Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Over the years, Castlevania has given us many and varied reasons to become one of the our favorite licenses. Its action, characters, and even the plot add a unique twist to a license that has inspired many games. And more, he gave more than enough reasons for his characters to be invited to participate in other games, such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with Simon.
Despite its great fame, it is the same as other great works such as The Legend of Zelda or Super Mario. His works manage to grab the attention of players, but there are always little secrets that manage to escape our knowledge. Either when designing the different environments, or even when appointing certain characters. If we once learned that a famous novelist could name Princess Zelda, did you know that a Spanish actress inspired the name of one of the protagonists Castlevania?
The producer was looking for an idea that would suit international players well.
The secret behind the name of this character was revealed in an interview with the producer of the game series, Koji Igarashi, which can be read in detail in the Castlevania official guide: Aria of Sorrow, in its Japanese version. In this, some details related to the development of the video game were requested, including the name of one of its characters.
Penelope Cruz and Soma Cruz
Soma Cruz was one of the most striking. In fact, the producer says he was looking for a name that would have a simple translation for international actors, the name “Cruz” being chosen. Why? Well, that’s where the capricious fate comes in since, around this time, Penelope Cruz had just visited Japan. An unexpected journey that inspired the producer since the word Cruz also brought associations that fit well with the game.
As for the name Soma, this has two exact reasons. On the one hand, it comes from the Indian ritual drink with which it shares its name. On the other hand, at a somewhat more imprecise point, the inspiration lies in the name of director Murakami’s son. The director of the play indicated that it was only a coincidence since the kanji of the two names are different. In fact, when he saw the name for the first time, he didn’t agree, although his opinion didn’t change the idea Igarashi already had in mind.
