Let say this: if Harmony of Dissonance sucked (which it doesn't), then it would be incredibly cool for one reason alone:

Kurt, Castlevania Pimp, That catgirl from last column was tasty, but it's a cruel thing to do to a guy. You should have seen me whimper and paw at the screen. Most of us don't even see the light of day on a regular basis, let alone girls like that. (Indeed some of us have NEVER seen the light of day, mwah hah haaah....) So play nice from now on, huh? Secondly, am I the only one who knows who Mana is? Well besides you, Kurt. I was going to write in about this last time, but I never got around to it. Adding him to the Castlevania team would likely be as great a boone as when Ayami Kojima started doing character designs. (Yes Mana is actually a dude dressed in drag. Not, as D put it, a "girl.") I don't know his real name, but for several years now, "Mana" has written most of the music for the last-I-heard-presently-defunct Japanese rock group Malice Mizer. Their style has always been a sort of gothic/baroque rock blend, using modern instruments to infuse energy into an old world sound. Sound familiar? I thought so the first time I heard their music. You won't have to cycle through Malice Mizer's repetior very long before you'll hear something that you could swear was right out of Symphony of the Night. As it says in the Dungeon's Weirdness section, they even had a song during their Gackt phase called "Gekka no Yasoukyoku," "Nocturne in the Moonlight". The point of all this is, it's always been one of those fantasy couplings in my mind, where Malice Mizer would contribute to a Castlevania game. So not content to tease me with cute Asians wearing ears, Kurt thinks he can dangle this little tidbit of info in front of my eyes and have me take it lying down. No not me. So I tried to do a little research. I found the page he mentioned and tried to decipher it as best I could with my feeble Japanese translation skills. However, from what I could tell, the article states that Mana will NOT be contributing to the sound track, that it was merely considered but ultimately decided against. But then, like I say, my skills are feeble. So now I don't know what to think. Could somebody that can actually read Japanese with some proficiency investigate this please? Here's a direct link to the page: http://www.konamityo.com/CV01/taidan.html Actually that provides a decent segue into today's topic. Have I taken two years of college Japanese in part so I could import games? Yes. Have I imported games, thoughroughly enjoying them despite the fact that I can't understand half of what's going on plot-wise? Hell yes. Would I import a game that I know is coming to the States anyway, just because I'm impatient? Now that's where I draw the line. I'm not going to buy the game twice just because I can't wait a few months. As for ROMs I usually reserve that for games that I wouldn't be able to play at all otherwise, like titles that never made it to the US, or hard-to-finders. Christopher Lundgren

Sadly, I believe you're right about Mana - his name is not listed in the credits. Oh well. Michiru Yamane, composer of Symphony of the Night, did do a few music pieces which, unfortunately, aren't all that interesting.

And this column has revealed that are least a few of us are taking Japanese for the purpose of playing video games. I thought this would surprise my Japanese professor, being that most people in the past have taken it for business reasons, but he was surprised and pleased that I actually had some semblance of motivation to learn the language (and my indifference is why I've completely forgotten any Spanish I might've been taught in high school.) Of course, I can always dream that my Japanese abilities will someday allow me to woo some cosplaying catgirl at one of the Comiket conventions overseas, but sadly, that will probably never be.

I haven't heard much Malice Mizer music, only stuff by Gackt (which isn't too bad.) Apparently some of it is very Castlevania-ish in nature. Time for a Google search.

Hi, Kurt. First off, I'd like to say hooray for Crystal Pepsi! I'm the only person who ever liked that stuff according to everyone I know. Ok, to business. I have imported games before but only under two conditions: A) The game won't come to the states or if it does come, it is a really crappy version. B) If it requires very little reading An example is the Saturn version of X-men Vs. Street Fighter. The game was released in America but only on the psx. And we all know how well the psx handles Capcom tag team games. Since it's a fighter, who needs to read, right? I also imported the Saturn Nocturn in the Moonlight but it wasn't a problem since the psx version delivered the story. Although I would like to know if the Japanese dialogue was that much different. I really would never import an rpg or anything like that. At least not right now. I am taking Japanese classes in college so I might learn enough eventually to be able to navigate the games. Just think, I had enough trouble figuring out what to do next in the American version of Chrono Cross. Let alone if I couldn't read the text. That game just leaves you in the middle of nowhere at times and so do many other games. I just get annoyed that the games just happened to be from Japan. If games had to come from another country, couldn't it be from Spain or something? At least then, the language won't look like martian to an American. Tony T. Tiger

Interestingly enough, Chrono Cross was the first RPG I played through in Japanese. Even basic knowledge of the systems will at least get you through the menus, and the online FAQs (thanks Toastyfrog!) made navigating the game very easy. Naturally, most everyone I knew thought I was insane for playing a game whose storyline was mostly lost on me (and trust me, I spent MONTHS trying to figure out what the hell was going until, until the English version came out - and that made it even MORE confusing.) Still, I couldn't wait for the American release.

Anyway - the Japanese dialogue is very similar to the English - from what I could tell, it was translated very accurately (though I've been told Drac doesn't quote the bible in the Japanese version.) The only difference I picked up is when Maria fights you (since this wasn't in the PSX version) - she merely apologizes and says that she must test your power.

And the fact that most PC games are American is one of the reasons I don't hate the industry altogether. We don't need to wait months for Warcraft III to be translated - American gets it first! This is also the reason I don't totally hate the X-Box (that, and the fact that Sega seems to be supporting it the most.)

Imports of Castlevania are survivable. Imports of full on RPG's are a death trap and a waste of money, less you know some Katakana or other abbreviated version of Japanese. I think Castlevania's have gotten progressively worse for translation though. I mean if you look at the first imported castlevania that I was forced to buy (Dracula X/ PC engine) there was hardly any challenge in trying to figure out what was going on in the game. Now, on the other hand, you have games that fuse SOTN with Dracula X and it becomes a chore to decipher the mannerisms and plot. I imported SOTN and my only gripe honestly became not being able to read the items I was getting or the enemies that I was facing. COTM was the same way. It doesn't scare me, especially not after all these years to import a Japanese game, but I will say it leaves me in the dark about parts of the game. Learning Katakana, I've heard, is not as hard as you'd think. I might do it if I had the time to spare. But all in all, I cannot wait 4 months for the US release (usually) and what makes matters worse is my distrust of the amount of censorship that goes in to the Japanese to American conversions. I mean Dracula X got many things cut out when it finally arrived here on the SNES. Albeit, it wasn't really meant to be a direct conversion, but you could tell that someone didn't want Christ on the cross, nakedness or torrents of blood when you die in the the US version. So yes, I think I will import HoD. cough! alwaysinit

Advice Of the Day: Anyone even THINKING of playing import games should, at very least, teach themselves katakana. It requires some rote memorization, but with enough practice, it really helps. At very least, you can read equipment, monster and item names.

For those who aren't familiar with Japanese - there are three types of symbols. In hiragana, each symbol is a syllable ('a', 'ka', 'sa', etc). This is the "standard" way of writing Japanese. Then there's katakana, in which each symbol is also a syllable, but this is used primarily for emphasis (like italics in English) or for writing foreign words. Many Japanese games simply used English words written in Japanese. If you know katakana, you can read and figure them out. The third set of symbols are kanji - based off Chinese, each symbol stands for an idea. There are at least a few thousand of these, so be prepared to spend at least a few years picking up enough to be literate. Myself, I only know a handful of essentials and most of the more popular video game associated ones. I've been thinking about making a site someday that features kanji and various vocabluary that a video gamer would want to know - anyone interested in a page like that?

Hey Kurt, I just read your Column #10 (yeah, I'm behind), and I just wanted to mention something that may sound shocking. No need to post this on the site or anything, just wanted to throw down a couple cents. Dracula X: Rondo of Blood is not rare. Yep, people pay up to $200 for it, and it's hard to find -- but it's not "rare" in the true sense of the word. Fact is (and I got this from a friend of mine who had, at one point, probably one of the finest PC-Engine collections in the US, before he had to sell his game collections off to pay rent and bills), they made just as many copies of Drac X as any other game. The reason you can't find it is because nobody wants to get rid of theirs -- not because it's truly "rare." In fact, from what I hear, it's not even that difficult to find in used game shops in Japan. It's the rest of the world that freaks out over it and drives the price up. I'm not gonna crack on anyone who pays three digits for it -- hey, if I wanted something badly enough, I'd do the same -- and I realize that some people perceive "hard to find" and "rare" as being interchangeable terms. But, as I've found in all my many years of collecting, patience and persistence often pays off just as well as a couple hundred bucks. And no, I don't own an original copy of Drac X myself -- I have a CDR of it too. :P Most I ever paid for a single game was $86 for the Patlabor game for Super Famicom...unless you count my arcade machines. ;P Cheers, TJ Rappel The Metroid Database www.classicgaming.com/mdb

I didn't think Dracula X was a particularly rare game - but I guess that's the rule of supply and demand. *le sigh*

Import games huh...I haven't played a lot of import games lately. The last Japanese game I've played is the "Street Fighter EX 2 Plus" ROM for the Impact Emulator. Everyone knows what Street Fighter is all about right? Would you care if Sagat was rivaling Ryu? Or Ryu and Ken? Without the story, you may think they're brothers with different hair...hehe. When it comes to import games, it doesn't matter if you know Japanese or not. It's all about the gameplay. It's an obvious concept. Without gameplay, it is (almost) meaningless. THE GAMEPLAY!!!!! I also remember playing the "DragonBall Z: Super Butoden" games for the SNES. I went right into the fights. The hard part was getting through the menu, which I don't have a problem with anymore. Since when did DBZ become all talk anyways? Relating to CastleVania, gameplay in the PCE Dracula X is top notch, with its linear path towards Dracula. RPG games are tough to get by...if you know your Japanese, then you're on your way. Others will need some translator of sorts. With CastleVania, story is everything nowadays, since the bloodline is twisted throughout the 100 year time period just to keep things fresh. I guess the last game that doesn't need a perplexing storyline is "Super CastleVania IV". Heck, it was a remake of the first game. It used to be "slash your one-way path to Dracula" sorta thing, but now it's "slash, pick up items, get EXP points, go roaming room-to-room to Dracula" motif. The Belmonts were simple...the ones without their last name are complex (maybe except Johnny Morris of "Bloodlines"). That's how I feel about imports. Correct me if I'm wrong. P.S. If the 100 year tradition hits 2002 (and a CastleVania game is made set in 2002 or in the future), IMO I hope it won't turn out like "Blade" nor anything of a "Contra: Legacy of War" caliber of a sequel. - Edge_to_Insanity

Well...with the "old school" Castlevanias, you really don't need to know any Japanese at all. The story is pretty minimal, and there's no puzzles or items to puzzle out. The more recent ones, however...well, you'll run into trouble if you don't know how to read "Spike Breaker" or "Maxim's Bracelet" - both crucial items for Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance, especially.

Kurt! I've been reading the columns on the site for quite some time, but I have yet to write in with a contribution - until now. Of course, now you've brought up a subject that's extremely close to my heart - importing games. You know how much I'm into importing games - more so than anyone else online, I'll wager. *points to the OPCFG as evidence* I've amassed a fairly decent size collection of imports. Some of my favorites out of what I've gotten include Gradius Gaiden, Gradius Deluxe Pack, Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti, Radiant Silvergun, Alien Soldier, Gunbird, Namco Museum Encore and the first four volumes of the Capcom Generation series. It's a real shame that none of these - or several of the other great games released in Japan - ever made it out in the U.S. Every U.S. gamer deserved a chance to play these games, and it really sucks that we got royally shafted like that. As far as Castlevania imports are concerned... well, let me answer the questions you asked initially. "Will you be able to stand the summer waiting for Harmony of Dissonance?" Yes, as I still don't have a Gameboy Advance! I haven't even been able to play my copy of Circle of the Moon for any length of time yet. "The question is, if you're importing it or playing a ROM - does playing through a Japanese game scare you?" Hell no. I picked up my copy of Dracula X: Nocturne In The Moonlight several months before Symphony Of The Night was released (mainly for the art book, music CD and fantastic cover art), and I also imported Castlevania Chronicle before I even knew that there was going to be a U.S. release. Going back even further (to 1995, to be exact), I imported Dracula X: Chi No Rondo because I knew it would probably never have a U.S. release (interestingly enough, my copy arrived the same week Dracula X came out for the SNES, so I was able to play them both almost simultaneously and compare them). I completed both Nocturne in the Moonlight and Chronicle before the U.S. versions arrived in stores, and I had no problems completing Chi No Rondo. Importing Castlevania games and playing through them doesn't bother me in the least. "Would you will be willing to live through screens of weird Japanese characters and miss out on the story just to play the new game earlier than everyone else?" If I want it badly enough, yes. Also, if I really want to know what the hell is going on, I'll just do what I did when I got my hands on Chi No Rondo (ah, the years before the Internet was as big as it is now). I found a translator. One of the women I worked with at the time, Nancy, was half Japanese. Her mom was from Japan and spoke Japanese fluently. I asked her if her mom could possibly translate the cinema scenes in the game. Her mom agreed, and I recorded all of the cinemas on video, which I then gave to Nancy. Over the course of the next three months, whenever they had time, Nancy's mom would watch the tape and transcribe the dialogue for me. Eventually they gave me the complete translation, and the game's story was no longer a mystery to me. Unfortunately, I left that job a year or so later, so I don't get to see Nancy as often as I did anymore (she still works there). However, if I ever get another import that I really, really want to know the plot to, and there's not going to be a U.S. release, I know where to go. Granted, I know that's not an option for most people, but I'm lucky I have that source available. "Have you ever done this with other Castlevania games? And would you ever try to learn Japanese for the sake of playing a game like this?" Other than Chi No Rondo, no. I ended up waiting for the U.S. releases. I don't know if I'd ever try to learn Japanese, either for the sake of translation or just wanting to be able to speak it - but if I had the spare time, I just might. So I stand behind importing games completely (which you'd have known already if you've ever visited the OPCFG). I think it's definitely worth it in most cases, and if you can afford it, go for it. Now, if Konami would only release Chi No Rondo or Haunted Castle as part of the Chronicles series... and if they'd listen to my idea for the "Gradius Ultra Pack" and release that, I'd be really happy, whether they were import or not. Rob, who also wishes Namco would listen to him and release a "Splatterhouses" compilation disc.

For those who don't know, Rob is staunch support of classic games, both domestic and import. He's written numerous articles for SHMUPS and runs a variety of web pages, including West Mansion: The Splatterhouse Homepage, The Ghoul Realm (Ghosts and Goblins) and The OPCFG - The Organization for Preservation of Classic Forms of Gaming - a site filled with information about games from the 16-bit days and before - including lots of information on many games never made available in the States. Definitely worth checking out.

In any case - knowing someone fluent in Japanese is, naturally, extraordinarily useful. I actually used to bring my Playstation to Japanese class and have my sensei translate parts of Chrono Cross for me.

Import games... ummm.... Now, don't get me wrong Kurt. I like to think I am a good fan of Castlevania and many different game series, and no one will argue harder about how good Circle of the Moon is to the idiots who gave up when they couldn't find a save point. But imports?? Not my territory... no pun intended... The thing is, I'm too lazy and lack the funds to actually import a game, and even if I did do so, the prospect of playing throught in Japanese and having NO IDEA what I was doing is a little bit daunting. I doubt I'd get much fun out of it, as part of my favorite thing about video games are good stories. And when the English version came out, I wouldn't want to pay money to buy the same game again, and play it again, when there are so many other games out there to play. Besides, it would ruin the story. I guess I'm not enough of a fan to go to the trouble, but on the other hand, maybe it's just a lack of knowledge. I don't know where to start, where to order the game, where to get a Japanese/English Dictionary... I guess I can wait for the games, and allow the extra time to build into a higher appreciation. The fact is, it'll come eventually. Although, all of a sudden I'm interested in importing Metroid Prime. Hmmm... anyone know any good Japanese dealers? And it's Japanese release date? Oh, and I also would LOVE to see a Castlevania movie made. Dracula, werewolves, Death, Belmonts, whips, crosses, Castlevania... Wow. Scooby, who wants to see vampires killed in a Castlevania movie.

Well...if you're intimidated by it (and the import scene does get a bit daunting and expensive), check out Rob's site above. There's a nice list of import stores that should help you get started. National Console Support in particular rules.

And I've always rationalized that Castlevania storylines are rarely good enough to justify waiting for the English release. Sadly, from what I grasp of Harmony of Dissonance, this one is not much better. Perhaps I'm demanding too much - maybe a Silent Hill-eqsue mind trip would be in order?

Hey there, Kurt :) Wow ! You've chosen a very interesting topic indeed. Well, being a big cv fan, I could wait till the ROM gets out, but I doubt I'll have trouble waiting for Harmony of Dissonance's North American release since I have the new Tactics Ogre game to keep me busy ^_^ Since we're on the subject of Import games, I'd like to share some of my experiences with some games (All Square RPGs :P) My first import game ever played was Final Fantasy 5, the game at that point was half-translated, but still managed to get at the second world, with little to no trouble. I had liked what I saw and it has encouraged me to try more import games. Live A Live : This is my very first import game that I beat in japanese (without knowing a speck of japanese, heh), I was able to memorise the character patterns to tell which attack was the strongest to use. I only reffered to faq on two quests that completely baffled me (Cube's(Sci-Fi) and Akira's(Near Future)). I even took part in the online english translation project as a beta tester for the patch ^_^, it was a great experience. Bahamut Lagoon : The second game I beat in japanese so far, being a big strategy-rpg fan since I tried Final Fantasy Tactics, I knew this one would appeal to me as well. I was quick to grasp the Dragon Breeding system (even though I had NO idea of what the heck I was feeding them ^_^), with a few close brushes with complete failure of a few battles (such as vs Sauzer's army in Dafira), I managed to get lucky and win all battles without too many casualties. Rudora No Hihou : This is another fun one, although I won't be able to beat it unless a) it eventually gets translated, b) I learn japanese. It is such because of the Lexical Spell System, you have to enter spell names to earn them (and only with japanese characters), there are so many possible combinations of syllables(take Fi-ra-ga for example) that a full translation is nearly impossible. But from what I've played, I've enjoyed greatly. Treasure Hunter G : Square's last game for the SFC seems really nice, the battle system is challenging and never dull, you can only move a certain number of steps(much like FFT and Front Mission) until the enemy gets it's turn, plus you can sometimes do some combo attacks, which adds even more depth to the battles. And you gotta admit it sports one of the most kickass soundtracks ever in a SNES RPG. I think that pretty much covers it, to those who are still skeptical of playing an import game, don't be afraid, a few games (like Front Mission for example) are very import-friendly. For those that aren't, take it as a challenge, if you can grasp the game's own distinctive features (like battle system) then it'll be worth it as you'll get alot of enjoyment even though you don't understand the story, gameplay usually plays a big part in every game, translated or not.

A good endorsement for those frightened by Japanese games. I had gotten used to playing games and not understanding a word of it - after awhile, you just learn to remember the symbols, even if you don't understand them.

I wish Square had brought out Treasure Hunter G. That game rules.

~Let's see. Can I wait for a new Castlevania? Absolutely not, but then again I don't have much of a choice. Good thing there are a lot of great games to tide me over until then like, Way of the Samurai! See I will never play roms of new games, it's as simple as that. The most basic reason I can give is that by giving Konami my money to own and play their games, I'm letting them know that they're doing the right thing by making releasing and distributing this type of software. And Konami does listen to fans believe it or not. So despite my belief that Mystical Ninja 64 was probably one of the best games on the 64, apparently the fans responded poorly so it's follow-up in Goemon's Great Adventure was definately not as fun returning to SNES gameplay. ~But I've begun to think that somewhere inbetween Squaresoft's idea of reaking havoc with a popular game engine for a game's sequel, and Capcom's rehashing the same engine from the last several prequels, is about where Konami stood. They have been very willing to update their franchises with technology yet have been very careful to keep a game's mechanics intact. And when a stylistic change did not appeal to fans, the game reverted to what made a previous incarnation popular and expand on that idea. Such was the case with the N64 Castlevania games and unfortunately Simon's Quest. So in that respect, it's difficult not to respect Konami. ~But they are not a flawless company. Especially when it comes to American releases of Japanese games. Super Castlevania 4 for the SNES was edited for content, (although that was largely NOA's doing) Dracula X for the same system should have been a port of the PC Engine game... just as Sega Saturn had their version of Noctune, Symphony's edit's were minimal but somewhat obvious, (such as the infamous 1¢ room in the Catacombs) Castlevania Legends should have been on a different system maybe even in place of the N64 games, (which is the next atrocity) it's difficult to believe that the Castlevania story begins with such a sub-par game, and as everyone hoped,... Castlevania Chronicles should have had more than one game on it, more than two maybe even several Castlevania games. ~But I'm destined to wait for Castlevania games. Although I try to deny it by seeking out the Dracula X imports, I am able to wait a few months.

If there's a flaw in Harmony of Dissonance, it's that it seems to be more of a rehash than anything. A rehash of the one of the games ever made is OK by me, but still...

Well, White Night Concerto/Harmony of Dissonance/Concerto of the Midnight Sun or whatever you want to call it is out. Chances are, any of you who wanted to play it either already have the ROM or have given themselves at least a few backaches playing on the GBA. Sooo....what do you think? Did it meet your expectations, or should, once again, Konami stay away from the tiny system and release a "real" Castlevania game? If anything, this should serve as an interesting comparsion to that hype column a few weeks back.

-Kurt