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.
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.
This week sees the commencement of E3, the Super Bowl for gamers. On Tuesday, Nintendo will announce all of its big plans for the rest of the year, sending fanboys and fangirls alike into a frenzy. And while others choose to give us predictions of what we will see, here is the much more important information: things that we won't be seeing.
5. The Game Boy Ultra - Around the time that the DS was first announced, Nintendo made a point to clarify that the new dual-screened portable was more of a "third pillar" than the next installment in the Game Boy line. But then the DS started printing money ... lots and lots of it. Regardless, in an effort to stay true to their word (as they always do), Nintendo will unveil the Game Boy Ultra. The sleek handheld will feature a small but crisp widescreen display showcasing wonderful GameCube-esque graphics. In fact, it will be backwards-compatible with all GameCube games, using the same 8cm discs as Nintendo's last-gen console. Also, similar to the PSP's remote play, the Game Boy Ultra will connect to the Wii and allow data transfers to an SD card. This will allow Virtual Console and select WiiWare games to be played on the go. And since Nintendo plans to keep DS owners in agony by not announcing New Super Mario Bros. 2, they will reveal that the Game Boy Ultra will ship packaged with a free copy of Super Mario Bros. Ultra.
Survey Says: Not necessary; Contra 4 removes the need for any other portable game or system.
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?
The official announcement of Castlevania Judgmenthas 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.
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.
We were really excited about the Wii Castlevania game. We imagined a nice-looking side-scroller with detailed 2D graphics, or possibly a PSP-Wii port of the Rondo of Blood remake (one time we'd be reasonably okay with a PSP-Wii port). What we didn't expect was a motion-controlled 3D fighter.
Castlevania and 3D have a rocky history together, and an overwhelming majority of fighting games are terrible (basically all of them not made by Capcom, Namco, Sega, or Arc -- and even some of those companies'). How faithful are you in Konami? Will the Castlevania fighting game turn out better than the homemade Soul Calibur III version seen after the break?
Of all the different directions you expected Konami to take with Castlevania's Wii debut, we're sure that "3D fighting game" was not one of them. Nonetheless, the above shot is what allegedly appeared in the latest issue of Nintendo Power.
Other rumored details we heard through the grapevine (oh, and we're just about to lose our mind)? Honey, honey:
Wii remote used for motion attacks, Nunchuk for character movement
Rumored characters include Simon, Alucard, Shanoa, Maria Renard, and, of course, Dracula
Holy water, magic spells, dagger, and boomerang subweapons
Using subweapons requires hearts
Remixed classic Castlevania tracks
Destroyable environments
Enemy monsters jump into the battle
Placeable traps
Steals men's souls, and makes them its slaves!
No word yet on whether you'll be able to throw plates of curry at your opponents. Your thoughts?
The Previews magazine product description (as presented on retail website BadgerComics.com) for a new manga based on Castlevania: Curse of Darkness includes a list of the manga's selling points, including planned promotions by Konami and publisher Tokyopop. According to the list, the manga will be: "Cross-promoted with the 2008 video game releases, which include games for the Nintendo Wii and DS (Fall 2008)." The text reads differently in the preview image (seen above), with specific platform references excised. However, it does still read "2008 video game releases."
Unless someone at Previews just made a huge typo, not only is there a Wii Castlevania game (as has been rumoredmanytimes), but it's coming out this year, along with Order of Ecclesia on the DS. Is it wrong that we kind of hope they're talking about Rondo of Blood on the Virtual Console instead of another 3D game? An original 2D console Castlevania is far too much to expect. We're actually kind of excited about the Curse of Darkness manga on its own merits! Too much Castlevania for our poor hearts to take!
This is a pretty weird rumor, but perhaps the same could be said of all rumors. Apparently, Konami USA's Shinji Hirano made a reference to new Castlevania games on the Wii and DS during a press conference Tuesday in Sao Paulo. The weird part is that the event in question, according to Arena Turbo, was a launch for Grand Theft Auto IV and Iron Man. Is GTA IV even out in Brazil? Xbox.com says it isn't. And why would a Konami executive even be there making statements? So sketchy. Of course we can't find any reference to this event anywhere but this post and this GameTV post.
But we've heard Wii 'Vania rumors before, and this extremely dubious one doesn't make the game any less likely. Maybe it'll get sorted out next week, as Hirano reportedly said.
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.
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. 
