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Whippin' out some Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth footage

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 27th 2009 at 2:45PM }

Upon close inspection of two new videos of the WiiWare title, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, we can confirm the following: It's definitely a Castlevania game. While the game is a remake of the Gameboy title of the same name -- sans the "ReBirth" bit -- the WiiWare version is more reminiscent of the 16-bit games found on the Super Nintendo and Genesis. In fact, we're fairly certain we spotted some reused art from said 16-bit games, which is pretty characteristic for a Castlevania title! Still, the classic monster-slaying, holy-water-tossing gameplay looks to be firmly intact.

Check out the footage after the break.

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A single screenshot of Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 22nd 2009 at 7:45PM }

Taken directly from Konami's Japanese website, we present to you a solitary screenshot from its upcoming WiiWare remake, Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth. Given that the game is based on a GameBoy title, it's perhaps appropriate that the screenshot is very small. Still, we apologize for the pathetic tininess of the image. Then again, we're not sure what we were expecting. After all, what is a screenshot but a miserable little pile of pixels?

Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth arises in scans

by JC Fletcher { Oct 13th 2009 at 10:57AM }

Though Konami still has yet to officially announce Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth for WiiWare, the title has shown up on the ESRB's database, Nintendo's release calendar and now in Famitsu ... with full release details. We're going to go ahead and call "case closed" on this one.

As the name suggests, the new game is a "concept remake" of Castlevania: The Adventure for Game Boy; a game that desperately needed to be remade. ReBirth will have new enemies and altered level designs -- most notably, stairs have been implemented to replace the ropes from the Game Boy game. It'll also have new arrangements of classic Castlevania music. Like the other ReBirth games, this one is going for a faithful 16-bit look.

ReBirth will be out in Japan on October 27 for 1,000 Wii Points. Nintendo's calendar gave it a "Q3 2009" date for North America, so it could be out here by Halloween as well!

Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is real, whips onto WiiWare soon

by Randy Nelson { Sep 15th 2009 at 4:28PM }

The Wiimake of Castlevania: The Adventure for Game Boy that was recently rated by the ESRB is totally happening, but it wasn't Konami that took the lid off the coffin. Nintendo confirmed the game today as Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, and gave it a release timeframe: Q3 2009. Holy water! That's pretty much now!

We've put in word to Konami in hopes of ~~staking~~ nailing down a more specific date.

ESRB rates Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth for Wii

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 13th 2009 at 3:30PM }

It's been over a year since we last heard rumors of a re-Vamped Castlevania installment on the WiiWare service -- now, a new ESRB listing has rekindled the flames of conjecture. The board recently gave a Teen rating to Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth for the Wii -- as you may have noticed, it shares the suffix applied to the similarly renovated Gradius ReBirth and Contra ReBirth, both of which surfaced on Nintendo's download platform this year.

According to the ESRB rating, the game will finally deliver the "side-scrolling action" which classic 'Vania fans have been clamoring for. If it's based off the Game Boy title of the same name, our only request is that they smooth out the game's unscalable difficulty curve. To this day, we're not sure that game has a second level.

2009 Dream-Build-Play winners announced, Dust takes top honor

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 6th 2009 at 8:30PM }

It must be nice winning $40,000! We imagine Dust: An Elysian Tail developer Dean Dodrill will be drinking his fair share of shirley temples this weekend with all those extra duckets, after winning first place in this year's XNA Developer Dream-Build-Play competition. As you can see in the gallery below and video after the break, Dust is a beautiful, hand-drawn side-scroller that features action-RPG gameplay in the vein of Castlevania ... but with furries.

Second place (and $20,000) went to Panya Inversin from Coin App who created Max Blastronaut, which looks to be a mix between Super Stardust HD and ... Double Dragon? We're just as confused as you are, but see for yourself after the break, below the Dust clip. Third and fourth place went to Mauricio Garcia's Rotor'scope and Hu Ling's HurricaneX2 Evolution, respectively. Congratulations to all of this year's winners!

Gallery: Dust: An Elysian Tail

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The evolution of Castlevania's 'Vampire Killer' theme

by Xav de Matos { Aug 29th 2009 at 11:30PM }

A wave of nostalgia washes over us when we hear music from our favorite classic franchises. One of those iconic pieces is Castlevania's "Vampire Killer" series theme. The folks at Tiny Cartridge (specifically, Joystiq's own JC Fletcher) stumbled upon a YouTube clip featuring every version the classic track has spawned since the origin of the Castlevania franchise.

While musical style and technology has evolved, this video showcases how Kinuyo Yamashita's original piece has lived on throughout nearly two dozen Castlevania games (as well as some non-Castlevania titles). Feel like taking a stroll down memory lane with us? Check out the comparison videos after the break ... but stop holding our hand. It's kind of weird.

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Producer: Lords of Shadow was always a Castlevania title (also: new trailer!)

by Richard Mitchell { Aug 21st 2009 at 4:00PM }

We were a bit perplexed when Konami announced Castlevania: Lords of Shadow at E3 earlier this year. The reason: Konami announced the exact same game last year, minus the "Castlevania" in the title. Many of us here at the 'Stiq had assumed that Konami had seen an opportunity to raise the profile of the title by attaching the Castlevania name but, according to producer David Cox, that wasn't the case.

Cox tells 1UP that the game was always meant to be a Castlevania title, but the association was removed when it was first announced at E3 2008. It seems Konami didn't want to steal any thunder from its then upcoming Castlevania: Judgment. Probably a good call, considering Judgment's nominal thunder could be stolen by a reasonably large rubber ball.

Cox also revealed some fresh details on the game, most importantly saying that it will not follow the design of most of the recent titles in the theory, abandoning Metroid-esque exploration in favor of more linear action. In response to franchise purists, Cox pointed out that some of the best entries in the series (notably Castlevania II and IV) have been action-only affairs. Of course, it helps that the main character, Gabriel, is actually a Belmont. Head over to 1UP for more details and be absolutely certain to watch the new, extended trailer above.

These Metroidvania games are neither Metroid nor Vania

by JC Fletcher { Aug 20th 2009 at 9:00PM }

"Metroidvania" is a term used to describe side-scrolling games with large, open worlds, new areas of which are accessible only with certain items or powerups. Take away the side-scrolling element, and you've got Zelda; take away the powerups, and you've got Pitfall. It's named after the two most famous series to make use of the format, Metroid and (later) Castlevania.

Shadow Complex has suddenly thrown the Metroidvania genre back into mainstream gamers' attention, thanks to its fancy graphics and being an Xbox 360 game. It isn't the first game that isn't a Metroid or Castlevania to apply this formula -- in fact, many developers stumbled upon the Metroidvania formula or a close variant even before Symphony of the Night.

Join us on a brisk tour of some notable free-roaming games. If you are overcome by Metroidvania fever, you can read more detailed writeups of many of the games in GameSpite's ToastyWiki.

Click here to start your adventure!

New Castlevania: Lords of Shadow screens are bloody, awesome

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 19th 2009 at 11:03AM }

Holy crap! We've been connoisseurs of vampire-centric media for quite some time now (thankfully, we've managed to avoid those dreadful books), but we never knew that vampires were made entirely out of blood. At least, that's the conclusion we've drawn from the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow screenshot you see above -- one of a handful of pieces of media we just got our hands on. You can see the whole batch in the gallery below.

None of the others feature this bizarre phenomenon -- however, we suppose it's equally amazing that the vestments of Gabriel (the game's protagonist) remain so hemoglobin-free while he's running around, popping dudes like bloated mosquitoes.

Gallery: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (GamesCom 2009)

Comic-Con 2009: James Wan whipping up Castlevania film

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jul 23rd 2009 at 1:59PM }

James Wan would like to play a game -- and then convert it into a film. Bloody Disgusting reports that the writer and director – who helped construct the "Saw" horror movie factory – will bring Konami's storied Castlevania series to the big screen for producer Paul W.S. Anderson. "I'll be working on the script with a writer to give it a new spin, different to the previous versions," said Wan. "This will have my stamp on it which Konami is very excited about."

Though we worry that Wan's stamp will be so large as to obscure all the cool action in the movie, he at least exhibits some familiarity with the franchise's androgynous protagonists. "For once, the human hero is as sexy and dangerous as the vampire villain, and his weapon of choice was what attracted me to the project in the first place – The Vampire Killer Whip." Oh yes, the whip, that's important.

No matter how the project turns out (if it even turns up), we at least hope to be in the cinema when it's revealed to general audiences that "Alucard" is really "Dracula" backwards. What a twist!

[Image: Bloody Disgusting]

Shadow Complex Achievements arrive with a handful of screens, new trailer

by Ben Gilbert { Jul 21st 2009 at 2:30PM }

Will Shadow Complex be this year's Bionic Commando: Rearmed -- ya know, minus all that direct nostalgia? Between the 2D platforming, arsenal of weapons, huge bosses, and frosted camera lens, it's getting harder and harder for us not to draw the comparison. One thing the new gameplay you see above features that BC:R lacked? Jumping! (Thankfully!)

An Achievement for melee kills (find the whole list after the break) helps to assuage our concerns of, well, not having a robot arm -- though anyone with half a brain knows that third-party human being parts beat out melee weapons every time. Hopefully the extra $5 for Shadow Complex over BC:R means those weapons are really sharp when you check them out on August 19.

Gallery: Shadow Complex (7/21/09)

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Kojima Productions in 'support role' for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

by David Hinkle { Jul 1st 2009 at 2:20PM }

Hideo Kojima has further reiterated his supporting role in Castlevania: Lord of Shadow in a new interview with Weekly Famitsu, reports 1UP. "This has become a big project, one with the idea that we needed to make a Castlevania which had that same kind of feverish Western support, and that's why Kojima Productions came in to help," Kojima told the Japanese publication.

With his Metal Gear Solid games beloved by everyone the world over (everyone with taste, anyway), Kojima's the right man for the job. But seeing as how this game is being developed by Madrid-based Mercury Steam Entertainment, Kojima obviously won't be on-site to aid in development. Instead, the team comes up with concepts to run by Kojima and he has them "fix things based on my objective viewpoint." An example given is the initial model for the hero's face, which Kojima had them redesign to be, well, more heroic looking. See, people, this is the kind of thing only Kojima can bring to the table!

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, minus the 'Castlevania'

by Randy Nelson { Jun 4th 2009 at 6:30AM }

Lords of Shadow's Gabriel, circa 2008

If Castlevania: Lords of Shadow -- announced today during Konami's E3 press conference -- seems ... familiar, it should. The game was actually announced at last year's E3 -- by Konami -- as Lords of Shadow, minus the Castlevania. But, as far as we can tell by comparing what we saw today versus a year ago, that's the only difference.

Lords of Shadow was a gothic action-adventure game starring a character named Gabriel, who just so happened to wield a whip -- iconic weapon of Castlevania heroes -- that emerged from a crucifix. Castlevania: Lord of Shadows is -- in keeping with the series -- a gothic adventure, starring a crucifix/whip-wielding character named Gabriel (who, like the rest of the game, looks exactly as he did last year). Both years' trailers even feature the same giant, stone golem boss character. Oh, and look amazing. Only now, Kojima Productions is steering MercurySteam along the development path.

2009, where everything old is new again -- and carrying the Castlevania name. Check out the game as it appeared a year ago in trailer form after the break (and in original concept art below).

Gallery: Order of Shadow Concept Art

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Feast your eyes on the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow trailer

by Randy Nelson { Jun 4th 2009 at 5:30AM }

Konami's whipped Castlevania fans into a furor with the announcement of Lords of Shadow for PS3 and Xbox 360. Oh, and the fact that its development is being overseen by Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions. But Konami -- and we -- can only say so much about the game; you really have to see it in action for yourself to achieve the absolute height of excitement. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.