You Can Now Play The Canceled Dreamcast Castlevania Demo

A canceled 3D Castlevania game for the Sega Dreamcast is now widely playable for the first time, albeit in prototype form. Earlier in April, footage of a demo of the canned game appeared on YouTube, which caused Castlevania fans to lobby its anonymous owner to release the demo for the world to experience.

Now, thanks to that collector and the French Dreamcast fansite Sega Dreamcast Info, you can now download the prototype and play it for yourself. According to the site, it includes several levels as well as a battle against the boss Medusa. Since it's an unfinished prototype for a canceled game, you can definitely expect some frame rate drops and other technical issues. The download link on Sega Dreamcast Info includes instructions for how to play it on an emulator or burn it to a disc to play it on your actual Dreamcast.

As we stated in the previous article, Castlevania Resurrection was set to be a 3D entry in the series, and bears certain similarities to other such Castlevania games, particularly Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness. Generally speaking, 3D Castlevania games are among the least popular games in the franchise, though some have their defenders, particularly Lament of Innocence and the Lords of Shadow sub-series.

Intended as a sequel to the Game Boy entry Castlevania Legends, Resurrection would've continued the story of Sonia Belmont. Based on interviews with staff members who worked on the game, it appears that Resurrection was a project beset by problems. Artist Jason Lee Elliott said the game was "doomed from the start" due to the inexperience of the American Konami team, which had primarily worked on the baseball game Bottom of the Ninth.

Art director Greg Orduyan said that Konami Japan was never going to trust the American team with a high-profile Castlevania game, and blamed the demise of the Dreamcast as a contributing factor. The Castlevania game franchise has been on hold since 2014's Lords of Shadow 2, but the Netflix show is still scheduled for a fourth season that will release some point in the future.