Castlevania Resurrection
Platform: Dreamcast
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami

The Basics

When the Castlevania game was announced for Sega's Dreamcast system, many Castlevania fans were excited. Not only was there the possibility of getting a three-dimensional Castlevania game on a system that could adequately handle such a prospect, but this possibility would've marked the return of Konami's franchise to a Sega console--at least in the US and Europe. Sega fans and Castlevania fans quickly dubbed the new game "Dreamcastlevania." But, to everyone's disappointment, Castlevania Resurrection would never see the light of day.

In Resurrection, you assumed the role of either Sonia or Victor Belmont. The twist was that these two Belmonts hailed from different eras--Sonia was the ancient ancestor and Victor was the hero from the future. Because Resurrection was the first Castlevania game not developed in Japan, it had fallen upon Konami's Redwood City team to deliver the first appearance of the legendary series for the Dreamcast. At first glance, this title may have looked like a high-resolution interpretation of the previous N64 Castlevania game, but the development team emphasized that Resurrection focused directly on action and kept the puzzle solving to an absolute minimum. From hands-on experience, we could safely say that this was the case. Since the project leader was part of the Castlevania Bloodlines team for the Genesis, you could assume the action would remain true to the format--with whips, candles, monsters, and hearts all hailing from the days of the Belmonts' past. There were also supposed to be plenty of cutscenes using the game's graphics engine, and voice dubbing was also in the works for the game.

So, did that mean that Resurrection was worthy of bearing the mantle of Castlevania, as Symphony of the Night was, or was it going to be less than stellar, much in the way the recent Contra games failed to live up to their legacy? Well, to be fair, the version we played was at no more than a 33-percent level of completion. Two out of five-plus levels were complete, and not all the gameplay had been implemented yet. And instead of having the lock-on system used in the N64 Castlevania, it had a system that relied more on your aim than on anything else. While "purists" may have applauded this choice, keep in mind that 3D dictates a completely different set of rules than 2D does.

WHAT HAPPENED?
In May 1999 Castlevania was still slated as a Dreamcast launch title (but likely to slip from that position), and we had big plans to see the game in action at E3 the following week. Then we heard it would be in video form only. While sources told us that the game had reached a playable level, Konami wasn't going to let us get our mitts on it. Suspicion started.

The rumors continued for months, and then in March 2000, we received official word from Konami that Castlevania Resurrection was canceled.

Konami informed GameSpot that the project had been scrapped but refused to mention the reason for pulling the plug. We speculate that either the game was not heading in the right direction, or Konami didn't have enough faith in the future of the Dreamcast.