Castlevania: Reincarnation

Review by Mike Finkelstein

Due to the legality and licensing issues between China and the rest of the world, not many games or game series came out in the country over the decades. Game companies didn’t trust that China would actually go after and prosecute pirates and hackers that were stealing intellectual property from outside game developers (which is fair since the country didn’t, and still doesn’t, seem to care if its own citizens steal games, music, movies, and more from external countries and companies, preferring to protect only internal Chinese development, not external resources). As such, they refused to put out consoles and games in China until something changed.

Konami was one of those countries, only recently getting to the point where they were conformable developing Chinese-specific titles for that market (see: Castlevania: Moonlight RhapsodyA mobile only, Chinese exclusive (so far, at least) game for the Castlevania series, marrying characters old and new in (another) crossover adventure. Still currently in development, and has been for years at this point.). But just because Castlevania games weren’t making into Chinese markets, that doesn’t mean that China wasn’t getting the equivalent games over there, via other means (only proving Konami’s point up until then). One such title was Prince of Qin - Millennium Reincarnation, which has more recently been fan-translated and pushed out for an English audience as Castlevania: Reincarnation. And, well, it’s everything you expect from a bootleg Castlevania game. And by that we mean it’s really just a different Castlevania game you’ve already played before.

Castlevania: Reincarnation is, at its core, Castlevania: Aria of SorrowThe third title for the Gameboy Advance, Aria of Sorrow married the Metroidvania gameplay of Symphony of the Night with refined gameplay and an engaging soul-collecting mechanic, creating what many consider one of the best games of the series.. You start off with Moran, a young man who finds himself on the outskirts of a strange castle. He doesn’t know why he’s there, but he finds that he has the power to collect the soul magic of the demonic entities he finds within the castle. He has, as others tell him, the power of Dominion and, because of that, he’s the only one that can battle their way through the castle and stop the rise of the evil Dragon Emperor, a great evil that once ruled over the land. Yes, Moran is Soma CruzA young exchange student on a trip to a Japanese shrine, Soma is sucked into an adventure he never could have anticipated when Dracula's Castle, sealed within the magic of an eclipse, pulls him into its dark and foreboding grasp. and you are, very much indeed, going to be playing a game you’ve seen before.

From the opening beats of the game, you’ll find yourself going through a castle that is, room by room, a reconstruction of the castle from Aria of Sorrow. You start off in the equivalent of the Grand Hallway, making your way through there to reconstructions of the Chapel (which is a Buddhist Shrine here), Dance Hall, Gardens, Arena, Top Floor, and more. Each zone, beat for beat, is built the same, with sometimes even similar enemies and items scattered through the halls. You’ll fight bosses in the same places (although, in fairness, they won’t always be the same bosses) and you’ll gain power-ups and progression right around the same time you would in Aria of Sorrow. Basically, this is that Konami game, built for mobile phones.

But here’s the kicker: because it was built for mobile phones (the Java mobile platform that was popular in Asian countries) players also had to deal with mobile transactions. Each zone was released separately, and to get to the next zone of the game you had to wait for it to be released and then buy that episode. So once you were done with the Grand Hallway, after the game first came out, you were in for a wait and then the company expected more money from you. Pay to win and microtransactions were the name of the game.

The expectation was that while you waited for the next episode you’d explore the zones you already have, collecting everything and leveling up in the process. Each episode noted a marked increase in difficulty, with more and stronger enemies at each turn. You could have waited for all the episodes to come out, and then jammed through it, but then you would have been at a marked disadvantage if you didn’t spend a ton of time grinding and exploring over and over just to get Moran up to an “appropriate” level.

The fan patch does take out all the micro-transactions. Instead of a menu prompting you to pay more to get the next zone, or to buy a new power-up, or to increase your weapon power (all things you could pay for) those screens are replaced with text explaining that a micro-transaction used to be there. With all of that out of the way you can then move from zone to zone (on a world map that clearly steals ideas from Castlevania: Order of EcclesiaThe third and final Castlevania game from the Nintendo DS, and the final true Metroidvania for the series from director IGA, this title features the most expansive world in any Castlevania game yet, as well as an interesting twist on the soul-collecting formula.) and never have to worry about the original company trying to get your money.

Yes this is a bootleg of that Chinese game but, let’s be honest, if this game had come out in any other region other than China Konami would have sued their pants off and won because this is just a blatant clone of Aria of Sorrow. And it’s not just in the level design that you see it, or the hero. It’s in everything else, too. Other characters that are clear stand-ins for HammerA retired soldier and friend of Soma Cruz. Hammer spends his days selling the various things he gathered during his many battles. It's not looting the dead it's just... repurposing lost goods., Yoko BelnadesA member of the Belnades clan of sorceresses, Yoko works for the Church, fighting against the forces of darkness. She's summoned into the eclipse when Dracula's Castle reappears, and works with Soma Cruz to stop the growing evil within., and Graham JonesThe primary antagonist of Aria of Sorrow. Graham believes himself to be the reincarnation of Dracula, bearing a piece of his dark power. His trip to Dracula's Castle, though, would reveal the truth. are here as well. The exploration powers you get are clearly based on the ability souls from Aria of Sorrow. In most cases, this is a one-to-one clone of Konami’s game.

About the only areas where it’s not a direct close is in the visual and audio design. Graphics and sound are original (or mostly original) in this mobile game. Everything has been redesigned with seemingly new graphics (aside from a Wooden Golem or other enemy here or there) and nothing appears to be too lifted from Castlevania. Inspired by, maybe cloned and then heavily re-edited, but not just lifted and used straight out. And the music doesn’t seem to come from Castlevania, either. I can’t guarantee that it doesn’t come from some other source, maybe a different game, but it’s not Castlevania music, that much I know. It all looks and sounds good, however they designed it or stole it from, and I appreciate that.

And for a mobile game it played decently well. Yes, because of its age, you’ll be playing this title (through emulation) on the equivalent of a nine-key touchpad, as was the style for older phones. It’s a little annoying to get used to at first, and your character does feel far more limited than Soma did on the Game Boy Advance, but for the hardware it’s not bad. Once you get some levels, power-up your magic, and get everything going, the game is pretty smooth. I found I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I expected.

Well, right up until I got to the end boss. The first phase of the end boss wasn’t bad, a decent little variant on the Graham fight, which I liked. But then the second phase, which clones off the third, demon-angel phase of that fight, is overpowered, obnoxious, and evil. The boss takes very little damage from your attacks and is constantly dishing out unavoidable damage to you. If you don’t have a massive stash of healing you’ll die, and even then you have to play cheap and use overpowered magic from a distance just to get the job done. I hated this fight and it practically ruined the whole experience.

The game is a bootleg of Aria of Sorrow and you have to know that going in. If you accept that it’s not a bad game for most of its run. It gets a little stupid with its difficulty in the late game, especially once you get to the last boss, and it does feel a little uneven throughout just because of what it’s trying to do on hardware that wasn’t meant for this game. Still, as a free, fun diversion it’s not bad. If I’d paid for it back in the day I probably would have hated it, but now I don’t have to care so much.

In comparison to Aria of Sorrow, this game is pretty weak. But it’s still an interesting curiosity worth checking out for any Castlevania fan. You can find the patches for it online at various sources, and if you’re curious, I suggest you at least check out playthroughs of the game online just to see how blatant this clone really was.