lament of negligence

I'm lucky I got a GBA, since Konami only feels that new Castlevania titles should be developed for this platform fairly regularly. And I'd go as far as saying the recent Aria of Sorrow is one of the best titles released for the platform ever. What aggravates me though is that ever since the NES, the Castlevania franchise has always been a mainstay of each Nintendo system. That is, until the fantastic Symphony of the Night was released for the Sony Playstation. Yeah, two Castlevania games were made for the N64, but it's not like the move to 3D was pleasant or anything.

The next installment of the series, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, will be released at the end of October for - you guessed it - the Playstation 2. This game is apparently a prequel to Castlevania NES, taking place somewhere in the early 11th century. Leon Belmont, the hero of the game, will be the first Belmont to have ever confronted Dracula, beginning the noble lineage of heroes in all of the games that followed. And it looks like they are going 3D with this one too. After viewing the screenshots I can't say I'm impressed. Not to mention the usual feminizing of the male lead.

So what happened? What made Konami give exclusivity to the Playstation for home system Castlevania games? With all the great new titles coming out this fall, and the heavy influence of my GBA, I've been thinking about getting a Gamecube. If I even knew that a new Castlevania title would be made for the GCN it would seal the deal. I'm sure after the mistakes made on the N64, wielding Vampire Killer in 3D wouldn't be as painful.