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The elusive and highly sought-after prototype of a cancelled Konami project has finally made its way into someone's hands. A someone who has preserved the game by dumping it and uploading it to the internet, forevermore. Castlevania: Resurrection, the prototype in question, gained notoriety earlier this month when it was discovered after 22 years of only being known through E3 1999 coverage, where it would go on to be cancelled sometime shortly after. However, with the existence of a prototype of Castlevania: Resurrection, preservationists were eager to see what mysteries the disc held in store.

The first information about Castlevania Ressurection began to fall during the magazines of the summer of 1999. It was indeed during this period, in their summer double-number, that the ducks presented in length, width and across the titles presented during the summer. of the Great Video Game Mass, namely E3. At the time, all the journalists were unanimous in praising the spectacular graphics of the game. Konami fully intends to take advantage of the capabilities of the Dreamcast and promises striking lighting effects as well as respect for the Castlevania license, particularly in terms of atmosphere. Looking at the screenshots of our mags, we had to face the facts: Ressurection's visual punch is undeniable! Detailed textures, quality lights, various creatures, Konami's software makes you want to.

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Following an auction, the unfinished game was sold to the owner of the website Sega Dreamcast Info, and now they, along with a handful of others, have investigated the prototype, and documented much of it, from comparing footage found in magazines to the prototype, to gameplay, and a look at the build's files. They've also dumped the disc to .GDI format, and uploaded it to Archive.org, where it's being hosted as a preserved slice of gaming history. Multiple videos are available on the website's YouTube channel, showing the game in action, while a detailed write-up can be found on Sega Dreamcast Info itself.

• The music, composed by "Mark Lindsey" includes only one song that goes on repeat. You can listen to his other compositions on this site .

• As this prototype version is not optimized, it paddles or freeze. Bugs are present such as crossing the scenery.

• The enemy "Lock" system is not yet implemented, we do not know if we hit our target. It's frustrating at first. In the long run, we get used to it.

• When we use the "Start" menu to choose our level, we start the new environment with our health bar and our previous equipment. It is the same when we die, we recover our secondary weapon.

• Secondary weapons do not appear to drop randomly. They drop according to the number of level uploads (to be confirmed). It may be necessary to start over 4 times "Chapel" to find the protective spellbook.

• The more we load to new levels, the more powerful our whip becomes.

• Arriving in front of "Medusa" , there is a freeze. It must certainly correspond to a cutscene not inserted in the beta. Upon killing the boss, an emblem appears. By taking it, the demo relaunches from the Konami logo this time with the player's indications (life bar) previously present in the game only. It will no longer be possible to face the Gorgon again.

• By using a joystick in port "2" , pressing "Start" activates the "Free Camera" mode. You will have to hold "Y" to go up, "A" to go forward, "X" to go back, "B" to go down and the directional cross to orient yourself. The left trigger makes the movements faster.

• Edit : Whip and sub-weapons (items) have a charge attack. Holding X or B will fill the blue bar to remove it. The sub-weapon charge performs an object crash, taking more hearts and performing a unique move (Thanks to GigaBoots for this feedback).

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[BlazeMasterBM]

It's always cool to see new prototypes released to the public, giving people a chance to try out what would otherwise be a complete loss and waste of time, so at least it's not a total waste. I don't know why this didn't get released, guess it was the Dreamcast's early demise? But 3D Castlevania games did not seem to be terribly popular so maybe it wasn't a huge loss. I'm sure they have some dedicated fans but everyone knows Castlevania works best in 2D. They never seemed to figure out how to get it to work equally well in 3D.

that's a good way to think about it. I'm sure the devs would be happy to know that their work is still going to be put to use

 

[The Real Jdbye]

that's a good way to think about it. I'm sure the devs would be happy to know that their work is still going to be put to use

Sometimes I feel like the devs are the ones intentionally leaking all these prototypes so that someone can see their work. Surely, for at least some of them that is the case.I know I'd do it if I could get away with it. You risk getting fired but if the game is 20 years old and you might not even be working for the same company anymore then it doesn't really matter. Maybe some companies would even be OK with leaking their cancelled/unfinished games, but even if they aren't, whoever is doing the leaking can't get in much trouble legally because they were never selling or making any profit on it to begin with and they never would have.