Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi, who prefers to go by IGA lately, was the Symphony of the Night producer and the director of Castlevania Chronicles. He is currently heading up a team of Castlevania veterans to produce a new Castlevania game that will appear on next-gen systems, including GameCube. In the the September 2001 issue, #49 Vol 5, (Monitor column) of PSM, page 22, IGA spoke a bit about the next Castlevania game. Thanks to Castlevania Dungeon making a transcript, we can share with you his statements on the game, as well as some background info on the acclaimed SOTN.

PSM: We've heard that you're working on a new PS2 Castlevania - if this is true, when can we expect to see it?

KI: We haven't yet made any announcements, so I can't comment on the system or release date. We are making the very basic foundation s of the game, as we are just now brainstorming the game plans. Please do look forward to the next game because it's going to be astonishing!

PSM: Which Konami team is currently working on the game?

KI: I have gathered an excellent staff for this upcoming game. Not only do we have staff from Symphony of the Night, but also from Dracula X. I would say this is the most talented team we've ever assembled for a Castlevania game!

PSM: Will the game be 3D like the N64 versions, or traditional 2D?

KI: I cannot clearly answer to this question at the moment, but maintaining gameplay like Castlevania wouldn't lead us to think about 3D. We are proceeding from this point of view. I would like to implement a lot of new features, however!

PSM: The 3D N64 games just didn't work as well as the 2D ones. Why do you think that was?

KI: This is a pretty difficult question to answer...I would say that 3D cannot provide the same kind of detailed gameplay as 2D. Especially with Castlevania, where timing between the player and an enemy is important. To maintain the Castlevania gameplay with 3D would be impossible, I would say. However, I will not overlook the direction of 3D; it has its own gameplay directions and is fun in its own right. I believe that bearing these points would enhance Castlevania in new directions.

PSM: Will the new game play more like Symphony of the Night, or the older, more traditional Castlevania games?

KI: I would say this new game is descended from Symphony of the Night.

PSM: One last question about the new game - can we expect any characters to return from the past titles?

KI: There are some restrictions due to its historical background. However, I'm considering having some characters return if there aren't any time restrictions as I mentioned. For example, I'm thinking of possibly have some descendants or ancestors of main characters from the past show up in the new game.

PSM: Symphony of the Night took the series in a new direction, with a vastly different game structure. What was the reason behind the change?

KI: I wanted to do something about the longevity of action games. Users spend so much money on a product, but general action games only allow you to play for about five hours. I was desperate to make the game something that would be playable for a long time, so I decided not to make a "one direction" type of game, but something with much more exploration.

Also, in most action games, if you're not a good enough gamer, you can't see the ending, so not everybody enjoys the game fully. To allow everybody to see the ending, I made the choice to implement power-up levels so that any player could beat the game and gain a "cash-back" feeling. If you ask players to pay for such expensive stuff, why not make something that gamers can keep and play forever?

The story was very deep and interesting. The stories from all the previous Castlevania gamers seemed like they linked to one another, but they never did! I thought I had to do this, as the Castlevania series has a very strong universe. In order to do so, I have unified all of Castlevania's world view in Symphony of the Night.