Topic: Exclusive: Konami confirms Castlevania 25th anniversary project

[Flame]

What was this topic about again? I forgot over the page or so on "reviews".

Something like Dragon's crown style graphics, would rock.

[Colin B.]

I've been thinking, and I just don't think it's really likely that we will get a totally new game for the Anniversary. I would really love to see the Castlevania NES Classic remastered in the same way Dracula X was, but they haven't mentioned anything about it. Something tells me they would have hinted at it, if they had been working on it.

That really would be a love letter to folks who have been playing since the early days...

[KaZudra]

a Remake of Dracula Legend (Castlevania 3) is inevitable when IGA is on Board, in the interview of Castlevania Chronicles he declared that his favorite game.
its just a matter of time.

[Vampire Killer]

a Remake of Dracula Legend (Castlevania 3) is inevitable when IGA is on Board, in the interview of Castlevania Chronicles he declared that his favorite game.
its just a matter of time.

Considering how long ago Chronicles came out, "just a matter of time" could mean decades.

[Odile Kuronuma]

Am I the only one who thinks they're going to give us the AlucardVania game ? Not only do I wish to see that game happen, but I kinda feel that Konami didn't have anything planned, and they just made that announcement in reaction to Operation Akumajou. It's gonna take a lot of time to think of an entirely new game. Even a remake would take time to figure  out, and if info about it didn't leak already then there must be no new game in the works.
 But there's still the Alucardvania game. We already saw a trailer. Dunno how far they went into development, but there must be at least a scenario and/or gameplay. It might be wishful thinking on my part, but you never know with Konami.

[Nagumo]

Perhaps, but I doubt it will be the anniversary gift. We have to keep in mind that Konami hadn't anything planned yet so far. So I don't think people should expect a full blown game getting pumped out in a couple of months. It would be pretty interesting though if they announced some kind of project, similair to what Final Fantasy did, with a bunch of remakes/games getting released next year or something.     

[Maedhros]

Am I the only one who thinks they're going to give us the AlucardVania game ? Not only do I wish to see that game happen, but I kinda feel that Konami didn't have anything planned, and they just made that announcement in reaction to Operation Akumajou. It's gonna take a lot of time to think of an entirely new game. Even a remake would take time to figure  out, and if info about it didn't leak already then there must be no new game in the works.
 But there's still the Alucardvania game. We already saw a trailer. Dunno how far they went into development, but there must be at least a scenario and/or gameplay. It might be wishful thinking on my part, but you never know with Konami.

You can be sure Operation Akumajou has nothing to do with the announcement. Did you see the number of members? If the operation rainfall or the one to bring back Rockman Legends 3 have thousands and thousands of members and have accomplished almost nothing, you can be sure that one with less than 100 members will have no impact at all.

[uzo]

They likely have had something planned behind the scenes, perhaps as a surprise, but never said anything till now around the end of the anniversary year.

I doubt they have batted an eye at Operation Akumajou, or even know if it exists...

[affinity]

the other problem with Operation: Akumajo is that it's asking too much from Konami.   Making one focused demand is reasonable and more likely to draw attention, but two demands?

1. We demand Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse redesigned and remastered in high definition, with state of the art graphics for all home consoles.

   

Even that is asking for a lot.  The way it's worded, it sounds like they would accept nothing less than the Wii receiving a CVIII remake as well (and with state of the art graphics?)  Even if it was reserved for the Wii U, Konami has yet to release a single Castlevania on 3 consoles they finished developing the same year.  Yes, SOTN is available on 4-5 systems now but that was basically a straight port, and look how long that took to reach 360, PS3 and PSP.

2. We also demand Koji Igarashi be reinstated to produce the "1999 Demon Castle War" as originally foretold by Aria of Sorrow. We expect this game in 2D, with high definition state of the art graphics on all home consoles.

Now this is what the organization should have focused totally on.  Cut out the "high definitely state of the art graphics on all home consoles", and you could start to have a chance of catching Konami's attention.   Fans shouldn't demand 'how' a company should develop and release something. 

If anything, a wide demand like that would sound more like an insult if people demand things like release on "all" home consoles.   You really think they could even have time to accomplish HD state of the art 2-D graphics while spreading their efforts across multiple systems?   SOTN wouldn't be what it is, if it was developed for Saturn and N64 at the sametime; same for the DS Castlevanias.

Asking for IGA is fine, asking for the 1999 Demon Castle War story is fine, but beyond that, they can't hold Konami's interest if their request stretches farther than those details. 
And also forming these things in the form of a "demand" instead of a "request from fans", makes it appear more offensive than diplomatic.   

And diplomacy is more likely to get what you want then sounding like a child that demands their new bottle.

Demands often if not always are seen as signs of uncivilized hostility.   

That's not how fans (that Konami would respect) should behave.   

[Nagumo]

Chances are that whoever participates in Operation Akumajo is being put on the naughty list...

    

[uzo]

@affinity:
That is by far the greatest post you have ever made here. You hit everything spot on, without coming off as an advertising agent and or troll. Please do keep it up.

[KaZudra]

No offense, but Operation Akumajo is a Crash and Burn attempt to get Konami's attention, Simply Demanding rather than suggesting won't get anyone anywhere.

[cecil-kain]

You can be sure Operation Akumajou has nothing to do with the announcement. Did you see the number of members? If the operation rainfall or the one to bring back Rockman Legends 3 have thousands and thousands of members and have accomplished almost nothing, you can be sure that one with less than 100 members will have no impact at all.

OK.  Let's refresh for just a moment.  Here's the original article posted on Rely on Horror's Website.

When E3 concluded there was a sense of sadness and the beginning of anger amongst Castlevania’s fanbase. That was due to a lack of any sort of announcement for the series’ upcoming 25th anniversary. We didn’t get any new game announcement or a reveal of any compilation to celebrate the occasion, all we got was the revelation that Harmony of Despair would be making its way to PSN.

Since then fans have been left wondering about this total lack of acknowledgement. Has Konami completely disregarded the milsetone of one of the most respected franchises in the world of interactive entertainment? I’m glad to be able to tell you today that Konami is in fact working on something for the series’ 25th.

Speaking with Konami earlier today over this matter and regarding the current uprising of Operation Akumajo which aims to follow the footsteps and dedication of the ongoing Operation Rainfall, I was told: “We are going to do something, we are just going through final approvals on exactly what that is going to be.”

So, what type of project will this end up being? Speculation still won’t cease over this but it’s satisfying to know that we are indeed going to be receiving a game to celebrate the upcoming 25th anniversary. E3 may have been quiet in regards to this project but we still got Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show left. Let’s also not forget that we may not end up getting anything directly on time for the anniversary, but perhaps in the months to follow.

First thing --Konami has NOT made an announcement.  Rely on Horror's report appears to be an "off the record" comment by an insider at Konami.  Not only does this insider decline to comment on WHAT Konami intends to do, he also indicated that NOTHING has been approved.  There is NO press release.  NO advertising.  And NO confirmation whatsoever by the mainstream gaming media.

The Editor of Rely on Horror was reporting on anger within the fanbase, before Operation Akumajo came along to give it a name and a Facebook page.  Furthermore, the editor explicitly asked Konami about Operation: Akumajo's uprising, before getting this news "off the record".

As for the membership, we've reached 70 after 2 weeks on Facebook --compare that to about 120,000 Castlevania fans on Konami's official Facebook page since they started it back in March 2010.  Without $50.00+ per day to advertise on Facebook, getting the word out to all those fans is a very difficult and time consuming process.  As for Operation Rainfall and the Megaman Legends debacle --give a little credit for what they HAVE accomplished.  Those fanbases have more engagement with their targets than all of us have with Konami right now.  It's commitment and activism on the part of the fans that make or break these movements.  The numbers certainly help, but what good are 10,000 fans that don't actively participate in email, phone calls, or Facebook campaigns?

And for the record, we're stirring things up just by existing --we have not yet commenced any campaigns whatsoever.  Our focus right now is to spread the message and grow the movement within the Castlevania fanbase.

[Vlad III]

I just want to see Castlevania: The Demon Castle War in any shape or form and on any console, then they can close the canon and do whatever they want with the LOS timeline.

[cecil-kain]

the other problem with Operation: Akumajo is that it's asking too much from Konami.   Making one focused demand is reasonable and more likely to draw attention, but two demands?

Even that is asking for a lot.  The way it's worded, it sounds like they would accept nothing less than the Wii receiving a CVIII remake as well (and with state of the art graphics?)  Even if it was reserved for the Wii U, Konami has yet to release a single Castlevania on 3 consoles they finished developing the same year.  Yes, SOTN is available on 4-5 systems now but that was basically a straight port, and look how long that took to reach 360, PS3 and PSP.
 
Now this is what the organization should have focused totally on.  Cut out the "high definitely state of the art graphics on all home consoles", and you could start to have a chance of catching Konami's attention.   Fans shouldn't demand 'how' a company should develop and release something. 

If anything, a wide demand like that would sound more like an insult if people demand things like release on "all" home consoles.   You really think they could even have time to accomplish HD state of the art 2-D graphics while spreading their efforts across multiple systems?   SOTN wouldn't be what it is, if it was developed for Saturn and N64 at the sametime; same for the DS Castlevanias.

Asking for IGA is fine, asking for the 1999 Demon Castle War story is fine, but beyond that, they can't hold Konami's interest if their request stretches farther than those details. 
And also forming these things in the form of a "demand" instead of a "request from fans", makes it appear more offensive than diplomatic.   

And diplomacy is more likely to get what you want then sounding like a child that demands their new bottle.

Demands often if not always are seen as signs of uncivilized hostility.   

That's not how fans (that Konami would respect) should behave.   

Negotiation is the art of getting what you want from someone else.  You don't open a negotiation by asking for a compromise --that's self-defeating nonsense.  You start by telling Konami what you REALLY want.  Unfortunately for us, there's plenty of disagreement within the Castlevania fanbase.  So in making our demands, we picked the 2 most popular.  The Demon Castle War to satisfy the IGA generation, and Dracula's Curse Remastered for older fans.  Asking for the release on all consoles caters to the demand of fans that own those consoles --nobody wants to be left out and we don't play favorites.

As for our diplomacy/behavior --there's none to speak of yet.  Like I said earlier, our focus right now is spreading the word.  We're not ready to announce any campaigning at this time.