Topic: Was 'Castlevania Bloodlines' going to be called 'Castlevania Chronicles'?

[LuxKiller65]

So, I was reading some old thread about a guy hacking his way through the game's data, and a quote came up about the 'Castlevania Bloodlines Ver. 0.5 Beta', of which you can find more information and pictures right here.

Now see what the 11th post says:

The rom is dated 07-10-1993, Beta 0.5, internal header CASTLEVANIA CHRONICLES 09, region free, an earlier build of the US version (only the title, no bg or blood pouring, 1993 copyright) with unique stuff

What? The internal ROM name is 'CASTLEVANIA CHRONICLES 09'? How did we miss that? Well, the prototype cart itself and the title screen are 'Castlevania Bloodlines' already, so that must have been a very early internal/working title.

For more information, I checked the US trademarks...
- Bloodlines was filed on 2 June 1993 and registered on 7 March 1995. It expired on 10 December 2005.
- Chronicles was filed on 14 August 2001 and registered on 30 September 2003. It has not yet expired.

Tends to confirm 'Chronicles' was dropped pretty soon, as it was not filed until the PlayStation episode was planned. More of my two cents and then I'm done:

1- 'Bloodlines' and 'Chronicles' are kind of related. They both give the idea of something from the past, a tale of ancient heroes/family members, of History flowing from the past and shaping the present. It seems believable that someone thought 'Bloodlines' fit better than 'Chronicles'. They kept a similar concept.

2- The logical conclusion is that Konami did not freshly come up with 'Chronicles' (or 'Chronicle' in Japan) for the PlayStation port of the X68000 episode, but that they just dug back an old internal title from a previous episode. We also know IGA worked on Rondo of Blood, which was being developed at the same time as Bloodlines. If the Mega Drive title was codenamed 'Chronicles', than I can see why he went back to the same title when he produced 'Chronicles' for the PlayStation.

Let me know your thoughts

[X]

What I'm really waiting for is a rom of the prototype of Bloodlines to hit the internet. But I guess the owner of the cart is worried it will decrease the value. However I don't think he's going to sell it off so he really shouldn't have anything fear in that regard.

[zangetsu468]

What I'm really waiting for is a rom of the prototype of Bloodlines to hit the internet. But I guess the owner of the cart is worried it will decrease the value. However I don't think he's going to sell it off so he really shouldn't have anything fear in that regard.

Well once you leak it and people have access to it then nobody but a wealthy collector is going to buy it. Plus it would kill the mystery. Arguably it would devalue from that point.

[LuxKiller65]

This thread is to discuss to title found inside the 0.5 US beta

If you want to talk about the beta itself, there are existing threads:
here
and here

[X]

Yep, we know 

As to why it was originally titled chronicles is beyond me. Far more-so then the Beta game is.

[Nagumo]

Interestingly enough, the filing date for the "Castlevania Bloodlines" trademark was June 2th 1993, eight days before the date mentioned on the beta. 

[LuxKiller65]

Not exactly.
0.1 --> ROM dated 1993/August/4
0.5 --> ROM dated 1993/October/7
So the trademark was filed around 2 months before the very early beta, which contains a single playable level. Still makes sense, if the working title was chosen at the beginning of the project (2 months to come up with a playable level makes sense, and then 2 more months and 4-5 levels were playable).

[Nagumo]

Interesting. There's a magazine called MegaDrive Fan that showed some screenshots in its July issue. It's only from the very beginning of the game, though. So it must have been from when the game had barely started development.

[LuxKiller65]

Do you remember how they call the game in that issue? Or if you have a pic of the article

[Sindra]

They called it Vampire Killer...since it was a Japanese magazine and that was the Japanese Bloodlines title.

[Nagumo]

Do you remember how they call the game in that issue? Or if you have a pic of the article

Here you go.

[LuxKiller65]

Ha-ha, thanks, that's nice. I see they used the same shot twice, probably meaning they had absolutely nothing else to show. Looks very similar to this exact spot in the final game:



I haven't seen footage or screens from either betas (0.1/0.5) showing the intro part of the 1st level, so this screenshot is all I have. Obvious differences:
- There is a sword skeleton in the beta
- The general colour rendering seems much brighter (soil, grass...) in the beta
- There is some kind of skull on a pole in the background in the beta. There is one in the final, but it's located at the very beginning, and it looks different (larger, different colour). The beta skull looks much more "impaled" than the final one, which is moving. I've always found that moving skull very silly. Kills the horror atmosphere right from the very first screen of the game.
- No green stuff/mold on the stone wall at the back in the beta

(1)We don't see the info bar at the top. I suggest it was there, but maybe had debug/dev info in it, so they didn't show it (or Konami asked not to show it, or Konami sent the screen already cut like this).

(2) The bottom part with the pillars and moving grass is also not shown. Looks like again the screen was cut right where the animated grass would be. Either it was not implemented or still in the works. There should be a pillar visible on the left or right of the screen, or it could be right in between, where both aren't visible. Hard to tell exactly, as the screen is cut on all sides.


Regarding the sprite of Johnny 'My boy' Morris, looks a bit different from the final.

- Whip position/curving doesn't match the final one.
- Whip colour doesn't match anything I know. It looks white/greyish.
- Leg position is different. The right leg is bending back and you almost don't see the left leg. Final sprite has the left leg bending back, showing more of it.
- White shirt and light-brown boots seem to have different colouring and pattern on them.
EDIT: And of course the way he holds the whip is quite different, how did I miss that

[TheTextGuy]

God, I kinda wish that a ROM of a prototype could surface already!  It's always interesting to see how things change over time, and also check out what things they took out.  What's the blimp level like?  What's the lava section like?  Granted, it's probably going to be nothing mind blowing, but it's just nice to know.  The only sad thing is that we probably won't see any official recreations of those lost levels from Konami.

Also this makes me wonder if a port of Akuamjou X68000 could work with the Genesis/Mega Drive could work (albeit with obvious cutbacks).   A Castlevania Chronicles on the Genesis/MD if you will.

[LuxKiller65]

The zeppeling level looks... like this:

screen1 screen2 screen3 screen4 screen5 screen6 screen7

These captures are from a French guy who purchased the ROM (not actual cart) of the North American 0.5 beta. I believe they were taken using a repro cart that a Spanish contact of him did for him, by burning the ROM onto salvaged carts and printing a fake sticker.