This lighthearted interview and commentary with the Castlevania: Rondo of Blood development team was originally featured in the Akumajo Dracula X cd liner notes. The distinct goofiness of the Konami team is on display here, as each member shares a funny anecdote or “hardship” from the Rondo of Blood development. There’s also a short epigraph from composer Michiru Yamane concerning her music for the Megadrive game Vampire Killer (Castlevania: Bloodlines).
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Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance – 2002 Interview
Often considered the “black sheep” of the Castlevania GBA series, this Harmony of Dissonance interview with director Takashi Takeda and producer Koji Igarashi was originally featured in the Japanese NTT-PUB strategy guide and covers the game’s design and conception. Readers may be surprised to hear how much Takeda loved and drew inspiration from the early Famicom Castlevania games. I’ve also included the brief composer commentary from the HoD OST at the end.
Castlevania: Bloodlines – 1994 Developer Interview
This short interview with three of the lead members of the Castlevania Bloodlines (aka Vampire Killer) development team was originally featured in BEEP! Megadrive magazine in 1994. It was conducted in the middle of the development (following a delay), and while slightly promotional in nature, does contain a few nice comments on design. Notably, it is the only developer interview I’ve ever seen for this excellent game.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow – 2003 Developer Interview
These two interviews from Nintendo Dream cover the conception and development of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the third and final Castlevania game developed for Game Boy Advance. From the setting, to the protagonist, to the voluminous soul acquisition system, IGA and his team outline the balancing act between pushing the series into new territory without alienating their core audience, with a lighthearted jab or two thrown at future Bloodstained comrade Shutaro “Curry the Kid” Iida for good measure.
Castlevania – Developer Commentary (2018)
The development of the three Famicom Castlevania games has long been shrouded in mystery. Recently, a developer who was mentored by Castlevania director/creator/programmer Hitoshi Akamatsu in the 90s began sharing memories of their conversations in a series of tweets, which I’ve organized here by subject matter. While I usually stick to formal interviews for shmuplations, given the dearth of info on the early Castlevania games, I felt like this merited an exception.
Capcom Design Room – 1995 Artist Interview
Originally published in the 1995 Capcom Illustrations mook by Gamest, this roundtable interview chronicles the formation, purview and early processes of Capcom’s design room, an internal department dedicated to illustration and visual design and the incubator for Capcom’s most talented illustrators, both then and now. This interview also contains some of the earliest public insights from many of Capcom’s most famous and enduring artists, all of whom continue to work at or with Capcom to this day.
Capcom – 1991 Retrospective Interview
This 1991 Capcom retrospective catches the arcade all-star team of Okamoto, Nishitani, and Funamizu just before the runaway success of Street Fighter II. The candid talk features design details of their earliest games and anecdotes about the old days at Capcom. This interview was found at the GSLA (an old Japanese archive of interviews that excises questions) but probably first appeared in Gamest.
Capcom and the CPS-1 – Developer Interviews
This Capcom arcade special begins with a 1989 developer interview centering around rising star designer Noritaka Funamizu’s latest CPS-1 efforts. In addition, I’ve included a special feature from 1991, in which various Capcom luminaries reminisce on their arcade games of the last decade. Finally, interspersed throughout is a selection of illustrations from the Capcom Illustrations Gamest Mook, complete with commentary from illustrators Akiman, Kinu Nishimura, and Shohei Okano.
Caladrius – 2013 Developer Interview
In this lengthy interview from Shooting Gameside #7, MOSS Director Hoshino Hitoshi talks at length about the development process of their new game Caladrius. MOSS was formed in 2005 by the Raiden development staff at Seibu Kaihatsu, who had ceased making arcade games in 1999. Since this interview was published, Caladrius has since been ported to Steam and the Switch for easy access.
Boktai – 2003 Developer Interview
In this 2003 interview from Nintendo Dream, former Konami creative Hideo Kojima discusses the production of, and inspirations behind, the Game Boy Advance title Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand, an isometric vampire-hunting adventure game with stealth elements that makes heavy use of both a photometric light sensor and a real-time clock chip to simulate the in-game presence of the sun.