A Castlevania Game by Any Other Name

Ah, from the lack of response from my previous rants... well, as I figured, no one cares :p. That's alright, I keep writing, and someone will read these. Sides, gives me something to do.

This time I feel like taking on the idea of putting Castlevania into other genres. Many a fan boy out there has dreamed of being able to play the Castlevania series as, say... an RPG, or a Street Fighter. To me, this seems silly, but let's explore our options and see what we can find...

First on the list, let's explore a Street Fighter. Now, on the surface this seems like a great idea. I mean, Castlevania is already a fighting game to an extent. You got a ton of moves and things you can do, especially if you factor in holy items and possible item crashes...

But lets explore this closer. In some ways it'd feel like one long Boss Rush mode, all the way through all the various characters, and then the big bosses. Plus, why would all the various Belmonts be fighting each other (and you know that would be part of the game--every Fighting game has you take on each other before fighting the boss). Then, the question remains why would Dracula want all these Belmonts at his castle. Plot wise it's weak.

Then, of course, do the Belmonts get all the holy items to use, or are each one of them limited to a specific weapon. And does Sonia get to use the holy weapons, or spells? By the end of it, the controls would feel very counter intuitive for the series. Plus it wouldn't forge any new ground for the genre, as, when you think about it, the Belmonts would all fight pretty much the same, and aside from some moves, there'd be little difference between them. So what's the point?

Heck, put it another way, look at what happened with TMNT. They made a fighting game out of it that played just like Street Fighter 2, but sucky.

But, what I find more far fetched is an RPG based upon Castlevania/ Never mind the fact that we've practically got a series of them with SotN and all it's sequels. No, some people clamor for an RPG... or even try and make one themselves. These are just sad.

I mean, lets think here. Castlevania is an action game. RPGs, by definition are turn-based games. You do have games that get lumped into the genre, like Secret of Mana or Zelda, but face it, these are more adventure games, and again, SotN is like those.

True RPGs are very inactive. The Final Fantasies and Chrono games put about as much action into these games as you can get, since you're still telling the game what the character should do... then it does it. Not immediate. How is this Castlevania?

Worse yet would be an MMORPG. Just think of World of Castlevania... You start up, and create a Belmont, as you always wanted to be one... But then you go in and meet another Belmont... and another... and another. Soon you and 50 Belmonts are congregating around a bar, discussing what to do to Dracula when you finally face him, only to learn that Dracula cannot be killed, as he's played by one of the Game Admins. Jeez...

Now, I'm not trying to poke too much fun at fandom. Anytime a series gets to the point Cv is at, people will want it any way they can get it, just to feed the need. And it's not like a little RPG adventure or a fighting game is all bad. Fun Easter eggs or mini games are good in moderation. Let us not go the way of Final Fantasy, where at this point if you fail a mini-game, you have to redo the 15 minutes to 8 hours of game play (sighs).

Mega Man 7 had a fun little fighting Easter egg, where MM and Bass beat it out. That was cute. I could see a little egg like that for CV.

Konami Krazy Racers had Dracula in it. A few Belmonts added into the mix and we'd have a cute little game for a diversion.

Puzzle games, Mario style games, what have you... everything is fine in moderation, but the thing to realize is that too much of a fun little thing can just get to bee WAY too much, and then it loses its fun feel.

Anyway, I'm done now. Be gone!