It's finally happening. When Hudson announced Turbografx-16 support on the Virtual Console, we thought "Oh, great, maybe we'll be able to get Dracula X!" Then when they revealed that CD-ROM titles would start coming out, we got really excited about being one step closer to Dracula X. Next month in Japan, Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo will be released on the Virtual Console for 800 points. As if Hudson hadn't already won at being awesome today.

Other than the amazing Dracula X, there's actually a lot of really great stuff coming out in April. It has actually renewed our faith in the Virtual Console, which is why we're starting to think we're being fooled by a tragic April Fool's Day joke on Nintendo's part. Metal Slug and The Legend of Valkyrie are standouts, as is the incredibly vintage RPG Bokosuka Wars, if only because it reminds us of this shirt.

Famicom:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Sky Kid
• Volguard II
• Bokosuka Wars

Super Famicom:

• Famicom Detective Club Part II
• Heracles no Eikou IV

Master System:

• Wonder Boy

Mega Drive:

• Musha Aleste
• Phantasy Star III
• Phelios

N64:

• Kirby 64

PC Engine:

• Riot Zone
• Legend of Valkyrie
• Dracula X: Rondo of Blood
• Digital Champion: Battle Boxer
• Monster Lair

Neo Geo:

• Metal Slug

Castlevania fans in the Los Angeles area, grab your trusty whip and holy water and get them signed by Koji Igarashi! Not too sure how you sign holy water, but Igarashi can figure that out. Konami is sending the Dracula X Chronicles producer to the Universal CityWalk EB Games this Wednesday, September 12 at 6:00PM. Check out this poster for more details.

[via Kotaku]

In a revealing interview with Koji Igarashi, 1UP's Sam Kennedy found out that the upcoming Dracula X Chronicles may be the first and last Castlevania game to grace the PSP platform. Why? "When I first started on this project, everyone around me strongly suggested that PSP could be the best platform for Castlevania. But unfortunately, PSP's market has been shrinking as of late, so I will have to watch the sales of the game." Considering Konami's significant support of the PSP through its Metal Gear series, we hope that they'll see sufficient reason to continue developing for our favorite handheld.

The next game Igarashi will work on will be on the DS.

The Leipzig Games Convention keeps pouring on the goodies, this time in the form of a brand new trailer for Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles from Konami. It's a pretty slick trailer, showing off a ton of different aspects of the game. You see both playable characters, a huge range of different environments and quite a few boss battles. Also you get to see some of the nice in-game cutscenes, which are looking pretty sharp. Castevania ships out on October 24th, just in time for some Halloween vampire killing fun.

A vampire, gunner, dancer and water drop go fishing by a playground and they spot a vengeful apparition. That just about sums up Konami's announced E3 2007 lineup:

• Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP; Fall 2007)
• Contra 4 (DS; 2007)
• Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (Wii; Fall 2007)
• Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 (PS2; Fall 2007)
• Dewy's Adventure (Wii; Fall 2007)
• Fishing Master (Wii; Fall 2007)
• Hellboy: The Science of Evil (working title) (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP; 2007)
• Konami Kids Playground (PS2; Fall 2007)
• Silent Hill Origins (PSP; Fall 2007)

Not listed is Metal Gear Solid 4, but we already know that a new trailer is being debuted at the Sony, Konami keynotes.

High-Score has posted yet another video of Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles in action. This time, we see Richter crossing a bridge ... but watch out! That kid can't swim ... Certainly, a shaky boat ride will mean his doom.

As this player from High-Score continues to go deeper into the Dracula X Chronicles, he reveals some of the castle's more challenging dangers. See all sorts of traps attempt to (successfully) kill the player not once ... but twice.

See also:
The third stage of Castlevania
The second stage of Castlevania
The first stage of Castlevania

The latest video from High Score's week-long Castlevania series highlights some of the incredible animation featured in the game. Take particular note to the way the spear-wielding skeleton moves. It's quite articulate. However, we're concerned about Belmont: does he have arthritis? He seems really stiff, don't you think?

See also:
The second stage of Castlevania
The first stage of Castlevania

Does the Castlevania theme ever get old? (The correct answer is no.) Here's your second serving of your daily Dracula X Chronicles videos for this week.

See also:
The first stage of Castlevania

Konami's Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is just one of the many third-party software titles coming to PSP later this year. This Rondo of Blood remake looks nothing like its predecessor -- and for good reason. The graphics on this game are incredible. Certainly, this will move a good number of PSP systems to Castlevania fans that have long played on Nintendo handhelds. Check out the new images below:

You may remember a little title that got everyone talking a few weeks ago: Castlevania. Ever since its incredible debut, Konami has remained silent on this hotly anticipated revival of Rondo of Blood, the only Castlevania title never to be released in the States. The upcoming Castlevania X Chronicles not only includes a 3D remake of Rondo of Blood, but includes the fan-favorite Symphony of the Night as well. Games Radar has an incredible interview with Koji Igarashi from GDC available, and here are some highlights:

• After years of working on GBA/DS games, the power of the PSP has been startling: "It's better than what I expected, actually. I'm very happy about the quality. Especially with the graphic quality. The PSP hardware system allows a very high resolution."
• Symphony of the Night will be getting a few enhancements: "So basically, it's mostly a straight port from the original SOTN on PlayStation. I wasn't happy about the quality of the PlayStation SOTN voiceover, so I'm trying to do something about it on the PSP."

Don't forget to check out Games Radar for the rest of this brilliant interview.

See also:
The Symphony of the Night we won't get

Game|Life's Chris Kohler conducted a short telephone interview with George Harrison, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing, and he pulled out a small, offhand item that may be of some interest if it turns out to be anything: Nintendo is not totally against the idea of translating Japanese Virtual Console games for US release. This is by no means a confirmation, so don't convert your Famicom Mother cartridges into candy molds just yet. But we must admit that even a casual admission of the remote possibility of Japanese VC games has us dreaming of a future where imported and domestic Virtual Console games can live together in harmony, on our SD cards.

Our ultimate dream of getting a translated (or not) US release of the PC Engine Super CD Rom version of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood is still amazingly unlikely, since we haven't seen any kind of support for old CD based games. But this note from Harrison just made it a tiny bit more likely, and that's enough to keep us going for another day. Plus, there's always the fact that if the poor little PSP can get it, anyone can.

[Thanks, BPM!]

TGIS everybody! I'm currently hooked on something other than a video game for once. I'm playing Zombies!!! But I wouldn't let Saturday pass without passing along some backgrounds for your PSP, so I put aside the Zombies!!! for now. This week we have Ratchet, Dracula X and because I'm feeling random, a Kool-Aid Man background.

Backgrounds after the jump...

Remember that awesome game that 1UP was talking about? It's finally revealed! Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles is a completely remastered version of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. This long-forgotten entry in the Castlevania franchise was only available in Japan on the PC Engine Duo, a system I can't even remember existing. The PSP version features a brilliant graphical overhaul, which looks lightyears ahead of any of the DS Castlevania games.

Oh, and if that weren't enough, the game comes with a port of Symphony of the Night, considered by many as the best Castlevania of all time.

Go past the cut to see a video of the game in action. Expect to see even more of this new PSP-exclusive Castlevania on The 1UP Show tomorrow.

[Via 1UP]

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.