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'Bloodstained' will scratch your 'Castlevania' itch
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (SotN) is one of the most influential games ever made. First released for the original PlayStation in 1997, the game has since been ported to nearly every platform under the sun. It perfected the series' core design concept where players could explore gigantic 2D environments at will, collecting new abilities that unlocked hidden-in-plain-sight secrets in previously traversed areas. It also iterated on the superb Super Metroid released for the SNES three years prior. That framework was so well-done that it spawned its own genre ("Metroidvania") and countless games have used it since. Koji Igarashi, SotN's co-creator, has finally brought his crowdfunded (and SotN spiritual successor) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to E3. How does it play? Pretty close to the original.
Top 5: Castlevania Games
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Top_5_Castlevania_Games'; This week marks the release of the highly anticipated Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. Poised to be more than the usual Metroidvania-romp, Ecclesia's glyph system coupled with great diversity in environments and level layout (we're apparently not stuck inside the castle anymore) has all of us whip-enthusiasts drooling with anticipation. To be honest, Konami could slap the word "Castlevania" on a box of assorted animal feces and we'd still pre-order. Here's the part where I'm supposed take a cheap shot at Castlevania Judgment, but admit it: no matter how many times we all spit on the brawler, we never seem to stop checking out movies or screenshots. Castlevania has us whipped; pardon the hideous pun. Assuming I haven't lost all credibility after the Mega Man list, here's another stab at ranking the best of a legendary franchise. Unlike most other Top 5's, this list is not necessarily Nintendo-specific. Take a gander, and try to pretend that you don't know what number one is. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Retro Review: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
File Size: 356 MBPrice: $9.99Developed By: KonamiPublished By: KonamiOriginal Release Date: October 2, 1997Short ReviewRecommended. One of the most frequently requested PS1 titles finally hits the PlayStation Store, with Konami releasing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The title holds its age remarkably well and clearly shows why it is considered one of the finest titles of the original PlayStation era. The graphics look surprisingly sharp and colorful on the PSP and hold up nicely even when displayed on a 52" HD TV via the PS3. The gameplay is the real selling point here though, as you romp through a fairly non-linear castle, with a full RPG-like leveling system, magic, special moves and colorful monsters, the lengthy campaign is well worth paying the higher-than-normal cost of this retro title. Overall, Castlevania: SotN is a fantastic addition to the PlayStation Store's lineup and should not be miss by any Castlevania or 2D platformer fans.Full Review after the jump.
DS Daily: What is a man?
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Dracula's castle crashes onto XBLA
Dracula's ethereal castle, Castlevania, has officially materialized on Xbox Live Arcade. Of course, we speak of the oft cited pinnacle of the Castlevania series, Symphony of the Night. The game will set you back 800 points and will cost you a few extra seconds than most XBLA games, thanks to its 90 MB size. There are also some other goodies available should you have any points left, including a 150 point theme and a 100 point picture pack. By the time you're done you might as well slap a Konami logo right onto your Xbox.So, who's getting their Castlevania on?
Symphony of the Night whips XBLA next week
Wow. We never thought we'd say this, but Xbox Live Arcade is on a roll. Two weeks ago, we got Alien Hominid, last week was Worms, and TMNT dropped this week. That's three decent titles in a row. How in heaven could Microsoft keep this up? The answer is Symphony of the Night. Marked by many as the official game to whine about now that Worms is out, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night will arrive next Wednesday on Xbox Live Arcade. Most Castlevania fans agree that SOTN is the best in the series, so seeing it on Live Arcade is a real treat. The game provides many, many hours of action RPG gameplay and features either classic or "modernized" graphics and sound. Symphony of the Night will be available next Wednesday for 800 points.Is Xbox Live Arcade finally coming into its own? Dare we dream?
Interview reveals Symphony of the Night to include updated vocals
You may remember a little title that got everyone talking a few weeks ago: Castlevania. Ever since its incredible debut, Konami has remained silent on this hotly anticipated revival of Rondo of Blood, the only Castlevania title never to be released in the States. The upcoming Castlevania X Chronicles not only includes a 3D remake of Rondo of Blood, but includes the fan-favorite Symphony of the Night as well. Games Radar has an incredible interview with Koji Igarashi from GDC available, and here are some highlights: After years of working on GBA/DS games, the power of the PSP has been startling: "It's better than what I expected, actually. I'm very happy about the quality. Especially with the graphic quality. The PSP hardware system allows a very high resolution." Symphony of the Night will be getting a few enhancements: "So basically, it's mostly a straight port from the original SOTN on PlayStation. I wasn't happy about the quality of the PlayStation SOTN voiceover, so I'm trying to do something about it on the PSP." Don't forget to check out Games Radar for the rest of this brilliant interview.See also:The Symphony of the Night we won't get
GDC 07: Igarashi, "2D games will never die!"
Koji Igarashi, the producer of recent entries in the Castlevania series and assistant director of Symphony of the Night, gave a presentation on 2D games at GDC last week. Specifically, his presentation centered on the differences between developing 2D games and 3D games. Igarashi noted a few philosophical differences between 3D and 2D games, but also noted a few advantages that hadn't occurred to us. For instance, 2D games are easier to produce, faster to design, and faster to implement. Of course, all of this is generally cheaper than 3D production as well.
Castlevania punctures XBLA's 50MB size limit
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, considered by many to be the best game in the series, is set to bend the rules by exceeding Microsoft's imposed size limit on Xbox Live Arcade titles, which is currently set at 50MB. The exact size of the download was not revealed.Microsoft explains to GameSpot that the 50MB cap is so that XBLA titles can fit on memory cards and played on a friend's console, and that SotN would be an exception to the rule. Though we do enjoy the fast downloads, now that background downloading is possible (and hard drives potentially expanding), perhaps Microsoft ought to raise that size limit to a point where all of Lumines Live can be downloaded as one purchase.Sony has implemented a cap of 500MB for downloadable titles, though the downloads currently (and annoyingly) take center stage. Symphony of the Night, when it is released (date as of yet unknown), will have a demo that does stay under the 50MB limit.See Also: Enough talk, have at this Castlevania XBLA video
Castlevania breaks 50MB Arcade limit [update 1]
GameSpot reports today that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night will be the first Xbox Live Arcade title to break the 50 MB size limit (we were wondering how the hell they got the voice acting and audio in there). The limit was imposed so that 360 owners could transfer Arcade games to memory card, allowing them to be played on another 360. Xbox Live's Greg Canessa told GameSpot that the cap is still in effect, but Microsoft can and will make certain exceptions. Citing SOTN as one of the "most popular games of all time," Cannessa felt that an exception was in order. He further notes, however, that the trial version will fit on a memory card.We've blogged about the 50 MB limit before, and it will be interesting to see how (and if) Castlevania will affect future developments on Live Arcade.Update: It looks like GameSpot got the trial version info wrong. MS informed us (and GameSpot) that it will not fit on a standard memory card.
Castlevania on XBLA, hot whipping action
Oh, we have waited for this day. We present to you the first video footage of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for Xbox Live Arcade. Fresh from CES, the video shows off the opening scene of the game, in which you play out the prologue (and determine the main character's beginning stats). Worth noting is the fact that the video contains both the original music and voice acting from the Playstation version. If Konami has managed to squeeze the game and all of its (amazing) audio into 50MB, we'll be very impressed. The footage is unfortunately very shaky, but we'll take what we can get. And just for the record, we were not the ones playing. Because we would totally kick Dracula's ass, and, you know, actually hit him.[Via Joystiq]
Symphony of the Night on XBLA!
Fans of androgynous vampires rejoice, 1UP reports that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -- widely regarded as the best in the series, and frequently listed in various "greatest games of all time" lists -- is coming to Xbox Live Arcade. It is, unfortunately, the Playstation version which does not include the Saturn's bonus area. Still, this is incredible news for Castlevania fans and gamers everywhere -- enough to wash away the taste of the awful 3D Castlevanias perhaps? Oh, and Konami is planning quite a few more classics as well (Time Pilot, anyone?). Hit the read link for the whole story.[Thanks Joe(dragonjoe) and Rivithed
