Author Topic: First Castlevania DS screens and info (Read 13707 times)

ruby_onix · « **on:** December 31, 2004, 02:53:18 PM »

Games Are Fun has some scans from the latest EGM.

It's a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow.

"DS is a great portable for expressing 2D gameplay," Igarashi explains. "I've noted that the DS has better graphical capabilities than, say, the PS1, and it's up to us to push the limits of this new hardware."

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2004, 03:32:22 PM »

"I've noted that the DS has better graphical capabilities than, say, the PS1"

It was nice for him to compare the DS to the PS1 when the DS is stronger than the N64, now wasn't it?

Draygaia · « **Reply #2 on:** December 31, 2004, 05:49:26 PM »

Drawing the signs must be neato.

Artimus · « **Reply #3 on:** December 31, 2004, 06:09:43 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
"I've noted that the DS has better graphical capabilities than, say, the PS1"

It was nice for him to compare the DS to the PS1 when the DS is stronger than the N64, now wasn't it?

There was no 2D Castlevania on the N64...

Not everything people say is an attack for goodness sake!

MaleficentOgre · « **Reply #4 on:** December 31, 2004, 06:11:49 PM »

and with this news DS WINS. seriously, I have no idea how anyone could be less that stoked.

PaLaDiN · « **Reply #5 on:** December 31, 2004, 07:47:04 PM »

Thank God, a 2D Castlevania.

That's all the DS needed in my eyes... hopefully it's as good as the GBA ones, and lighting won't be a problem.

The magic seal thing seems neat... I didn't want any extensive touch or double screen usage for this game, so this is perfect.

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #6 on:** December 31, 2004, 08:18:16 PM »

Not everything people say is an attack for goodness sake!

In my world, anything said about Nintendo is an attack...Excuse me for being overly cautious...

Renny · « **Reply #7 on:** January 01, 2005, 04:15:37 AM »

Lookin' h0t in those flares, Soma. Oh, and the game looks quite good too. What are the odds of link-up with GBA Castlevanias which are incredibly hard to find and/or overpriced?

Myxtika1 Azn · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2005, 05:28:47 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Artimus
Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
"I've noted that the DS has better graphical capabilities than, say, the PS1"

It was nice for him to compare the DS to the PS1 when the DS is stronger than the N64, now wasn't it?

There was no 2D Castlevania on the N64...

Not everything people say is an attack for goodness sake!

And what does whether or not there has been a 2D Castlevania the N64 or not have to do with the DS's graphical capabilities?

kirby_killer_dedede · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2005, 05:31:07 AM »

Mmm. I was kind of hoping for a 3D Castlevania. I'm sure we'll see it sometime, but we all know the PSP's gonna get it first. :-(

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2005, 07:33:30 AM »

Ahahaha, then I feel sorry for the PSP...Wait, no I don't...

(The 3d Castlevanias are HORRIBLE)

CHEN · « **Reply #11 on:** January 01, 2005, 08:04:48 AM »

Aria of Sorrow = Symphony of the Night light
Aria of Sorrow 2 = Win

Have you not experienced SotN? Greatest Castlevania ever! It's what Super Metroid is to the Metroid franchise. And Bill is right, 3D Castlevania doesn't work. I've been surfing all kinds of gaming sites and random people keep criticizing the screenshots as GBA material. I'm sure PGC is a lot wiser, so let's hope I don't have to explain that. I haven't seen this in motion, so I can't judge the animation, but personally I think the visuals are on par with Symphony of the Night. And the smaller screens of the DS help it hide the pixels too. I'm very looking forward to this.

PaLaDiN · « **Reply #12 on:** January 01, 2005, 08:13:01 AM »

"Greatest Castlevania ever! It's what Super Metroid is to the Metroid franchise."

Super Metroid is no longer the greatest Metroid ever. Sorry, you fail.

CHEN · « **Reply #13 on:** January 01, 2005, 10:14:26 AM »

o_O Are you serious? Whatever floats your boat

...

freak.

ruby_onix · « **Reply #14 on:** January 01, 2005, 01:54:40 PM »

I don't think that Igarashi was being critical of the DS or the N64. The N64 just wasn't known for being a 2D system. I'd bet that 19 out of 20 modern gamers could not name one single N64 title that had better 2D graphics than one single PSX title.

I think that the reporter seemed a bit harsh on the DS though. Also, neither of them seemed to make any mention of Igarashi's failure of a PS2 game.

I think that this is going to be the first true "step up" for the Castlevania series in 8 years. SoTN on the PSX was the high-water mark. The three GBA games were good, but everybody knew they were on "inferior hardware" with the GBA (althought most people didn't mind, since they were good games). Lament of Innocence on the PS2 was a waste of hardware power and development time, but my brother really seems to like the soundtrack CD that he got for free when he preordered the game.

The DS beats the PSX in pretty much every way except for storage space. SoTN was about 450 megabytes. The one gigabit DS cards are 128 megabytes. Of course, Konami was really loose in their storage concerns with SoTN. Instead of having scrolling text for their end credits, they had freaking full motion video of scrolling text for their end credits.

So anyways, I'm hopeful that this game will be good enough to put to rest (among most people, at least) the notion that SoTN is the be-all end-all Castlevania game, in the same way that Fusion and Zero Mission did for Super Metroid.

NWR_Lindy · « **Reply #15 on:** January 01, 2005, 02:36:56 PM »

Come on, Super Metroid is much better than Fusion and Zero Mission. Those are great games in their own right, but they're just hors d'ouvres, Super Metroid is the main course. That game is incredible, even today.

This is great news. I initially cringed at the stylus work as a gimmick, but when you look at the screenshots it actually looks pretty cool. For example, having to draw a huge pentagram is neat stuff, especially when you're under pressure in the midst of a boss battle.

You're right, SoTN had a lot of extraneous FMV - what immediately jumps to mind is the opening FMV showing the Konami logo emerging out of the ground. I'm not sure how much space that used on the CD, but it doesn't need to be there.

silks

kirby_killer_dedede · « **Reply #16 on:** January 01, 2005, 02:37:39 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Ahahaha, then I feel sorry for the PSP...Wait, no I don't...

(The 3d Castlevanias are HORRIBLE)

I realize that...lol. I didn't mean it like 3D gameplay..I just meant graphically. Maybe a "new super mario bros" type thing.

ruby_onix · « **Reply #17 on:** January 01, 2005, 03:01:41 PM »

BTW, here's just the screenshots.

Snowy
Resized, to maybe give you an idea how it'll look on a DS.

Archers
Resized again

Spell casting
Part 2
Shatter

I recognize that thing
Slippery
I hated those archers
Teh sexay
The gear looks a little too good
Doesn't look like much room to fight

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #18 on:** January 01, 2005, 03:22:55 PM »

Ahhhhh, thank you...The resized ones look much better... ^_^

nitsu niflheim · « **Reply #19 on:** January 01, 2005, 04:18:14 PM »

I have a question, as it has been a while since I played Aria of Sorrow, but isn't Soma part of the Belnades bloodline?

Artimus · « **Reply #20 on:** January 01, 2005, 06:48:04 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Not everything people say is an attack for goodness sake!

In my world, anything said about Nintendo is an attack...Excuse me for being overly cautious...

Well c'mon, he was obviously referring to the PSX's sprite capabilities, which the N64 doesn't have...

Infernal Monkey · « **Reply #21 on:** January 01, 2005, 09:03:54 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: kirby_killer_dedede
Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Ahahaha, then I feel sorry for the PSP...Wait, no I don't...

(The 3d Castlevanias are HORRIBLE)

I realize that...lol. I didn't mean it like 3D gameplay..I just meant graphically. Maybe a "new super mario bros" type thing.

No way, 2D sprites forever yo.

And hey, the N64 could handle sprites pretty well. It's just that everybody was obsessed with making it pump out disgusting looking silicon graphic type sprites.

Terranigma Freak · « **Reply #22 on:** January 02, 2005, 06:28:39 AM »

Actually, the N64 was superior to the PSX in both 2D and 3D. The reason 2D games suck on PSX is due to the lack of RAM, only 2MB. The N64 was cart based so it doesn't need to worry about RAM. BUT the problem was that 2D animation takes up more space that 3D, and we all know the N64's problem was space. If someone were to say, make a 512 megabit cart with 2D graphics on N64, it would look just as good as any 2D game on the current systems.

Artimus · « **Reply #23 on:** January 02, 2005, 12:23:08 PM »

Ahh, very valid point. Let me rephrase then, since I was wrong:

He meant the system is superior to the PSX, which is the system Symphony of the Night was on. The Castlevania for the N64 was 3D so the comparison really isn't apt. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this developed worked on SOTN and not Castlevania 64, so he couldn't really talk about the N64's capabilities.

ruby_onix · « **Reply #24 on:** January 02, 2005, 01:48:48 PM »

BTW, here are some screenshots of Aria of Sorrow.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M

And some screenshots of Symphony of the Night.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M

GBA games have a resolution of 240x160. I think SotN was supposed to run at 320x240, but the screenshots are slightly off because TV's don't have a perfectly-even "pixel" setup, so they end up looking scretched and have to be edited a little bit. I think they're good enough. The DS is 256x192 (for just one screen).

Some people are saying that Castlevania DS most likely has a DS-port of the basic SotN game engine at it's core.

News:

Author Topic: First Castlevania DS screens and info (Read 13707 times)