The Castlevania Thread

[HYB]

I would, if Sony allowed Play-Asia to ship to the best continent out there. But they suck balls so I'll have to find another way to get it! Screw Sony and Konami. Screw everybody actually.

And don't make fun out of me!

:-|

I feel you luxkiller,I feel you. I'm so mad about the shipping,urgh! The first chance EVER for me to buy a limited edition pack straight when it comes out and they don't ship to EU. If you find another way pretty please and cheesecake if you let me know.

[LuxKiller65]

Sure thing.

Like if it wasn't enough that we pay games more than anybody else on Earth, now we don't even get to buy imports from that major website. I think my hatred of Sony only equals that of IGA.

http://www.forumzone.it/faccine/103.gif

[HYB]

Oh I know. I mean,we get to wait thousands of years before the games come out here. Like,Pokemon battle revolution (shut up, I like my pokeymans) came out in the US a while ago and it's coming later this month in europe.

And don't get me started on Metroid prime. The US release was on my birthday and two weeks of waiting was like hell.

Then,while the US gamers buy things for like what, 40 dollars and they think that's overpriced while I buy a new game for 50-70e. And everything costs an assload in Finland anyway, no wonder why everyone mods their consoles and buys the russian copies. And no imports, ridiculous.

My hatered for Sony rose to a whole new level. I might skip on the ps3 even if I found it in a trashcan.

You're sweet though Luxkiller XD. Everything that can get me Castlevanias is sweet. Which reminds me to go through my game mag collection for any CV including issues.

EDIT

HA! Found some issues, two with castlevania LoI stuff and one with AoS. In one corner there was a castlevania history thing, It had an oddball so I'm scanning it to show you.

They were listing the original Jap. games with the european releases and some US ones if they shared a different name. If there was an european release of Rondo on pc engine, I would know. This is just in time for the DXC release too.

http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f59/Hybreed666/?action=view&current=img025.jpg

[Arasoi]

Footage of Maria playable in the DXC re-release of SOTN has surfaced.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u6t7PnrJPN8

Mixed feelings on this for me. I like the new animations (especially the standing animation) but I enjoyed her adult form having a whole new moveset in the Saturn NITM port, and in this PSP port she simply has all of Rondo Maria's moves instead.

Not that this is a bad thing, I just wish she had been given something new instead of a rehash. I suppose it might have been done so people werent confused when they played as her after playing Rondo.

[Cinder6]

Well...I'm simply ecstatic she's even in DXC at all. I hadn't realized she would be (I stopped following the game months ago, because I thought, stupidly, everything was known about it). I do prefer her NitM moveset, but we have to admit she was way overpowered in that game.

And...did they change the voice acting? If so, this is a dark day for video games.

[Arasoi]

The game was re-translated, and apparently all of the voices were redone. I have a feeling Alucard is going to sound just a bit different. (Those who haven't heard his Japanese voice would be surprised)

[Cinder6]

I am sad now.

[Blitzwing256]

I really liked the voices from the original us release, these ones (especially the ferry man) sound totally halfassed and terrible, but hey at least we can um play it again on a crappy handheld...or something

btw is there any confirmation that the extra areas from the saturn port are included?

[LuxKiller65]

IGAvanias suck.

[Arasoi]

I really liked the voices from the original us release, these ones (especially the ferry man) sound totally halfassed and terrible, but hey at least we can um play it again on a crappy handheld...or something

btw is there any confirmation that the extra areas from the saturn port are included?

From what I understand, they are not included. But we will see I guess. I don't think it is likely because of how poorly they fit in with the rest of the game aesthetically. (I will miss that big ugly tree from the Underground Garden though. Don't ask me why.)

[Cinder6]

Hey, that ugly tree is awesome. Oh, and they need to add the Sprint Shoes.

[MarkMan]

Posting for a close friend of mine, would anyone be interested in a UMD advance build of Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles or know anyone that would be interested in it? Please spread the word...

[Arasoi]

PM sent.

[PallarAndersVisa]

loosely castlevania related

The new Black Dahlia Murder cd "nocturnal" has a song called "What a horrible night to have a curse"

read the lyrics, its pretty :)

[HYB]

When I heard vampire killer in the trailer...

I swear to god I had an orgasm.

I'm really looking forward to the game, especially since the original rondo is playable. I still want the LE pack dammit. It's coming out next month, at least in europe.

I'm sad about the SotN voice acting. No more of my favorite lines. HYUUMANSS. I love to act it out in english class just because I'm an ass. It's classic.

[LuxKiller65]

PM sent.

Let me know how much you paid for it!

:ass:

[Arasoi]

http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n53854275

For those who bid on Yahoo Japan, heres a nice PoR/GoL promo poster. I already have one, so thought Id share with any other collectors and such.

Some of the sellers are blacklisting deputy services on their auctions, I got a CoD phonecard from a seller, they turned around and blocked my deputy service from another card they were selling.

Shame.

[LuxKiller65]

Did he block them after you had paid?

:beaten:

They're so racist for real - sometimes when I bid, they just cancel my auctions: I bid over and over, they cancel over and over until they decide to block me. Or they simply can't wait three days for my payment. WTF? Who do they think they are, really? They stink.

[camarotuner]

Today thanks to my wonderful boss I got cover art for the new Dracula X Chronicles signed by the creator of the Castlevania series who signed in with a silver sharpie in Japanese! This things so sweet. If I had a clue how to post pictures I would.

[Arasoi]

Wow, nice. This was from the latest Iga signing yes? People report he was a pretty nice fellow.

[camarotuner]

It was at the GS managers meeting in Vegas. Yeah from what the boss says he's a hell of a nice guy and was talking about how much he enjoyed bioshock.

[Arasoi]

Since you're here, I got the promo box insert the other week, its pretty cool. Its in a case sitting happily with a couple versions of COD. Thanks!

Also, not that I usually play ROMs, but heres an interesting hack of HoD with Simon, Julius, and even Megaman and Mario playable..:

http://www.cvmsl.net/punkemnx/blog/article.asp?id=14

Normal Character:Juste/Maxim/Simon
Extra Character:Julius/Mega Man/Mario/Devil Juste
Name Entry:Juste/Simon/Julius/Maxim/Tonyjih/Punkemnx/Justex

It's glitchy, but amusing for a little bit.

[Kitsune Sniper]

AAAAAARGH!

I stumbled upon what I thought was an first run print of Symphony of The Night for PS1. I run for the case, and what do I see?

The manual is there. The back inlay is there. BUT THE GAME IS NOT. ;_; I convinced the booth owner to give me the case and stuff for $3. He said that if the game had been there, he would've sold it to me for $5. ;____________________;

Dammit dammit dammit dammit!

[MarioMania]

AAAAAARGH!

I stumbled upon what I thought was an first run print of Symphony of The Night for PS1. I run for the case, and what do I see?

The manual is there. The back inlay is there. BUT THE GAME IS NOT. ;_; I convinced the booth owner to give me the case and stuff for $3. He said that if the game had been there, he would've sold it to me for $5. ;____________________;

Dammit dammit dammit dammit!

Someone took the game :(

[Cinder6]

Just out of curiosity, how do you tell if a game is a first run print?

[Arasoi]

It depends on the item, but I can explain a couple:

Castlevania Bloodlines original release has a black plastic clamshell case like normal genny games, the majesco re-release has a red cardboard box and a black and white manual.

Super Castlevania 4's original and re-release boxes look identical except for a majesco copyright on the lower right hand corner on the back of the box. Majesco re-release also has a B&W manual.

PS1 US greatest hits have a green stripe on the front, Japanese PSONE and Greatest Hits re-releases have maroon or white borders with white or yellow text, DS/PS2 re-releases also have white borders around the boxart in US or Japan.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Someone took the game :(

Not exactly. The seller had several PS1 games in different CD cases. A rap CD case had Resident Evil 2's Claire disc! A country one had Twisted Metal II GH, and so on.

Damn my luck.

[Arasoi]

Well I got the DXC beta UMD today, and went out and got a PSP slim. (very nice handheld BTW, solves all the problems of the original PSP)

I have to say that the thing that surprised me most was the play control. Its very sharp, almost exactly like the original Rondo. The graphics are nice, with the cutscenes done in realtime in the environments which is pretty cool.

The presentation is much different than the original Rondo of course, one of the few things that disappointed me was that the characters are not as expressive during their cutscenes, they instead use a still piece of Kojima artwork next to dialog text ala SOTN etc. I expected it, still kind of a bummer.

The music is a mixed bag, I'll be recording a couple mp3s from the headphone jack in a couple days to share.

[HYB]

You guys have so much money it's unfair.

I'm still waiting for my CoD european music sampler. Too bad ebay hasn't had anything juicy lately, I'm still mad that I didn't get that LoI special edition. And probably will never get the DXC le pack by the looks of it, unless I find it on ebay and pay millions.

I have to start putting money away slowly to get those damn tattoos as well. I want you heart refresh graphic! You guys have it easy not having to choose between body mods or gaming stuff.

Yahoo! Japan auctions are really tempting. I really want the HoD card and the spinecard for saturn symphony. I'm just too chicken to bid with shopping mall japan. The akumajo dracula book (the really old one) is tempting too as is the PoR promo poster.

There's also some postcard sized things of Kojima artwork, Soma and Dracula. I'm wondering if they're just printed out or if konami ever made those kind of things.

[Arasoi]

Those postcard sized artworks are just printouts, a friend of mine bought some like that of Chronicles art off YJ and they looked like they came out of an inkjet printer. Buyer beware.

More on DXC:

Oddly not all the artwork is Kojima's, the character select protraits for Richter and Maria are by another artist, and I think they look great. I wouldnt have minded that artist used instead of Kojima so we could have more expressive characters, but it would essentially have relegated Kojima's art to the box cover. Ah well.

The hit detection still needs work in this beta, but due to the physics of characters falling/bouncing in 3D you can get some pretty amusing deaths with Maria if you time her right to bounce on enemies, or into a pit.

Speaking of Maria, she takes MAD damage, unlike Rondo. One hit from an enemy takes off about 1/3 of her life, so you have to play smart with her.

[HYB]

Yeah, I tought the things were fishy when I looked at them, since I've never heard of any character artwork postcards being officially printed. I wonder about the HoD one though.

I think Kojima is pretty much the best artist CV has had, even though many of her CV stuff is very un-expressionless (hey,it's still far better than let's say, Marta Dahlig). Her other work shows far more emotions in my opinion. I'd really like to see the work of the other artists, I really liked the one that did pics for DoS and PoR (the OZ artist whose name I never found). Those pics really saved DoS and Por from total lack of respect (visually) on my part. I like anime, but keep it off my CV. It's just an opinion as a future concept designer (oh noes I rule your future gaming experiences).

Oh, and I'm glad Maria's not so god-mod anymore.

[Arasoi]

Oh, the HOD postcard is actually real, I have one of those. Tell-tale signs of fakeness would be a white background, like it was printed from scanned art or whatnot.

[LuxKiller65]

But one seller says it was a give-away at some Japanese event... Is that just a lie or is Konami printing their stuff in bad quality (which wouldn't surprise me, since they stopped making true videogames after CV64)?

[mills]

damn rye, I need to make a trip down there and play that and some other stuff!

[HYB]

Yeah, I tought at least the HoD one was real since there were some postcards made. The Kojima character cards looked really fishy. All postcards I've seen have been full background and everything, the official art Kojima made. Never individual characters.

[Arasoi]

But one seller says it was a give-away at some Japanese event... Is that just a lie or is Konami printing their stuff in bad quality (which wouldn't surprise me, since they stopped making true videogames after CV64)?

I can't confirm if the seller's claim is true, but I can say that either way they're pretty crummy items official or not. The print quality may partially tell the tale, my friend said it looked like there was jpeg compression present, as opposed to clean PSDs that press or Konami would use.

[Ed Oscuro]

So, if I can print something with a PSD, I can sell it for the big bux? Somebody's got their priorities out of whack...when a "Castlevania collectible" can be forged on an inkjet printer we have problems.

[camarotuner]

Just found out today Dracula X Chronicles pre-order customers will receive the SDCC 8-Bit looking Simon Belmont toy. So is this thing going to be differant from the SDCC one or not? If not, boy that should just slaughter any remaining value of that piece.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Just found out today Dracula X Chronicles pre-order customers will receive the SDCC 8-Bit looking Simon Belmont toy. So is this thing going to be differant from the SDCC one or not? If not, boy that should just slaughter any remaining value of that piece.

... what value?

It looks like something a Mexican bootlegger would sell in a corner for fifty cents!

[roushimsx]

It looks like something a Mexican bootlegger would sell in a corner for fifty cents!

I'd totally spend 50 cents on it. Hell, I might go all the way up to 75 cents.

[Arasoi]

I thought it was kind of cool looking, but then I always liked pixel art =)

[Kitsune Sniper]

I thought it was kind of cool looking, but then I always liked pixel art =)

Oh, I like pixel art too. But I thought that crappy thing looked like it had been put through four or five different antialiasing filters AT THE SAME TIME. :(

[Ed Oscuro]

Just found out today Dracula X Chronicles pre-order customers will receive the SDCC 8-Bit looking Simon Belmont toy. So is this thing going to be differant from the SDCC one or not? If not, boy that should just slaughter any remaining value of that piece.
"I picked it up with my preorder" doesn't carry the same cachet that "...at some special event" does, hmm?

Unrelated, but did anybody here know that my copy of the Famicom Dracula game was shipped from the USS Kitty Hawk (iirc)? Now THAT'S some bragging right!

[Arasoi]

http://rapidshare.com/files/59423151/DXC_01.zip.html

[HYB]

For Luxkiller and any european gamer out to get the LE pack.

Himeyashop.com offers the normal, LE and LE+soundtrack packs, AND they ship to Europe. I just ordered mine today so hoorah!

[Arasoi]

Good find.

And I see this thread finally got dumped into classic discussions XD

More music:

http://rapidshare.com/files/60154209/DXC-2.zip.html

[HYB]

I'm thinking of doing a cosplay on next summers San Diego Comicon (i'll be going to visit a friend in murrieta, 24 hour flight of doom from Finland) and I have a few chars that I could cosplay.

The top on my list are Juste, Julius, Leon and Joachim but I could throw in Soma too since he is my favorite (female versions, just the costume that will be modded a little to suit the female form). I wanted some opinions on who would be the best one, or if you guys have someone else in mind (I like heroes with long flowy jackets haha). I won't be doing the wig things since my long ass dreads would get in the way and my face would be full of metal anyway.

I'm kinda on the side of Juste or Julius atm since leathery materials are a pain in the ass to get (in Leon's case) and I haven't gotten to play either LoI or CoD yet so I would prefer some of the older heroes (minus DoS and PoR).

[Arasoi]

http://aremke.deviantart.com/art/How-the-Mighty-Have-Fallen-25178501

Interesting picture, also interesting post describing it.

[HYB]

I've seen that pic before since I'm a member of devart.

I still like the Kojima look more, maybe because I'm a sucker for her art but I gotta agree with one thing. What the hell is up with that feather boa.

Other than that, I'm fine with the story like it is right now. Sure it's got plotholes but I don't care as long as I get to play the damn game (and every series has their plotholes, I mean look at sonic). Both versions have their goods and bads. I like the original CVs just as much as I like the newer ones.

Oh, and here's something hilarious from a fellow finnish artist that most of you have probably seen by now. I cannot stop laughing at this even though I even have it printed in my nintendo messenger bag.

http://setzeri.deviantart.com/art/Dracula-has-good-Voice-Acting-56167325

[Arasoi]

Some recently acquired items. A couple nice phone cards, posters, guides, and a rare superplay VHS.

http://www.twin-bell.com/v.cgi?u16564805

http://www.twin-bell.com/v.cgi?n58382726

http://www.twin-bell.com/v.cgi?m41588138

http://www.twin-bell.com/v.cgi?r40462881

http://www.twin-bell.com/v.cgi?105832263

http://www.twin-bell.com/v.cgi?n59333772

And some other things I didnt link to. I'll take a photo of it all probably mid november, too much stuff arriving to keep track of x.x

[HYB]

Aww come on Arasoi, save some for us too XD.

Your damn impressive collection is making me doubt my cheek piercings already. Piercings or CV stuff DAMN YOU. I already decided and you make it hard XD.

I'm trying to bid on CV4..and super metroid and alttp and super mario rpg.

Well,at least I can be happy of the fact that I still have some of the most rarest items inside Finland. Even though I try to buy other games too.

Btw,just 2 days ago there was an auction for super complete copies of CV1 and 2. They had everything, even the registeration card for CV2 and were mint. I was so pissed I didn't win either of them because of my piercing budget.

Oh well, It's birthday time next month. I swear if I was turnin 18 I would get that heart refresh sprite tattooed in addition to the CV wrist tattoo. Ugh, just a year more.

[Arasoi]

Speaking of tats, I thought you might enjoy this:

http://castlevania.classicgaming.gamespy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135.0

[HYB]

That is wicked. Too bad the quality's kinda shit. That's why I want to wait. A friend of mine is a tattoo artist but I prefer a guy who does excellent blackwork.

I will be covered in old school VG tattoos. I'll be having an 8-bit heroes arm (nobody had ever done 8-bit as a sleeve or a full sleeve I think), A nintendo controller on my back, a Zelda tattoo, in addition to 8-bit Simon at least 3-4 other CV tattoos and some other shit.

Maybe I'll tattoo the beef min. I'm a jackass like that.

[RadiantSvgun]

Hey, does anyone know what the promo item that came with Dracula X on PCE? There are pics of something of it on the castlevaniadungeon site, but it doesn't tell what it is.

[LuxKiller65]

@HYM: thanks a lot for the info about that site.

@Arasoi: I knew some occidental collector had to bid on the VHS. God, I also knew I was going to be you. And oh my God, I knew you would pay a lot for it and therefore get it.

@Radiant: I haven't seen anything official for the moment.

@World: DXC sucks.

[Arasoi]

Lux, DXC rocks. =P

Radiant, the promo item you're referring to is a Dracula X: Chi No Rondo coin bank. I've seen it on YJ now and then, but it's pretty darn rare.

[RadiantSvgun]

Coin bank? Man, thats awesome! I thought it was an action figure for the longest.

[HYB]

No problem Lux. After all you said you'd link me but I managed to find a store first so I though it'd be appropriate to link it.

Coinbanks. Now that would be awesome. I love rare collectors items.

[LuxKiller65]

Well, nice anyway.

;)

I love rare items too, but I hate rich bidders more.

[HYB]

Ugh, tell me about it. Seeing everything costs a lot in europe anyway I rarely have any cash to buy,let's say Vampire Killer. That game almost costs more than Symphony ltd. Look at auction, it has what, 6 days left and it has tons of bids going over 33£ on it. It's stupid.

One other thing I hate is when I miss an auction by a few minutes just because I forgot. Like yesterday, I was stalking on a CV4 bid, then a friend came over and I forgot. It was in a really good condition too and sold for only 10£. I missed it by 3 minutes.

[LuxKiller65]

That happens to me too way too often. That's the problem when one wants to bid at the last minute...

:monkey:

Sometimes, I really want to eat my fingers off when I see the final price, knowing I would have paid a lot more.

Oh well, back on topic (which topic?)...

I heard DXCoconut will have three different limited crappy editions, given Konamistyle Japan. What's the problem with them?

[HYB]

Yeah, tell me about it. I was forcing myself not to cry after I lost the cv4 one (it's a game I've been wanting for ages).

I dunno about three different limited editions. All I know is they're churning out the regular one, the limited edition one and the limited edition one with the soundtrack.

[mills]

damn it, that heart refresh tatoo was my idea bathead you know that. I do plan on getting it someday. kkok :)

[Arasoi]

Lately, I have pondered selling my collection piecemeal or in one lot. Not entirely sure yet.

I guess an interest check thread would be more appropriate, but oh well.

Just curious to see if anyone would be interested at all.

http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/multi/collector-protogem.htm

[camarotuner]

YOU sell your collection???? That's like Barry Bonds tying Hank Aarons record then walking off the field with a "oh the hell with it". Seriously though, if your serious that is, piecemeal. Your collection is too large and full of too "high end" type pieces. Those pieces are sought after by serious collectors who already have collections and don't want to buy your entire collection to get just that piece. But putting the "regular" type pieces as a lot would work well. Castlevania collectors will already typically have most of the regular games and such. But the arcade board, posters, collectors editions, foreign stuff, that'd go piecemeal.

Or hell, try to sell it on Ebay as the biggest collection of Castlevania items available at one time. But some stupid high price on it. Might work.

[HYB]

I'd buy your entire collection if I had the money. It's crazy though, the idea of you selling your collection. Anyway I would buy if you'd sell, at least things that I don't have (the entire collection almost,piece by piece). I just don't want to ebay auction bid things because auctions always manage to give me shit.

[Arasoi]

Well, I decided to hold off selling for now. I think I'll take a break after the latest batch of stuff arrives though, I'm past 200 items now and for games I'm only really looking for odd/rare cameo titles like Battle Tryst anyway.

I'll post a huge batch of stuff in November and ease my pocketbook until next year methinks.

[HYB]

I can say it's a good choice. If you decided to sell and your lack of enthusiasm was just temporary it'd be pretty ugly.

I bought PoR yesterday and I've breezed through to the Stella and Loretta boss battle. Still a long way to go though, but I'm enjoying this one immensly.

The demon maids and their vacuum cleaners always amuse me.

[Arasoi]

Looks like the 8 bit Simon preorder figure that comes with the US DXC is different than the brown comicon one, namely it's a repaint from the same mold in CV2 Simons Quest colors.

I hate repaints, the shittiest thing is that the announcement of its difference came late in the game, before anybody knew it was different from the CV1 colored Comicon one everyone else made their preorders.

Repaints and different heads and such shenannigans are an annoying part of the aciton figure collecting game for sure.

Ebay ahoy!

[HYB]

UGH!

I hate when that happens. Than happens to be why I also hate re-releases of games. Now I need to get both and I'll end up paying myself sick. I'm also pissed because in Finland we never get any cool stuff from gamestop with pre-orders, only the stupid reservation fee (and gutted "new" games).

I declare shenanigans.

[Arasoi]

We Americans rarely get anything good pre-order wise from gamestop either, so dont fret it.

(Employees snagging bonuses before customers, poor shipments, incompetence, and other crap)

[LuxKiller65]

Japan is the wolf, America the white sheep and Europe the black sheep.

Anyway, I'm sure you know there is one object in your collection I'd go out naked for.

:-P

All right, not just one, but you see the one I mean.

@HYB: I'm pretty sure you blocked me on MSN because of my silly nickname that popped out when I added you. Right?

:D

[RadiantSvgun]

Today is the day! Dracula X day that is.

[Arasoi]

That it is, another fine release day for Castlevania fandom.

First one I'm less than totally excited about, but buying a Beta version a month early does have its downfalls.

On the bright side, there will be a big influx of activity on all the Castlevania communities because of the new release. Good times.

Oh, I'd forgotten to mention somebody dumped the ISO of the full release game yesterday or the day before. I didn't bother getting it since I've been done with the game for about 2 weeks, but I guess it's out there somewhere for those looking to "sample" the goods =P

[Arasoi]

Well I didn't get the commercial release of the game today, but I did get a pre-order bonus for it locally.

Kind of cool really, I was buying Capcom Classics Remixed on PSP at Gamestop and inquired about DXC offhand, and the preorder bonus being limited (I didnt preorder). I got into a little conversation about it and the Gamestop employee gave me his new CV2 Simon for signing up for the Gamestop card. (I'm in there often enough)

It's likely he gets a commission or whatnot for signing people up, but it was still cool of him to give up his own bonus.

+1 positive Gamestop stories, and +1 Arasoi eating humble pie for badmouthing the place so much.