Tech: Castlevania meditations

While Konami has certainly had its share of classic franchises (Metal Gear & Contra spring immediately to mind), my personal favorite has always been Castlevania. While the story and characters can be thin at times (okay, pretty much all the time), I don't play games for theatrics - you can get all the "story" you'd ever want from Kojima's stuff, like Metal Gear Solid.

No, Castlevania is an entirely different beast. In every single game, the premise is the same - an evil force is threatening the world, and you have to destroy it and a whole barrelful of disposable monsters.

The early 'Vanias, of course, were typical stage-by-stage affairs, probably reaching their pinnacle with Castlevania III and Rondo of Blood. There was some limited branching and secrets to prompt a second or third playthrough, and typically the Castlevania games were graphical showpieces (Super Castlevania IV for the SNES still holds up today, actually).

This all changed with Symphony of the Night.

Like Oprah on hiatus, Dracula's castle suddenly developed a weight problem - from a series of stages that could be run through in a half-hour, it ballooned into a huge maze that would be about 125 stories high and a few miles long in real life. Nearly everyone loved this new "Metroidvania" or "Castleroid" style...myself included.


Now, here we are, nearly ten years removed from SOTN's release. Every single subsequent 2D Castlevania (ignore the mediocre-to-awful 3D incarnations) has followed the Symphony template. I just finished playing the latest entry, "Dawn of Sorrow" for the DS, and I have to say, it's starting to wear a bit thin. It's obvious "Dawn" was rushed for release on Nintendo's then-fledgling handheld; many of the boss battles are simplistic and the difficulty has been turned way down from "Circle of the Moon."

What would I like to see from the series? In the 3D realm, instead of trying to ape other games (like Devil May Cry or Zelda), I'd like a bold new 2.5D, stage-oriented game, a la New Super Mario Bros. Let's go back to what makes Castlevania games fun - navigating through clever and deadly stages, blowing through hordes of good-looking enemies, and fighting outrageous bosses, not trudging through an endless, repetitive castle in search of the next key ability.

Oh, and lose the double-jump.