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I’m kindof glad about the fact that you can’t collect souls. I kind of thought that ruined the fun. e recently spoke with the man behind the latest DS entry in the Castlevania series, Koji “Igaâ€? Igarashi, about a great many things. Namely, why Portrait of Ruin is returning to the DS, what touch screen functions we can expect, if the game will feature co-op wireless online play, and what it would take for Iga to develop a game for Xbox 360.

Game Informer: Why did you decide to pursue another 2-D game after Dawn of Sorrow rather than proceeding down the 3-D path again?

Koji Igarashi: As you know, console game development involves a lot of time. We’ve done the first installment on Nintendo DS, which was quite successful, and we wanted to do something different as a second challenge. So we’re back again with Nintendo DS.

GI: Is Portrait of Ruin going to utilize touch screen functionality like Dawn of Sorrow?

Iga: With the first installment, we did have touch screen features in the game like the magic seals or breaking down the crystal blocks and stuff like that. It was good that we were able to present a DS feature, but there were pros and cons. My concern was over the Castlevania pure action gameplay, which you actually had to stop and let the user use the stylus to do something. So now that it’s approximately two years after the launch of the hardware, I took it easy (laughs). Maybe we don’t have to focus on the touch screen. Unlike previous games, we are less focused on the touch screen. That doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the touch screen. Obviously, we have a map display and all of these menu touch features, so it’s still in there.
I’m kindof glad about the fact that you can’t collect souls. I kind of thought that ruined the fun. e recently spoke with the man behind the latest DS entry in the Castlevania series, Koji “Igaâ€? Igarashi, about a great many things. Namely, why Portrait of Ruin is returning to the DS, what touch screen functions we can expect, if the game will feature co-op wireless online play, and what it would take for Iga to develop a game for Xbox 360.

Game Informer: Why did you decide to pursue another 2-D game after Dawn of Sorrow rather than proceeding down the 3-D path again?

Koji Igarashi: As you know, console game development involves a lot of time. We’ve done the first installment on Nintendo DS, which was quite successful, and we wanted to do something different as a second challenge. So we’re back again with Nintendo DS.

GI: Is Portrait of Ruin going to utilize touch screen functionality like Dawn of Sorrow?

Iga: With the first installment, we did have touch screen features in the game like the magic seals or breaking down the crystal blocks and stuff like that. It was good that we were able to present a DS feature, but there were pros and cons. My concern was over the Castlevania pure action gameplay, which you actually had to stop and let the user use the stylus to do something. So now that it’s approximately two years after the launch of the hardware, I took it easy (laughs). Maybe we don’t have to focus on the touch screen. Unlike previous games, we are less focused on the touch screen. That doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the touch screen. Obviously, we have a map display and all of these menu touch features, so it’s still in there.
I’m kindof glad about the fact that you can’t collect souls. I kind of thought that ruined the fun. e recently spoke with the man behind the latest DS entry in the Castlevania series, Koji “Igaâ€? Igarashi, about a great many things. Namely, why Portrait of Ruin is returning to the DS, what touch screen functions we can expect, if the game will feature co-op wireless online play, and what it would take for Iga to develop a game for Xbox 360.

Game Informer: Why did you decide to pursue another 2-D game after Dawn of Sorrow rather than proceeding down the 3-D path again?

Koji Igarashi: As you know, console game development involves a lot of time. We’ve done the first installment on Nintendo DS, which was quite successful, and we wanted to do something different as a second challenge. So we’re back again with Nintendo DS.

GI: Is Portrait of Ruin going to utilize touch screen functionality like Dawn of Sorrow?

Iga: With the first installment, we did have touch screen features in the game like the magic seals or breaking down the crystal blocks and stuff like that. It was good that we were able to present a DS feature, but there were pros and cons. My concern was over the Castlevania pure action gameplay, which you actually had to stop and let the user use the stylus to do something. So now that it’s approximately two years after the launch of the hardware, I took it easy (laughs). Maybe we don’t have to focus on the touch screen. Unlike previous games, we are less focused on the touch screen. That doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the touch screen. Obviously, we have a map display and all of these menu touch features, so it’s still in there.

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