Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

698:. This aborts the transformation, but a soul leaves Soma and enters the doppelgänger, which takes on the appearance of Dmitrii. Dmitrii says that when Soma defeated him he allowed himself to be absorbed, wishing to use his powers to copy Soma's ability to dominate the souls of Dracula's minions. He then leaves with Celia to absorb the souls of many powerful demons and monsters in an attempt to increase his power. Soma and Arikado chase after the pair, and find them in the castle's basement. Dmitrii, using Celia as a sacrifice, seals Arikado's powers, and engages Soma. However, his soul is unable to bear the strain of controlling the demons he has absorbed, and they erupt out of him, combining into one gargantuan creature called Menace. Soma manages to defeat it, but the souls composing the demon begin to fall under Soma's dominance. He becomes overwhelmed and rejects them, fleeing from the castle with Arikado. Soma is conflicted over the present situation. He believes it was his responsibility to become the dark lord, and that the events of the game were the result of his not accepting this responsibility. Arikado convinces him his fate is not fixed. Soma then shares a tender moment with Mina, much to the amusement of his onlooking friends. 469:. Except for human enemies and the game's final opponent, the player can absorb all enemies' souls. The chances for absorbing a soul varies by enemy, as certain enemies release souls more regularly than others. The player can absorb multiple copies of the same soul; many of these souls will increase in effectiveness depending on the number of the same soul a player possesses. Souls provide a variety of effects and are separated into four categories: Bullet, Guardian, Enchant, and Ability souls. The player can have only one type of Bullet, Guardian, and Enchant soul equipped at any given time. However, when the player acquires the "Doppelgänger" soul, they can have two different weapon and soul setups, and switch between them at will. Players can trade souls wirelessly using two 686:

Belmont. As Julius leaves, Soma escorts Yoko to a safe location. During this time, she instructs him in the use of a Magic Seal, which is necessary to defeat certain monsters in the castle. As Soma travels farther into the castle, he meets Celia, who is flanked by two men, Dmitrii Blinov and Dario Bossi. Celia explains their nature as the "dark lord's candidates", who can become the dark lord by destroying Soma. He later encounters Dmitrii and is able to defeat him. Soma gains dominance over his soul, although he acquires no abilities. As Soma travels further, he comes upon Dario. Soma bests him, and Celia teleports Dario away from harm.

485:. Guardian souls continually drain magic points so long as they are activated. Several Guardian souls can be used in with Bullet souls to execute special attacks called Tactical Soul combos. Enchant souls offer statistical bonuses and resistance against several forms of attack. They are passive, and require no magic points to remain active. Ability souls give the player new abilities and are required to move into certain areas of the castle. They are always active, and therefore not equipped – nor do they consume magic points. Some examples include the abilities to break ice blocks with the stylus and to double-jump. 517:" enemy to zero, a circle will appear, and the game will automatically draw a pattern connecting any number of smaller circles on the circumference of the larger circle. After this, the player is prompted to draw the same pattern on the touchscreen in a set amount of time. If the player fails to draw the pattern accurately within the time limit, the boss will regain health and the battle will resume. If successful, the boss will be defeated. More powerful boss enemies require higher level Magic Seals, which have more intricate and complex patterns as the level increases and are found over the course of the game. 682:, Soma is living peacefully, and believes his powers have been lost. A woman who identifies herself as Celia Fortner, appears and summons several monsters. Arikado arrives to help Soma defeat the monsters, after which Soma absorbs their souls. Celia retreats, proclaiming that she will destroy Soma. Soma expresses disbelief at the return of his powers, but Arikado reveals that his powers were never lost, only dormant. He informs Soma that Celia is the head of a cult that seeks the resurrection of the dark lord. He leaves, instructing Soma not to pursue Celia. 690:

use the Magic Seals. Dario retreats, instructing Soma to fight him in the castle's throne room. Soma does so, lambasting Dario for desiring only power, and promising to defeat him. Before the battle begins, Soma uses one of his souls to transport himself into the mirror in the room, revealing Aguni, the flame demon sealed within Dario's soul. Soma defeats Aguni, leaving Dario powerless. As Dario flees, Celia arrives, and instructs Soma to come to the castle's center.

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in the "Enemy Set" mode, where a player builds a custom scenario. The player can place monsters inside rooms if they have acquired the monster's soul in the main game, but boss enemies cannot be added to any scenario, even if the player has the boss' soul. Two players using two Nintendo DS consoles can compete in these scenarios, with the winner being the one with the fastest time completing the course.

670:. Celia Fortner is a shadow priestess heading the cult. She seeks to revive him to prevent the loss of her magical powers. Dmitrii Blinov, a ruthless manipulator, and Dario Bossi, a vicious firebrand, are Celia's primary lieutenants. They are the "dark lord's candidates", born on the day Dracula was slain and thus can assume the mantle of Dracula by destroying his soul, which is present in Soma Cruz. 1160: 1155: 1150: 1145: 1140: 1088: 1083: 1078: 1073: 1068: 413:, which determine the number of times a character can use magical attacks; strength, the power of a character's physical attacks; and intelligence, the power of a character's magical spells. Upon encountering an enemy, the player can use a variety of weapons to attack and defeat the enemy. The weapon choices are largely 545:. Each character has a weapon and assorted unique abilities. Although these abilities remain static throughout the entire game, the characters' statistics can improve by acquiring enough experience points to level up. The castle layout and enemies are the same except for the final battle, which is against Soma. 848:

s sales figures did not meet expectations, and as a result, Igarashi consulted Konami's sales department. The staff concluded that the demographics of the Game Boy Advance did not line up with the series' target age group. Igarashi believed the Nintendo DS inherently attracted a younger audience, and

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Soma meets Arikado, who is initially angered by Soma's presence, but accepts the situation. He gives Soma a letter and a talisman from Mina. Soma briefs Arikado on the current situation, and Arikado leaves to locate Dario. Soma comes upon Dario and Julius who is later defeated due to his inability to

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Souls can be spent to permanently transform a character's weapon. At Yoko Belnades' shop, the player can remove certain souls from their inventory to change their weapon into a stronger form. Certain weapons can be acquired only by using souls to strengthen a lesser form of the weapon. Souls are used

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The functionality associated with the Nintendo DS, namely the touch screen and the Magic Seal system, was subject to criticism from reviewers. GameSpot noted that it was difficult to use the stylus immediately after the game prompted the player to draw the Magic Seal, thus forcing the player to use

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deplored the "shallow, lifeless anime images" used for the characters and Kojima's absence from the production. IGN believed the new images were "down to the level of 'generic Saturday morning Anime' quality". The audio by Michiru Yamane and Masahiko Kimura was highly regarded, with GameSpot saying

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In Japan, the game sold over 15,000 units in its first week, acquiring the number ten slot in software sales. The game sold over 164,000 copies in the first three months after its release in the United States. The game was re-released in Japan in June 2006, and later in North America during 2007 as

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The use of the technical features of the Nintendo DS was one of the production team's principal concerns during development. The DS touch screen was a primary point of interest. Several functions such as picking up items on the screen and moving them were originally intended to be incorporated into

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The gameplay, and the Tactical Soul system in particular, received praise from reviewers. The sheer depth of the abilities of the numerous souls found in the game was lauded, and IGN believed the ability to have two customizable "profiles" of different abilities was "an extremely handy idea". The

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their fingernail on the touch screen. Other functions using the touch screen, including clearing ice blocks, were viewed as trivial, with GameSpy calling it a "gimmick". However, IGN dismissed the lack of DS functionality as a major issue, claiming it "doesn't hurt the product in the slightest".

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extolled the game's animation and graphics, describing the backgrounds as "intricate and gorgeous" and the individual animation, especially of enemies, as one of the game's "highlights". IGN echoed this assessment, calling the animation "stunning and fluid", and noted the differences in graphics

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Soma, however, uses information acquired from Hammer to locate the cult's base, a facsimile of Dracula's castle. Hammer arrives, and as he has left the military, agrees to help Soma by opening up a shop in the village outside the castle. After entering the castle, Soma encounters Yoko and Julius

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If Soma does not have Mina's talisman equipped when he witnesses Celia slay the Mina doppelganger, he will not realize the deception, and fully accept his dark powers, ending the game and unlocking a new mode, in which Julius, Yoko and Arikado, now assuming his true form as

706:, must venture into the castle to kill Soma. The game may also end early if Dario is confronted directly from the start, upon which he will lose control of Aguni and die by immolation, enabling Celia to escape and Dmitrii to secretly possess Soma through his absorbed soul. 693:

Upon arriving, Soma is forced to watch Celia kill Mina. Furious, he begins to succumb to his dark power. The talisman Mina gave Soma is able to slow the transformation, enabling Arikado to arrive in time to inform Soma that the "Mina" who Celia killed was a

599:, when Soma believes his inherited powers have been lost. Most of the game is played inside a copy of Dracula's castle, which is subdivided into several areas through which the player must venture over the course of the game. The future setting of both 378: 533:) is unlocked. In storyline terms, Julius Mode follows the assumption that Soma succumbed to his dark power and became the new dark lord. A new game can be started from the main menu in Julius Mode. In Julius Mode, the playable characters include 715: 498: 476:

Bullet souls are often projectiles and consume a set number of magic points upon use. Guardian souls provide continuous effects including transforming into mythical creatures, defensive abilities, and the summoning of

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which plays while the player is in that area. The character moves around the environment based on the player's choices; however, the items the player has restricts the areas the character can move into, like most

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series, is set in a castle, which is divided into various areas. Areas of the castle differ in their composition, including monsters and terrain features. In addition, each area has its own unique piece of

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the game. However, scheduling problems forced the development team to abandon many of these ideas. Igarashi's primary concern with using the touch screen was that it would detract from "the

3771: 288:. With the help of his allies, Soma avoids becoming the new dark lord. A cult forms to bring forth a new one by killing Soma. Soma and his allies move to ensure that does not happen. 2163:"The power didn't 'return'. It was always with you. You just never had a need for it since you fled the castle. And that set free all the souls that you had gained dominance over." 796:

Japanese worker in the game. This worker would be a manager in a Japanese firm and have a family. However, the development team's opposition to this idea forced him to drop it.

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was commercially successful. It sold more than 15,000 units in its first week in Japan and 164,000 units in the United States during the three months after its initial release.

3895: 3501: 1245:, saying the latter was on a "broader and more impressive scale". Reviewers lambasted the use of an anime style of drawing the characters, as opposed to the traditional 3925: 457:. Progression, however, is not linear, as players are free to explore the parts of the castle they have access to, and can backtrack or move forward as they see fit. 389:

The player controls the onscreen character from a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies. Like previous games in the series, and most

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was looked at during development, but Igarashi noted that although he found humorous uses for it, it was never seriously considered for inclusion in the game.

3250: 1934: 3128: 2432:"You're neither a god nor a demon. You're only human. You have no chance at ever achieving perfection. Or are you saying you want to be the dark lord?" / 465:

The primary method for the player to gain additional abilities in the game is the absorption of souls via the Tactical Soul system originally featured in

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character design, and a multiplayer mode, where two players compete for fastest times on a prerendered level. The game received high scores from many

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Take control of past protagonists from the Castlevania series to brave the Demon Castle alongside friends and defeat the ancient enemy Count Dracula.

928:, regardless of the type, is largely the same, although he accepted that the DS's sound capabilities were better than those of the Game Boy Advance. 3098: 2838: 2533: 2491: 3935: 3563: 2468: 2930: 3050: 2628: 3378: 3193: 2324:"Was there ever any doubt? Power is nothing if you don't know how to use it. I'll never lose to a fool dominated by his own power like you." 1262:

it was "head and shoulders above ". IGN noted that the DS dual speaker system presented the audio "extraordinarily well". In the review from

591:, realizing that he was Dracula's reincarnation. Soma manages to escape his fate of becoming the new dark lord with the help of his allies. 3915: 2699: 3595: 3350: 2722: 1727: 3343: 2960: 1407: 785: 49: 1519: 3637: 3432: 3394: 3334: 817: 2251:"The cult leader appears to create gates that draw the power of darkness. Monsters exposed to that power are said to be invincible." 849:

he was working to court them with the anime style. Furthermore, Igarashi considered the anime style a litmus test for whether future

3920: 3819: 2674: 1671: 2991: 2812: 2081: 3945: 3940: 3446: 3313: 3243: 2896: 1435: 3570: 3425: 3416: 3219: 3905: 3749: 3508: 3474: 3460: 2869: 859: 652: 570: 402: 359: 607:, as well as a storyline beginning after Dracula's defeat, reflects Koji Igarashi's desire to take a "different route" with 3542: 3534: 3526: 3467: 3407: 3289: 2778: 2577: 2416:"Then that means there will always be a need for a dark lord. All because I ducked out from becoming the next in line!" / 1601: 1551: 908:. In an interview, Yamane noted that she made the music "simple" and "easy to recognize", similar to her work on previous 780:

and the Tactical Soul system in only one game, contributing to his desire to make a sequel. The original design team from

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supports him in his quest; Genya Arikado, a mysterious government agent dealing primarily with the supernatural;

2128:"Correct. They were born at the same time as Dracula's demise. They are inheritors of Dracula's dark powers." / 1942: 875: 3136: 434: 240: 222: 208: 2600: 385:, using the Flame Demon soul. The upper screen shows the character's statistics and information on the enemy. 3723: 3616: 3556: 3387: 3016: 390: 303: 1356: 1200:

succeeded in continuing 2D games as a definite genre, and it "keeps that flame burning as bright as ever".

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also considered it for the accolade of best Nintendo DS game of 2005, with the prize ultimately going to

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are available. These weapons differ in their damage output, their range, and the speed of the attack.

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was in charge of the production. The choice to develop the game for the Nintendo DS instead of the

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reused, and the development team redesigned them for use on the Nintendo DS. Unlike most recent

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pure action gameplay", since the player would have to slow down play to use the stylus. The

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For the graphical representations of the game's enemies, Igarashi had sprites from earlier

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introduces gameplay elements, like the "Magic Seal" system, which requires the use of the

2057:"You mean the power of dominance? I lost it when we escaped Dracula's Castle, remember?" 695: 2983: 1186:

gave it a 33 out of 40 score. Many reviewers noted that despite being highly similar to

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series. The primary premise of the series is the struggle of the vampire hunters of the

3797: 3306: 2804: 2692:"Gamasutra – Interview – "Whip Smart: Konami's Koji Igarashi On Mastering Castlevania"" 2093: 871: 648: 534: 117: 2900: 2182:"They want to resurrect the lord of darkness. Like some sought to do with Dracula." / 3869: 3787: 3754: 2842: 2632: 2537: 2495: 1206: 1109: 1035: 838: 747: 723: 663:; and Hammer, a vendor of military material who retains a large information network. 644: 628: 538: 454: 348: 340: 299: 177: 83: 1222:

relative difficulty of the game and its length was also brought into question, with

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noting that the game could be finished in five hours and "is fairly easy as far as

963: 826: 212: 145: 2873: 2278:"Unh! What was that? Did I gain dominance over a human soul? No, I gained no power 2186:"I guess they don't like the fact that I didn't become the 'lord of darkness'." / 1974:"No. Dracula perished in 1999. You do know of the prophecy of 1999, don't you?" / 3260: 2053:"And what was it called? You know, the ability to use the power of monsters?" / 905: 805: 739: 510: 482: 449: 410: 315: 261: 249: 190: 141: 128: 2782: 1605: 1559: 3683: 3669: 2956: 2461:"Konami's Renowned Castlevania Series to Make its Debut on Nintendo DS System" 1246: 973: 667: 656: 636: 481:. The movement and attacking of familiars can be directly controlled with the 2987: 2695: 1440: 1412: 1011: 777: 624: 588: 406: 394: 382: 285: 3211: 1986:... the symbol of his demonic power, inside the darkness of an eclipse." / 284:: Dracula has been defeated, with his powers assumed by his reincarnation, 2397:"Ah, so you understand. I touched the boy's soul and copied his ability." 2370:"How clever of you to use a Doppelganger. Ah, but you haven't won just yet 2305:"Watch it. He's tough. Especially for me, since I can't use Magic Seals." 1822:... It would have protected him. But alas, I will have to unleash my power 714: 3690: 3132: 2808: 2756: 2464: 2343:"If it means getting Mina's revenge, I'll do it. Make me the dark lord." 2027: 1515: 1352: 1192: 1047: 765: 414: 405:, thus improving their performance in battle. Statistic examples include 1970:... you are trying to tell me now that Dracula has been resurrected?" / 3162: 2726: 2209:"So, the cult's base is here. Hammer's info wasn't so iffy after all." 1938: 1723: 1555: 1263: 1258: 1182: 1059: 1023: 999: 430: 344: 2424:... But there is no reason at all for you to become the dark lord." / 2190:"Not only that, they intend to create a new lord by eliminating you." 497: 3102: 2089: 1436:"The Castlevania Dominus Collection re-releases Nintendo DS classics" 1390:歴代の「悪魔城ドラキュラ」シリーズから選ばれた登場キャラクターを操作して、仲間たちと悪魔城に乗り込み、宿敵ドラキュラ伯爵に立ち向かおう。 1378: 1131: 666:

A cult dedicated to the resurrection of Dracula serves as the game's

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from defeating enemies; each level gained increases the character's

834: 713: 496: 426: 418: 376: 319: 159: 1818:"I had assumed that he would have equipped the talisman from Mina 1270:, with "excellent" sound quality and "exceptional" compositions. 2428:"But if it weren't for me, none of this would have happened!" / 2420:"Don't misconstrue me! Perhaps there is a need for the dark lord 2132:"But that's no guarantee that they can become the dark lord." / 1277:

In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book

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series. Mina Hakuba, the daughter of the priest of the Hakuba

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