Castlevania Chapel of Resonance

elcome to the Chapel of Resonance. This website is dedicated to Konami's vampire hunting Castlevania video game series. For over twenty years, this venerated saga has captured the hearts of people around the world, as it continues to unfold the legend of Count Dracula and the Belmont clan that is destined to face him throughout the eras.

After so long, Castlevania carries on captivating gamers, not only due to its macabre theme steeped in myth and lore, but also because of the polished game play, phenomenal musical scores, and its settings, which seamlessly range from sinister caves and torture chambers to beautiful, sweeping chapels and ballrooms.

Like many of you readers, we, too are fans of this series. To express our adoration for it, we've constructed this website for us all to enjoy. Enjoy your time at the Chapel of Resonance.

Website Updates - 3 June 2009. Posted by The Successor.

There is really big news for Castlevania fans. Today, Konami revealed its latest Castlevania project, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

For those not in the know, Lords of Shadow had a small teaser trailer that was released months ago. Many realized it bore a striking resemblance to Castlevania. A male dressed in armor reminiscent of Simon's Castlevania II attire was seen bowing to a cross and was soon interrupted by a giant monster, which he struck with a whip-like weapon. And it was made by Konami. At the time, there was nothing official stating it was a Castlevania game, but many wondered why Konami would make a new property that was so similar to an already established one that they have.

It turns out someone in Konami realized this as well, and this game has been retroactively made a Castlevania title. Mercury Steam is behind its development, with support from Kojima Productions. A new character named Gabriel is introduced. He is a man whose wife was killed by vile monsters. Gabriel is on a quest for a mask that is said to have the power to bring back the dead. At this time, not much more is known about the story. There are several other interesting bits of knowledge, though.

This game is not set in the regular Castlevania timeline. It is said to be a rebirth of the series. What that means, no one quite knows yet, but it certainly opens a lot of possibilities. A very striking trailer was showcased. From what I can tell, this game does not have the flavor we've come to expect from Castlevania, but it is intriguing none the less.

Though, it does leave us with one big particular question, among the many others. Another teaser of a Castlevania game featuring Dracula's son, Alucard, was also released months ago. With Lords of Shadow now a Castlevania game, what does that mean for the game featuring Alucard? Will it be scrapped? Will they both be released? We're not sure, so keep on the look out for more Lords of Shadow information from the Chapel. You can see the trailer here, courtesy of our very own lovely DarkmaneTheWerewolf, who oversees the Chapel's YouTube Channel.

Keep up to date at the Anti-Chapel Castlevania Forums and leave your thoughts on these new developments in our current news thread.

Elsewhere, we have some updates for the Fan Area, Multimedia section, and Articles section. Dracula9 has been generous enough to rip the music from Castlevania Judgment for all to download and enjoy. You can find the tracks in the multimedia section.
Read more.

Raven offers his thoughts on the Japan exclusive arcade Castlevania game in a short but fun article.

"You start in a town where you are mostly killing skeletons House of the Dead style and blowing away torches, and then everything changes."
Read more.

2Dee2Doo, an indie game development group, is working on an intriguing Castlevania fan game called Castlevania: Moonlight Requiem.

"The gameplay system will allow for different styles of combat -- witch mode and vampire mode. Vampire mode is more inclined toward melee tactics, whereas witch mode is good for spell casting."
Read more.

We'll have more fan offerings and informative updates very soon, so keep your eyes peeled, fellow Vampire Hunters!

The Successor

Website Updates - 23 May 2009. Posted by The Successor.

The Successor offers a whole website's worth of content about Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge in the new section dedicated to it. Included within is a review…

"You've got the whip brandishing Vampire Hunter and Count Dracula and his castle, but in-between all of that is a bizarre illusory adventure that seems like maybe it didn't really happen."
Read more.

A thorough look at all the stages. . .

"Skeletons have learned how to climb ropes, too. They will try to thwart your ascent in the Plant Castle with monkey tactics."
Read more.

Boss Strategies. . .

"The Primary Evils of Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge are an interesting and colorful cast. There is quite a range of adversaries, from heavily armored sentinels to wall mounted foes, to evil wizards and even a member of the Belmont Clan."
Read more.

Secrets. . .

"Belmont's Revenge uses a password system. For the most part, these became obsolete to the save file system, but the handy thing about passwords is that you can use them to quickly bypass large portions of a game. . ."
Read more.

And much more. Have a look for yourself. The Successor also examines the bosses of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.

"The danger of fighting these two is unlike the other bosses up to this point. The Serpents' primary goal is killing you in one shot by knocking you into the water, so be extra careful."
Read more.

Nagumo has been christened an honorary member of the Chapel Staff, overseeing the Forbidden Library Castlevania Wiki. Learn more about her on her Staff Member profile page.

"This youthful librarian progressively adds to the Chapel's new wiki, and goes about her task with much enthusiasm."
Read more.

We have new additions to the Fan Area. Z Slogra and V Gaibon grant us a peek at their Fire Emblem hack, Castlevania: The Sacred Stones.

"The story centers on Alucard and Simon Belmont. The two developers decided to put a rather humorous spin on the adventure."
Read more.

Alec contributes two reader articles. His Thesis about Dracula and his Resurrection. . .

"So claiming the 100 Year Rule is in fact a "rule" of any sort is moot and just plain wrong, and so Dracula will take anywhere from 5 to a little over 100 years to resurrect, depending on the circumstances, but it's not a set figure."
Read more.

And his review of Castlevania: Order of Shadows.

"The game's graphics are of appreciable quality, as are most mobile games today, and the backgrounds possess a very Rondo of Blood coloration and style."
Read more.

With E3 coming up, we’re expecting some new information about Castlevania. We’ll keep you posted with what we hear. There’s a lot more on the way soon from the Chapel. Look forward to coverage of the new Castlevania arcade game, music rips of Castlevania Judgment, and plenty of content for Castlevania Chronicles. We hope you’ll be here to see it all!

The Successor

Website Updates - 25 April 2009. Posted by The Successor.

We've got some updates for the articles sections this time. First up, The Successor takes a look at the 1989 Saturday morning cartoon show, Captain N: The Game Master.

"If kids weren't watching their televisions, there was a good chance they were playing Nintendo, so mixing the two was an obvious recipe for success. Thus, shows like The Legend of Zelda and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show were birthed, and they entertained legions of children."
Read more.

Marto reveals a thorough review for the 3-D fighter, Castlevania Judgment (or 3-D versus game, if you prefer that).

"Aeon, the original design of Obata as a contribution to the cast of characters in Judgment, was a complete success. Stoic, elegant, dressed in the same steam-punk fashion of many of the characters, he wields a giant clock-blade weapon, which has the nifty detail of thirteen hours on it."
Read more.

We've also got an addition to the Fan Area. Richter1989 has written an article about the hard to come by Tiger handheld game based on Symphony of the Night.

"This is a simplified version of the hit PSX game. You play as Alucard, Dracula's son. Alucard wants to stop his father's evil reign, because he is half-human half-vampire and doesn't want to destroy Richter Belmont."
Read more.

There's been more news on Konami Gamers Night. Unfortunately, there isn't anything Castlevania related to report. Perhaps we will be shown something new at E3? I don't know, but what I do know is that next update, you can expect me to finish up the Castlevania III section and unveil a whole new section for Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge as well as some new additions to the Fan Area.

See you soon.

The Successor

Website Updates - 13 April 2009. Posted by The Successor.

It's been a while since this place was updated. I'm sorry for that, but, believe it or not, I actually do have a good excuse. More on that later, for now, let's get to the main event. The Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse section is open, with plenty of content from The Successor (that is me), with support from Chapel Flash Designer, SenileSnake, who provided a stylish button for it on the Video Games page. Featured in the Dracula's Curse section is a review of the game.

"Even now, Castlevania III has a weight of importance concerning events in the series' narrative, and the game does a good job of portraying that. This story illustrates the first Belmont to ever face Count Dracula in a death dual, and Dracula's first full scale attack against humanity."
Read more.

There is also a very thorough look at the areas that comprise the game.

"There is something hauntingly beautiful about this scenery, despite it being so ravaged."
Read more.

And character information.

"Once he was a kind man known as Mathias Cronqvist, who fought in the name of God, and for the Church. When the one dearest to him died from illness, he blamed God and turned his back on his Lord and abandoned humanity by becoming a Vampire and gaining perverse immortality."
Read more.

And much more. The entire section is certainly worth seeing. Expect more to be added to it in about a week, and look forward to a section for Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge.

I know some of you have submitted content to me, and I appreciate that. I will update the site with your content in about one week. I just did not want to postpone this update too much.

About that excuse I mentioned. I got held up because I decided to attach a new Castlevania Wiki to the Chapel of Resonance. Since it is nearly brand new there isn't a whole lot there yet, but I'm confident it will grow into a large and reliable resource for Castlevania information. All are invited to contribute quality content to the project. If you ever had the urge to write for the Chapel, this is your chance. Find out more about our wiki project and how you can help at this topic from the Anti-Chapel Castlevania forum.

I'm pleased to announce that we have a new staff member. ZSlogra is now a Chapel Ripper and Writer. Find out more about this staffer on his Staff Member page.

In other news, Konami Gamer's Night was on April 9th. Strangely enough, no one really knows exactly what happened there yet, or if any information about an upcoming Castlevania project was unveiled. The press seems to be pretty tight mouthed about the whole thing, for some reason. I'll let you know if there is an update on the situation.

'Till next time . . .

The Successor