Well, I return from the two anime conventions of the past month, Shoujocon and Otakon, with a handful of useless merchandise, some interesting stories and about $350 less in my bank account.

For those who don't know, anime conventions are big places (usually hotels or conventions centers) where lots of anime and video game loving geeks get together to watch stuff and shop and socialize or whatever. A good amount of time was spent searching through the doujinshi in hope of finding something Castlevania-related, but sadly, that was not to be (though I did find a pack of Final Fantasy Tactics playing cards, which was pretty sweet.)

So anyway, the new Castlevania/Contra collection pack thingie should be on the shelves about now, though I haven't seen it yet. Technically, this is the Castlevania Collection that we've been waiting for for years, and yet it seems to be nothing more than simple emulators - stuff you can get for free. So, will you still buy it?

First of all, I must say that I love Star Ocean: The Second Story and it's battle system. It's one of those things that I find just plain fun. But anyway, I don't think I'll buy this collection of five nes games considering it really doesn't give me anything I already don't have. The problem with classic collections is that developers can become lazy in presentation. If you look at the psx versions of Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI, they're more like re-releases than remakes. And worst of all, Square is even lazier in their porting. The games are not optimized for the psx hardware which basically means the psx is emulating the snes games. This causes problems with slowdown and loading times. Chrono Trigger was done with a bit more care since Square added storyline cutscenes DURING the game rather than meaningless nonsense at the beginning and end plus a bunch of other bonuses. Tony T. Tiger

The biggest problem I had with Star Ocean (or any of Tri-Ace's similar games) was that you were never in full controls of the battle. You only took the reigns of one characters at a time, and hoped the other three were doing something intelligent. Worse yet, all you really did was jam the attack buttons - strategy was almost entirely non-existant. This was okay in the first parts of the game, but when the difficutly ramped up and I find in the regular battles nearly impossible (despite leveling up) my opinion of the game dropped from "pretty damn cool" to "barely mediocre".

But I digress. The Square ports, however lazy they were (with the exception of FFIV, which blew away the SNES version), at least let players game on their TV instead of their computer. This package does not share that advantage.

Kurt, They're releasing Castlevania games onto PC?? Why didn't anyone tell me before!!! Ahem. Due to the lack of a NES for the last five years, (it broke...) I have been deprived of both Castlevania and Castlevania 2, which I didn't fully appreciate before that time. Now I hear that they're both being released onto the PC, WITH Castlevania 3 and Contra games... well, I'm not SO bothered about those, but I'll stick to the point. Konami doesn't have to do ANYTHING to get me to buy them. I intend to as soon as it's possible, as I loved those games and would love to actually beat them. And play CV3, as well. However, if Konami WERE to include some extras... Well, a large sound test with all the tracks from all the games, with some updated versions and remixes wouldn't go amiss... And I'd love to be able to customise or alter the game, although it seems an unlikely idea. It would be neat to have a level editor, so I could design my own Entrance hall, with different traps and colours. You could add your own music as well. (This sounds similar to the last column, doesn't it?) Anyway, extras like that would entice me, although I plan to get 'em anyway. Scooby, who can't wait to kill vampires in the classic style.

Yes, extras would be nice. I think if they included at least a history gallery, maybe some scans of the packaging - especially anything rare or something not found on this site already, it'd be a great collector's package. That's why I love those arcade packs that Williams and Atari and various other companies put out for the Playstation. Sure, most of the games on these discs you can just download and play on MAME. But they included are art galleries, background information, and interviews with the developers.

Hi, long Time reader, first time writer. OK, you asked: "What would Konami have to do in order for you to pony up money for games that you probably already own, or could get for free" To which I replied: Konami should do sort of a Super Mario All-Starts, and release a handful of Castlevania games with updated graphics and such. This would be the REAL Castlevania Chronicles, not the stuff we got for the PSone, (even though I loved it) only then would I go out and buy the game. Simple, no?

I think that's what we all wanted in a re-release - same games, just maybe with some (at least) SNES level graphics and improved sound. I guess not.

Hi Kurt. How's it going? As far as the new Castlevania and Contra collection is concerned, I think that it could be a great deal at $20. It's a good thing for classic gamers and new players alike. As far as having extras, I really do not think that any are needed. They're all fairly linear in play; there aren't enough decisions to be made and multiple outcomes to see (like Chrono Cross). I guess level creators might work, but these are only really good for online play. Besides, classic play, in my opinion, should not be tampered with anyway. Also, I do not see emulation as a problem here. Sure, there are lots of high-quality emulators out there that can run lots of NES games. However, they are all third-party. There is really no stated guarantee that emulation will work for us. Besides, with all of the crackdowns on ROMS sites that I've seen, people might think differently about emulation to begin with. Most games were throw-away games anyway. Few have had as much impact as Castlevania and Contra. In addition, I have tried to play CV3 on emulators with mixed (and unfavorable) results. I have a working cart and NES deck to play with all right, but I have to tweak the cart in a certain way to get it to run at all. I do not think Konami got it right at all with the carts for that game. Any product that can take away those worries while I play one of my favorite games is worth my $20.... ... provided that it makes it to the shelves at all. At this writing, it should have been out for the past two days. I have yet to see a single merchant have it available. *Sigh*. Jason K. Henry

Indeed, Castlevania 3, with its fancy MMC5 chip, doesn't work right on some emulators (and some of the ROMs floating around are hacked too) so it is a lot more convenient to buy an emulator that's official. Still, for being third party projects, many of them are very well done...

Hi Kurt, The way you phrased that question "What would Konami have to do in order for you to pony up the games that you probably already own ..." it sounded like you wanted suggestions. If Konami actually listens to you, I would tell them to sell the ROM (the same rome that are on the CV Dungeon's site) for $2.00 via paypal or something. They aren't making any money on the original Castlevania ROM, and they already have a website, so $2.00 a download seems like it would fund itself. Granted, someone could still download it for free from a site like the CV Dungeon, but selling it couldn't HURT them, right? Besides, the PC version won't do any good for me as I run Linux. There are emulators that work on Linux, so legally owning the rom would be kind of nice. I think it was stupid for them to waste their time with the PC version, considering how many cross-platform emulators there are. I would purchase the ROM because I am a fan of the series and I would like to let them know to continue the good work. I never owned a Nintendo so there's no way for me to let them know that I liked the original games now. Just my 2 cents. Patrick Markiewicz

This, of course, would be a great way to make ROMs legal. Unfortunately, emulation has already been rampant for at least the past four years or so, and no matter how many ROM sites are cleaned up, they'll still be obtainable, whether through peer-to-peer sharing programs or mIRC or whatever underground channels. But Konami releasing their whole library of games (especially Famicom stuff) would be great. It'd be even better on a PS2 disc, so you could play them on the TV (as you might be able to figure out, I can't stand playing games on the computer any more.)

Hey Kurt, Good question this time around, can't say I blame you for the confusion as I am quite confused myself. I took a look at the site and really, I can't honestly think of why I would need this one here when I have those already. Let me clarify by saying (with exception of Castlevania 2), I absolutely adore the NES series. I mean, I have the three and play them often. Now, while it saves me the time of hauling out the NES everytime I want to play, there is nothing new there that I can see that I would want to buy it for, not even for the save anywhere feature. Don't get me wrong, i would love to have a savefile of when I get past Death in the first one so that way I can feel like I have gotten somewhere with my life, but that isn't enough to do anything. We all know that these are just going to beported right from the NES cart anyway, and while it isn't complicated, look what happens to other games that are ported from the PS1 or 2 to a PC. Need I remind anyone of FFVII or GTA III? I know people love FFVII for the computer but I didn't think it had the same style as te PS1 did... needles to say I didn't like FFVII anyway (Sorry young kids, I am an old school RPG'er... it takes alot to beat FFIV and FFVI in my book). Final point, i wouldn't buy it because it isn't Castlevania exclusive. sure, I know a few people who like Contra. I myself had wasted alot of time playing that game when I was young, but I think the time is over for that franchise. Yes, I know that they are coming out with a new Contra game and all, and this is good marketing for those who don't remember when Contra and Castlevania were 8 bits instead of the 132 we see nowadays, but even if they made them seperate that would have been better. You are talking to two different gamers when you talk to Contra fans and Castlevania fans. Well, that is all from me on this, just waiting until Konami gets serious and can make a new game without having to con me into thinking they did. Take care all! Matt "Castlevania 2 - Simon's Quest, I can save anywhere? How about if I save it in the little circular file unde rmy desk, ok?"

You bring up an interesting point - the re-release of these games into the retail channels may simply be a marketing ploy. If you get these where people can see them - even if it is the bargain bin - people will say "Hey! Remember Contra?" and then look into the new PS2 Contra game or whatever. Given that this colection was probably insanely cheap to produce, it could sell like crap and still work as an advertisement.

Well, going through my old Next Generation magazines, I came across an article for the lost Castlevania Dreamcast game, Resurrection. Despite looking rather cool, early reports from the press claimed that it didn't control very well, and was on the fast track towards crapiness. Somewhere along the line, Konami gave up and cancelled it.

Does this matter to you? Do you look at the screenshots and lament its abortion? Or do you consider it a mercy killing - if it were terrible, it could've tarnished the CV name much like the two Playstation Contras did. Do tell.

-Kurt, surprised at finding not one, but two sexy Moogle chicks at Otakon (and a very nicely dressed female Alucard as well.)