Watch the video below, but don't stop it if you feel like you've seen it before. It's pretty clear that indie developer Frontier Aja's upcoming PC game, which debuts this week at Comiket 76, is heavily influenced by the original Castlevania games. In fact "clone of" is probably a better descriptor in this case. Still clones of great games that look great themselves are welcomed with open arms here at Destructoid.
In case you aren't down with the sickness, the game is based off of a series of doujin style games called the Touhou Project, and its lead character has starred in many previous games that were mostly shooters. It's interesting to see the designers carry some of that over into this game with the flying ability mixed in. If this looks like something you think you could kill a lazy Saturday off with then please download it here.
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Wow. When you said clone, I thought you meant clone a la the days of "Doom clones" and "GTA clones." I was not expecting a Castlevania game made with other characters. The music is a direct imitation of the later games' musical style, the setting is obviously Dracula's castle (probably renamed), the way your "medallions" are used is identical to subweapons and are powered the same way (souls replacing hearts), and the enemies are redrawn versions of Castlevania staples, right down to the differently-colored-skeleton-who-collapses-then-regenerates-a-few-seconds-later. (The only differences were the replacement of Axe Armors with some cute girl and that Tohou boss at the end.) The only major addition in this game is that you can fly, which pretty much completely wreaks the platforming, from the looks of it. For that mattery, the difficulty looks weak to begin with - notice how she dies, then uses another life to come back right in the very same room.
I know people generally love Tohou, and I was intrigued, because I assumed that "clone" meant "another Metroidvania game." But this isn't just within the genre - I don't think I could play such a shameless rip of one of my favorite series, regardless of the quality of said clone.
It's about time somebody mashed Touhou with Castlevania. Also:
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/423720
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/387012
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/454400
http://chan.sankakucomplex.com/post/show/522074
For more information on just what Touhou is:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/touhou-project-%E6%9D%B1%E6%96%B9project
touhou.wikia.com
I really want this but have not a clue on how to download it... the links helps in the same way telling me "the needle is in the haystack" helps. Can anyone post instructions or something, as my japanese is non-existant.
Necros, I think you're taking it a little too seriously. I've played through Symphony of the Night nigh on 7 times already, I love the game as you do.
But this is an indie project. Indie devs need to clone projects to learn from them and move on to bigger things. For example, if you can clone Super Mario Bros and Tetris, you'll learn a lot about development. Then you start re-creating bigger and more ambitious projects until you have the skill set to make something of your own.
That being said, I really, really, really want to play this because I love Symphony of the Night so much. I wish they'd make another, but that obviously hasn't happened. So instead, I get to play this!
Touhou Castlevania? It's like somebody sat down in a room and said "Hey, let's take Phantomile's two favorite things ever and make them into one game."
I'll be keeping my eyes open for the full version, this game looks really sweet. I love Castlevania, and I'm a little offed that it's a complete rip-off, but at the same time, I'm drawn to it like a moth to light.
This is cool, and I think you are too harsh on it, Necros. How is this any different than any western modder, using Valve's tools to produce something similar? In truth it isn't any different, and while you might wave a rip off flag, it takes a lot of passion to produce something so polished and professional looking like this. You've really got to know what you are doing, to give a 2d game like this a go, something even established western developers fear trying.
If Live Indie games were this sweet, we'd all buy more of them, so there are lessons to be learned from these doujin games, the most vital one being that art presentation counts for a lot. Even if you are a indie developer, who can't draw, using XNA,PSN or whatever, your game should look unique and great to attract customers. Art assets should be hunted for at places like Deviantart.com and conceptart.org, and should be just as important as code and music. Many artists are reasonable and looking for exposure, so their comission prices will be fair.
I'd like to see this kind of talent on XNA/PSN where I can pay for it. I've seen one or two japanese XNA games appear on Live, so I hope we see more.
Haha, the first thing I thought when I saw the header image was, "Looks like Maria and Reimu," guess there was a reason for that.
Looks sweet to me. I'm not too worried about it being a clone, I think it's a good effort, I enjoy the Touhou characters, and if it's fun what does it matter.
As for flying in Castlevania, in Order of Ecclesia you can fly. Admittedly not till the very end.
So, this is what that Kojima-esque art was on Danboo. While I'm not big on Toho/Touhou's ridicu-high lace-&-frills factor, converting the puffy grannywear into the flowing (modern) Castlevania style works well (hey, it's not any more complicated than Leon's getup), and that framerate is excellent, along with the sprite detail (though I'm still not appeased by the "giant blocks" design of SotN room-edges). Music's good too; is it from Touhou, from Castlevania, or a mix of both?
And I might just would LOL if Sakuya returned later and pulled off a ZA WARUDO.
I don't care if this is a SOTN clone, this game still looks really great from both an artistic and gameplay standpoint. Also, there can never be enough Castlevania clones. Ever.
Also I noticed on the game's character page that Remilia is making an appearance which is definitely appropriate but I didn't see Flandre. I feel like this game would be incomplete without her.
Great, I was looking forward to this game. But why do you report about this but not the actual two new official touhou games that just came out yesterday?
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Contest:
10:00 AM on 08.15.2009
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I know people generally love Tohou, and I was intrigued, because I assumed that "clone" meant "another Metroidvania game." But this isn't just within the genre - I don't think I could play such a shameless rip of one of my favorite series, regardless of the quality of said clone.
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/423720
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/387012
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/454400
http://chan.sankakucomplex.com/post/show/522074
For more information on just what Touhou is:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/touhou-project-%E6%9D%B1%E6%96%B9project
touhou.wikia.com
@ Phalanxxx
Just click the tab that says "Downloads", then click one of the orangeish clickable icons you see beside the "imirror.fuzzy2.com" thing.
But this is an indie project. Indie devs need to clone projects to learn from them and move on to bigger things. For example, if you can clone Super Mario Bros and Tetris, you'll learn a lot about development. Then you start re-creating bigger and more ambitious projects until you have the skill set to make something of your own.
That being said, I really, really, really want to play this because I love Symphony of the Night so much. I wish they'd make another, but that obviously hasn't happened. So instead, I get to play this!
I NEED THIS
If Live Indie games were this sweet, we'd all buy more of them, so there are lessons to be learned from these doujin games, the most vital one being that art presentation counts for a lot. Even if you are a indie developer, who can't draw, using XNA,PSN or whatever, your game should look unique and great to attract customers. Art assets should be hunted for at places like Deviantart.com and conceptart.org, and should be just as important as code and music. Many artists are reasonable and looking for exposure, so their comission prices will be fair.
I'd like to see this kind of talent on XNA/PSN where I can pay for it. I've seen one or two japanese XNA games appear on Live, so I hope we see more.
It plays like symphony of the night, that's enough for me! ^^
Looks sweet to me. I'm not too worried about it being a clone, I think it's a good effort, I enjoy the Touhou characters, and if it's fun what does it matter.
As for flying in Castlevania, in Order of Ecclesia you can fly. Admittedly not till the very end.
So, this is what that Kojima-esque art was on Danboo. While I'm not big on Toho/Touhou's ridicu-high lace-&-frills factor, converting the puffy grannywear into the flowing (modern) Castlevania style works well (hey, it's not any more complicated than Leon's getup), and that framerate is excellent, along with the sprite detail (though I'm still not appeased by the "giant blocks" design of SotN room-edges). Music's good too; is it from Touhou, from Castlevania, or a mix of both?
And I might just would LOL if Sakuya returned later and pulled off a ZA WARUDO.
Also, header image is epic. O_O
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Immaterial_and_Missing_Power
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Scarlet_Weather_Rhapsody
Also I noticed on the game's character page that Remilia is making an appearance which is definitely appropriate but I didn't see Flandre. I feel like this game would be incomplete without her.