Video game aficionados are very likely familiar with Koji Igarashi, and know him as the man behind some of the early games in Konami's Castlevania series. In 2014, Igarashi announced that he was leaving Konami, and starting his own video game developing company ArtPlay.
More recently, he's been busy working on the Bloodstained series, which is a spiritual successor to Castlevania that keeps the same gameplay style and gothic horror elements that made Konami's series a household name; so far, he's done a pretty great job.
Players who have had the chance to play any of the Castlevania titles he was involved will know just how massive those games were, and how much exploration players had to do in order to actually get to the final bosses; all of this in 2D, mind you.
As it turns out, games that encourage exploration during the 8-bit era were the exception, not the rule, and a recent interview has revealed that Koji Igarashi was heavily influenced by Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda; a series known for encouraging players to explore its massive in-game worlds. Shout outs to the lads over at Nintendo Life for the heads up.
In an interview with Limited Run games and Greenlit Content — that was actually recorded in September of last year during the Tokyo Game Show, but was recently published — Igarashi revealis that he was influenced by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
"Back then there were plenty of action games where the goal was to clear the stage," Igarashi reveals.
"This game[The Legend of Zelda], however, was focused on exploration. It is still an action game with defeating enemies, but it let's you explore the map, and I clearly see how much effort they put in to let you play for a long time. I was impressed by that."
Igarashi singles out The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past as the game that he has been influenced by the most, and he even reveals that it is — even to this day — the most complete game in Nintendo's long-running, and critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda series.
"When I think about the games that I've made versus what Zelda is...the focus on exploration and defining the thing that unlocks the next area...that became the focus behind the core design when making the Castlevania games and Bloodstained," Igarashi revealed.
The interview with Koji Igarashi is actually quite lengthy, and he does reveal some very interesting details about the development of games in the Castlevania and Bloodstained series, so I'd still encourage you to watch it in its entirety; you will not regret it.
Have a look: