Topic: Bloodletting and Resurrection: What Might Have Been

[Lumi Kløvstad]

By this point, surely EVERYONE knows the tale of the two infamous cancellations of the series: The Bloodletting on the Sega 32X and Resurrection on the Dreamcast.

Of course, PicesDreams is a bit of a self-made expert on The Bloodletting due to... reasons.

But whereas a sizable chunk of Bloodletting's team and assets went to work on Symphony of the Night, refining and reforming what Bloodletting had been meant to be, Resurrection was simply... lost. The only mention that was ever made of Resurrection after happened well over a decade later, when co-star Victor Belmont showed up in Lords of Shadow as an in-name-only cameo.

Resurrection would have featured the return of Sonia Belmont in full 3D and while we don't have much to go on, it's very probable that the end result would have been very similar to a blending of Legacy of Darkness and Lament of Innocence.

Of course, we know that both games got canceled. Bloodletting for the 32X was presumably canceled as soon as Konami discovered it was being developed for the 32X instead of something more respectable, and Resurrection was canceled due to the Dreamcast's poor health in the global market.

Both projects informed future developments in the series, but it saddens me that they won't ever see the light of day.

PicesDream's fangame does NOT COUNT. (Sorry buddy)

Let discussion ensue.

[piscesdreams]

Ha, of course my version doesn't count. Chalk that shitty game up to two years of unemployment and learning programming.

I have heard that there were screenshots in EGM I believe of Bloodletting. I've never seen these though, and have always wanted to. There really isn't a whole lot known about it besides the few character sprites, general story and details we already know. If anyone has those screenshots, if they even exist, please post. I'm dying to see them.

Resurrection was a game I was super pumped for. At the time it was graphically jaw dropping. We've all seen the short videos of the game I am sure. Personally though, I don't really think the games would have been the CV renaissance like SOTN was, unless Bloodletting was to have the metroidvania style of gameplay.

These games are a bit like the holy grail to me, and while I think Bloodletting could have been profitable on another platform, I have to wonder why Konami ditched it altogether in favor of SOTN besides having more faith in it. That's the only conclusion I can ever draw.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

that shitty game

I thought it was pretty good.

But while I was out, I thought of something interesting: relaunch Castlevania with a mini-franchise titled "Lost Tales" or something like that, where they basically took the canceled and non-canon entries in the series and (re)make them for real, and tie it together as a separate canon like Lords did. In the new canon, Sonia Belmont IS the progenitor of the clan, and the Schneider clan takes the place of the Morris family, and you have smaller groups with no connection to the Belmonts like the Baldwin's operation fighting the good fight on a smaller and unrelated scale.

So you could have a canon like

ReLegends-1450
ReCircle of the Moon - moved to 1730
Resurrection -1897 (taking the place of Bram Stoker's Dracula)
ReLegacy of Darkness- moved to 1932 and 1944 for Cornell and Reinhardt/Carrie respectively (because motorcycle skeletons)

Which could then kickstart a new series if those four worked out.

Too bad Konami is too busy making softcore porn to realize how awesome that would be.

[piscesdreams]

I thought it was pretty good.

Thanks very much! Anathema is already off to a much better start engine wise and will be much better than CVBL.

Honestly, I would love to see this happen. Even though the vibes would most likely be totally different, I'd still love to see this happen. That was always my issue with Lords of Shadow, that it tried to redo the canon. I could have appreciated it a lot more if it was a side-story or alternate universe type of thing. So that being said, an alternate canon timeline would be totally acceptable and interesting to see, versus just retconning certain games.

[Belmontoya]

My brother and I had the issue of EGM with the screen shots. I remember being so bummed when I found out it wasn't happening.

I still remember seeing screen shots of rondo and being super excited.

[piscesdreams]

My brother and I had the issue of EGM with the screen shots. I remember being so bummed when I found out it wasn't happening.

I still remember seeing screen shots of rondo and being super excited.

So it is real then, awesome. I was wondering if it was a wild goose chase.

[Shiroi Koumori]

My brother and I had the issue of EGM with the screen shots. I remember being so bummed when I found out it wasn't happening.

I still remember seeing screen shots of rondo and being super excited.

Wasn't that an April fools joke thing that EGM usually does?

[RichterB]

First time I've seen piscesdreams' version of Bloodletting, and it's actually pretty interesting. Nice conceptual idea of a wintry castle, neat sub-weapon, and some nice platforming. Good effort, I'd say!

As for the screenshots, I think they may have been those for a prank game called Shin Dracula X. There were two screens shown--a fiery, collapsing, moonlit bridge and a ghostly green boss. Both had Richter in a long, flowing blue outfit. (See this thread: http://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/index.php?topic=6212.0) Granted, they looked very cool, but they were fakes. However, it could be that there were Bloodletting screens that were separate from the Shin Dracula X prank. I don't know, unfortunately.

I lament the loss of Resurrection. As much as I love the framework created by the N64 games, it would have at least shown another formula for 3D Castlevania. One has to wonder if it influenced Lament at all.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

I lament the loss of Resurrection. As much as I love the framework created by the N64 games, it would have at least shown another formula for 3D Castlevania. One has to wonder if it influenced Lament at all.

Behold, incredibly rare footage of Sonia Belmont courageously... walking around a room.

Whether this next video was actually meant to be a trailer or an intro sequence is debatable, but here it is, all the same.

And that's... pretty much all we have.

Staff here used to keep the leaked soundtrack on the main Dungeon site for download, so you could at least HEAR what the game was supposed to sound like, but I don't know if the Mp3s are even still there. 

My gut tells me that the game really did inform the creation of IGAs PS2 games, but unless something more concrete is ever released from Konami's Scrooge McDuck-ian vault, we'll never know for sure.

[piscesdreams]

but unless something more concrete is ever released from Konami's Scrooge McDuck-ian vault, we'll never know for sure.

At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if Konami burns that vault down.

[coinilius]

It's nice to see some video of the 'game' in action, even if its very early build stuff... from the screenshots floating around the web, I kind of get a LoI/CoD vibe, in turns of game play, but who knows how it might have turned out.

[crisis]

resurrection prolly wouldve been terrible. things werent going as planned, the budget mightve been too expensive/not enuff. a whole host of reasons. the team knew this and thawt they should just cut their losses, (sh)it happens. if everything was going A-OK then progress wouldve continued & the game woulda been released. thats the most logical scenario, honestly. not to mention, we woulda torn that game apart even if it was OK by general standardz

or should i relinquish my demo & dump it on the internet for all teh world to see? i dunno. its buried within the confines of everything else, lost relics from a forgotton time, along with my simon belmont hoodie & flipflops once worn by michiru Yamane