The Road to a Three Dimensional Castlevania
Introduction
In December of 1997,gamers around the world were presented with the latest installment of one of video game history’s most treasured icons. The game succinctly titled Castlevania was not only the first of its series to be released on the Nintendo 64 but also the first three-dimensional game. With the recent release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for Sony Playstation and Castlevania: Legends for Gameboy Color, the franchise had reached it’s highest peak since the release of Super Castlevania 4 in 1991. With the onslaught of two-dimensional games being given new life in the 3-D realm, it seemed obvious that Castlevania would follow suit. Although surrounded by enormous amounts of hype and shrouded in rumors, the game more commonly known as Castlevania 64 would eventually be received with lukewarm reviews from hardcore fans. The initial reviews were promising but the game would soon be plagued with accusations of dull and repeated game play, disastrous camera angles, and a deficient auto lock on feature. In the final analysis, Castlevania fans cried out for a return to the traditional 2-D world.
No
sooner had Konami released Castlevania 64 did they announce that a sequel would
be in the works. Although fans had a glimmer of hope that Castlevania would
abandon the fruitless third dimension, hope would be lost with the announcement
that Castlevania 64’s sequel would indeed be three-dimensional. What many fans
either do not know or do not readily speak of is that there is more to
Castlevania 64 and it’s sequel, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, than meets the
eye. What follows is a totally unofficial history of the road that led to the
making of Castlevania 64. A large portion of the data recounted is taken from
various gaming websites on the world wide web. These sites are given credit in
the sources section found at the end as well as the source of all images used.
Another large portion of the history recounted here is made up of conclusions
drawn by me, the author, and should not be perceived as the official history.
Any comments, complaints, corrections or other should be directed to my e-mail
address:
or
We begin our look back at the
history of Castlevania 64 with it’s earliest incarnation but not it’s last,
Dracula 3D.
DRACULA 3D
From
its earliest conception, Castlevania 64* was an ambitious project. It would be
an attempt to translate all the recognized aspects of a two dimensional
Castlevania into the third. This would include such recognized enemies as
skeleton warriors, flying Medusa heads, and pillars of flame throwing bones. Its
earliest working title was Dracula 3D. For the game, makers apparently looked
backwards to Castlevania 3:Dracula’s Curse for inspiration. Dracula 3D would
allow the player to select from four different characters, each with their own
path through the game. In the process of making the game these characters would
suffer changes in their names as well as characterization and for some,
inevitable removal from the game.
* A note about the
use of the title Dracula 3D: Dracula 3D is the title of the game that would
eventually become Castlevania for Nintendo 64. Castlevania 64 is the common
nickname for the Castlevania released on the N64. Throughout this unofficial
history I will many times alternate the way I refer to the game. Basically
Dracula 3D, Castlevania, and Castlevania 64 refer to the same game. The name
Dracula 3D only refers to the early stages of production of the game. When I use
the term Dracula 3D I am trying to tell you, the reader, that the information I
am giving you deals with an early period in the production of the game. At a
certain point, Konami dropped the name Dracula 3D and changed it to Castlevania.
At the point in which I recount this event I will cease to refer to the game as
Dracula 3D but with its proper name, Castlevania or it’s nickname Castlevania
64.
THE CHARACTERS
[Schnieder showing off his whipping skills against the traditional Skeleton warriors. Taken from the Konami promotional video]
The first of the characters was the latest in the long line of the Belmont clan. Schnieder Belmont was destined to have the high honor of possibly being the most versatile of all Belmonts past. Only Simon Belmont of Super Castlevania 4 would rival his skill and agility. The earliest promotional videos highlighted a Belmont who not only had the traditional whip and boomerang throwing capabilities but also the ability to swing via the whip. This was a skill unheard of since Super Castlevania 4 and only used in a smaller capacity in Castlevania: Bloodlines. After seeing only the first character in action, players were given much to look forward. It seemed as though Konami was ready to spare no expense to see Dracula 3D take full advantage of the 3D world.
[Carrie Eastfield powering up one of her magical orbs. Taken from the
Konami promotional video]
The second character of Dracula 3D would prove no less challenging. Carrie Eastfield, a young magically empowered girl, displayed talents that would undoubtedly one of the most powerful characters to grace the Castlevania series. Her primary ability would seem to be creating orbs of great magical strength that could be fired at faraway enemies. Her second and much more interesting ability was the ability to manipulate her surroundings. In her debut promotional video she is seen to be forcing bricks from the ground floor to fly into the air. Exactly how this powerful skill would be controlled or how much damage this would cause to an enemy would be something player would never know since this particular capability would be later dropped.
[The acrobat Cornell taking on a Lizardman. In the full motion
video you can better see that his game play would be unique in Castlevania
history. It would incorporate close hand to hand combat rather than long-range
weapons or magic. Taken from the Konami promotional video.]
As said earlier, the choice of characters would seem to be inspired by Castlevania 3. With the third playable character we truly see the connection. The man known as Cornell Reinhart was slated to be a skilled acrobat. In the video he seen to be leaping off walls and using his legs to attack one of Castlevania’s trademarked Lizardmen. Cornell was without a doubt a throwback to Grant De Nasty an acrobat and pirate. Although much was not shown of Cornell and he would seem to be the least interesting of the bunch, this character would eventually have a unique destiny.
[Kola showing off how useful a gun can be in the world of Castlevania. In a previous frame, although dark, you can just catch a glimpse of his chainsaw arm in action. Taken from the Konami promotional video.]
The last and most unusual of the four characters is Kola. Of all the characters Kola is the one we know least of. He seen for only a short time and is mostly shrouded in darkness. From what can be seen, he is a throwback or homage to Ash from the Evil Dead series. He sports a large overcoat and hat and is armed with the most peculiar of weaponry. With his left hand he carried a hand pistol and his right was not a right arm but a chainsaw.
GAME PLAY
Konami had planned for various kinds of game play not many of which made it into the final product. From the promotional video, we could see a Belmont character with the capability of use his whip to swing over large caverns. One of the other planned ideas was that of making being turned into a vampire instill a different form of game play rather than making it being just a form of punishment. Although no details were given and the idea was dropped, one can only imagine. Perhaps Konami had something similar in mind along the lines of Rareware's Conker's Bad Fur Day where at one point in the game Conker is turned into a vampire and is forced to live out the lifestyle. Surely, that would make an interesting twist on the old vampire hunting series. There are certainly a lot of levels in the game that would be made easier if you were a vampire.
The character of Cornell being an unarmed acrobat would certainly have brought in a close hand to hand combat style of fighting. Cornell's quest could possibly have given fans a totally different take on the Castlevania's traditional style of fighting. With Cornell the player would be forced to take upon a style more closely reminiscent to one on one fighting games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. This is indeed something that has been explored in a small way in the latest Castlevania. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, has the main character, Nathan Graves combining a certain combination of DSS cards to be given powerful punch and kick moves.
Another interesting feature that Dracula 3D was supposed to have was intertwining story lines. This would have made the final product, Castlevania 64, a very complex game since each character would likely have different perspectives on the same story. Thus, if a player wanted to understand the full story, beating the game with all four characters would be essential. The final product included something more along the lines of separate story lines both with a different ending. In addition, Castlevania 64 does not give you the impression that when playing either one of quest the other character is participating story wise. This is something that was very well accomplished in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse with the alternate characters coming and going in mid-game. [Example-when playing, you could only take one alternate character with you. Therefore as a player you felt like all of the characters went to Castlevania just not all of them went all of the way. ] The intertwining storyline also seems to support the theory that Castlevania 3 was a strong early influence on Dracula 3D.
For example, if you chose Carrie's quest then from a story point of view the player can assume that Reinhardt never ventured into Castlevania otherwise they would have met. Of course the same could be said of the Castlevania: Bloodlines where at the end only John Morris or Eric Lecarde stand triumphant as Dracula’s castle crumbles and sinks. The idea of intertwining story lines was explored somewhat in Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness that will be discussed later.
THE EVOLUTION
One of the most
interesting aspects of Castlevania 64 is the many changes that took place during
its development. Something that has always been fascinating for this author and
shall be covered in the following pages is a comparison of both the early stages
of the game with its final product and the final product to other games in the
series. Also discussed is the evolution of the characters from their Dracula 3D
stage to their final "resting place."
The Names:
As the game progressed the characters names were changed along with them. Some of the changes recorded here might only be Internet misinformation or just typos. Without an official record from Konami one can never now. The earliest news report from IGN.com, dated September 24, 1997, reports that the names for the four characters would be Schneider Belmont, Cornell Reinhart, Carrie Easterfield, and Kola. Readers will note the odd mixing and matching of the names. One interesting revelation is the name of Cornell. The above mentioned IGN report is one of the earliest pieces of news of the Dracula 3D game meaning that popular belief that Cornell was the final stage of the name are incorrect. A plausible reason why there are so many variation of the name is that Konami realized that three of the characters all had very similar names [Coller, Cornell, and Carrie]. Therefore a possibility is that Konami tweaked the names slightly to make some sort of variation. To date the three variations of the name Cornell have been: Cornell, Cornel, and Kohnel. The Cornel variation might well have been a slight misspelling repeated over various websites except that it does appear in an early screen shot of the player select menu. Taking into consideration that the screen below must have been the latest point in which the Cornel and Coller character were included in the project, we can only deduce that the evolution of the name is as follows:
Cornell
Kohnel
Cornel
Kohnel [See Castlevania: Special Edition]
Cornell [See Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness]
Another interesting fact about the name of Cornell is that he at first had the last name of Reinhart. This was of course later given to the Belmont character whose name would eventually become Reinhardt Schneider. With this particular name Konami made a bold decision. The first Castlevania game on Nintendo 64 would feature a lead vampire hunter whose name was not Belmont [something that comes across very sorely with Castlevania fans]. At first changing the spelling of the first name from Schneider to Shunider, Konami dropped the last name of Belmont and came up with Reinhardt Schneider. Thus the character of Cornell no longer had a last name. Though no official explanation for the dropping of the Belmont name, IGN.com offered their own theory for the name change as well for the name of the game in their review for Castlevania 64. "As the simple moniker "Castlevania" (no number, not "64") suggests, Konami saw this game as a first installment in a new series of Castlevania games -- which explains the (in our opinion) strange name change of the main character"
The character of Carrie also lost her original last name, Eastfield, and was given the last name Fernandez. Although this writer doubts that the change was to attract Latin gamers, it could be that it was a continuity decision. Fernandez is Spanish and a previous character from Castlevania: III has a particularly Spanish sounding name, Spyha Belmudes. Therefore Carrie's name was almost definitely changed in order to strengthen the link between these two characters lineage. A common confusion among Castlevania fans is the name of Kola. Many sometimes confuse this name as one of the working names for the character of Cornell. This of course was not Cornell's working name but Coller's. Why Konami chose the change from Kola to Coller is unclear. Neither one seems any better than the other. Also, neither name seems to link to any previous character. In fact the name as well as the character is a mystery. What this character's role in the universe of Castlevania seems to be a mystery. His more advanced weaponry as well as other clues seem to have hinted to many fans that there was a time travel sub-plot. Although not likely, it could just be that Konami wanted almost all of their character's names to start with the letter C. After all, the game is called Castlevania
The Stages
Thanks to on-line sources such as IGN.com and Gamespot.com fans were given a plentiful amount of screen shots displaying the different game stages in order to entice them as production rolled along. After the game's release we can now look at these shots with a different eye examining and comparing them with their final product in order to see the evolution of the game's levels.
The promo
video displayed some areas that might be explored but these were at the earliest
stage of production and were therefore purely conceptual. Later screen shots
made public much later in production confirmed certain staging areas that would
stay until the game's final release. These were the forest, the villa, the
waterway, the castle center, and the clock tower. Something that seems quite
apparently changed was the difficulty level of the game. For those who found the
game hard, it was meant to be harder. For those of you who found it easy, you
were right.
Not many screens shots can be found of the early forest area.
One particular one seems to show
a
two-headed wolf or dog in Reinhardt's way . This creature is not seen in any
other screen shot and may well have been an early Cerberus model. The background
of the shot shows a mausoleum that seems to be a set piece that stayed. The
villa on the other hand offers us several interesting clues to how much more
difficult the game could have been. From early screenshots we can see that
originally the villa was an area littered with enemies. By compiling many screen
shots here is a list of all of the enemies that were apparently planned for the
villa.
Cerberus , Spider Women [Castle Entrance in front of the Villa entrance]
Bomber Skeleton [Villa entrance]
Vampires [First floor before staircase, The long room filled with ghosts 1 , 2 , and the underground dungeon]
Lizard Man [Entrance to hedge maze]
Pillar of Bones, Blood Demon [Inside hedge maze]
Frankenstein Gardener and Statue Dogs [Inside and outside hedge maze]
The fact that the Frankenstein gardener exists in the game might indicate that the Coller character had been dropped. The similarity between the gardener and Coller is irrefutable. It seems unlikely that they would have a playable character so similar to an enemy in the game unless there is some lost story we do not know about. One possibility, a long shot, is that perhaps originally you could defeat the gardener and after defeating him he turned good. This would keep in style with the similarities between Castlevania 64 and Castlevania 3, where after defeating Alucard and Grant De Nasty they join you. Perhaps Coller was supposed to start off in a zombie state when you first meet him. This explanation fits if you consider that now the gardener is undefeatable.
The presence of spider women and lizard men in the villa could mean that originally the villa was going to be a regular monster mash. It could also just mean that the villa was one the earliest completed stages and they were just testing the 3D characters in a completed environment. Nevertheless, the screenshots of the vampire might indicate that there were supposed to be more vampires to fight. Ironically, a major complaint of the fans was the lack of vampires.
[Above we can see that Rosa was originally going to have black hair and blue dress. Her outfit is more reminiscent to that of the vampire found in the underground dungeon. This intimate moment between Reinhardt and Rosa seemed to have been incorporated very early in the development of the game. Pic from IGN.com]
[Above we have a comparison between the early design of the vampires vs. their final look. Left pic from NIN64.com, right is from IGN.com]
[Even more unusual are these shots of Reinhardt in Carrie's Waterway. Note how the left picture looks exactly the same as it appears in the final game only Carrie is in it of course. Both pics from IGN.com]
The Release
Probably due to some pressure to have some kind of figure head game for the N64 system, Konami dropped two of the characters and opted to focus on developing the two principles as well as the story. At this point the game pretty much entered into it's final incarnation as the game simply titled, Castlevania. The theory behind its simple title was that perhaps Konami wanted this 3D version to be a sort of reboot of the Castlevania mythos and perhaps restart the numbering. Those who read comic books will be familiar with this tactic MARVEL comics has a habit of using on characters like Iron Man and Captain America to reboot their universe and their numbering.
Reinhardt Schnieder and Carrie Fernandez made their debut in December of 1997. The game featured two complete storylines for both characters which allowed them to take two different paths in the game. The camera system allowed the player to hold down on the R button and lock onto the closest character.
Fan's first impressions were actually very positive. The game received B's and five stars from various critics. The game seemed like a success. With time though, reviews became steadily more negative. Players began to emphasize the defects in the camera system and complained that the game's level design was very poor. For instance, levels such as the Forest of Silence, Villa, and Castle Center were criticized for making the player run around too much without anything to do. The game also seemed to alternate between having too many enemies without repose and having too little. The number one cause of player deaths seemed to be caused by the horrid camera angles which made platform jumping extremely difficult. Many 2D gamers felt frustrated and disliked the game. Also, gamers who had played Zelda for N64 felt that the targeting system was a disappointment. To this day, Zelda: Orcania of Time holds the crown for the best targeting and camera angles for a 3rd person 3D N64 game. Other complaints included a lack of save points in critical areas and after completing difficult actions.
To sum up, Castlevania 64 was a controversy. It has split fans between the "old schoolers" who are devout 2D gamers and those who have embraced the 3D game world. Nevertheless, no one can dispute that it is not the worst game in the world and it has both merits and potential.
Things of Note
[I find it interesting that
neither Castlevania 64 or LoD shows a castle keep towering over the castle. On
the left we have Symphony of the Night's castle, on the right the castle from
both CV64 and LoD. Where are those steps that you go up at the very
end?]
I recommend fans to visit the official European website for Castlevania 64. Visit it while it lasts. The American site was brought down sometime after the game's release.
www.castlevania64.com [old American site. Doesn't exist anymore.]
www.castlevania.de [European site]
The European site has profiles on all of the characters in the game, even those who are not explained in the game such as Carrie's cousin. Oddly enough, if you read the profiles you will find some contradiction with the game. For instance, the Fernandez warrior is named Camilla Fernandez. According to the site she is Carrie's mother. In the game Actrise only identifies her as a Fernandez warrior. Actrise also says that she is Carrie's cousin, not MOTHER. Interesting.
Also, Dracula's servant is given a name, Gildre. Apparently the vampire Gildre is just as old as Dracula and can pass himself off as him. I found it odd that no other site has ever mentioned this tidbit of information. Most sites credit him only as "Dracula's servant."
CASTLEVANIA: THE SPECIAL EDITION
[Above is the original game summary for Castlevania: Special Edition Released by various Gaming Sites and by Konami]
Castlevania: The Special Edition was the tentative title to the sequel to Castlevania 64. The "Special Edition" was probably influenced that it was announced during the days when every movie was coming out with a special edition. The sequel quickly evolved into a prequel. It was announced that in fact this game would recount events taking place before Castlevania 64. Rumors flew all over the net that this game would chronologically take place BEFORE all of the Castlevania games making it predate Castlevania Legends. Whether that was ever truly considered by Konami I do not know. What is certain was that it was going to be a prequel and it was going to incorporate a character that had been previously cut from Castlevania 64. That character was Kohnel.
[Various Konami graphics depicting the earliest concepts for the sequel to Castlevania 64. Note that Kohnel retains his original costume from the first Dracula 3D promo video.]
CASTLEVANIA LEGACY OF DARKNESS
[Castlevania Legacy of Darkness start menu]
The title of Castlevania: Special Edition was short lived. Soon Konami announced that the game's official title would be Legacy of Darkness. The game's main character would receive both a name change and a make over. Kohnel returned to being Cornell. The rumors of the game being a prequel to the whole Castlevania series dropped after details that the game would explain the events taking place only before Castlevania 64. Konami tried to attract people by teasing fans with the idea that the game would feature new and original levels as well as older ones redesigned. After its release fan opinion was that Castlevania Legacy of Darkness was exactly what Castlevania 64 should have been. The game suffered from the fact that fans were resentful that they had already spent $50 on one game that seemed somewhat incomplete. Not many were willing to pay another $50 for the complete version. The game sported Cornell's quest which was comprised of redesigned versions of stages already in Castlevania 64 and several original areas only accessible to him. Cornell being a "man-wolf" meant that he also had the ability to turn into a were-wolf like form. An added bonus was the inclusion of a second "mini-game" were you take the reins of Henry, a character introduced in Cornell's quest. Henry became the first Castlevania character to use a gun. Henry's game ran parallel to Reinhardt and Carrie's quest thus giving the impression that all three went to the castle.
[It is interesting how Cornell's original costume from Dracula 3D and CV: Special Edition made it's way in as Cornell's secondary costume in Castlevania Legacy of Darkness]
Fan opinions were once again diverse. Those who played Legacy of Darkness first were impressed and were spared the "pain" of those who played Castlevania 64 first. The games camera system was improved in some ways and worsened in others. Most fans complained about little details such as Cornell's inability to turn back into human form before losing all of his red jewels. All in all reactions were the same as Castlevania 64 only with a little more resentment. Legacy of Darkness is superior to Castlevania 64 only in some ways. The fact is that between the two of them you have one really great Castlevania game.
Photo Gallery
CV64 USA box shot
CV 64 strategy guide 1 , 2 , 3
CV 64 Soundtrack 1 2 [I don't believe this was sold in the US, only in Europe]
CV64 Japanese Soundtrack [Obviously not sold here in the US]
Postcards
The following are the post cards that fans could e-mail to each other through the Castlevania 64 European website
Irregularities
The above image seems to be of the USA version of the Castlevania 64 box, right? Look at the picture I have listed above in the gallery and you will see some slight differences. One, The castle is not covered by the game logo. Two, Dracula's shadow can be seen hanging over the moon. Was this a unused cover art? Was it a variant cover? Perhaps someone online just made it up.
The above picture is a box that I have NEVER seen in stores. I do not believe that this was ever a real cover to Castlevania 64 for the simple reason that this is just the cover to Symphony of the Night with a N64 border glued around it. You might see this sometimes when you look up Castlevania 64 used on Amazon.com. Why someone would go to the trouble of making this when you can download the real cover I do not know. Thanks to the Castlevania Dungeon webmaster, I was told that this concoction was made up by game retailers for web display only.
Sources:
Various pictures taken from
Various dates and facts about preproduction of the game taken from
Thanks go out to first, my girlfriend, for being the first to read this, and second to Kurt Kalata for being the second to read this.
Remember that Castlevania and all related characters are trademarked of Konami, all rights reserved.
![CV64 Japanese Soundtrack [Obviously not sold here in the US]](http://www.oocities.org/victor_doom2099/history_files/jap64soundtrack.JPG){kind=link}
