Next 2D Castlevania could crack whip on WiiWare

by Jason Dobson { Jul 24th 2008 at 5:45PM }

While Konami is already exercising options with Gradius Rebirth, Castlevania stalwart Koji Igarashi has now expressed interest in dipping his own whip into the Wii's digital waters. Given that 3D fighter Castlevania Judgment promises to take face-to-palm when it's released, Iga's interest in WiiWare looks to rekindle fans' triple-shot prayers for a traditional 2D Castlevania for consoles.

"I'm definitely interested in WiiWare and I think it's one of the areas that 2D can still be very strong at," Igarashi told MTV Multiplayer. In a separate interview with Wired's Game|Life blog, he also noted that he's watching Capcom's decidedly retro Mega Man 9 "very closely" to see how it's received once it debuts later this year, noting that "if it is successful that definitely opens up doors for what I can do." Now all there's left to do is wait, though if you get hungry we hear that there's some delicious turkey hidden inside the wall.

Tags: 2d, castlevania, castlevania-judgment, iga, igarashi, konami, wiiware

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

MKA @ Jul 24th 2008 5:57PM

NICE!

Xoviet chiK @ Jul 24th 2008 5:59PM

His favorite Castlevania is Dracula's Curse as well... Can only spell good things if they go "Retro" with it!

Evan @ Jul 24th 2008 6:00PM

2D does not it has to look "8-bit", modern 2D games can look like cell-shaded hand-drawn better than simulated 3D cell-shading. I'd totally dig a 2D Castlevania game with full hand-drawn character animation.

ScallionN @ Jul 25th 2008 1:03PM

Yes. I'd love to see a new Castlevania game with big,luscious sprites. If the Wii-ware CV game is a lazy, 8-bit schlock-fest, I will be very pissed.

Cesaria (Pitchfork Fest 2008 FTMFW!) @ Jul 24th 2008 6:01PM

I love the wall-meat in Castlevania. It really makes no sense in a game filled with sense-making.

Shagittarius @ Jul 24th 2008 6:13PM

I have a secret refrigerated compartment behind my garage wall where I saved one whole turkey led from thanksgiving last year. Just in case...ya know.

aristokrat @ Jul 24th 2008 6:37PM

Man, I've been whip-attacking my walls for years and all I've ever found were mice and roaches. That wouldn't even be so bad, but how do you get them to come out cooked?

Cesaria (Pitchfork Fest 2008 FTMFW!) @ Jul 24th 2008 6:57PM

Just in case you are barraged by a horde of floating medusa heads? You wouldn't believe how often that happens to me.

Mr Khan @ Jul 24th 2008 6:02PM

Yay for WiiWare

I mean, how could Classic Castlevania be any different from what they're putting on DS now anyway? It'll be as awesome

Shadow El @ Jul 24th 2008 6:29PM

"I mean, how could Classic Castlevania be any different from what they're putting on DS now anyway?"

I dunno, it could be a good game. >_>

Nothing against Dawn of Sorrow, I love that game, but Portrait of Ruin sucked, and Order of Ecclesia looks like nothing special.

DiddlyKong @ Jul 24th 2008 6:04PM

You sound like a complete ass when you write stuff like "Given that 3D fighter Castlevania Judgment promises to take face-to-palm when it's released".

Shagittarius @ Jul 24th 2008 6:15PM

A prophetic ass?

Cause that game couldn't place at the special olympics.

Dovi @ Jul 24th 2008 6:49PM

And even if it could it'd still be retarded.

Backslash @ Jul 25th 2008 3:58AM

Clearly Jason meant the kind of "face-to-palm" that one does when they go "my God! I would never have thought of that!".

or not.

BIGFAT @ Jul 24th 2008 6:04PM

this is the first time i feel the wii version could hurt the the other systems games visually (assuming the other systems get the game)

I mean i want to see what a 2d HD castlevania would look like. would it be like the HD street fighter game coming out for the arcade.

Mamba @ Jul 26th 2008 12:01PM

HD?!! Wii?!?! Blasphemy

Boom! @ Jul 24th 2008 6:08PM

Hopefully it'll come to XBLA and PSN too.

DangerMouse @ Jul 24th 2008 6:15PM

I hope they don't go all NES on it. SNES/PSX style graphics would be great, with multiple paths and what not. Castlevania 3 was a great game, and i wouldn't mind seeing something similar to that.

Adolf Hitmaker @ Jul 24th 2008 6:30PM

Uhg, I don't want a retro CV. The old CVs are clunky, and only are loved based on nostalgia.

Metroidvania is where it's at. It's a massively improved formula where you don't die because the jumping mechanics are based on tying rocks to your feet.

Cesaria (Pitchfork Fest 2008 FTMFW!) @ Jul 24th 2008 6:58PM

If they fix the problems with the old ones, then it could potentially be awesome. See how that works?

Rob Accomando @ Jul 24th 2008 6:35PM

Very cool. And then they can make another 3D Castlevania with similar production value as MSG4.

Hahaha, I dream. :)

FOXHOUND @ Jul 25th 2008 8:32AM

I share that wonderful dream that one day, we'll be blessed with something that epic.

Until then, it's back to trying to finish 'CHRONICLES. :\

velocitySTRIKE @ Jul 24th 2008 6:47PM

This only makes me want a new 2D Lion King even more.

Kael @ Jul 24th 2008 7:25PM

This is infuriating. Favoring cheap sprites over polygons is one thing, but why in the world is IGA eying Mega Man 9?? Bringing Castlevania to Wiiware is potentially awesome: Liberating Castlevania from the confines of the handheld could be a wonderful thing. But it sounds like what IGA has in mind is to jump to a much more capable, feature-rich, powerful system than the one he's been stuck with for years, only to make the most archaic, backward game he possibly can.

He needs to get his head on straight. After years upon years of fans clamoring for an all-new, big-budget 2D Metroidvania for consoles, he unpleasantly surprises the world with a 3D fighter, and then openly toys with the idea to make a new 2D game for consoles... that looks, sounds and plays like Simon's Quest. He makes phenomenal DS games, but does this guy have any idea--any clue at all about what he should really be doing?

How can he think there's no market for an all-new 2D console Castlvania, but think that there IS a market for a new 3D waggle fighter or obsolete NES revisitation, especially considering the enormous sales of the 2D blockbuster we know as Super Smash Brothers Brawl and IGA's own Symphony of the Night for Live Arcade. When is he going to start making the right decisions for both his business and gamers alike and put these lame ideas to rest?

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 24th 2008 8:02PM

He never stated anything about make the game retro or with 8 bit graphics.

He just mentioned a 2D Castlevania... don't know where did you get that he wants to use old graphics.

Have you seen the new Wario game? One of the best hand draw sprites and animations I have seen... he can use similar kind of graphics.

unfriendly_cat @ Jul 24th 2008 9:24PM

@Kael: quality sprite art is not cheap at all.

Kael @ Jul 24th 2008 10:10PM

"He never stated anything about make the game retro or with 8 bit graphics."

He did: the part about IGA specifically eyeballing Mega Man 9 and citing its potential success as paving the way for 2D Castlevania on the system. There's only one possible conclusion you can make from that; it's going to be as retro as possible. If he were talking about the potential successes of 2D games in general as door-opening, there are dozens of other games to point to, a lot of which have already proven to be successful. To focus on Mega Man 9 specifically, it's clear he's not talking about the financial risk of making a 2D game in today's market, he's talking about the financial risk of making an 8-bit game in today's market.

"Have you seen the new Wario game? One of the best hand draw sprites and animations I have seen... he can use similar kind of graphics."

Giant Bomb interviewed IGA and asked him about making a triple-A Metroidvania on a home console (where he brushed it off saying there isn't any interest in such a thing), and the follow up question was if there WERE interest, whether he'd try to use HD sprites or use polygons. IGA basically said he'd go for whichever turned out to be easier and cheaper to do.

Personally, I don't see the attraction to sprite-based stuff--even in HD--because there are so many great-looking things you can only do with polygons. Like something as basic as real-time lighting, for example. Have an artist make a great painting and I'll get lost in its beauty, but interactive things should be real-time. But hey, ignore that opinion for now because that's neither here nor there.

Co @ Jul 25th 2008 9:05AM

"Personally, I don't see the attraction to sprite-based stuff..."

Are you under age? Are you a child? Did you start gaming on a PS2? I cannot compute any other reasoning for this statement.

Kael @ Jul 25th 2008 7:24PM

"Are you under age? Are you a child? Did you start gaming on a PS2? I cannot compute any other reasoning for this statement."

I'm 23 years old, and I grew up playing the NES. Some would call that underage, I'll admit. Sprites aren't bad, I suppose, but what's the deal with this seemingly unnatural desire some people have for sprites? They can potentially be beautifully artistic, and sometimes even smoothly animated, but like I pointed out before, you can't use something as basic as real-time lighting. You can't use real-time deformation, or procedural or physics-based animation like rag-doll or euphoria. Things we've all come to expect from games like bump-mapping and other texture shaders aren't possible with sprites. It's not like polygonal things can't be beautifully artistic, too. There are even ways to make them look hand-drawn (The Simpsons Game did that really well). Polygons just have so much more going for them, I don't see why anyone would lust for sprites.

Steve @ Jul 24th 2008 7:25PM

I love the idea of a retro Castlevania. My favorite entry, however, is "Simon's Quest", and I would love to see another Castlevania title like this one.

j.howlett @ Jul 24th 2008 9:11PM

is simon's quest #2? cause i rocked that game with my brother, dad, uncle, and cousin. we played the game parallel and found out secrets and figured out weapons and it was fantastic. one of my favorite childhood gaming memories.

Steve @ Jul 24th 2008 11:38PM

J. Howlett:

Yes, "Simon's Quest" is the second Castlevania. I still own the cartridge for my NES. Like you, I have extremely fond memories of it. I loved the adventure, traveling through the various castle scenes to get the bone fragments (I recall the dead bodies, or whatever they were, hanging from chains in the background), having to kneel before a structure to summon a dervish to take me somewhere, the day turning to night, resting in the church, etc. I really want to play this again!

bizarrorollins @ Jul 24th 2008 9:55PM

I would love a new console metroidvania game. As much as I love the DS games, none of them are on par with Symphony of the Night. What I'm really hoping for is a game similar to Symphony of the Night, which could very easily be done on the Wii, however, I would also love to see some implementation of cooperative play, which the Wii would have oh-so-much trouble doing. A 2D console Castlevania would be great, but I'm not sure if the Wii is the best place for a "full-featured" game.