Topic: Castlevania: Moonlight Rhapsody (formerly Code C (Chinese Castlevania mobile))

[Foffy]

The Code C team paid a decent amount of copyright fee to Konami for usage of Castlevania IP, but as the copyright of Ayami Kojima artworks in the Ayami-involved games currently belongs to Ayami herself and not Konami they couldn't make the deal

So if I am understanding this right, Konami has to give her money if they want to use the characters she made? But she didn't make Alucard and Richter aside from their SotN looks, and she surely didn't make Shanoa...

[AlexCalvo]

So if I am understanding this right, Konami has to give her money if they want to use the characters she made? But she didn't make Alucard and Richter aside from their SotN looks, and she surely didn't make Shanoa...

I'm really not buying this guy's story in the slightest...

[LuxKiller65]

This is a little too obvious even for Chinese standards. They may announce the details later. There's not enough internet presence or information to judge with certainty as of today.

[Nagumo]

It could also be a branding thing. It's possible the developers acquired the license from Konami but decided to market the game under a different title. I could be wrong, but I don't think Chinese people have any strong associations with either 'Castlevania' or 'Demon Castle Dracula' so it would make sense to market it under a different title.Then again, you would except the Konami logo to show up somewhere....

edit: Code C could also be a temporary title. It seems what was released is just a beta test.

Has anyone tried translating the characters' names?

[X]

We could ask Shiroi since she does translate Japanese and the Chinese alphabet is used in Japan.

[LuxKiller65]

I have a hard time believing that this is being done without Konami's approval/supervision. Gotta get used to China getting exclusive games, or getting at least translated games early on. Just because it's in Chinese doesn't mean it's illegal.

Also, note at 3:25 in the video, all the characters speak Japanese. If this is an illegal rip-off for the Chinese market, hats off to the producer for spending time and money doing proper Japanese voice-overs just for the sake of it. I just don't believe it much lol. The whole thing looks way too good to be an unlicensed game by some basement devs in Chengdu.

The characters are:
艾维斯 - Yves?
雷诺德 - Reynolds?
沃利斯 - Wallis?
里德 - Reed?
莉娅 - Lia?
格蕾莎 - Gretha?
洛伦 - Loren?
妖精 - Fairy?

[Nagumo]

So that would be:

Ives
Reynolds
Wallis
Reed
Lia
Gretha
Loren
Fairy

What about the characters which seem directly taken from previous games? I'm pretty sure I saw Alucard, Shanoa and Yoko. Not sure if that's what they're called, though.

Edit: Seems like the Alucard figure is called "mysterious man".

[LuxKiller65]

There are 9 characters displayed, the first one being Yves:
阿尔帕德 - Alucard?
里夏德 - Richter?
莉娅 - Lia?
枫 - Maple?
麦尔斯 - Myers?
萨拉 - Sara?
龙兰达 - Loretta?
弗洛丽 - Florie?



And for those who didn't notice, when Richter finishes his special slam move, a firey-golden Simon Belmont is cast behind him. You can tell from the boots, the long blond hair and the headband.



Myers summons a Flying Bone, and Loretta is an obvious reference to succubus.
Pretty sure there are other references in the special moves, I'm just not expert enough, especially with the more recent titles.

All characters here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQn_vLmOm4Q&t=9m52s

It would be lame if the game were to be released with SotN's soundtrack. Hopefully it's just placeholder while someone's composing the ost.

[Nagumo]

枫 - Maple?

Apparently, you can use this kanji to write Yoko in Chinese.

The story is very blatantly Castlevania as well. The first line of the intro mentions the 100-year legend. No direct mention of Dracula though, the antagonist is just referred to as the Demon King. 

Edit: Richter also says his "Die monster! You don't belong in this world!" line, or at least the Japanese equivalent of it.

[Dracula9]

枫 - Maple?

guys its a maple story haha

[LuxKiller65]

her hot air balloons are filled with maple syrup

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Well, at this point I'm kind of hoping this makes it to America at this point. Extra kudos for managing an anime-esque aesthetic and NAILING it. Take notes, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin.

[Foffy]

I know the game installs with the games folders quite literally named "castlevaniatest" but I imagine that was because this was a small test, probably a beta/server test. If they wanted to avoid issues with Konami and do not have the rights to the IP, having the game install itself with such a name is not a good look.

Additionally, in the clip that shows all of the playable characters, the character who looks like Richter sounds like Richter, and uses the same SotN lines. Wow.

[Shiroi Koumori]

We could ask Shiroi since she does translate Japanese and the Chinese alphabet is used in Japan.

I'm extremely bad in Chinese. I pronounce the Chinese characters in Japanese. ><
The character names require Chinese pronunciations and Google translate seems to nail it (except for Yoko, lol)

[Solo]

So, what exactly confirms that this is a copy and not a product by Konami at least in some degree? I could understand, it wouldn't be the first ripoff Castlevania game for mobile but why do they apparently have the same engine? Ignoring the suspicious name/characters, it looks like a mod/sequel/spinoff to GoS.