​

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.

​

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).

Source

 

[BitMasterPlus]

Saw the rom on another site. I should download it before anything happens.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Yep, looks like it's about as stiff as Castle Raider 64. I know, the game wasn't ever finished, but with a run cycle like what was on display there, and the way everything looked like it handled, I think this resurrection was best kept as the man that is a miserable pile of secrets!

And sheesh, just one loop on repeat? They couldn't have had, like, a .wav of music from the NES game looping to make it more fun?

 

[Vila_]

Very cool, will definitely try this one out when I can, I’m glad people are starting to dump games online instead of keeping it in their collection for ever...

 

[Justinde75]

Honestly I could see this working decently with a zelda like lock on system.
But for me any Castlevania game has to be 2D.
It just doesnt work most of the time

But I do love the atmosphere and music of the prototype

 

[Chary]

I don't think I would have been interested in this game, had it released. I like the 2D SOTN-ish ones too much. But I'm happy for the sake of the game being preserved. Poor Dreamcast could have used this to bolster its lineup though.

 

[Hells Malice]

Always fun when weird stuff like this pops up from the grave

 

[m_babble]

I'll never get around to checking this out, but I'm glad it's happening.

 

[Deleted member 534570]

Cool.

 

[RyRyIV]

In terms of preservation of gaming history, I couldn’t be happier with how this turned out. So glad it didn’t just disappear into a private collection for another 22 years.

 

[spotanjo3]

I am loving it. A huge fan of Castlevania series. too bad that it is not fully version and a fully playable, thought. It is only demo and a bugs.

 

[Graxer]

I'm not a Castlevania fan, but it bothered me to see this going up on eBay as it would likely not be preserved. Its great to see that I was wrong and now everyone can now play it!

 

[banjo2]

I'm not a Castlevania fan, but it bothered me to see this going up on eBay as it would likely not be preserved. Its great to see that I was wrong and now everyone can now play it!

Didn't the seller say that they'd preserve it?

 

[Graxer]

Didn't the seller say that they'd preserve it?

That's definitely possible. I just saw the anger of people worrying that it wasn't going to be preserved when it went up on eBay. I wasn't aware that the seller had said either way.

 

[Rj.MoG]

Very cool! I’m sure the game would’ve been terrible if finished but it’s always neat to see this kind of thing preserved. Kudos to the buyer for being willing to release this like this for us all to mess around with for about 5 minutes,

 

[lordelan]

I don't think I would have been interested in this game, had it released. I like the 2D SOTN-ish ones too much. But I'm happy for the sake of the game being preserved. Poor Dreamcast could have used this to bolster its lineup though.

This. I'd rather spent hours on a 2D version than 1 minute on this one but it's still cool to know that this is "archived by the internet" now.

 

[leon315]

He spent a fortune then DUMPED AND UPLOADED IT on internet for everyone to enjoy!
I fucking knew it! I KEWN THAT GUY IS A SAINT!
btw how much did he pay for?

 

[ChibiMofo]

That's definitely possible. I just saw the anger of people worrying that it wasn't going to be preserved when it went up on eBay. I wasn't aware that the seller had said either way.

In the midst of a global pandemic people still get angry over stuff that does not matter one bit.
#sad

 

[BaamAlex]

Is that from this version which were sold on ebay a few weeks ago?

 

[D34DL1N3R]

Guess I'm in the minority. It looks like something I would have absolutely LOVED to play back in the day.