Castlevania: Mirror of Fate’s Developer Looked At 2D Fighters For Combat Design

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate uses combat similar to the original Castlevania: Lords of Shadow game on consoles, but in a 2D perspective. Mirror of Fate is a side-scrolling “2.5D” Castlevania game for the Nintendo 3DS, and has been described by Konami as inspired by Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.

We got in touch with Lords of Shadow series producer, Dave Cox, to ask about how the devteam handled combat in Mirror of Fate, and whether there were any challenges in replicating the combat of the console games on the 3DS.

“The combat was something we really struggled to get right, the feeling of power and the fluidity was particularly difficult to replicate,” Cox shared with Siliconera. “We looked at 2D fighting games like Street Fighter and Samurai Shodown, and we tried extensive play testing in order to just get the feel right.”

“The combat has a 2D fighting game quality to it and we have kept the strategic element that people really liked, where you mix up your magic abilities and combine them with the sub weapons. This is a game you have to think about enemies and a game where you need to learn the moves and use the tools we give you. Otherwise you are going to die a lot! Its definitely not a button masher and studying the bestiary and your travel book will pay dividends later on.”

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate will be released for the Nintendo 3DS in March. A demo will be made available via the Nintendo eShop prior to release.