CASTLEVANIA DAWN OF SORROW NINTENDO DS

Set one year after Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the first Castlevania game on DS puts you back in the game of Soma Cruz. While attempting to resume a normal life, Soma is attacked by a cult leader in an effort to revive Count Dracula. He, along with friends from his latest adventure, are lured into the cult headquarters to prevent another Dark Age.

All the action takes place on the lower screen, while the upper screen is used to view your character's map or stats. Soma can still equip various types of weapons, armor, and monster souls, although the exact powers of the souls have changed slightly from the previous game. Instead of multiples of the same soul only taking up space, they are now necessary, as many abilities will not reach full power unless Soma has nine soul duplicates. Yoko Belnades has set up an enchanting store inside the castle, allowing Soma to fuse souls with weapons in his possession to forge more powerful weapons. The game also takes advantage of the touch screen feature to let you draw magic runes to perform powerful moves to defeat evil monsters.

For the first time in a Castlevania game, simultaneous multiplayer modes are possible. Place monsters in a series of rooms, then race through them with a friend wirelessly, competitively or cooperatively. The exchange of additional cores between carts is also possible via wireless communication.