After six years of nonstop support for Nintendo's portable devices, Konami is finally branching out to Sony's side of the handheld market with Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles -- a port of the PC Engine Duo's Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. The title, announced at their annual Gamers' Day press event, contains not only a graphically-enhanced version of Rondo of Blood with a 3D facelift, but the original version as well as -- are you ready? A straight port of the legendary Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, complete with full-screen graphics and a newly glossed over translation.
1UP managed to wrangle the exclusive on this portable bombshell with a hands-on preview, complete with screenshots and video. Seeing as how Rondo of Blood is regarded as one of the best in the series, this is an absolute no-brainer for fans. The inclusion of Symphony of the Night serves to make it one for fans of video games, period.
Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles is currently slated for a Fall, 2007 release.
o.O I thought it would never happen. Even if its a port, its a Castlevania game on the PSP. Maybe not an original Castlevania game, but its a step in the right direction!!!
What the hell? Where is Richter's Theme? One of the best songs in the entire series and it's not even in the port?!??! Boo I say, boo. I hope that's just some placeholder music.
No thanks. The Sorrow series was just incredible, how they can trump that with moist 3D/2D graphics (I hated when Mario Bros DS did that) and a PORT is beyond me. Especially since this falls under the pre-SoTN Metroid style games.
For anyone over the age of 22, this is sort of the Castlevania announcement we've been waiting for since the internet became commonplace and we found out what we had been missing. God damn it, now I have a reason to buy a PSP. What next, a reason to buy a PS3?
Holy crap FINALLY! Ive been waiting for a Castlevania game for the PSP forever. It just so happens DraculaX was one of my more favorite games in the series. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and possibly an original Castlevania game for the PSP. Either way, I'm going to be buying this game the moment it hits the shelf. Thank you Konami.
For most of you guys, it IS an original game. It never came out in the US at all and those of us who've actually played a real copy (not emulated) are few and far between.
That said, I'd NEVER touch this 3D redone piece of garbage but since it has the original game in there with Symphony, then perhaps yes. When they say Fall release, do they mean Japan only so far? If so, I doubt we'll ever see it. Konami never brought Suikoden I & II over here and that would've gotten a huge fan response.
It's still a port. It will do mediocre in Japan because ports/remakes don't fair well there, so chances are there will not be another one in the future.
In what way is this "dumping?" This is showing other companies HOW to port things. You update them, give them more incentives, pack in things with it. This is exactly the kind of "port" the PSP should be getting. It's an unbelievably good game remade (though I hate the visuals) with the original unbelievably good game packed with another unbelievably good game.
The haters have come out folks. The PSP, which has sold well but not so much when it comes to games, has a great pair of games come out, and the hate starts. Yes, SOTN is a port, but I don't have it on my PSP and I don't go the emu route. And I nver played the Rondo game, so that's new to me. Whatever happened to being happy that a great game is coming? When did you all stop being gamers and transform into bitches? Regardless of platform, a good game is a good game.
for gods sake, joystiq readers! can you ever, in your fucking lives just admit when Sony gets some good news??
this is a remake of one of the best Castlevania games never released on US shores, and it's coming to the PSP! THAT. IS. GOOD. NEWS.
also, for those bitching about the fact that the remake is 3D, maybe, instead of having kneejerk "The PSP is still lame!" reactions, you should actually read the story.
Not only does the game have a 2.5D remake of the game, but it also contains THE ORIGINAL 2D VERSION, as well as a port of Symphony of the Night.
why is this a bad thing again?
if this sells well, it'll only serve to push IGA and Co. to make an actual, original Castlevania on the handheld.
besides, he already said that the PSP is a bitch to work with in terms of Castlevania, so take this game for what it is: a testing ground for a true, and probably 2D Castlevania on the PSP in the future (possibly even in 2008).
instead of whining about it's port status, admit that this is great for PSP owners and move on.
here i was hoping for a PS1/PSP emulated release of SOTN, and i get this, a really nice package. Period.
it's Castlevania, on the PSP. why should the DS have all the fun, you selfish, bastard fanboys. jesus christ you guys piss me off.
I'd be really interested if it weren't on a portable system. Nothing against the PSP. It's just that I'm SOOO tired of good classic 2D-style games being restricted to tiny little portable screens. I want New Mario on my nice big TV! I want Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow on my TV! I want Loco Roco and the new Lemmings on my TV!
I *HATE* this trend of people who love oldschool gaming being shoved off to the handheld side. The Castlevania series is a perfect example: If you want a GOOD castlevania game, you have to play it on a tiny screen. But if you want Castlevania on a nice big TV, you have to put up with shoddy garbage like Lament of Innocence.
nah nah no one can be happy about this man, because it didnt come out for ds and because hotel dusk is so much more "underground" and intellectual than a madden 07 game and because the ds gets all the quirky games only snobs like. all of you ds snobs remind me of people who read the books movies are based on, and claim the book is so much better just so you could look smarter than everyone else it sickens me.
we cant be happy mainly because the people that were saying "when is the psp getting games?" are just people who complain about everything, "oh it gets a good game, oh no its a port of an old game [no one played]" ...i am sick of the bs that gets thrown around in the forums and comments, but not sick enough to tell it like it is.
good news for the PSP. It appears as if developers are, little by little, starting to give the PSP some much needed attention. bad news, however, for Ninny fanboys who can't stand to see the PSP get a great, exclusive title.
Oh but the GBA to DS ports of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Phoenix Wright games are ok? Oh lets not forget ports of Mario Kart DS, Advance Wars, etc.
You know ports aren't always bad. When 360 or PS3 gets a port from a PC game like Prey, everyones cool with it. Hey you know what? I'm going to pick up the PC to Xbox to PSP port of Sid Meier's Pirates! Because you know what? I've never played that game before.
You know I really didn't want to get into this but some ignorant people in here just really pissed me off.
Is Rondo of Blood a Metroid-style game or is it stage based? Looks like a Metroid-style game from the video, but I thought SOTN was the first in the series.
Music sounds like crap but it looks pretty good. It doesn't seem to sport any particular art style though. Almost as if it's just like..."Hey! Castlevaia 2.5D Yall!"
This is just icing on the cake. The perception some people have with PSP having nothing good to play needs to be cut. I love my DS, but I'm not gonna bash PSP because its getting this. I'll just play it on my PSP.
yoma, I take it you don't read a lot of books. Probably some 90% of movie adaptations are drivel compared to the book. The good ones are indeed rarities. Fight Club and Interview with the Vampire were a couple exceptions in my mind at least, but usually when someone says "The book was better" it's because it was.
That said, this game looks friggin HOT. PSP finally gets a great game. And it only took 2 years.
the PSP already *HAS* some great games, or have you forgotten about
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Tekken: Dark Ressurrection, Daxter, Metal Gear Acid 1 and 2, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (the best game out so far), Lumines 1 and 2, Mega Man Powered Up, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins, Tomb Raider Legends, Lego Star Wars 2, GTA: LCS, GTA: VCS, Dungeon Siege, Exit, Loco Roco, Pursuit Force, SOCOM FTB 1 and 2, Wipeout, Valkyrie Profile, Killzone: Liberation, and so many more i can't think of off the top of my head. last i checked, these great PSP games came out starting from January 2006 to the present. hardly 2 years. try again.
get your head out of your ass, stop believing everything you read off of the internet (in particular, joystiq), go out and play some of these games on the PSP, get an opinion of your own, and shut the hell up.
you're comments about the PSP's "lack of games," is just as silly as if i were to say that the DS was for kids. it's clearly not the case on both accounts.
now, back on topic, those bitching about the music: again, if any of you had read the article, you'd have seen the part where they said that the sound effects and music were only place holder for now. sheesh, guys. do you people even *smile*? or do you all have a perpetual frown due to the extremely large, fanboy sticks shoved up your asses (this is only directed towards the ignorant posters in this thread)?
I just want to point out I don't care much for the way Richter walks. Other than that it looks pretty freakin sweet. The Original Dracula X and SotN makes it enough to halfway convince me to get a used PSP, If it's confirmed for Stateside release then I'll have a total of 2 games I want- This and Portable Ops. Funny how they're both Konami.
Back to the walking. It just looks too goofy, maybe if there was a double tap run or something, but who do you know walks like that? the other animations are fluid, but my god his walking is bad!
Anyone who simply says "a port" is not a real Castlevania fan. Rondo of Blood is not Dracula X for SNES you newbies! Rondo of Blood is for PCE CD and it is by far the best Castlevania game ever. So not only do we get a 3D facelift, but they also stuck in the original!
This is great news for gamers everywhere, not just for PSP owners. I would trade in a hundred cheapo DS Lites for this.
I have had my PSP for almost two years now, and I'm a bit disappointed that people think the PSP is just now getting good games, especially from sequels of a game I never quite liked that much - Castlevania. They haven't had much mind you, but some of you are gah-gah for...Castlevania?
There are other games on the PSP I would hold in higher esteem. I love the classics, but this is still type a game Joystiq and its readers typically lambast - a port. I really can't understand this change of heart. Why do you get a hard on for this and not Pursuit Force, which is an excellent game? How is it any different from Mega-Man, which was more popular than Castlevania on the NES?
Maybe it is because 1UP hyped it up so much, and game nerds have a herd mentality - mindlessly respewing what some neo-hippie college graduate with poor hygiene had to say about it on his blog or magazine so they seem knowledgeable.
Hey! Just a suggestion.
But I'm glad we have Castlevania on the PSP, so now maybe some of you will sniff the smelling salts and wake to a reality where the PSP doesn't have to outsell the DS to be successful, Sony execs know more about their business and industry than some pimply snot-nosed twenty something, and most gamers are not typified by the fanboy behind the counter at GameStop, my grandmother or my kid sister.
