Ever since the reveal that Castlevania was getting a TV show, there has been much speculation about a new game being released for the series. After all, it’s laid dormant for a while now, despite having an obvious fanbase and a lot of demand, and the series has been brought back into the popular consciousness via its adaptation.
It only seems logical for a new title.
And guess what? As revealed just a few days ago, a new Castlevania game is coming out. Titled Castlevania Grimoire of Souls, the game appears to be another Metroidvania title in the style of the DS games, with all the gameplay elements and stylistic that implies. Here are a few nice screenshots showing it in action:
Plus, some neat official art from the official site:
As you can tell, it’s a decent looking game. Maybe not as artistically ambitious as some of the sprite-based ones sure, but decent enough none the less.
There’s just one problem:
As of this moment… it’s only been confirmed for smartphones. Yup, the next much awaited game in the Castlevania franchise is only coming to smartphones, not consoles like the Nintendo Switch that seem almost perfect for the title. It’s a shame really since something like this seems perfect for the system. After all most of the other games appeared there, from the NES era all the way to the present day.
Well, it’s that time of year again. Yup, it’s April 1st, or April Fool’s Day for the internet population. And like every other year, that means plenty of jokes and fake announcements from game developers, publishers, critics and others in the gaming industry.
So here at Gaming Reinvented, we’ve decided to list them all. From Mario Wiki to Pokemon and Square Enix, here are today’s coolest April Fool’s Day jokes!
Games Industry Jokes
Starting with a few from actual game developers and companies. Such as Capcom’s Mega Man ones…
Fake Robot Masters from Mega Man 11
Which in Japan, means a bunch of fake Robot Masters supposedly included in Mega Man 11. These include the somewhat Indiana Jones inspired Whip Man, what appears to be Guts Man in a business suit and… this weird office lady robot:
Yeah, they’re all parody shout outs to other media.
Date My Robot Master
Which is 100% not the case with Capcom’s US joke. Oh no, in that one they announce a Mega Man dating sim called ‘Date My Robot Master’. Yes, it really is as ridiculous as it sounds. After all, who could possibly believe this could be real?
Get ready for love! Introducing Mega Man: Date My Robot Master!
No one, that’s who! Mega Man has never and will never do anything that ridiculous, he just can’t…
Oh, forget it. If Mega Man Football was real, then in some alternate universe a Mega Man dating sim could have been real too.
But it’s not, moving on…
Final Fantasy XIV Online GO
Namely to Square Enix’s jokes. Of which their first one was a Final Fantasy XIV spinoff inspired by Pokemon GO.
Maganai Fantasy
And their second one was… this thing. A trailer for a non-existent retraux game called Maganai Fantasy:
Which was actually pretty cool looking to be honest. After all, who could ever say no to a new classic style Final Fantasy? One with 8-bit sprites even?
Not us, that’s for sure!
The Team Rocket Takeover
As for Nintendo, well they did a few things for today themselves. Like having Team Rocket take over their website and social media accounts for the day, in the most glorious fashion possible:
Pokemon GO Sprites
Whereas Niantic Labs decided to replace many of the Pokemon graphics with sprite-based versions for a ‘retro’ look. Eh, pretty neat, though the lack of changes to the map and actual encounter setup hold it back from being truly awesome.
Ever since it’s launched, Niantic Labs have added quite a few Pokemon to Pokemon GO. They’ve added generation 2 and 3 as typical Pokemon you encounter the wild. They’ve added legendaries to raid battles.
And well when it comes to promotional bonuses, they’ve done quite well there too, with Santa Hat Pikachu being a fair common occurrence.
But one type of Pokemon hasn’t been made available in the game. Namely, the mythical or event only ones from the main series. You know, like Mew from generation 1, Celebi from generation 2 or Jirachi and Deoxys from gen 3. The data exists for them, it’s just Niantic has never announced a way to actually attain them.
However, that seems like it’s all about to change soon. Why is this? Because in a recent news post for the title, they mention that Professor Willow is conducting research into the mythical Pokemon Mew. This research involves various tasks that trainers can do in-game to help the professor, like discovering special Pokemon or engaging in battles among various other things.
In turn, it then at least implies Mew will be made available through the event, since the tasks are being done to help the professor research it. So yeah, seems Niantic are about to add Mew to Pokemon GO, with other mythicals potentially being made available through similar events down the line.
Which itself opens up a few neat possibilities. Like say, the GS Ball concept being revived for Celebi. Or perhaps the space station thing for Deoxys.
The possibilities there really are endless.
But still, what do you think about it all? Are you happy that this ‘field research’ system is being added as a way to get Mew in Pokemon GO? Do you think this mythical Pokemon could actually make a difference to the game and its meta or what not?
Post your thoughts here in the comments or over at our forums at Gaming Latest today!
As you may have noticed, updates have been pretty slow here on Gaming Reinvented.
But don’t panic, there is a reason for this.
Namely, I’m redesigning the entire website. Why? Well to be honest, there are two reasons.
Firstly, the existing site doesn’t really work for its purpose at the moment. It’s meant to be a service, yet currently feels more like a traditional blog. And that’s fine if you’re running a blog.
But I’m not running one. I’m running a service where people are meant to post their own content. It’s basically a social media type site for writers, in the guise of a news site.
And the current design means people don’t understand this. They don’t realise they can post their own articles or content, they keep asking me to post them as if guest blogs were still relevant and gaming sites require professional staff.
So that’s one reason I’m redesigning the site. To encourage people to use it in the way it’s meant to be used, not as yet another blog they have to send messages to about guest posts and staff writer positions.
Reason number 2 on the other hand… well that’s a bit philosophical. Basically, as I realised a few months or so ago, traditional content sites don’t really work anymore. Why is this? Because society has moved on. Instead of using traditional desktop computers, people use smartphones to access the internet through most of their day.
However, most existing sites don’t get this, and as a result, they’re stuck in the desktop era.
And that’s a huge issue. Put simply, the workflow required for old school news sites and platforms doesn’t work in this new world.
Think about it. How convenient is it to post an article on mobile? On like, any CMS you can think of?
Not very. This means sites like Medium (and traditional CMS systems like WordPress and Drupal) lose out whenever audiences on their phones.
Yet it’s not just limited to them either. No, the same goes for news reporting too. Want to cover a Nintendo Direct? Yeah, good luck doing that on an iPad, since taking and uploading screenshots is hell and videos are even worse. Add glacial upload speeds, fiddly buttons in website interfaces and awkward plugins telling you how hard to read your work is, and things just become a complete nightmare.
But we want to fix this. We want a world where reporting the news is super simple, lightning fast and convenient for everyone. One where authors can write a beautiful story on the bus back from work without worrying that their 3G connection will fail while they’re doing so. Where users can read articles even while offline. Where modern, futuristic looking articles can be written and posted without the backing of a high-tech development team and thousands of dollars in media production skills.
Hence that’s why we’re redesigning Gaming Reinvented right now. Because in today’s smartphone era, the competition just isn’t good enough.
In the last few years, Valve hasn’t really done much where game development is concerned. Oh sure, they’ve made some updates on Steam and found ways to monetise their multiple titles through lootbox type mechanics, but as far as new games are concerned, releases are few and far between.
So much so in fact that some people have actually started questioning whether Valve makes games any more at all!
Which is why when talk of a new Portal game was heard online, the fans were ecstatic. After all, it’s a beloved series with two amazing games in it, and the mere thought of a third title would basically set the internet on fire.
Then we got the trailer. Here it is, the debut video for Bridge Constructor Portal, a bridge building Portal spinoff headed to the app store, Steam, PS4, Switch and Xbox One:
As you can imagine… people haven’t been very happy about it. Indeed, the responses online to this title have been absolutely brutal, with comments on internet forums and Reddit questioning every aspect of the title and the video being so heavily disliked the uploaders disabled ratings on it. The game’s gone down about as well as Metroid Prime Federation Force did.
But you know what? I think that’s kind of unfair. At its core, it seems like Bridge Constructor Portal could be a good game. Not an ambitious game sure, but a decent little puzzle game to play on a smartphone or what not.
It’s just that like so many other titles, its creators made a fatal mistake when making and marketing it:
They announced it after a long period of no important games in the series. A period where Valve made nothing of interest at all.
And just like other games in the same situation, that created a huge backlash. It’s basically Chibi Robo Zip Lash or Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts all over again; a random gimmick game/spinoff deal that just happens to be the only thing the fans have gotten in years.
So regardless of any quality the game may have, this is basically doomed to fail. The game just isn’t what the fans (or general public) want from the Portal series and feels like another blind cash grab from a company that’s completely ignored its core business for nearly a decade.
Still, what do you think about it? Are you happy with this Portal spinoff, despite its… interesting choice of genre and design?
Or do you feel that Valve giving the license to Headup Games may not have been a wise move, especially with the limited number of ‘real’ titles the company put out in recent years?
Post your thoughts on the matter (and more) in the comments below or on the Gaming Latest forums today!
