Some thoughts on where Castlevania: Judgment could go

By Stephen Munn | July 3, 2008

As the site’s premier fan of all things Castlevania, I’ve had the recent Castlevania announcements swirling in my head for some time now. I’ll be straight with you, I didn’t expect Castlevania: Judgment to be a fighting game. In fact, when online play was tied to the game back when it was trademarked, I was wondering if it was going to be the name of an online leaderboard system that would track player scores in the DS game, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.

Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I’m reasonably excited about the game. As someone who’s beaten nearly every Castlevania game that’s ever existed, I’ve got a lot invested in this franchise and its 20+ years of content. From that perspective, I’d like to share some of what I’d most like to see from this game, and what I fully expect from it.

It’s going to look and sound great, because these games always do.

Experience with the games has shown me that the Castlevania brand always brings with it remarkable graphics and sound. Even when working with the limitations of the NES, Konami’s developers found a way to produce music that was unlike anything in its contemporaries, even prompting Konami to insert custom sound chips into their cartridges in the case of Castlevania III’s Japanese release. This is music that, even in its original form, still holds up today as some of the best chiptune work you’ll find anywhere. The same standard goes for the graphics. Of course, the original Castlevania does not look as good as Order of Ecclesia will, but every game has pushed the boundaries of what we expected from the system it was on in that system’s heyday.

There will be lots of fighters, because Iga likes to drown us with content.

I also expect an exhaustive character roster. Despite the fact that characters like Simon Belmont, John Morris, and Nathan Graves might all be fighting using the same weapon, the Vampire Killer whip, they’re still all reasonably likely to appear in the game. One thing Koji Igarashi has become known for in his tenure as steward of the franchise is choking the player with content. Every Castlevania since Symphony of the Night has been packed to the bat-heavy rafters with ridiculous healing items like hamburgers (hey, that zombie dropped a hamburger, eat it) and weapons that just make no sense (grab that deck brush, it will be great for clearing out these flea men). A character roster of at least twelve is what I expect. I hope for twice that, and would consider Grant Danasty a minor victory, while Charlotte Aulin would be a major one.

The localization will disappoint me, because it always does.

Despite some impressive voice acting in the most recent console Castlevania, I fully expect to be annoyed by a sloppy localization job in Judgment. These games are known for a lack of attention to comfortable translation, and fighting games are where this is perhaps worst of all the genres. The high production values in Soul Calibur II fell flat on their face every time one of the characters said something. And that was Namco, a company known for their fighting games. Capcom and SNK are no better.

The camera will make us very, very angry.

Every 3D Castlevania has been plagued with the same issue most 3D action games have: the camera is your worst enemy. Lament of Innocence tried fixing the camera in place, like in Devil May Cry. You spent half the game running toward the camera. Curse of Darkness gave you complete control over the camera. You spent half the game turning it around to face the right way.

The camera is particularly concerning here. Monsters will be interfering in the fights. You will probably have to dispatch some zombies in the middle of a fight. If you have full control over your character to let you do this, meaning you’re not locked facing them like you are in Soul Calibur, there are going to be camera issues. Will the camera pan back as you run off to kill a monster? Will it turn constantly, making you seasick? What’s going to happen?

How are we going to fight online on Wii?

Nintendo couldn’t even nail down online play in Super Smash Bros Brawl. How is a third party going to manage? There are a couple of thoughts. Firstly, online play in Smash Bros seems to work well with only two players. Trying to fight with four doesn’t really ever work properly. This appears to be a two player game, so that might not be an issue. Secondly, Konami has their own servers, as anyone who’s tried Metal Gear Online can attest to. We can expect a Konami online game on Wii to require a Konami login, which could mean better performance than we’d see over Nintendo WiFi Connection.

Talk to me about controllers.

At this time, all we’re hearing is we’ll move with the analog stick on the Nunchuk and attack with the Wii Remote using motion. That’s fine, I promise to try it. I want word from Konami that if I don’t like that, I can pick up a Classic Controller or Gamecube controller and play that way instead. I’ve always been a proponent for multiple control schemes, but I’m not convinced Iga will let us play the game our way, rather than his. We’ll see though, because he says one of the reasons they went with a fighting game was they couldn’t see an adventure game working on Wii due to motion controls tiring people out after hours of play. Of course, that’s a myth. I played Zelda, Metroid and Okami for hours and hours and didn’t get tired. Well, except for the boring parts of Zelda.

Ever the optimist.

In the end, I’m obviously filled with hope. This is my favorite game franchise, and it hasn’t disappointed me in a long time. The Castlevania Adventure on Game Boy sucks, and that’s pretty much it. I’m looking forward to pitting my heroes and villains against each other, and I’m going to trust Koji Igarashi to do it properly. Still, I’ll keep a grip on my oak stake… just in case.