Well, it's been like a month or so since the last column and surprisingly, some decent games are have started coming out. Most recently...

Mario Sunshine: OK, I hated Mario 64. I can't stand platformers in 3D, and the approach to level design (play the same level over, just a little bit farther each time) was so absurdly retarded, I can't believe people didn't have a problem with it. Mario Sunshine addresses both of these, and actually comes out an enjoyable game. The waterpack is a lot of fun, and its hover abilities make the jumping much easier (though there are still some annoying strictly platform sections.) The stages are much better designed too, acting more as a hub than simply a linear line. Good stuff.

Ikaruga: This game is proof that God still exists. The most amazing shooter since Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga strips itself to the bare bones of the shooter genre and reinvents itself into a very difficult but incredibly involving experience. Had me hooked like very few video games can do anymore. Dust off your Dreamcast and buy it now.

Kingdom Hearts: The reviews, for the most part, are dead-on: the camera's a bit wonky during combat, and the Gummy-Ship minigame is God-awful, but the concept of running through different Disney movies and saving their heroes and heronies makes for one of the most imaginative and cracked-out games in awhile.

You know, why do they have to start bringing out the good games in September, right when school starts and I have to risk failing out each semester just so I can have some play time? GOD DAMN YOU VIDEO GAMES!!!!

But onto Dracula X! The most recent interview with IGA states that he still wants to get a new Castlevania Chronicles out, but problems within Konami aren't letting him (I'm guessing they don't think it'll sell - Chronicles wasn't exactly a major seller, though it did do pretty well for itself in the States.) He wants fan feedback to show that there's some demand. He didn't leave any address or anyone to talk to directly, but here's Konami of America's contact page, so have a ball.

Hey Kurt, I was checking out all the Castlevania: Resurrection posts, and I have another reason why the game was tanked. Although what I was told was all off the record, I had a very reliable friend who worked on the project for a short time who claimed that a big reason the game was scrapped was because of egos stemming from Japan. When Resurrection project was given to an American team, feelings were "hurt" overseas. Essentially the Japs didn't think Konami Of America could pull off a 'Vania game. Later, when things started looking good graphically and what-not, certain members of the N64 team and other KOJ people felt threatened at the rate of success the American team was showing. Apparently when the project was well under way there was a lot of micro-management from Japan when initially there was none, and things started getting really bad when there was a move to transfer Resurrection from the U.S. to Japan for revamping and editing. (In the words of my friend "So the Japs could claim it as their own.") I'm sure this isn't the only factor, but apparently it was one of the bigger ones... Cheers, Shadowcat

Interesting enough. It doesn't surprise me, given that it seems companies often have internal strife over the development of the game, and the result is a title that's less than savory.

A Dracula X remake, huh? Frankly, I'd settle for just a direct port, maybe with English voiceovers. But... if you could just go wild, it might be cool to replace the fairly sterile anime scenes with some cool animation. No CG though; they've already shown they're not so capable of that. I'm kind of tired of CG anyway. What might be really neat would be to have some animation based on new artwork by Ayami Kojima. I know some people think her stuff is getting a little tired, but still, she does good work. Not to mention it would match better with Symphony. (Though it might be nice if she gave Richter a haircut that wasn't quite so... fruity.) You know the opening to Shadow of Destiny, where you see Homunculus watching Eike, and it has that kind of grainy effect as if it's a drawing on a piece of paper? Wouldn't it be sweet to have a similar kind of thing from Kojima that would evoke a sense of her complex artistic style? Take the artwork on the box for White Night Concerto for example. Beautiful. Other good things might be to have redone music and/or sounds, extra levels, or secret unlockable goodies, like the Chronicles video. (But don't make it so grainy this time.) In any case, there should be an option that allows you to play the game with whatever new stuff they add, or as the game was originally made. I liked how they did that with Chronicles. It shows that they're not afraid to make some improvements, but still respect the past. Oh, and one last thing. Whatever they decide to name it--hopefully they won't make up something else at random for U.S. release. Christopher Lundgren

As wonderful an artist Kojima is, I'm not sure how well her works would translate when animated - they're simply too detailed, and a lot of the beauty would be lost. And I have to admit I like Dracula X's generic anime look. But yeah, fully animated ones would be quite nice.

Personally, I think Castlevania Chronicles had a rather good set-up, and I think a CC2 featuring a Rondo of Blood remake would be great done in the same style. This means having a main menu from which to choose classic, arranged, or options. Options could feature an art gallery, and original mode would feature the complete original game, including CD audio, which could still be heard in any CD player. The arranged mode should have animated sequences (though that's probably hoping for too much), and the audio for arranged should be XA format, to eliminate the pause when the track starts to repeat. I'd also prefer Japanese and English audio being available, but since that isn't likely, I'd at least hope that they subtitled the Japanese instead of simply deleting the voice-acting altogether and leaving us with only the text. Of course, I'll by it no matter what, but I'd love to see the game remade as I've described. Maybe they could even include Dracula XX for the SNES on it as well? Second Shell

Personally, by dream idea would be this: include both the original PC Engine Dracula X and the SNES Dracula XX, unaltered. Then have some sort of "SUPER DRACULA X MODE!!!" that combines the two into one game - except maybe overhauling the graphics in the SNES to make them less sucky and changing some of the enemy placement to make it less annoying. That would lead to 20+ stages of Castlevania enjoyment.

~Ah the original Dracula X! Well first of all for those of you whom have never played this game you may be wondering why people who have love it so much? I recently picked up a copy myself for, (insert ridiculous amount of cash value here) and I wondered the same thing. But to sum up my feelings, the game is great because it's not so much that it does so many new things... but that it does almost everything that we've come to love about the series (pre- Symphony era) nearly perfect. Or to turn it around, take about 95% of what you hated about the SNES version out and you'll begin to understand. ~My first question is what console would this game be rereleased for? In a recent interview IGA stated that what's keeping him from continuing the Chronicles series is a matter of logistics. Meaning that the PS1 system is getting old, (although if I may point out Square is re-releasing Final Fantasy I & II on it, and last month in the US PS1 games held 3 of the top-ten game sales spots) and also that the Gameboy Advance has different pixel ratios so a perfect port would not be possible. That leaves Gamecube PS2 and Xbox, and somehow I don't see the companies behind these systems becoming too thrilled about a port of a 2-D game that's celebrating it's 9th anniversary. ~Anyway to get back to the topic, what should Konami do with the game. Well comparing it to the last Chronicles there is much room for improvement I feel. I felt that the arranged version of Chronicles 1 was far too similar to the original, especially graphically the enhanced version simply felt rushed to me. ~For Dracula X the original should not be touched, it doesn't need to be. But the enhanced version should have souped up graphics, similar to those "fake" pics that were passed around the net a few years back. Symphony of the Night is one of the few games that I can think of that really pushed Playstation's 2-D power, not even the mighty Saturn's processor was able to handle it's graphical effects. Why can't it's prequel have those kind of effects? ~The sound was great on the first Chronicles, although the Techno beats I think threw most people for a loop. Who should do the soundtrack I can't say, I just wish that the series could stay with the same composers. Their diversity really helped blow up the idea of what both Castlevania and game music in general should be, but to me guys stuck to a series like Final Fantasy's Nobuo Uematsu have only gotten better with age. In fact I dare argue that had he done the music for the FF movie it wouldn't have been so drab). Maybe have newcomer Soshiro Hokkai, (Concerto of the Midnight Sun and Splatterhouse? lol j/k composer) lay down some beats for the Arranged remixes. ~Of course Ayami Kojima should redo the artwork. Which would be interesting to see how she works her magic with a younger Maria, her animal friends, and Camilla, Iris, Tera and Annette. The original artwork for the game was very good, but reminded me very much of a softer lighter style of the original Vampire Hunter D. And then to again be able to unlock her work including her Harmony of Dissonance pieces. ~A second interview with IGA would be cool. A preview of the next game to some extent,... like a playable level :) . I can't think of much more, just that it has twice as many secrets as the first Chronicles. ~Something that you mentioned in the last column. Game Music Online doesn't have the Dracula X soundtrack yet, and if Konami did re-release the soundtrack (hopefully with the Vampire Killer soundtrack is with it, completing my soundtrack collection) Game Music won't get it for a month at least. I had to beg and plead to them to carry the Circle/Concerto soundtrack and when they finally got it the called it "Circle of the moon/Symphony of the Night original soundtrack". Luckily their delivery service is more reliable than their website. ~And as for Vin Diesel,... it could have been anyone in the xXx movie. The end to his 5 minutes are long overdue.

As of this writing, Game Music Online still has the Dracula X re-issue in stock - just make sure you aren't looking at the old out-of-print SM version. This release is very baffling - GMO insists that it's a reprint straight from Konami, but CD Japan doesn't seem to list it, nor does any place else. Further more, the spine cards that come with the CD don't seem to indicate a reissue. Odd.

I have no problem with them redoing the graphics, but that seems very unlikely. For all intents and purposes, it's probably unnecessary - the game looks great as it is, although maybe some special effects here and there would be nice.

And Castlevania actually has a wide variety of composers. Michiru Yamane worked on Bloodlines and Symphony, but that's it. One of the composers did Dracula X and X68k, but didn't work on any others. Most of the arrangements are usually done by someone else entirely. Remixes aren't really as necessary to Dracula X as they were to the X68000 game (since Drac X had CD Audio anyway) but it'd be a nice bonus. Hell, just through on some Dracula Battle tracks and you'd be set.

A remake of Dracula X would be perfect. I myself have never played the game except for the really bad SNES version, so I would like to play it. Especially after SotN. If Konami really is going to re-release Dracula X, they should first of all release it for all three systems. Let the series go back to its roots with the Nintendo Gamecube, while showing PS2 fans the whole purpose of Syphony of the Night. Updating graphics is a must. Even though the original Dracula X graphics where exceptional, consoles today can handle much higher quality. Why not take advantage of it? Konami should also do what they did with the difficulty of the N64 castlevania games. Let the player chose their difficulty. It would give the CV fans who arent that great at video games a chance to beat it, while allowing the very elite who beat the original NES Castlevania to have an even harder quest than that. Konami should also update the soundtrack. Give it SotN sound quality. All though all i can do is hope for these things. Konami may be too stupid to remake this one. After all they were stupid enough to get rid of Snake as the main Character of Metal Gear Solid 2, which I am still mad at them for. I guess we will just have to wait and see what will come in the next few months. And if they do release this, and it is only for GBA, i may have to boycott konami. Pete Jakomin

Well, IGA has stated that any remakes won't be for the GBA, so I think you're safe on that one. But yeah, a difficulty select should be a given.

I'm seeing that, other than a few major titles (mostly American ones, at that), you don't see titles spread across all three platforms. The X-Box and Gamecube are probably the easiest the program for, but the PS2 has by far the biggest market. Since this release would be targeted at mostly hardcore gamers who would mostly have at least a PS2, spreading it across all three consoles would be a big drain on resources with not enough payoff.

Plus Japan hates the X-Box anyway. Bleh.

Personally, I like how Konami is dealing with the Castlevania remakes. The original and the remake on one cd for quite a nice price. I always figured that the first remakes would be of the games that didn't come to the states. If you ask me what I think should be changed in the remake I'd say as little as possible in the way of gameplay and layout. The only thing I'd want is a graphical upgrade and possibly a new music arrangement just for kicks. The biggest thing that should be changed are the cutscenes. They really lack animation. Full-fledged FMV should replace the frame-deprived animation. If they want to add extra stages and cut-scenes I have no problem with that just as long as they don't mess with what's already there and do a quality dub. It's really not gonna take much to impress me with a game like this. Tony T. Tiger

As much as we all like to dream, I think yours is the most down-to-earth suggestions (and probably the most likely.) I'm gathering that they'll probably just do a straight port with some minor enhancements.

Prove me wrong, Konami! Prove me wrong.

Really??? Well... I must say that it is about time! It was simply needed here. Anyway... you want to know what I would want to have updated? Okay... Better drawn/animated cutscenes (keep general artistry, though) Time attack Item crash animation improvements (I wouldn't touch of the other graphics/effects too much) Monster list, DracX artwork, music menu in an options menu Hidden bonuses (like the joke level that is played when your PCE has a system card less than 3.0, different outfits, etc.) Vampire Killer from the MSX (with updated graphics and music, better difficulty balance, continues, and more options) Honestly, I threw in that last one because another CV Chronicles needs to have more than 1 game. I think it would make a great bonus, and it would be the last CV series game not released in any form in the US. Even without these, the new one will be a must buy in my book. Jason K. Henry

I'd say toss Vampire Killer AND Haunted Castle on there. I'm sure they can't be too hard to emulate.

On a completely different tangent, why doesn't Konami release a disc with a lot of their late-80s and early 90s arcade games? Like the ones that didn't get home ports, like both Thunder Cross, Ajax or XEXEX? Sure, we can technically play em on MAME, but it's less fun that way.

Anyway, Harmony of Dissonance is out in English, so none of you have any excuse not to have it by now. No, not even "I don't have the money" or "I don't own a Game Boy Advance" - there are plenty of spoiled rich kids that would gladly relinquish theirs. Not that I'm advocating beating up little kids. Nosiree.

I realize there was already a column on this game, but a lot of the people hadn't played it yet. So, which GBA game is better, Circle or Harmony? Miss the DSS system or is Spell Fusion the way to be? Who kicks the most vampire arse, Nathan or Juste? Etc. Etc. I'm sure you know the drill by now. Maybe I can get the next column up in less than a month.

Kurt, so cold and tired.