Funding goal met! Still, adding money will mean unlocking more funding stretch goals. You can also back via the Paypal Slacker Backer option!
Go fund it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night
I recall how much I loved playing the three original Castlevania titles on the NES. I tore through the first game in a couple days, then Simon’s Quest kept me away from victory until someone’s older brother let me know about kneeling with the right crystal in two different locations, allowing me to check that one off as a win. Then the summer of 1995 saw me looping through Dracula’s Curse, over and over with different companions, getting somewhere around the sixth completion before I put it down for good. I even really dug Super Castlevania IV, and a friend loaned me his Sega Genesis and Bloodlines, which I was less good at.
HELP ME, indeed.
The SNES would carry me for a good many years. A plethora of good games were played and enjoyed, but one of my most beloved titles was Super Metroid. Oh, I played Metroid on the NES, and while it had a similar feel to Kid Icarus (which I also played and played until I got the best ranked ending), I just couldn’t get into it. At all. Super Metroid was far more superior, with larger-than-life bosses, powerful upgrades, a compelling (and minimal) storyline. Later, I would later discover that while I could plod through the game and win, there was further challenge to be had where I could explore far further, master difficult moves in split-second situations and truly master it. I hit some middle-ground, never reaching 100% completion. This type of exploration, finding gear/upgrades to proceed was fascinating. I hadn’t experienced anything quite like it since The Adventure of Link, which was an only OK game.
By the time I got a PSX, everyone I knew had already owned one for at least a year. This was nothing new; I usually don’t have the extra income to be an early adopter. My first foray into the system was Soul Edge. I had played it a lot in the arcade and the port was decent (aside from the FIGHT ME IRL jerks I had to deal with when stomping them with Voldo at their house).
My second game was Symphony of the Night.
I was expecting this to go like the other Castlevania games I liked. Belmont-type guy whipping his way through the game, possibly keeping the enjoyable controlled jumping from the SNES title. What I got was far better than my imagination could fathom. So good, in fact, that I would buy the game three times on PSX (one broken disk, one stolen, the third I still have), once on XBox 360 (I had some free points and got the glitchy machine in a trade), once for PS3 via the PSN, and I got the Dracula X Chronicles for PSP for the sole purpose of unlocking and beating SotN on there too. Someone coined the phrase MetroidVania to describe these sorts of exploration games, which I think suits them just fine.
A few more games are enjoyed by me on Nintendo hand-helds. Several more are less-enjoyed… pretty much anything three-dimensional for this series. I’m hoping for something new and fun to come back to the series, in regard to that exploration, but not on an itsy-bitsy screen. Dust: An Elysian Tail did a good job helped scratch the itch and is a really great game, but it’s not quite the same.
But now…
BEHOLD!
Koji Igarashi, the man who envisioned the Belmont family who would come to wield the Vampire Killer whip, is cooking up a new game with the same old feel. By his own words, there will be action and exploration, and he trusts the people to fund his vision. Several tiers are offered to buy into, with the $60 securing the buyer a physical copy for Xbone, PS4 or PC (via Steam) and grant backer-only content!
It is my hope that everyone will jump on this and fund such an amazing endeavor, led by the man responsible for shaping the genre into what it is today. Consider Kickstarting Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night!
IGA was resurrected by… HUMANS… who wished to pay him TRIBUTE!
Enjoy and have fun!
The Underground Tower 