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The Behemoth still tinkering with that Castle Crashers patch

by Jason Dobson { Dec 1st 2008 at 6:10PM }

The fact The Behemoth's fun, but undeniably broken Castle Crashers hasn't yet been patched boggles the mind. More than two years after the game's initial reveal, what players are left with is a crippled 1200

icon on their dashboard and months of promises for something better down the road. Not good enough guys, not even close.

Our sister site, Xbox 360 Fanboy, stepped up and asked The Behemoth point blank what's the hold up, to which they were treated to the same sort of non-information we've been reading for months. Yes, a patch is coming, and the devs say they are working to "get the title update out as quickly as we can." Also, the patch is "definitely reaching the end of the process," though a release date remains unknown. We've reached out to The Behemoth to see if we can find out more, but come on guys. Some things bend your line of credulity. Others, like this fiasco, just break it right in two.

Joystiq interview: The Behemoth talks crashing castles

by Jason Dobson { Sep 9th 2008 at 12:30PM }

Despite keeping players salivating over Castle Crashers' eventual price and release date, The Behemoth's hand-drawn epic nonetheless remained near the top of a short list of 2008's most anticipated titles right up until the game's recent XBLA debut. Since then, Castle Crashers has more or less delivered on its promises of manic 2D brawling, though a near-crippled online experience threatened to send us stomping off to our rooms in contempt. Nevertheless, at the end of the day Castle Crashers is still a heck of a lot of fun to play.

Fun as it is, however, we recently managed to put the controllers down long enough to speak with The Behemoth's Emil Ayoubkhan and Dan Paladin to discuss their game's price, what took the game so long and what the team has planned now that Castle Crashers is out the door.

A quick addendum: This interview was conducted just before its release on XBLA but, due to Wednesday's Large Hadron Collider test, got lost in a black hole. Read on little soldiers! And for more, be sure to check out our PAX interview with The Behemoth as well.

Continued →

Castle Crashers jumps through another hoop, gets rated 'Teen'

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 15th 2008 at 3:30PM }

We love the Xbox Live Arcade Service (fanboy placation: we love the PlayStation Network and WiiWare too), but it's a well-known fact that there are a number of hurdles a finished game has to clear before it can find its way onto the imponderable internets. One of said hurdles, labeled "the rating process" is actually three-hundred feet tall, covered in flaming, poison-coated spikes, and surrounded by a moat filled with bull sharks in mating season. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Thankfully, in an act of incredible vaulting prowess, Behemoth's upcoming ~~racist~~ multiplayer beat-'em-up Castle Crashers recently cleared said hurdle, receiving a decisive "Teen" rating (the German judges, obviously confused and unimpressed, gave the effort a 7.5). There are a number of other hoops the adorable brawler must jump through before attaining that coveted XBLA certification, but we're hopeful that we'll be storming cartoon strongholds relatively soon.

Castle Crashers isn't only done, but now it's rated!

by Dustin Burg { Jun 15th 2008 at 11:00AM }

Yes, we'll admit, we're a bit obsessively excited to play The Behemoth's Castle Crashers. And ever since we learned that development has wrapped we've been experiencing reserved excitement. Reserved only because our Castle Crashers wait has been full of delays, more development and more waiting which leaves us believing that there may be a chance that The Behemoth will announce that they've jumped back into development for some crazy reason, ultimately leading to a 2010 release. Scary thought, no? But we're pleased to reveal that there is absolutely no turning back with Castle Crashers' release, because we just learned that the game has been rated "T" (for teen) by the ESRB. This means we can now go from reserved excitement to full fledged, ecstatic, ADD filled excitement. We say, bring on the blood, gore, cartoon violence and crude humor! We're ready!

[Thanks, Jonah Falcon]

Adorable! Castle Crashers' Bitey Bat and Giraffey

by Dustin Burg { May 28th 2008 at 2:45PM }

Just as they've done for the past month or so, The Behemoth just took the (100% Egyptian cotton) shroud of mystery off of two more of Castle Crashers' Animal Orbs and this time the adorable-meter is off the charts. Meet Bitey Bat and Giraffey. They're Animal Orbs. During battle, Bitey Bat promises to gnaw on your foes' heads and Giraffey will use his magically limp tongue to aid in leveling up your character quicker. You'll probably come across each floating orb of helpfulness alongside Seahorse, Scratchpaw and a bunch of other zoo'licious Animal Orbs when Castle Crashers releases later this year . Admit it, they're freakin' adorable!

Read - Bitey Bat animal orb
Read - Giraffey animal orb

The Behemoth says Castle Crashers is finally complete

by Jason Dobson { May 16th 2008 at 11:30PM }

It seems like just yesterday that Alien Hominid creator The Behemoth first announced its upcoming XBLA release Castle Crashers. Well, that's an outright lie. It's been a near unbearable wait, but according to a post by artist extraordinaire Dan Paladin on the studio's blog that game is. finally. complete.

But don't take up your swords and shields just yet, as it appears that it could be a little while before the decidedly old school, not to mention stylish brawler is available for download. Writes Paladin, "It has to go through all the required hoops of certification/final testing & all that jazz before it will actually become available on the service." He adds that "it's a good feeling know that the crashers are working their way into the world," though with the company noting that it could be a "couple months" before we're finally able to play the game the only feeling we're left with is impatience.

[Thanks Obvious]

Castle Crashers bronze and a seahorse too

by Dustin Burg { May 8th 2008 at 4:00PM }

It has been far too long since we've talked Castle Crashers (eight days to be exact), so we figured we'd jump over to the Castle Crashers dev blog to see what's new. Upon arriving, we found out that our The Behemoth friends have attempted a first pour cast of the promised Castle Crashers bronze trophies. So far, they have a few kinks to work out, but nobody ever said bronze casting was an easy process. The other piece of newsy news is the reveal of the Seahorse animal orb! Not only will this little guy make you move quicker in water, but it'll also melt your enemy's hearts with its stone-faced smile.

Okay, we're good. That should be enough Castle Crashers news for at least twelve hours.

Read - First Bronze Trophy Pour
Read - It's a Seahorse!

Video: Castle Crashers drawing fun times three

by Dustin Burg { Apr 24th 2008 at 1:30PM }

Don't hate us because we love Castle Crashers and their dev blog's entertainingly mesmerizing animation videos. Hate us because we force them down your throat. We say this because we're bringing you three (count 'em) three new Castle Crashers animation videos done by Mr. Dan Paladin himself. Watch in awe as he draws, paints and colors a Tall Grass Field or make your way towards the break to view the King's Boat get completed in an epic two part saga! It's Castle Crashers. It's video. It's awesome.

Read - Tall Grass Field video
Read - King's Boat 1 video
Read - King's Boat 2 video

Continued →

Video: Jaw-dropping Castle Crashers 3D render

by Dustin Burg { Apr 16th 2008 at 1:30PM }

Just look at him, he's ... beautiful. Behold the 3D rendering artwork of Andre Mercier who, after suffering from a serious case of boredom, decided to create the traditionally 2D Castle Crashers red knight into a fully rotatable 3D model. The thirteen minute video showcases the two and a half hours that were spent creating the 3D knight and well, just watch and be amazed. If The Behemoth ever wants to take the Castle Crashers crew into the third dimension, we recommend Mercier for the job.

[Via The Behemoth]

Castle Crashers: 40 weapon unlocks and a periwinkle knight

by Dustin Burg { Mar 22nd 2008 at 11:45AM }

The Castle Crashers news keeps on flowing from The Behemoth's recently launched dev blog with news of weapon count and another playable character getting the "big reveal" treatment.

Today, we learn that Castle Crashers will feature 40 (count 'em), 40 different unlockable weapons to dish out the pwnage and can be discovered via a shop purchase, in hidden treasure chests, buried underground and bosses will even give up their weaponry. Not only will Castle Crashers be overflowing with weapons galore, we also get a first glimpse at another playable character (seen above) and even though it doesn't have an official name (The Behemoth admits they hate naming things) we're going with "periwinkle knight". And yes, he is holding a blue lightsaber.

Read - Weapons list
Read - It's the periwinkle knight.

22 unlockable characters confirmed for Castle Crashers

by Jason Dobson { Mar 19th 2008 at 6:30PM }

You'll need more than your fingers and toes when counting up the number of playable characters in The Behemoth's upcoming (and long awaited) XBLA opus Castle Crashers, as the devs have confirmed that the game's roster will pack in "about" twenty-two unlockable slots.

How exactly characters will be unlocked remains, much like the game's eventual release date, a mystery, with Behemoth blogger Emil teasing only that characters will be added "by various different means." However, given that since it was first announced some two years ago the heavily-stylized side scroller has remained near the top of a short list of titles we cannot wait to sink our thumbs into, it's just shy of hyperbole to say that we'd do anything Castle Crashers asked of us anyway.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Castle Crashers will have 22 unlockable characters

by Dustin Burg { Mar 18th 2008 at 2:45PM }

Putting their newly launched Castle Crashers dev blog to good use, The Behemoth posted news that our little XBLA game will allow players to unlock a handful of new characters. Twenty-two new characters to fight alongside our four colorful knights, all unlocked through various means and all completely playable. The new characters are still shrouded in mystery, but we've been promised that a few unlockables will be revealed in the future and, of course ... we just can't wait! This is exactly why we have the Castle Crashers dev blog added to our bookmark list, because edible bits of info like this just need to be consumed.

Super new Castle Crashers dev blog goes live

by Dustin Burg { Mar 17th 2008 at 1:00PM }

We've just been sent word that our buddies over at The Behemoth have launched a super new and super informative Castle Crashers development blog over on their official site. A blog aimed at giving fans and insider's look into the development process and the crazy minds behind one of the most highly anticipated XBLA games this year.

Currently, the Castle Crashers dev blog is a little bare bones (it did just launch, so be understanding), but already they've posted a brief introduction and an intriguing video where we get to watch artist extraordinaire Dan Paladin create the game's world map in super fast motion. Man does that guy have talent. The Behemoth promises regular weekly updates and a behind the scenes look at the game, so be sure to place a bookmark and refresh often. We know we will, because, truth be told, we have a Castle Crashers addiction that needs to be fed. Feed us The Behemoth, feed us until our tummy hurts with painful joy.

Video: It's a Castle Crashers playthrough

by Dustin Burg { Feb 26th 2008 at 12:15PM }

Coming straight from the GDC floor and onto your computer screen is actual gameplay video of The Behemoth's little XBLA game that could, Castle Crashers. And it's an informative video at that. In the vid, The Behemoth briefly shows off some of the game's hack and slash combat as they string together a few combos, kill some baddies and explain how the magic system works. We also get to see the game's level map that encompasses twenty levels and get to preview what the character stats screen looks like. But most interesting of all is the fact that Castle Crashers will incorporate some mild RPG elements that'll allow you to level up your character, gain experience points and unlock new abilities. Enough talk though, just start viewing. It's Castle Crashers ... 'nuff said.

Video: Some Castle Crashers versus multiplayer

by Dustin Burg { Aug 30th 2007 at 2:30PM }

Embedded above for the obsessed or simply curious Castle Crashers enthusiast is never before seen footage of the game's versus multiplayer modes taken from a PAX 07 demo. And, after giving the video quick look over, we can truthfully and wholeheartedly say that our excitement-ometer for Castle Crashers just got higher which we didn't even think was possible. Right now the game features four different multiplayer versus modes where up to four players will be able to duke it out in various events including a straight up brawl (with giant kitty cats), some bow and arrow shooting and a gametype where chickens turn you into Hulk-sized characters. Give the video a watch and tell us you aren't excited about the chicken eating versus mode ... just try.