Topic: Konami Announces Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the DS

[LassePalle]

The concept of vampires in a World War II setting sounds pretty scary.

Castlevania bites back on Nintendo DS    

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH reveals Castlevania®: Portrait of Ruin as long-running series returns to Nintendo's handheld    

  Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH's ever popular Castlevania series returns to Nintendo DS in November, with the release of Castlevania ®: Portrait of Ruin for the handheld.    

Created by Koji Igarashi, who devised the long-running series, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin gives the player control of two different characters. The pair – vampire hunter Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Orlean, a young girl with magical abilities – must work to thwart a plan to resurrect Dracula's Castle and unleash a reign of evil upon the unsuspecting world, all within a new World War II setting.    

The new setting captures the chaos and suffering the era, with thousands of lost souls wandering the world in search of salvation. Desperate to escape the limbo within their exist, the misguided spirits seek to rebuild Dracula's Castle from its ruins, and are lead by a pair of evil Vampire sisters out to resurrect their master's home for their own nefarious plans. Thrown together, Jonathan and Charlotte must combine their unusual skill sets to defeat the plans and restore harmony.    

Retaining the same 2D platform realms for which the series is famed, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin uses a side-on view to oversee the scrolling stages. Players can switch freely between Jonathan and Charlotte as they progress through the levels, using their skills when appropriate. In addition to Jonathan's weapon expertise and Charlotte's spell-casting, both characters can utilise all-new 'Summon' attacks to raise demons to assist them against the Vampire sisters' army. Similarly, more conventional weapons can also be found on route, and saved for use against the hardier monsters that await in the shadows.    

Featuring all-new locations and a cast of over 100 different adversaries, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin marks a welcome return to the DS for the series. Igarashi's Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow has already enjoyed massive success for the format, and his new epic is certain to wow Nintendo users when it is released later in the year.

[anubis6789]

Isn't this kind of at odds with the whole "Dracula resurects every one hundred years" thing, seeing as how Julius defeated Dracula in 1999 and WWII happens in the late thirties and early forties, or am I mistaken and they changed the rules somewhere?  

[vudu]

Quote
The new setting captures the chaos and suffering the era, with thousands of lost souls wandering the world in search of salvation. Desperate to escape the limbo within their exist, the misguided spirits seek to rebuild Dracula's Castle from its ruins, and are lead by a pair of evil Vampire sisters out to resurrect their master's home for their own nefarious plans.

Hot Vampire Sisters > Dracula.

I wonder if the setting is really going to affect anything.  AoS and DoS were both set in the future, but you couldn't really tell once you got into the castle.

I was really hoping the game would star Julius and show us what happened back in 1999 (and how Julius lost his memory).

Still, this sounds pretty good.  Multiple characters is something we haven't done in a Castlevania game in quite some time.

Quote
In addition to Jonathan's weapon expertise and Charlotte's spell-casting, both characters can utilise all-new 'Summon' attacks to raise demons to assist them against the Vampire sisters' army.

I hope it's not the exact same soul system used in the past two games.  I'd like something new.  I enjoyed the card system from Circle of the Moon, but it would need to be streamlined, so it wasn't such a pain in the ass.

[Nephilim]

Castlevania crossed with Vjoe2 :/

edit: after seeing the pics, it might work

[KDR_11k]

Igarashi's Dawn of Sorrow? Didn't Igarashi say he's more interested in CoD?

Summons were in Harmony of Dissonance, though they were just big spells like in Final Fantasy. I wonder if subweapons make a return? And if the two play just like Julius and Yoko in DoS?

[TMW]

Oh shi-

This is pretty awesome.  Not only do we get some Castlevania goodness, but we more than likley get to kill Nazi's too.  

One thing I don't like the sound of is the "hot swapping" between the characters...that means (to me) that there will be those silly puzzles where you have to split up.

Still.  Awesome.  

[Knoxxville]

I am SICK of World War II themes......BLEH!!  I can't believe Konami jumped on the bandwagon like that.  At least it's not a shooter, but still....!!

[AManatee2]

castlevania > most world war ii shooters.


but lets not call it jumping on the bandwagon if it turns out amazing.

[darknight06]

Wait, is this supposed to be the same John Morris from Castlevania Bloodlines? The game seems to be taking place during the time period that Bloodlines occured in.  If so, he just sold me on another Castlevania.  Now if Eric Lecarde in this too...

[Caliban]

Cool! Now I patiently wait for my NP to read more about it.  

[Shin Gallon]

Weird, I have a friend whos name is John Morris.
I was hoping to see Soma again, he's my second favorite Castlevania character besides Alucard.
Swords > whips, if you ask me...  

[KDR_11k]

I wonder if the WW2 period will have about as much influence on this as 2035 did on AoS?

[vudu]

Quote
Originally posted by: TMW
Not only do we get some Castlevania goodness, but we more than likley get to kill Nazi's too.

Better than Nazi's--Nazi Zombies.  

[KDR_11k]

Nazi Zombies? I hope that means we get to kick Yog'Sothoth's rear end as well. Can we have the golden apple as a subweapon?

[Caliban]

I wonder if they will ever use WWII american soldier zombies? I mean, heck even they deserve some recognition, it was not only the germans to do unhumane experiments.

[stevey]

SCREENS!!


I dont see too many nazi zombies...

[MaleficentOgre]

more nazi zombies please!

[darknight06]

My only issue with the screens so far is that I really wish their old SoTN sprite artists were doing the graphics.  Damnit guys, sprites like these should never have an outline around them like that.

[TrueNerd]

Question: Am I a hypocrite for chastising EA for putting out rehashed sequels every year but at the same time holding the Castlevania franchise in such high esteem, a franchise that hasn't changed much in the last decade? Or is it simply true that Castlevania >>> anything EA does?

[KDR_11k]

darknight: Maybe the outline will glow like it did in previous handheld Castlevanias? None of the enemies have outlines, after all.

TrueNerd: Well, Castlevania actually adds new ideas and levels to the game...

[Nosferat2]

F U  konami!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wandering]

Yes, yes, I'm sure we all know Florida University loves Konami, but what does that have to with the discussion at hand?

[Karl Castaneda #2]

Actually, it's University of Florida, and I think Nosferat2 was trying to imply something obscene.

Oooh, I see what you did there.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Fabulously Uber

[KDR_11k]

I don't get Nosferatu's problem.