Castlevania Dominus Collection: How Konami Recreated DS and Arcade Games for Xbox

The Castlevania Dominus Collection has launched on Xbox Series X|S. This bumper package brings together three classic Castlevania entries originally created for Nintendo DS – Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, and Castlevania Order of Ecclesia – as well as a redesigned version of the original Castlevania arcade game, Haunted Castle, titled Haunted Castle Revisited. All of this comes alongside modern quality-of-life features, brand new art to check out, and more. It’s a true celebration of the series.

As part of that celebration, we spoke with Tsutomu Taniguchi, the producer behind Castlevania Dominus Collection. From the excitement of working on Castlevania again to adapting almost two decade-old mechanics for modern consoles, learn why the developers were committed to honoring the legacy of Castlevania for the beloved fans, while also getting new players interested in the series.

When you revisit these classic Castlevania games from the Dominus collection, what emotions or memories come to mind?

Since most of the original games in this collection were on a 3-inch LCD screen, it’s surprising to see these games on a TV or monitor now and discover all the attention to detail that you may have missed before. The carefully crafted detail in the background, the attention to detail towards the character’s animations and more.

All the titles have such incredible soundtracks, so the moment we heard the music play, it took us right back to all the fun we had playing them on the DS for the first time.

As you say, several of these games were created for Nintendo DS, which is a very different visual format to traditional on-TV play. How have you adapted them?

The Nintendo DS has two 3-inch LCD screens with an aspect ratio of 4:3, and there’s a big difference in the pixel count (resolution) compared to modern home screens. So, to adapt that to the current 16:9 Full HD display, we’ve prepared five different screen modes to choose from. We hope users can find the screen layout that works best for them.

We recommend the three-screen layout, with the enlarged game window as the main screen, and a smaller status window and map window as sub-screens. With this layout, you can see three different screens at once, something that wasn’t possible in the original game. This allows you to conveniently keep both your map and character status screens open as you play, which we think will help with the overall gameplay experience.

Of course, for anyone who’d like to recreate the same experience as the original version, two-screen layouts will also be available. We also have a screen mode specially designed for optimal magnification (dot by dot), for when the display resolution differs from the original pixel resolution.

As developers, what’s the most exciting and challenging part of bringing a collection like this to life?

Firstly, we’re honored to be working with the series and just the fact that we were able to play a part in creating this collection is so exciting. The chance to bring these titles that weren’t available on current consoles to players again was also a big motivating factor. It’s so rewarding to know that, with the collection, players can experience all the fun that Castlevania has to offer again.

We noticed comments online saying, “I wish I could play the three DS titles on current consoles!” and seeing that always made us happy to be working on it, and really motivated us to bring these titles back as soon as possible! We were truly grateful to see that players were still interested in the games.

For all those players who have fond memories of these titles, we would be delighted if this collection aids to relive the times you’ve enjoyed with Castlevania. And for players new to Castlevania, we hope this will be the perfect opportunity to give these titles a try.

Why do you think now is the perfect time to bring these titles back?

It was around 2019 when we started seeing people online mention, “I love exploration-based action games! But I’ve never played a Castlevania game…” That was what got us first thinking about making Castlevania available on current consoles again, so that people could have the chance to discover them.

At that time, we didn’t have any ported versions of the “exploration-action” style of Castlevania titles available on current consoles, and any of the originals that were floating around the market went for a premium price, so even for people who wanted to play the games, it wasn’t so easy to get into.

We have several of these exploration-action style Castlevania titles, so it was hard for the team to decide which order we wanted to go in to adapt them to current consoles. But in the end, we decided to follow the order in which they were released, so we started with the 3 GBA titles in the Castlevania Advance Collection, released in 2021. We were pleasantly surprised to see it so well received by even more players than we had imagined.

Since that was the thought process from the start, it was easy to follow through and have a team consensus of “if we ever create anything next, it would be the three DS titles!”

What do you hope new players will discover about Castlevania through this collection? Are there any aspects of the games that you think will surprise them?

Firstly, for returning players, we hope this collection helps them rediscover Castlevania and relive those moments they enjoyed in the past. Additionally, this collection includes features such as ‘Gallery Mode’ where you can view concept and design documents, a newly-added Encyclopedia, and a Music Player Mode, all to provide a deeper dive into the world of Castlevania.  Please do have some fun and try these additional contents out!

And for players who have never played Castlevania, we hope this will be your chance to get to know the series. Finally, we’ve included a bonus title, Haunted Castle Revisited, an adaptation of the arcade game, Haunted Castle. We hope you enjoy!

For new players, out of the 4 titles in the Castlevania Dominus Collection, what order should they play these games in?

Even within the development team, we can’t all agree on which of the three we’d recommend first, so we think players will likely enjoy them no matter which order they try them in.

But if we had to say, perhaps the order they were released in might be the way to go.

Alongside the DS remasters, you’ve also created an entirely revamped version of the original Castlevania arcade game. Why did you return to that game, and how have you improved it?

The bonus title was decided by going through all the available options, together with M2 Co. Ltd. [the collection’s co-development studio]. A little secret: it was so hard to decide between the titles that we had many, MANY discussions just to narrow down our top options. I had decided early on that the bonus title should be a stage-clearing action game, something that’s different from the three featured NDS titles. We thought that the bonus title should either be a port of a game that was not compatible with the current consoles, or a small remake of a past title.

Having said that, I somehow knew that it would be a ‘port’, just like the Castlevania Advance Collection. In the end, we narrowed down the possible ‘port’ and ‘remake’ titles, but none of them felt ‘right’. That was when the director of M2 suggested, ‘How about redesigning an arcade title that was super difficult so that it could be played on console?’ and that’s when we all had the ‘Aha!’ moment. Thereon, deciding which title to include was smooth sailing.

I think we’ve succeeded in creating beautiful graphics while retaining the original feel of the pixels, and I believe the game design is finished in a way that people can have fun with.

I really hope that this game gets played by many and brings enjoyment to them! Initially, we intended this to be a small-scale remake, but when we realized, it had turned out to be a full-scale remake. This is all thanks to M2’s commitment and workmanship.

Castlevania Dominus Collection

KONAMI

☆☆☆☆☆
123

★★★★★

$24.99

In addition to the three action adventure games from the Castlevania series, Haunted Castle Revisited, an redesigned version of the very first Castlevania arcade game, makes its debut! And you can also play it in its original format!
Experience the world of Castlevania like never before, with never-before-seen art and handy new features such as rewind, quick saves and much more!

– Titles
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
The adventures of Soma continue! Discover a completely new way to create countless weapons by combining souls, in stunning 2D graphics.
One year after the events of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, a boy named Soma Cruz is once again put at the center of a plot to resurrect Dracula led by a mysterious cult.. Will he finally be able to face his own destiny and put an end to all this?

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Not one but two heroes join their forces to fight the evil this time! Switch between Jonathan and Charlotte with a single button press and make the best use of their unique abilities.
Dracula’s Castle has suddenly resurfaced, but something doesn’t add up.
Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin make their way in to investigate, they soon discover that the mind behind all this is not who they thought…

Castlevania Order of Ecclesia
The enigmatic Shanoa is the only human capable of using the glyphs, symbols full of magic.
Gather glyphs by exploring the Castle and its surroundings and absorb the power of the mighty foes you fight!
The three most powerful glyphs, thought to be able to even defeat Dracula himself, have been stolen. Can Shanoa bring them back to the Order, and finally destroy the Dark Lord?

Haunted Castle
Haunted Castle Revisited, an redesigned version of the very first Castlevania arcade game, makes its debut! And you can also play it in its original format!