Next 2D Castlevania could crack whip on WiiWare
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.
"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.





















(Page 1) Reader Comments
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I mean, how could Classic Castlevania be any different from what they're putting on DS now anyway? It'll be as awesome
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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.
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Cause that game couldn't place at the special olympics.
or not.
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.
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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.
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Hahaha, I dream. :)
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Until then, it's back to trying to finish 'CHRONICLES. :\
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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?
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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.
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.
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.
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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!
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suck it, Symphony of the Night, I got a new crack addiction involving Dracula
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