Last updated: 08/07/2006 by Ryan Winterhalter

At E3 2006, Konami displayed Lunar Knights, a spiritual successor to the GBA’s solar powered Boktai series. The build at E3 was fairly basic and lacked many of the promised gameplay features, but since then, the game has undergone significant changes.

In May, Konami representatives said that while Lunar Knights is being developed by Boktai developer Kojima Productions, and used many concepts and themes of the series, it is not in fact a Boktai game. The story revolved around two vampire hunters Aaron and Lucien. A lot has changed in the past few months. The game recently resurfaced publicly on Famitsu.com with a new protagonist.

Well, new protagonist may not be the right word. Django, the hero of previous Boktai games, is now the main character. Along with Django comes the new name, Bokura no Taiyou DS; which translates simply to Boktai DS. The title is tentative, though, and the game will probably still be released as Lunar Knights in North America given Konami’s use of the title at the recent San Diego Comic Convention.

Along with a new Japanese name and character information, new gameplay info was also revealed. The game uses a simulated sun based on an in-game day/night cycle, unlike previous entries, which used an actual solar sensor built into the cartridge. This simulated sun, called “kigitai” in Japanese, is also affected by simulated weather and climate.

Temperature, humidity, and wind will all have an effect on gameplay. For example, if the humidity is high plants will thrive, and strong plants can be used as footholds to get to areas not normally accessible. In windy areas players can hang-glide. Hot weather will cause water to evaporate, revealing previously hidden areas. And rain will hide those areas, or perhaps raise platforms in closed areas like pools, allowing you to gain access to new areas.

Factors like temperature or humidity will be affected by the climate of the area your player is in. There are five climates in the game: a warm and humid climate, desert, tropical rain forest, a damp, cold, sub-artic zone, and a snowy landscape.

The game is scheduled for a release later this year in Japan, and Q4 2006 was the American release window given at E3, so this title may end up launching worldwide simultaneously.