Konami appears to be really pleased with Simon Belmont's little shorts. They have -- well, he has, we suppose -- become an unofficial mascot for Castlevania Judgment, first as a rather expensive figurine sold through Konamistyle, and now as the focal point of this "laser cel" being given away as a preorder bonus by GameStop.
The background, featuring Aeon, certainly looks cool, as does the color scheme in general. You can see Alucard in his new finery standing back-to-back with Simon. But it's clear that the star of the show is Simon Belmont and his shorts. And his big apelike arms.
The official site for Castlevania Judgment has profiled two new characters for the fighting game, adding an obscure hero and one of the most common baddies to the cast.
Eric Lecarde was playable in only one Castlevania game, Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Genesis (though he did pop up as a helpful ghost in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin), and in Judgment he'll look every bit as effeminate as he did in the character art for Bloodlines. What is a man? Answer: not Eric Lecarde.
The second new combatant is familiar foe and all-round cheery chap Death, whose design in Judgment actually looks totally badass and is our favorite rendering of the character so far, even beating his design in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. We're guessing you can expect to have many a spinning scythe lobbed at your face.
The little shorts. The multi-buckled, open vest that looks kind of like an empty life preserver. The Gene Simmons boots. After all the cool Castlevania characters, dressed in various finery, it is Simon Belmont (or "Belmondo" as he's known in Japan), dressed in Takeshi Obata's newly-designed Castlevania: Judgment style that Konami has decided to make into a figure. Although, of course, the other most recent Simon look wouldn't have been much better of a choice. And it's not Dracula in his dress.
We must admit that the sculptors have made Simon look damn cool, even if he is dressed like a Tetsuya Nomura Final Fantasy hero. Japan's Konamistyle store is taking preorders on (the final painted version of) this figure, to be released on February 6 for 7,140 yen ($66.50).
It's been a while since we wrote anything about Castlevania Judgment. You might think this has something to do with the lack of news on the subject, but oh no, that isn't the case. Really, we're just embarrassed for everyone on the fashion front. Oh, and kinda by the game in general. It'll be just like Konami to actually make it good and force us to buy it.* Jerks.
There are all-new fashion disasters (okay, really, new shots of old disasters) and a lot of explosions of bright, streaky lighting in the gallery below.
*Probably not, but we're afeared of this possibility.
As the release of Mega Man 9 looms closer, the so-called "old school gamers" are about 17 pixels away from exploding out of their skin with anticipation. This is the retro gamer equivalent of a "Phan" witnessing a Phish reunion. The kid inside all of us, having been smothered behind flabby beer guts for years, is beginning to crawl towards the surface. I imagine there's quite a few younger gamers who scratch their heads at all of the love for comparatively prehistoric graphics and gameplay. However, if one were to wipe off the thick coat of nostalgia emblazoned onto the games of long ago, they'd often find enjoyable and satisfying titles. They're not definitively better or worse; just different from much of what is released today. Some prefer that, and they're hungry for more.
The biggest hurdle for those folks is commercial success. Not too long ago, retro revivals were rarely considered serious. After all, it would be silly to have Mega Man 9 released on a retail DVD disc. Yet with the success of downloadable services, the floodgates are now blown wide open. The slightly less hyped but similarly retro-themed Gradius: Rebirth was just released in Japan, and cowboy hat-clad developer Igarashi has stated that he's "very much looking into [WiiWare]." Perhaps the style of retro gaming is seeping into the bloodstream of major retail releases. Despite the beautiful hand-drawn graphics and cutscenes of Wario Land: Shake It!, the gameplay is heavily grounded in 2D. Perhaps we're experiencing a retro-renaissance, if I may quote Mr. Greenhough.
With this in mind, here's a few more dusty franchises we're nominating to be reborn through the birth canal of Nintendo's online service (wow, gross). These range from the unexpected to painfully obscure, so don't be offended if your favorite was not included. A small note: I excluded some IPs due to either a retro-esque presence on the GBA/DS or because they are likely destined for WiiWare. These include Mario, Castlevania, Contra and Metroid.
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.
Evidently, Konami ill needs logic or sequential order when releasing Castlevania games on the Virtual Console -- which is probably why Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse has only just been rated by Australian regulators at the OFLC.
The game, a former star of Virtually Overlooked no less (if you can hear celebratory gunshots being fired into the air, that'll be Alisha), now looks like a certainty to join Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Super Castlevania IV on the download service. If you read this, you'll be reminded of why that's very special, fist pump-worthy news indeed.
Some Castlevania fans are a little underwhelmed by the idea of Castlevania Judgment (ahem), but really, only because it's a fighting game. While we're all sorts of in favor of innovation and fresh ideas, a fighting game isn't particularly fresh. Not that they aren't fun (they are!), but we wanted, well, Castlevania. Alas, i was not to be. At least, no yet.
But that doesn't mean there isn't hope, though it might come from a very unusual source. Putting together the bits and pieces regarding Renegade Kid's mysterious new game reveals what might, might be a game about Dracula. At least, it's probably not Batman.
It's taken a while to get to the point, but never fear -- here we are. If Renegade Kid, the minds behind the great-looking Moon and the great-playing (mostly) Dementium: The Ward are putting together a game devoted to Dracula, and it just happens to be for Wii, as it seems, will this assuage disgruntled Castlevania fans? Or is it not so much the ghoulies and ghosties who matter, but instead the gameplay? If the latter is true, not much else will do.
The latest Castlevania Judgment screens, fresh from the Leipzig showfloor, feature a new character not previously seen in the title. "Aeon" is probably one of the fighters produced by manga artist Takeshi Obata, who was drafted in by Konami to provide character designs. Alternatively, he could be from the DS's Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. "Aeon" is not a name we're familiar with from previous instalments of the franchise, and neither Google or the Castlevania Wiki could shed any light on our confusion. Shanoa, the heroine of Order of Ecclesia, is already accessible in Judgment, so we wouldn't rule it out.
Whoever Aeon is, you can see more of him here, here and here. In other news, Koji Igarashi confirmed to IGN that the title will now ship to the U.S. in 2009. Grab your stake, hit up our gallery for new shots, and then trek past the break for a new trailer.
Another E3 interview with Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi has surfaced, this time from Nintendo World Report. After justifying Castlevania Judgmentyet again, Igarashi gave a tenuous, noncommittal, but still interesting statement regarding future Castlevania games: "With regards to WiiWare, I'm evaluating that right now, and to be honest, I think a 2D Castlevania game on WiiWare might be the right approach."
He has previously said that he was interested in how things turned out for Mega Man 9, and he has said that WiiWare was an interesting service, but this is the most direct Igarashi has been yet about a WiiWare entry in the franchise. He also confirmed the nature of the Order of Ecclesiaconnection bonus: as we expected, Shanoa is unlocked in Judgment by connecting with a DS running Order of Ecclesia.
Gallery: Castlevania Judgment
Talking about Castlevania is a bit of a cottage industry for Wii Fanboy. Not only do we want the 2Dgames on Wii, we've made it happen -- though not the amazing Dracula X, which Japan has on VC. We've expressed our bemusement about Judgment and tried to gauge yours. In fact, we pretty much bring up Castlevaniawhenever possible.
Back at E3, Spencer over at Siliconera got the chance to chat with Koji Igarashi, the man behind Castlevania (from Symphony of the Night on, he's been like, the main dude). Instead of asking questions like "Are you on drugs to have come up with Judgment?" or "Am I being Punk'd, is this game seriously real?" Spencer took the time to be a professional and ask some serious questions about the game.
For one, Igarashi is not happy with the media labelingCastlevaniaJudgment a "fighting game." Instead, he thinks of it more as a 3D action game. Labeling aside, there are some cool things you can do in the game. Apparently, different characters can interact with environmental objects in their own unique way. For example, Simon can use his whip to fling candelabras.
While we played the same game at E3, we sadly didn't have Igarashi to chat with. Head on over and read the rest of the write-up for some other fun facts about the upcoming fighter.
What is it about Castlevania that gamers have found so appealing for more than twenty years? Is it the story? The atmosphere? The visceral sense of fulfillment from whipping all manner of damned creatures back to the infernal depths? Is it the one-on-one arena battles in Boy George makeup, steam-punk corsets and leather-daddy fetishware? Yeah, it's probably not that last thing. We had in mind a traditional sidescroller for Castlevania on the Wii, with waggle-enhanced whip cracking, so that's why this week, I've set out to capture that fun that we've so desperately desired.
If Castlevania Judgment leaves you confused and alarmed, you can relax a litle; it seems Koji Igarashi spent a lot of time at E3 telling people that this whole WiiWarething looks pretty cool. Just the other day, we heard from Wired about budget issues and the impact Mega Man could have on Castlevania, and now MTV Multiplayer further word with Igarashi on WiiWare. "I'm definitely interested in WiiWare and I think it's one of the areas that 2D can still be very strong at. I'm very much looking into that."
It seems Mega Man 9 really is going to determine the fate and future of a certain style of gaming, so it's a good thing it looks so completely awesome. We have little doubt that a great Castlevania title on WiiWare could cause just as much excitement, and probably yield the same results. Let's just hope Konami figures that out, too.
Koji Igarashi obliquely brought up an interesting idea: that the success of Mega Man 9 could kick off a movement of retro-style sequels to popular series. For Castlevania, the appeal is obvious: new games that look like the best Castlevanias, on low budgets. Without exaggerating, such a movement could lead to nothing less than the resurrection of 2D gaming.
If it works, is this a good thing for you? Is an explosion of new 2D games worth a graphical regression? Of course, if you're anything like us, 8-bit style is no regression at all. For us, it's completely a step in the right direction.
Poor Koji Igarashi seems to be getting the same question a lot: Why is Castlevania Judgmenta 3D fighting game? He had his stock answer about short-session Wiimote whipping at the ready when Wired's Chris Kohler asked him.
He also had other, shockingly new things to say in relation to Judgment, which sadly reveal the kinds of budgets Konami offers Castlevania games these days. In response to a question about the environment for third-party games on the Wii, Igarashi said the following, which lays bare the approach taken by Konami:
"I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible; the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer."
There is hope for more real Castlevania games on a smaller budget, and that hope is called Mega Man 9. "I'm watching that very closely to see how it does," IGA told Wired. "Myself, I'm a big retro gaming fan, so if it is successful that definitely opens up doors for what I can do." It's no wonder that Igarashi would be interested in a console game that reuses 8-bit sprites.
I don't have to tell you how odd it is to see the Castlevania franchise make a leap into the 3D fighter space. It's not so much odd as it's completely unbelievable. Now, I'm willing to give anything the benefit of the doubt, and I did just that going into my play session. The first few minutes with the game weren't bad, but the longer I spent time with it, the more its flaws started to rise to the surface.
Konami appears to be really pleased with Simon Belmont's little shorts. They have -- well, he has, we suppose -- become an unofficial mascot for Castlevania Judgment, first as a rather expensive figurine sold through Konamistyle, and now as the focal point of this "laser cel" being given away as a preorder bonus by GameStop.
