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[A Black Falcon]

heh, it's not pushing anything in its current form. but let's not judge a title by the first batch of hapless press material, shall we? 'cause truth be told, the first batch of corruption shots (and not just the first) looked rather dull too.

True, it's the character designs that are the worst part, not the graphics.

 

[Duke Togo]

I predict sales of at least 10 billion.

 

[Tenbatsu]

Guess western just cant accept the designs of the characters:lol Japanese will love them for sure.

 

[VerTiGo]

The fucked up truth is that it will likely outsell both DS Castlevania games.

 

[Dirtbag]

Is that Simon from Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest?

I heard you can only beat him if you equip the Nintendo Power from '88 and kneel down facing a wall for 10 seconds.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I dunno who this Obata guy is, but tell him I hate him! And to the people that like these designs, I hate you too. Fucking japan!

 

[Terrell]

The fucked up truth is that it will likely outsell both DS Castlevania games.

This. Totally and utterly THIS.
Which will finally, once and for all, prove that Castlevania is a dead franchise when it takes nerds from the fighting game crowd to bring decent sales to the franchise.
We talk about how they're "ruining" Castlevania, but let's be honest... judging by sales charts of every CV game after Symphony of the Night, most of you don't buy Castlevania games anyways, so what does it matter?

 

[ThatObviousUser]

More like Castlevania Impaired Judgement cause Konami has to be tripping some serious balls to come up with this.

Spoiler

(tm)

 

[d[-_-]b]

2560x1920 pics for a Wii game? Why are publishers so dumb?

This....

 

[radios shipping overview]

I predict sales of at least 10 billion.

or over nine thousand, judging by this thread

 

[Pimpbaa]

most of you don't buy Castlevania games anyways, so what does it matter?

I do (almost). Only ones I didn't buy was the last one on GBA and that PSP remake. Hell, I even rebought SOTN on XBLA. I will not be buying this fighting game however.

 

[radios shipping overview]

If things keep going the way they are, PSP Chronicles will end up being the last Castlevania I ever buy.

 

[KevinCow]

Only ones I didn't buy was the last one on GBA and that PSP remake.

:O

Aria of Sorrow is like the best one!

 

[cartman414]

Is that Simon from Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest?

I heard you can only beat him if you equip the Nintendo Power from '88 and kneel down facing a wall for 10 seconds.

Nope. All you need is the Gold Dagger. Throw it at him and he'll enter a state of paralysis as he takes constant damage. Easiest victory ever. :lol

 

[Sagitario]

This....

Those hi-res are usually made for the printed media [you know, gaming magazines], hence the higher resolutions...

 

[Warren Ellis]

You forgot her original design:

rondo is awesome (my favorite castlevania with circle and symphony), but i don't know why they should use the inferior character design.. (and btw, i don't think that her design in the game it is so similar to this art from rondo) and the little maria. Really, there are any story justifications for this choice ? the art of symphony is so good.. why use this generic anime stile ? because it sells better ? i don't think that the castlevania brand it is so strong.

 

[Cheerilee]

Oh wow, an unlicensed no-brand Death Note-knockoff fighting game! Just what I've always wanted. And they had Light dig into Misa Misa's gothic fetish-wear closet! I never knew he had the legs to pull that kind of thing off. And Misa Misa's turned loli! Good thing they made her completely unattractive, otherwise I might have gotten turned on by some of those panty shots.

If this fails, Castlevania suffers. If it succeeds, Castlevania still suffers. Good job Iga!

Edit:

Those hi-res are usually made for the printed media [you know, gaming magazines], hence the higher resolutions...

And for bullshot purposes. Nobody (especially on Wii) would ever render the game at 2560x1920 and then scale it down again just so it looks better.

 

[D.Lo]

Honestly, this is looking better then 95% of third party stuff on the Wii. It's still a stupid thing to do with the franchise, but Konami at least aren't making Imagine: Castlevaniaz Babiez Partiez Wee 1ST ALL PLAY.

 

[Cheerilee]

These were mentioned earlier in the thread, but they were only linked so I don't think they got much attention.

Not resized.

 

[Oldschoolgamer]

What in the hell is going on with the battle system? I know what I read but the screenshots are leading me to the land of wtf. Is there a video yet?

 

[Lord Phol]

You know this could of have worked if it was more like Super Smash or Power stone, or even like the good old 2D castlevanina games just with you battleing each other instead of running through the castle (god I want a Castlevanina with true Multiplayer, co-op or competing over bosses and loot in the same castle *drool*). But Tekken-style?
I'm really not seeing this shaping up to be anything but horrid.

 

[Sagitario]

And for bullshot purposes. Nobody (especially on Wii) would ever render the game at 2560x1920 and then scale it down again just so it looks better.

I'm pretty sure those were destined for the printed media, not for "bullshitting purposes"...

Edit: see the pictures you just re-posted...

 

[Toy Soldier]

If it succeeds, Castlevania still suffers.

If it's a good game, if it legitimately works in terms of experimenting with the Castlevania lore and the Castlevania brand to result in a quality take on the genre, and if its sales are strong, how would the franchise itself suffer?

 

[White Man]

This looks so embarrassing. Why do they all have terrible costumes? At least the mediocre DS games get the art right. Please, people, do not buy this. Tell Konami you won't mindlessly buy a game just because of the name. That will ensure even worse Castlevania games in the future.

I'm not expecting you to follow that advice. You people still buy the half-assed DS games, after all.

 

[KevinCow]

At least the mediocre DS games get the art right.

Really? I thought that was the worst thing about them. DoS, anyway, didn't playe PoR. The shitty generic anime designs really killed the mood of the game.

 

[Terrell]

This looks so embarrassing. Why do they all have terrible costumes? At least the mediocre DS games get the art right. Please, people, do not buy this. Tell Konami you won't mindlessly buy a game just because of the name. That will ensure even worse Castlevania games in the future.

I'm not expecting you to follow that advice. You people still buy the half-assed DS games, after all.

Uhhh... isn't what they've been counting on to sell Castlevania since the turn of the century? Not like it's worked or anything. I mean, the ANNUAL release of a CV game on GBA was actually what killed most of my interest in the series, and literally the ONLY pull it still has is its brand, its pedigree, so to speak.

 

[:Motorbass]

Uhhh... isn't what they've been counting on to sell Castlevania since the turn of the century? Not like it's worked or anything. I mean, the ANNUAL release of a CV game on GBA was actually what killed most of my interest in the series, and literally the ONLY pull it still has is its brand, its pedigree, so to speak.

What are you guys talking about? How is more CV a bad thing? On the GBA it went this way:
CV1CotN: good CV2HoD: not so good CV3AoS: PERFECT; on the DS it went:
CV1DoS: good CV2PoR: not so good; and so I have high hopes for CV3 on the DS. All of the games were fun and I buy games that are fun, that's it. Collecting stuff and levelling up, completing the map and the droplist. FUN

 

[Cheerilee]

I'm pretty sure those were destined for the printed media, not for "bullshitting purposes"...

Edit: see the pictures you just re-posted...

Not "bullshitting" per-se, but "bullshots". Doing whatever you can to tweak the look of the pictures in your favor. With photos it's usually airbrushing. With videogames they usually use a dev kit or throw playability out the window to increase the resolution beyond what the hardware could ever normally deliver (as seen here) or play with the anti-aliasing levels. I remember someone saying bullshots were like negative attack ads in political campaigns. All the publishers say they're opposed to them, but everyone does it because nobody wants to be the one guy not doing them. The first pics from DXC on the PSP were bullshots too.

The direct-feed shots look fine and I'm not saying the game looks ugly or anything, but there's a clear difference between them and the downsized bullshots.

If it's a good game, if it legitimately works in terms of experimenting with the Castlevania lore and the Castlevania brand to result in a quality take on the genre, and if its sales are strong, how would the franchise itself suffer?

Because that's not Castlevania. If Castlevania is just a combination of a brand name and Iga's convoluted canon, then it deserves to be dead.

Where'd I put that Death Note of mine... ah, here we go.

悪魔城ドラキュラ
Akumajou Dracula
CastleVania

Death by bad game.

 

[Terrell]

Where'd I put that Death Note of mine... ah, here we go.

悪魔城ドラキュラ
Akumajou Dracula
CastleVania

Death by bad game.

Mega Man belongs on that list, too, then, because for as foul as this fighting game might be, it will never surpass the broken, unplayable and utterly vomit-inducing MEGAMAN SOCCER. Not even mentioning the arcade games there.

 

[Cheerilee]

Mega Man belongs on that list, too, then, because for as foul as this fighting game might be, it will never surpass the broken, unplayable and utterly vomit-inducing MEGAMAN SOCCER. Not even mentioning the arcade games there.

If Megaman Soccer is just a wound/scar on Megaman, that's okay. When Megaman Soccer ceases to be a wound/scar, then it's because Megaman has fully degenerated into a zombie, at which point he'll need hot shotgun bullets of death.

 

[CPS2]

This looks so much better than I expected. Not holding out any high hopes for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it looked awesome in motion.

 

[Attack You]

I love my fighters, and I love Castlevania. So, I really won't be able to ignore this one regardless how it looks. I'm even more biased in regards to this development, because I generally like it when an established series branches off into new territory. (Er, OK, I would probably die of shame if they announced a Castlevania Kart Racing or something.) The fact is -- and I'm speaking solely for myself here -- I'm just so incredibly burned out on Metroidvania that it hurts. Seriously, it hurts, as I loooooove this series -- and for me to sit here and go "damn, I don't know how much more of this I can take" is kinda painful for me to even openly admit. And man, if I'm getting sick of playing them, I absolutely have to wonder if IGA and Co. are getting sick of making them and just need to change it up before they snap. (Or, maybe they already have and this is the result. ) I can't fault any of y'all for gritting your teeth at this being a fighter. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here with my copy of PoR that I purchased Day 1 and still waiting for even the tiniest impulse to pop it in my DS to play it past the ten-minute mark. I don't know about anyone else, but a series is in danger of losing me when I feel like I'm not missing out on anything anymore. So, yeah, bring on Castlevania: Judgment and let them get this out of their system. Hopefully, they'll pick up on something neat to bring back to the mainline games that'll make me salivate over them again.

 

[freddy]

Well, this will be interesting to see what they do with the fighting mechanics in the game. I think Konami is testing the market for fighting games a bit with this one.
I could care less about the graphics really and I'm not going to get butt hurt about fictional characters from Castlevania being in a fighting game. Wasn't Dead or Alive made up of characters from Ninja Gaiden or something like it?

 

[Zoramon089]

I completely fail to see the rationale behind the development of this game. It's not going to sell. Konami knows it's not going to sell, and isn't going to put much money or effort into it. It'll be a throwaway game in an fading, unpopular franchise, and in a genre that is totally antithetical to the Wii audience. What is Konami up to here?

WTF, where are people getting the idea that they're not putting any effort into the game? What about the game makes it looks like a throw away title? The graphics are nice and the premise seems solid. People are only bitching because they wanted a console adventure games, but there has been nothing about the game (don't compare to other games, PLEASE) to suggest that it'll be crappy

I dunno who this Obata guy is, but tell him I hate him! And to the people that like these designs, I hate you too. Fucking japan!

Let's not be too harsh on Obata. There must have been some reason he made the design choices he did. I mean, it's not like he's incapable of drawing cool non "animu" characters. Look how he turned these designs:

Into these:

 

[Zoramon089]

EDIT: crap, meant to put this into my other post...

 

[lyre]

Please, people, do not buy this. Tell Konami you won't mindlessly buy a game just because of the name. That will ensure even worse Castlevania games in the future.

This is exactly the reason why I skipped over DX Chronicles, but even that was less embarrassing than this.

 

[hirokazu]

Let's not be too harsh on Obata. There must have been some reason he made the design choices he did. I mean, it's not like he's incapable of drawing cool non "animu" characters. Look how he turned these designs:

[BOBOBO-BO BO-BOBO!]

Into these:

That looks plenty animu. In fact, that looks like the same style he draws with anyway. Look at the girl's eyes, looks the same as Misa. I'm not saying I hate his drawing style or whatever, the guy is cool and I love his illustrations for Death Note. But this game screams DeathNotevania the Fighter all over.

 

[ghibli99]

Preaching to the choir here, but they need to take this energy and rechannel it into making a console 2D/2.5D Castlevania. Give us something like CV3 or SCV4 with 2008 polish and the badassness of Ayame Kojima's artistic touch which was a perfect match for this series. This game... man, it just frustrates me.

 

[Father_Brain]

Preaching to the choir here, but they need to take this energy and rechannel it into making a console 2D/2.5D Castlevania. Give us something like CV3 or SCV4 with 2008 polish and the badassness of Ayame Kojima's artistic touch which was a perfect match for this series. This game... man, it just frustrates me.

That is never going to happen as long as Iga is in charge of the series, nor will any other substantial change to the Igavania formula.

 

[Vinci]

Tell you what: If the game is actually, you know, good, I'll buy it. Anyone saying, "Don't buy this for any reason, this isn't what the game is meant to be!" is crazy. If the game is good, like actually good, it deserves to sell. Where were these complaints when they decided to turn Halo into a RTS? Or were there some? I don't think anyone felt the Halo series was in danger because of Halo Wars being announced.

 

[Zoramon089]

That looks plenty animu. In fact, that looks like the same style he draws with anyway. Look at the girl's eyes, looks the same as Misa. I'm not saying I hate his drawing style or whatever, the guy is cool and I love his illustrations for Death Note. But this game screams DeathNotevania the Fighter all over.

Yeah, but that's the only character there that looks remotely like a DN character...and there's only so many different ways you can draw eyes...

 

[xs_mini_neo]

Why does Simon look like Yuri from Shadow Hearts 2?

This game will have ONLINE BATTLES?! Will it have alternate outfits for these characters? I want to hope so, but those alternate ones may be worse. The music should be great, at least. If it plays well, and has a STORY mode, then I'll get it....for the lulz.

 

[SantaC]

This looks so embarrassing. Why do they all have terrible costumes? At least the mediocre DS games get the art right. Please, people, do not buy this. Tell Konami you won't mindlessly buy a game just because of the name. That will ensure even worse Castlevania games in the future.

I'm not expecting you to follow that advice. You people still buy the half-assed DS games, after all.

the DS games are half-assed and mediocre? Really? DoS is at 90.3% at gamerankings and PoR 84.8%.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

the DS games are half-assed and mediocre? Really? DoS is at 90.3% at gamerankings and PoR 84.8%.

One guys opinion in a sea of millions.

Get over it.

 

[pewye]

I can't create new threads and I searched and couldn't find anything

why this game isn't on Wii is beyond me!!!

Players enter the machine on either side. The inside was very spacious, much wider than some I've seen of a similar fashion. The bottom of the machine, in front of where each player stands, was lined with LED lit candles.

Each player holds a controller shaped like the handle of a whip. The top of the whip handle is lit up with LEDs - 1P is blue, 2P is a dark pink. Each whip handle has a yellow trigger where your index finger goes. This controls your subweapon, such as knifes, crosses, etc. A red button is placed where your thumb goes. Sadly, I was not able to use it in this demo of the game, but the Konami rep told me it was used for activating items you get later on in the game. During gameplay, swinging the whip handle, a la Wii remote, results in a slash mark across the screen.

When the game starts, each player is asked to stand in their designated spots and aim the top of their whip controller at the center of the screen and press the yellow trigger button to calibrate the motion sensor.

The game begins in an outside area. Skeletons stumble onto the screen much like Silent Hill or House of the Dead. Some shoot arrows at you from a distance. You can take them out either by swinging your whip or by throwing knives at them (by pointing the tip of the whip controller and firing with the yellow trigger). Subweapons, such as knives, consume hearts. You can regain these by shooting various candles placed throughout the areas. There seemed to be a maximum of 25 hearts while I played.

The first chapter ends after you arrive at the gates of Dracula's castle and fight Death, your first boss. I squealed a little bit when the Bloody Tears theme started playing during the fight. Chapter two took place inside the castle. The boss was a giant skeleton snake, and upon winning the battle, the demo ended.

The graphics were really nice, definitely next gen; on par with PS3/Xbox 360. One small detail I liked was that any candle I whipped/threw a knife at would cause the surrounding area to go dark when destroyed.

With the way the machine was designed, it was MUCH easier to hear the music/sound effects than Silent Hill, even with all the noise from other games going on outside...

This game was a total blast. Nostalgic music, sweet graphics, whip-cracking action. There's nothing more I could've asked for in a Castlevania arcade game. I used to think Silent Hill was kinda fun when I was a little bored, but this totally blows it out of the water. Good job, Konami!

http://kotaku.com/5028044/castlevania-japanese-arcade-game-hands+on