In Reply To #39
Ah, I did originally think it was a Necromancer in DXX, but given the way people were talking about Shaft's "reduced" role in DXX, I assumed I had been wrong and that it was supposed to be Shaft. At any rate, Shaft's exclusion from DXX still doesn't contradict his presense in SotN. Nor does the lack of being able to play as Maria in DXX contradict her involvement in SotN. The only point that seems to be a problem is Maria's ancestory. I'm going to assume that the mention of Maria being a distant Belmont relative was in the original Japanese Rondo script, because I haven't come across anything indicating that in the DXC remake. It really doesn't make much of a difference, and it is a minor plot consideration at best. It's almost as ridiculous as worrying if Simon's hair is brown or pink in canon.
Also, that's interesting about the inclusion of the N64 Castlevanias and CotM in the PoR timeline pre-order bonus. I could see CotM still being a "viable" cross-promotion, but The N64 Castlevanias have been out of production for many years, and were made for a Nnintendo console now two generations obselete, unless Konami was thinking ahead, over a year in advance, of releasing those titles for Nintendo's Virtual Console.