Topic: 30 and 20, and 5

[Lumi Kløvstad]

It's now been 30 years since Castlevania made its international debut, and 20 years since Castlevania peaked.

Feel old yet?

• 2017 marks the 30th Anniversary of the NES debut of the original Castlevania*.
• 2017 marks the 20th Anniversary of Symphony of the Night (1997).
• 2017 marks the 5th Anniversary of the last time anyone who cared having anything to do with the series, with Harmony of Despair (2012)**

And what, pray, is Konami going to do to celebrate any of that?

Jack. Shit.

Probably.

I'd LOVE to see them engage in one last round of Franchise Milking, but I think that's overly optimistic at this point. They're simply too far gone to care.

So on this year which marks 3 auspicious birthdays for the franchise... well, I think I'll let Admiral Kirk and Doctor McCoy sum it up for the state of things.


Why is Konami so distant that we must treat this set of birthdays as a funeral? We should be celebrating a history of great games, and a future filled with potential good ones, not mourning the franchise like a beloved but rapidly dying grandfather.

At this point I no longer want potential.
I just want closure and a definitive ending to the franchise with a clearly marked "this is the last game ever" coming out.

Nothing is more goddamn tragic in the video games industry than one of the greatest franchises in its history being dragged into irrelevance.
Konami has now done this with TWO such franchises.

Happy Birthday, Castlevania, and requiesce in pace, mi amice.
We hope it's nice where you and Metal Gear have gone.

*True, it debuted on the Super Famicom a year earlier, but few would argue that the Castlevania legacy doesn't actually begin until it achieved greater popularity on the NES, widely considered the definitive version of the original game.
**My numbers were off regarding lords of Shadow 2 and these have been removed. Apologies. They have been replaced with even more interesting numbers.

[Crying Freeman]

Besides their own franchises they own Hudon's stuff, and a favorite of mine Valis. It wouldn't matter but they aren't doing anything- like why even keep those IPs? Sell them off to another company, one who'd hopefully use those brands

[Shiroi Koumori]

Thanks for reminding me of how old I am...

Replaying the Castlevanias from the days of yore is the only thing we can do nowadays to celebrate and reminisce about the good old days.

[Lelygax]

Besides their own franchises they own Hudon's stuff, and a favorite of mine Valis. It wouldn't matter but they aren't doing anything- like why even keep those IPs? Sell them off to another company, one who'd hopefully use those brands

http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php/topic,8970.0.html

Behold my true form and DESPAIR!!!

[X]

Besides their own franchises they own Hudon's stuff, and a favorite of mine Valis.

I'd love another Valis game that follows the story of the first 4 games. That, and another Super adventure Island title.

[Lelygax]

I'd love another Valis game that follows the story of the first 4 games. That, and another Super adventure Island title.

I fear what they would do with a new Valis game, since the last one was an eroge.

[X]

I fear what they would do with a new Valis game, since the last one was an eroge.

Yeah that was one real f**kup. One of the reasons why I wanted the next Valis game to continue the story of the originals. Just without all the Hentai nonsense    Don't get me wrong here, I think hentai is interesting, but I just don't see it in Valis. It's not what the story is about, nor how it should be portrayed.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

What I want is a farewell pack of 2.5D remakes of the original Castlevania and SOTN with better versions of the Saturn additions to the game.

It won't happen, but it would be a strong ending to the franchise.

[Super Waffle]

For what it's worth, they made a series of 30th anniversary twitter posts that occasionally feature this Sypha cosplayer.

That was kind of nice of them.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

It actually is, which I say with zero sarcasm. If nothing else, highlighting cosplay is an acknowledgment that the fan community exists. It sometimes seems like the only time they even notice us is when they're shutting down a fan project.

Even Konami isn't without some good points. It just sucks that those good points are so minuscule and rare as hell.

[aensland]

2.5D remake of SOTN

Eww, pls no.

[DoctaMario]

Interesting stuff. I bet Konami will resurrect the series at some point, but maybe they're giving it a break to in the hopes that people will forget about LoS2.

That said, I heard that Konami gave their blessing to The Lecarde Chronicles 2 so that could mean that there are some good fan-made games on the way.

[Dremn]

30th Anniversary is quite a milestone. maybe we'll get another box set of music or something, I don't think Konami will do much else to celebrate or anything at all

[Shiroi Koumori]

Interesting stuff. I bet Konami will resurrect the series at some point, but maybe they're giving it a break to in the hopes that people will forget about LoS2.

We will never forget! 

30th Anniversary is quite a milestone. maybe we'll get another box set of music or something, I don't think Konami will do much else to celebrate or anything at all

We would be lucky if Konami makes anything other than pachinkos.

Other gaming companies have better plans for their game anniversaries.

[Eric Roman]

It might have to do with that thought I had a little while back that became a sig.  :p

Next month is The CastleVania Dungeon's 20th and May marks DCTP's.
(I wondered what might be a neat thing to do for my first website...)