Nintendo Wii Fanboy

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.

We've already documented our feelings about Castlevania's transformation into a 3D fighting game, but it wasn't until this morning that we got a proper look at the game in motion. It's not actually all that bad! Okay, so the lip-synching is a bit off, most of the lines positively reek of cheese ("I'm a Belmont -- that's my job"), and some of the voice acting makes the guy behind Leon Kennedy seem almost De Niro-esque.

Such quibbles aside, we suppose this is the best that could be done with a Castlevania fighting game. Environments and characters are solidly built, there are some pleasant enough effects, the music is great, and we're pleased they opted for a free-roaming style, if only because it reminds us of Power Stone. Make the jump for a trailer and some direct-feed footage.

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.

We stopped by the Konami booth today, to check out all of their titles (and stand around, looking all cool like we do). Surprisingly, the folks at Konami did not object to us taking some photos of their space. We'd like to say our tour includes several shots of Igarashi, but he was on a break while we were there. Our horrible streak of being unlucky continues.

Hit up the photos below to check out the space and get an idea of what to expect in the way of impressions later.

The judgment of a Fanboy is brutal, terrifying and often accompanied by various LOLs and ZOMGs. In fact, the revelation that Castlevania: Judgment for the Wii was to be a fighting game resulted in the biggest ZOMG of them all. Hey, Konami may be tampering with a classic formula, and pitting classic characters against each other for no excuse but to witness a violent showdown -- but what the heck is wrong with that?

Bring down your gavel of screenshot-hating justice after viewing the latest images in the gallery. An empty excuse for a cash cow Wii title or not -- it looks very pretty.


[Via press release]

As part of a ton of Castlevania Judgment coverage, IGN interviewed the man in charge of the franchise, Koji "IGA" Igarashi. You can probably guess the content of the first question.

IGA explained what possessed him to make a 3D fighter with some fairly smart reasoning: people want to swing the Wiimote to whip, and he decided it would be best to implement those kinds of mechanics in a shorter-session game. "... I realized, with the 3D action style, I would be able to incorporate intervals so that players can rest and this would allow players to enjoy the swinging action of the Wii Remote." IGA also mentioned that part of the Elebits/Dewy team is working on Judgment, which should at least ensure lovely visuals.

IGN's hands-on with the game gave us a bit of morning light to vanquish the horrible night of our skepticism, describing Judgment as more of a Power Stone free-roaming vs. action game than a traditional Tekken or Virtua Fighter-like game.

New direct-feed screens and character artwork of Castlevania Judgment show off the new character designs by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata. What a horrible night to be cursed with these new clothes!

Dracula X's Maria Renard, who typically wears fancy (if short) dresses, is now clad in some hot pink, multibuckled anime witch costume. Dracula has abandoned his customary finery for a lovely evening dress. Alucard now wears ... well, we don't know how to describe his pants situation.

The only character so far to benefit from the redesign is Simon Belmont. While he retains the general look of his embarrassing Castlevania Chronicles redesign, the new design removes the fur lining from his boots and the fur half-jacket thing. When has Simon not had embarrassing character art, though?


[Via press release]

The official announcement of Castlevania Judgment has given us all kinds of mixed emotions. Change can be a good thing, but whatever happened to, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" We've pointed out before that only a minority of fighting games are actually good, as much as we love the genre. Then there's this whole 3D business that might cause some worry. On the other hand, though, we have promises of Wi-Fi battles, DS-Wii connectivity, and the neat idea of laying the smackdown with some of our favorite 'Vania characters.

What do you wish we were getting with Castlevania Wii? Something familiar, something new, or maybe just something new that's not a fighter? Cast your vote after the break.

Okay, maybe we're all doom and gloom about Konami's decision to take the Castlevania franchise into the fighting game genre, but we were fine with things just the way they were. We could play a billion Dawn of Sorrows and be content for the remainder of our days. Times change, though, and so do games.

Castlevania Judgment is a reality. But, beneath its graphics and long list of Castlevania alum that comprise the game's roster of playable characters, there are some things that just might surprise you. For one, the game is totally Wi-Fi compatible. You can take the game online for some head-to-head action. Also, the title will work with the upcoming DS title, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, to unlock "bonus gameplay content." And those motion-sensitive controls? Yeah, they were spot-on. You'll be attacking with gesture-based controls, utilizing both the Wiimote and nunchuk.

Castlevania Judgment will release this fall for the Wii.

[Via press release]

For more than 20 years, gamers have been taking whip in hand to navigate Dracula's dark castle and defeat the villain and his minions again and again. Castlevania has evolved considerably over the past two decades, with recent games in the series largely adopting the incredibly popular Metroidvania style of gameplay that first showed up in 1997's Symphony of the Night. The older games typically offer a more classic platforming experience, although RPG elements such as a leveling system worked their way into the series even as early as Castlevania II: Simon's Quest in 1987.

Castlevania has also braved the world of (gasp!) three dimensions with mixed results over the years, but in general Konami has managed to retain the feel of the classic 2D Castlevania adventures on an expanded scale. Rumors of a Wii game titled Castlevania Judgment have been floating around the intertubes for quite awhile, but when the news finally broke -- a Wii Castlevania really was coming! -- it wasn't quite in the form people expected. The terms "3D fighting game" and "Castlevania" don't really go hand-in-hand. Even if the fighter is a success, Wii gamers deserve a true Castlevania experience, and that's why the series is this week's entry into the library of games that are Born for Wii.

Where's that latest EGM?! We need to see this one with our own eyes: rumors of new Castlevania for DS and Wii, and since the first has already been confirmed (though we're not sure about this definition of new), we'll go ahead and guess that the second, the Wii title, is likely true, particularly since another trademark has already been discovered.

The idea of a game on the system isn't particularly new, but the resurfacing of the rumor certainly has us dancing in the aisles. Could Castlevania Judgment be meant for us? We're crossing our fingers. Retail game, WiiWare, it doesn't matter -- just give us some vampire-killing, whip-cracking action.