plenty more in IGA's era alone, so I'm sure IGA is familiar with what he can get away with to comfortable levels.
 
It really depends on where you are. In Japan, especially, "parody" and "fair use" allows makers to get away with a lot, often in the name of being a "loving homage".

Castlevania itself has made numerous shout outs/call backs to the likes of Street Fighter/Darkstalkers, Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, Guilty Gear, Fist of the North Star, Kamen Rider, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and plenty more in IGA's era alone, so I'm sure IGA is familiar with what he can get away with to comfortable levels.

Oh of course, derp. I forget distinctions like these sometimes.
 
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