Is Castlevania DS going to be awesome? Yes. But then, you don't need to read this to know that. While previous GBA installments Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance mostly fumbled towards acceptability, Aria of Sorrow was where Iga and crew nailed it, crafting a castle that was large without being overly difficult to navigate, a gameplay system that was deep without being inscrutable. So when it was announced that the first Castlevania on the DS would be a side-scrolling sequel to Aria, it was already set in stone that it had to rock out.

However, that's not going to satisfy your thirst for knowledge, so we'll go on. Castlevania DS is a working title, even though that was the name Konami stuck with when they showed the game at today's Gamers' Day event in San Francisco. In any case, the title screen of the demo simply read "Castlevania -- Press Start." Not one to defy a direct order, I pressed Start and found myself in an outdoor snow level.

The graphics, for the most part, look like a souped-up version of the GBA games -- similar in style, but with some extra smoothness 'round the edges. Some of the enemies shown off in a trailer earlier clearly could not have been done on the GBA. Can't say much about the music -- it was loud and there were no headphones. The top screen, so far, is used for more than you might think -- pressing Select switches between the automap and a status screen showing Soma's equipped items, souls, etc. There didn't seem to be a pause function implemented yet -- like everything else in this early demo, it's all subject to change.

Walking through the snow and slicing some zombies and the obligatory giant wolf with the default weapon (a little knifey sort of sword), I immediately discovered a blocked-off area of the demo level underground. (Cutely, the blocked-off areas were sealed with a magical symbol that highly resembles a Do Not Enter sign.) Heading back to the surface, I sliced some more zombies plus one of those giant eyeballs, and then found a room filled with blocks of ice. Having watched the trailer, I knew I could slice through these by using the touch screen; if I was clever I could create a set of steps up for Soma to climb.

But furious rubbing produced no results; only later did I realize I needed an item, which I found two screens to the right. The Balor lets you (you being you, not Soma, who just stands there watching as the ice shatters in front of him) smash the blocks up either with the stylus or with a (clean!) finger. So back I went, and artfully carved a set of steps for Soma. Climbing up I found a Magic Seal -- another use of the touch screen. Bringing the seal down to a locked door opened up the door to a boss chamber.

Faced with a winged, armored demon who was throwing two giant flying swords at me, I figured I'd bring out the heavy artillery. There are no less than three different ways to blow MP in Castlevania DS -- press the A button to make a stronger strike with your main weapon; press up and Y to toss your traditional subweapon (an axe, in the demo), or press R to haul out your equipped Guardian Soul (an angel that hovered above me and shot hails of arrows). Wearing down the boss' energy, before it died I had to trace out the design of the Magic Seal I'd just picked up. The symbol was easy (just three lines forming an X with the bottom two points connected, like an hourglass with no top), but later in the game, apparently, there are more complicated ones.

I say "apparently" because, much to my dismay, the demo ended right then and there, after about five minutes of gameplay. At a loss for what to do, I played it again and noticed that I had some new weapons -- my main weapon was a giant sword, my subweapon was a green ball of hellish goo that slowly moved horizontally, and my Guardian Soul was a plant that grew up out of the ground and swung its tentacles to attack. (In a third playthrough, my Guardian was a large spear that Soma twirled in a protective circle around him.)

So even though the demo was heartbreakingly short, it was enough to give a taste of the new touch-screen gameplay and the classic goodness -- yeah, you knew Castlevania DS was going to be awesome.