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Castlevania DS exceeds Konami's expectations

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explodet

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http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=11301

"We knew that Castlevania DS was already a highly anticipated title, and we are very pleased, not only with the commercial success, but also with the critical acclaim that the product received from both consumers and the editorial community. The game has exceeded our expectations and we continue to see solid re-orders at retail," Product Manager Matt Knoles said.

The game was the #2 portable SKU for the month of October, with about 77,000 copies sold, according to NPD.
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The game's brisk first-month sales and solid legs seem to indicate many things, all of which are positive for Konami. It shows that the franchise has a loyal fan base that will follow the franchise to new hardware. It also seems to indicate that Castlevania awareness has deepening roots within the hardcore community. Despite the DS's installed base being entirely dwarfed by that of the GBA, DoS' launch performance was very comparable to the launches of all three GBA releases.
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Some good news for Castlevania fans.
 
KONAMI GIVE IGA MONEY TO DO HI-RES ART PLEASE.

LET'S SEE HOW MANY BOMB OF BOMBANESS SELLS.
 
YES YOU ASSES!! Listen to your consumers, we still love 2D Castlevania! Does anyone have the numbers for the Curse of Darkness, it would be interesting to compare them.
 
This reminds me, I'm still in the middle of playing DoS. Mario Kart rudely interrupted me and interrupts me still! (I'm meant to be doing Uni assignments for next week too ;_;)

I look forward to more if its coming!
 
That's some great news. It's nice to see such a great game get the sales it deserves and better yet, exceeds the expectations.
 
I think Namco should send some of there "forecasters" to the same school that Konami's went to. :lol
 
I loved this game.

Just beat it two days ago.

Is it worth doing the mode you unlock?
 
Dear Konami, if you use Miss Kojima's artwork, YOU CAN SELL EVEN MORE !!




John Harker said:
I loved this game.

Just beat it two days ago.

Is it worth doing the mode you unlock?
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yes, the extra mode like old-school Dracula, very good :D
 
I don't have a DS yet.... should I just get the game now in fear that I won't be able to find a copy in two months time, or will Konami this time actually produced enough copies of Castlevania for those who want it?
 
FortNinety said:
I don't have a DS yet.... should I just get the game now in fear that I won't be able to find a copy in two months time, or will Konami this time actually produced enough copies of Castlevania for those who want it?
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uh, if they exceeded their expectations, sold about 77k and it is in line with the GBA sales, you may want to secure a copy soon.
 
there definitely won't be a shortage of this...

Retailers are actually re-ordering, and I think DS doesn't have the cart manufacture problems the GBA has where they have to order big and in advance I think.

With the Castlevania GBA titles, it's like they sent out one shipment and stopped from there, never intending to send more.
 
Definitely one of the best Castlevania games ever. That snowy village area is just classic. It gives me that warm cozy feeling I got when playing MGS for the first time.
 
holy crap, this is great news!

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow is my Game of the Year. Why you ask? Because it shows that 2D gaming is still alive, and can be fun as any 3D game. The game has great gameplay and replay value.

Can't wait for the next castlevania. Well done IGA.
 
IIRC much of the problem with the GBA shipments for any game were that GBA cart manufacturing was continuously so swamped that it was difficult to schedule a game to be manufactured after its initial run. it was a big enough pain just to get the initial run scheduled and companies like konami had to keep getting new games scheduled as well leaving reprints a very low priority.

DS currently doesn't have this problem (admittedly due to less software currently, both titles and volume). DoS likely won't be like one of the rare Castlevanias... more like COTM with copies abound. As the DS grows though, expect another GBA like situation on games with < 200K runs.
 
That's good to hear, seriously. It's good news both for my 2D Fanboy side and my Old-School Fanboy side at the same time.
 
borghe said:
DS currently doesn't have this problem (admittedly due to less software currently, both titles and volume). DoS likely won't be like one of the rare Castlevanias... more like COTM with copies abound. As the DS grows though, expect another GBA like situation on games with < 200K runs.
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Not really, the difference is thanks mostly to refined manufacturing techniques allowed by 3DM. For one, data is written post production, like optical discs.
 
jarrod said:
Not really, the difference is thanks mostly to refined manufacturing techniques allowed by 3DM. For one, data is written post production, like optical discs.
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whoa.. I wasn't aware of this. but it is still a ROM? PROM?
 
borghe said:
IIRC much of the problem with the GBA shipments for any game were that GBA cart manufacturing was continuously so swamped that it was difficult to schedule a game to be manufactured after its initial run. it was a big enough pain just to get the initial run scheduled and companies like konami had to keep getting new games scheduled as well leaving reprints a very low priority.

DS currently doesn't have this problem (admittedly due to less software currently, both titles and volume). DoS likely won't be like one of the rare Castlevanias... more like COTM with copies abound. As the DS grows though, expect another GBA like situation on games with < 200K runs.
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Not quite accurate. Nintendo repeatedly mentioned that DS cards are much easier to use for both costs and for reprinting word of mouth games. Damn, jarrod got to him first. :P

Also Aria > Dawn of Sorrow. But only a little bit. Then again, I consider Aria equal to SOTN (it would edge it out if it was a teensy bit longer, and if it wasn't on GBA for sprites/sound quality.) Aria's level design is king.
 
jarrod said:
Not really, the difference is thanks mostly to refined manufacturing techniques allowed by 3DM. For one, data is written post production, like optical discs.
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This is interesting. Do you have a link to more info? I know that nintendo as of late is using 2 different kinds of rom in the carts the new one being much slower but quicker to produce.
 
Dragona Akehi said:
Not quite accurate. Nintendo repeatedly mentioned that DS cards are much easier to use for both costs and for reprinting word of mouth games. Damn, jarrod got to him first. :P

Also Aria > Dawn of Sorrow. But only a little bit. Then again, I consider Aria equal to SOTN (it would edge it out if it was a teensy bit longer, and if it wasn't on GBA for sprites/sound quality.) Aria's level design is king.
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dunno about that. I love both the design in demon's guest house and the subterrian hell. The snowny village is ace too.

DoS > Aria :P
 
elostyle said:
This is interesting. Do you have a link to more info? I know that nintendo as of late is using 2 different kinds of rom in the carts the new one being much slower but quicker to produce.
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It's called "field programmability".

Matrix Semiconductor said:
Matrix 3DMÂ’s field programmability eliminates inventory management challenges, heavy set-up costs, long lead times, and minimum order quantities, resulting in significant cost savings for publishers, making Matrix 3DM a logical replacement for Mask ROM
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...in other news, it seems Matrix has been aquired by SanDisk.
 
Panajev2001a said:
I agree, Castlevania: DoS is perhaps the best CV game since the days of SOTN, just so deep and versatile :D.
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Like I said in the official thread, if it wasn't for the music DoS would be my favorite Castlevania game. The attention to detail is ridiculous. Me and a friend were talking on the phone yesterday about the series and I told him how cool it would be if IGA made a prequel to Castlevania giving us a more intimate portrait of the Dracula showing his heritage and then transformation into the lord of darkness and possibly tie in the Belmont Curse into his history.

Dracula is such a damn cool character that it truely is a shame how he is restricted to this shallow end boss character who just sits on his thrown waiting for slayers to venture to the top of his castle. I want to see a Dracula who kidnaps women from villages every night feasting on the innocent, using his vampiric powers to ellude the player. What if the Castle contained volumes of parchments about Draculas cursed history which contained clues on how to finally defeat him. There are so many things to draw upon from the order of the Dragon to Alucards mother. Hideo Kojima would be the perfect producer to bring the 3D and 2D series into its true potential in story telling and character development. IGA needs to just politely ask him for input especially on the 3D versions because there is no reason why such a cool license should be struggling for a quality 3D game.
 
Shaheed79 said:
Dracula is such a damn cool character that it truely is a shame how he is restricted to this shallow end boss character who just sits on his thrown waiting for slayers to venture to the top of his castle. I want to see a Dracula who kidnaps women from villages every night feasting on the innocent, using his vampiric powers to ellude the player. What if the Castle contained volumes of parchments about Draculas cursed history which contained clues on how to finally defeat him. There are so many things to draw upon from the order of the Dragon to Alucards mother. Hideo Kojima would be the perfect producer to bring the 3D and 2D series into its true potential in story telling and character development. IGA needs to just politely ask him for input especially on the 3D versions because there is no reason why such a cool license should be struggling for a quality 3D game.
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QFT
 
SantaCruZer said:
dunno about that. I love both the design in demon's guest house and the subterrian hell. The snowny village is ace too.

DoS > Aria :P
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Oh don't get me wrong, I love Dawn of Sorrow but there's a few things I take to task.

My largest single complaint is the music. All of the non Yamane tracks are just terrible compared to the brilliant few that we got. Sound Quality is fine, stellar even, but the composition is anything but. If I'm playing DoS without any sound, I end up humming Aria themes. So yes, there is definately a problem.

My other issues deal with the soul system (which I found perfect in Aria. Grinding to get 9 Ghost Dancers, for instance is silly), level design (nothing as great as Aria, though still fantastic) and lack of Ayami Kojima artwork. (Though I don't take points away for this one).

However, DoS does beat out Aria in a few places, namely length, difficulty and Julius mode. It's nice dying in a Metroidvania.

Regardless, good numbers for Castlevania makes everyone happy.
 
Konami should take note of Ghouls n Ghost for psp and make a Castlevania with 3D graphics and 2D gameplay.
 
This is great news, as this is by far my handheld GOTY. Common Konami, CV still has a loyal following and you know it now! Give us 2D CV on consoles!
 
Dragona Akehi said:
Oh don't get me wrong, I love Dawn of Sorrow but there's a few things I take to task.

My largest single complaint is the music. All of the non Yamane tracks are just terrible compared to the brilliant few that we got. Sound Quality is fine, stellar even, but the composition is anything but. If I'm playing DoS without any sound, I end up humming Aria themes. So yes, there is definately a problem.

My other issues deal with the soul system (which I found perfect in Aria. Grinding to get 9 Ghost Dancers, for instance is silly), level design (nothing as great as Aria, though still fantastic) and lack of Ayami Kojima artwork. (Though I don't take points away for this one).

However, DoS does beat out Aria in a few places, namely length, difficulty and Julius mode. It's nice dying in a Metroidvania.

Regardless, good numbers for Castlevania makes everyone happy.
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oh yeah, the somewhat weak music disappointed me as well. Worst CV music since HoD.

Music in the The Wizardry, silenced ruins and snowy village was good though.
 
Pimpbaa said:
Konami should take note of Ghouls n Ghost for psp and make a Castlevania with 3D graphics and 2D gameplay.
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They'll probably take note of it's inevitable low sales to justify never doing that. :P
 
jarrod said:
They'll probably take note of it's inevitable low sales to justify never doing that. :P
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Why wouldn't it sell well? The game looks friggin fantastic and I'm sure it's gonna play great as well. Ghouls n Ghost looks great and will probably play great. Konami's reason for not making a 2D console Castlevania again was the cost of creating high res 2D assets. Logically the thing they should do then is make the graphics 3D while retaining the 2D gameplay.
 
Pimpbaa said:
Why wouldn't it sell well? The game looks friggin fantastic and I'm sure it's gonna play great as well.
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Because GnG just isn't a seller these days. I doubt it manages to break 200k worldwide.
 
jarrod said:
Because GnG just isn't a seller these days. I doubt it manages to break 200k worldwide.
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It's hard to be a seller when a new game in the series hasn't been released since the 16-bit era!
 
Shaheed79 said:
Hideo Kojima would be the perfect producer to bring the 3D and 2D series into its true potential in story telling and character development. IGA needs to just politely ask him for input especially on the 3D versions because there is no reason why such a cool license should be struggling for a quality 3D game.
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Ugh. Kojima's ham-handed direction and storytelling is the last thing the series needs. Kojima himself already knows the solution to the 3D Castlevania problem. At the AIAS Awards in July, Kojima tracked down Dave Jaffe and said he'd like the God of War team to do the next Castlevania. I don't know how much clout Kojima has over that kind of thing, so maybe it was just "Wow, I wish you guys could have a shot at our ailing 3D franchise," but with visual design supervision by IGA, that could easily be the key to a great 3D CV game.
 
Kroole said:
So why ask if you already knew the answer?
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No one knows the answer if GnG will sell well for PSP. It's a classic series that hasn't gotten a sequel in years.
 
Shaheed79 said:
Hideo Kojima would be the perfect producer to bring the 3D and 2D series into its true potential in story telling and character development
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Worst fucking idea ever suggested on this board ever! If that hack even touches the Castlevania series, I'll suicide bomb Konami's headquarters.
 
Pimpbaa said:
No one knows the answer if GnG will sell well for PSP. It's a classic series that hasn't gotten a sequel in years.
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Exactly. Do you really think a 2d game that the Playstation generation never heard about before will sell well? No matter how good the game is it isn't exactly what the casual players have in mind.
 
Pimpbaa said:
No one knows the answer if GnG will sell well for PSP. It's a classic series that hasn't gotten a sequel in years.
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Oh come on. Deep down we all know it's going to bomb. Heartbreaking but true. :(
 
Kroole said:
Exactly. Do you really think a 2d game that the Playstation generation never heard about before will sell well? No matter how good the game is it isn't exactly what the casual players have in mind.
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That's assuming that most gamers are the playstation generation tho. We did have 2 games during the 16-bit era that were popular. I'm sure there are a ton of gamers who are familiar with that gen.
 
Alcibiades said:
With the Castlevania GBA titles, it's like they sent out one shipment and stopped from there, never intending to send more.
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I think the first GBA Castlevania (Circle of the Moon) actually had a second printing, because it came out in summer or fall, and by Christmas is was gone. But then sometime in the next year it seemed to pop back up again all over the place for only $20. And then it disappeared again.

Of course, then Iga struck it from the history books, so it's never, ever, ever, going to get another reprint again for the rest of Iga's life.

And now, Harmony and Aria are getting reprinted in the one-cart doublepack thingy.
 
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