Posted Sep 05, 2007 at 09:21AM by Sally B. Listed in: Interviews, News, Xbox Live, Games Tags: Sega, Koji Igarashi, Sega Saturn, Michiru Yamane, PlayStation Network
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IGA and Michiru Yamane - Image 1Ah, Castlevania. That's one gaming franchise that never ceases to shine. It's always good getting more news about the epic game series, and when it's coming from Castlevania's Koji Igarashi himself, it's all the more better. 1up managed to sneak in an interview with Igarashi, or IGA, and they talked about their current Castlevania project Dracula X Chronicles, as well as possible futures for Castlevania in other consoles.


PSP's Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles - based on a much earlier Rondo of Blood - is just about finished, with the US version already approved while they're still waiting to get approval for the Europe and Japanese versions.

As for the Symphony of the Night added into Dracula X Chronicles, IGA said that some content was changed in the PSP version compared to the downloadable SotN from PlayStation Network and Xbox Live: voice acting was improved (yes!), and they made drastic improvements to Maria's sprite compared to the Sega Saturn version. Michiru Yamane, music composer for the Castlevania series, composed a new song for the SotN credit track.

As for future Castlevanias, one of the things that is definite is that we'll have another title for the DS, and they're also thinking about the possibility of some whip-cracking action on the Wii, but there's a small problem. According to IGA,

As for a Wii version, I still think people would be exhausted if they had to swing it as a whip the entire time, but I am coming around to the idea -- I like the concept in theory, but I'd just have to make sure it could be done without players getting all tired.


Cracking whips around all day does sound a tad tiring and painful in the long run.

The Castlevania team, in the meantime, are thinking whether to go "traditional" and release games for the Xbox 360 and PS3. As to what "traditional" means to them, it doesn't necessarily mean the old-school 2D gaming. Said IGA,

Those are two steps for us, actually. Step 1 is figuring out the gameplay and step 2 is the graphics. We are still discussing step 1, so until we have the gameplay figured out I won't be able to say whether or not it will be 2D or 3D.


Those who want new downloadable Castlevania games won't have much hope to hold on to, however. IGA said that prices of downloadable games are quite too low to support the things that they want to do in the game, and will also result in low-fidelity games.

That's definitely so much info to chew on! But you can bet we'll have more as updates come our way. Stay tuned!


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11 Comments


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   by lol (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » lol

first post

   by deadman855555 (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » gonna be great

stupid noobs. anyway the castlevania series has been great. from the nes all the way to the nds series. and the psp is gonna kick butt.

   by senjutsu (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, 2D, !!!!

I want a 2D castlevania for a change, my favorite is sotn and not those "lament of innocence" and the other one... (I played them and liked them, they were okay, but sotn was PERFECT and I want perfect games, lol. They could simply do the exact same thing, in beautifull 2D, with TONS of animation, LOTS of powers, summons, weapons, armors(would be cool to see the armor, boots, gauntlets, etc you equip on the character), and a great story with full of playing hours available, lol (when the castle reverse, you're like "what?? it's only haft the game???, cool!! "

anyway, 2d or 3d, I'll buy, but I really hope it'll be in 2d! :D

   by Axe armor (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » 2.5 D

its better if its like the psp ver. wen comes to console

   by ___X___ (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » ..............

wow there's a castlevania for wii this is cool even xbox but ps3 is too much ill just buy psp for drac x yehey

   by B (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » 2D

2D with cel shading might work well.

   by Pwner1 (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » Original voice acting for SOTN

It was perfect. Redoing the voices is a big mistake.

   by urherenow - 2007-09-05
 » that's your opinion

But I can't imagine paying people for new voice acting unless they thought it would make them money. Apparantly enough people gave negative comments about the previous voice acting to make them notice.

My take on the Wii... So what if people get tired? Do save points! better yet, do a dual control scheme! (iirc a couple of virtual console games do already) If you get tired of waving the controller around (or are affraid that your 7 year old will toss it into the tv screen) then people should be able to switch to, and control the game with, the classic controller!

   by Advertising -
   by DoubleDragon (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » Good to hear about Castlevania's future

A Wii Castlevania sounds the most intriuging to do. Koji should do a dual control scheme. I would love to be able to use the Wii remote to crack the whip!!!! Plus, if he were to release Castlevania for any one system, the Wii would be the best choice because it is right now the best selling next-gen console right now. People generally being such fans of Castlevania I think would be willing to give Castlevania a go on the Wii. I know I would. I really hope something comes of this.

   by btantra (Unregistered) - 2007-09-05
 » New Genre

How about a new genre for Castlevania like Castlevania TActics or RPG?

   by Kamiboy (Unregistered) - 2007-09-06
 » Ah, Alucard. Still befriending the mortals I see...

Changing the voice acting for SOTN is a sin. Also Downloadable titles are not priced low, all downloadables so far have just been so crappy that people refuse to pay more for them. Come on Konami, show people that full quality games can be made for the PSN. I bet more than a enough people would oay 30$ for a full kick ass 2D high resolution sprite graphics Castlevania game for the PSN. I mean, Warhawk cost more that that and people are buying it.

You should do it, because people will buy it. And the market will change, boy does it need to change from the crappy minigame infestation that it is today.



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