8/4/00  This just in!! A picture of the OFFICIAL 2D Richter from Konami's official website! This is NOT fake! This may very well be proof that Shin Dracula X is real!!!! This particular pic doesn't exactly match up with the ones shown in the two small Shin Dracula X shots, but it does have that same Konami-style feel to it. The one in the snapshots seem to have knee-high boots on and in the one with him jumping across the bridge, his hair isnt exactly looking long and flying behind him, thos the hair on the one shown left is undoubtedly long. Well, we can now officially (I think) jump around and scream for joy!!! Enjoy it!!     7/22/00   Noone knows too much about this game as of now. However, much info can be drawn by just the little bit that we have...rumors have been flying around for more than half a year now about this elusive thing and the uncaring Konami has yet to so much as whisper a word of reconciliation for it. So, what do we have now that prooves this to be real? First off, the GameFan website seems to have started this way back in January of '00 when two screenshots appeared on their site. They supposedly got them from some Japanese affiliates...convinced yet? me neither...well, the unofficial Playstation magazine, PSM, stated in a rather lengthy article that these pictures are indeed true. On the flip side, a magazine called Silicon stated these were fale, phony, duds, whatever (a little help now and then would be nice, Konami). Well, this all makes basically no sense whatsoever. Sorting the title, the name "Shin" means "true" or "real" in Japanese.That means this game could prove to be either the first game in the "X" series, the true Dracula X:Rondo of Blood, for the U.S., or well...we really don't know...This game's supposed to be released in the 3rd, 2000 quarter in Japan on Playstation 1 and Dreamcast...umm, thats really close and we've heard absolutely nothing since the first quarter. Well, all we can do is hope this may be the saviour of the series' plunge into 3D.

 

Deriving Info and Creating Possibilities   Well let's take a look at what we do have...not much, but something nonetheless. There are things in those pictures which may make you think its real and may also make you think otherwise... first off, let's look at the things that may make show this to be real. The character is obviously Richter Belmont; takes place in the X series and he wears a trench coat....plus, hes the only slayer Belmont around during the X's. If we consider that Richter is wearing his trench-coat there, we may be able to take a worthy guess and say it takes place after SoTN since Richter is nevr shown wearin the trench coat until then. There is of course the graphics which can always tell alot...those screens' graphics would really take a heckuva lot of effort to create in something like Paint Shop Pro even; if anyone created these pictures, they're professionals; Konami or GameFan.  Okay, so there's not much to say that makes you think this game is real...sadly there is plenty to be said for this being fake, most of which I stated already. Well, graphic-wise, the main thing I can think of that makes this seem fake is the status bar. While most would say, "Well that's what most CastleVania's are like, I've seen it before, and it's set up exactly like that," you must consider the counter-point; how long has it been since a CastleVania has featured the big status bar running across the whole screen and crowding up everything?...exactly. Why would they suddenly go back to that?? It takes more space, cuts off a fifth of the flashy 128 or 32 bit graphics, and is incredibly dated looking. Well not much more to say, but here's some blown up shots...see what you can make of them...  ...and...