Interview: Konami's Koji Igarashi

We sit down for a chat with Konami's Castlevania man, IGA, to discuss Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for DS, and the upcoming Wii fighting spin-off Castlevania Judgement.

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Kikizo: So why did you pick Obata-sensei to do the designs rather than Kojima-sensei, and have you had any problems translating these designs into character models for the game?

Igarashi: The Castlevania core fan base really likes Kojima's art style, we know that. Since we're bringing this game to the Wii, though, we've also got a new potential audience. The Wii does skew a little bit younger, so I wanted to "soften" the art style a little bit. Also, one of the people on our team was actually a former assistance to Obata-sensei. I thought that I'd use that connection to ask and see if he'd be interested. He happily agreed to do it, and that was that!

As for your other question... yes, definitely, translating his art style into 3D models is very difficult. But the way we're doing it is that we get the artwork from him, render it in 3D, have him look at it, get feedback, make changes as necessary, and repeat until everyone is satisfied. It's a big back-and-forth process but it helps us get everything exactly right.

Kikizo: You mentioned that you don't really think of this as a fighting game. I take it you're not really aiming to make a "competitive" game along the same lines as Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter?

Igarashi: Yes, definitely. In games like SF or VF, all of the movements and inputs are extremely precise, and timing is crucial. I wanted to appeal to a broader audience than the general fighting-game crowd. There's also the issue of the Wii controller. It's difficult to do those sorts of precise movements when you're waving something around. That's why we opted to do more of a competitive action game.

Kikizo: As for Order of Ecclesia, this is the first (canonical) Castlevania game to star a female character. She's not tied to the Belmonts at all. Can you describe her a bit more and how she fits into the overall timeline?

Igarashi: The game itself doesn't indicate that it takes place at a specific point in the series timeline. However, the game happens during a time when the Belmont clan has vanished, along with their legendary whip, the Vampire Killer. But, Dracula is still around, so there are a lot of organizations are trying to bring him down, and a lot of effort and money are being expended. None of them have been successful save Ecclesia. Shanoa, the lead, is a member of this organization.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Kikizo: The game doesn't feature any touch-screen elements like the previous two DS Castlevania games did, correct?

Igarashi: It's not correct to say it isn't used at all, but you're correct to say it isn't used in gameplay.

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