Castlevania: SotN Lashed Onto Live

One of the best games on the PlayStation will soon (hopefully) be one of the best game on Xbox Live Arcade.

It's been called one of the best games on the PlayStation - or any system, for that matter. Now it seems that Konami's classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is coming to a very different platform: Xbox Live Arcade.

The talk is spreading thanks to internet reports based on a snippet in the latest issue of US magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly.

The magazine, by way of sister site 1Up, says that, "Konami is resurrecting the cult PS1 game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on Xbox Live Arcade. Along with SotN, Konami is also bringing back other classic hits, some revered (Frogger, Contra, Super Contra, Track & Field) some obscure (Time Pilot), and some really obscure (Scramble)."

As much as some people would love to play Time Pilot again, it's the news to do with that Castlevania game that has fingers racing. Konami representatives told 1Up that the game would be out during the winter.

It's not clear exactly how this will work though. According to Microsoft representatives, who spoke to popular Xbox blogger Larry Hryb, Xbox Live Arcade games need to be no bigger than 50 MB - small enough so that they can fit on a memory card.

To fit the game in this space, Konami would probably need to cut down the file size where it could, meaning the excellent soundtrack could find itself downsampled.

Fear not if you've got no plans to buy an Xbox 360 yet you still want to taste Konami's classic game. The publisher told 1Up that the game's announcement for the Xbox Live Arcade doesn't necessarily preclude its appearance on other systems. Huzzah!

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games