Platformer Update

Developer: KCE Japan
Publisher: Konami
Year: 2004
Fun fact: Uses the GBA Castlevania engine

Yes, you read the fun fact correctly, this game uses the engine created for Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, and yes, it does play quite a bit like them.  If you’re a fan of Konami’s long-runnin, vampire-hunting series, then you may be interested in Shaman King.

This game reminds me of the DuckTales, Rescue Rangers and Darkwing Duck games that Capcom made for NES using the Mega Man game engine.  In other words, Shaman King is a high quality adventure that retains enough of the solid gameplay of the inspiration-providing game while possessing enough unique qualities to prevent it from being a retread.  Shaman King utilizes a world map containing several points of interests.  Typically, when games uses world maps each point represents a level but in this game, the paths between the points represent a level.  This means that if you want to go from point A to point B you play through a level and if you want to return you play back through the same level going the other way.  This can result in some tedious backtracking, just like in the Castlevania games but it also makes some sense as that’s the way traveling works.  Thankfully, a powerup is available later in the game that lets you fly through defeated levels.

There are many abilities and power-ups to aquire throughout the game by various means - dropped by standard enemies, provided by vanquished bosses or just found sitting on the ground.  Managing the various abilities is a large part of the game’s fun.  You can set up 4 different combinations of powers that can be quickly scrolled through using the Select button.  There are also items like food and money to be located and managed.  It’s all enough to keep things interesting but not nearly as complex as some of the RPG systems found in recent Castlevania releases.

The biggest difference between Castlevania and Shaman King is the presentation - this game features cutesy, gender-indeterminate anime characters with big eyes and bizarre features.  Of course, this isn’t especially apparent in the sprites as they’re too small to have a huge amount of detail.  Also unlike your typical Castlevania quest, there is a wide variety of scenes and settings.  Some of these settings actually do represent a Belmont adventure, with haunted castles and tombstones but there are also forests, icy caverns and striking mountain scenes.  The backgrounds are usually very impressive, portraying some far-off scene like a majestic mountain range or a very large moon.  The music is also quite impressive, at times reminiscent of Final Fantasy. 

These are details that indicate KCE Japan was serious about making a good game and not just another anime licensed game.  For the most part they were successful.  The challenge associated with Castlevania games is even intact.  In spite of that, it does come across as ‘Castlevania Lite’, containing a less-than-epic quest and characters whose actions seem completely without logic to non-fans of the show (like me).  It only takes about half as much time to beat as a Castlevania game.

Fans of the show are lucky to have such a quality game associated with their license.  Platformer fans should definitely take it for a spin, as well, provided they’ve already played all the Castlevanias they can get their hands on.

Grade: B+
Personal conclusion: Love Castlevania, liked this game