Some sort of 20th anniversary compilation. 

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?pro … d=B180197A

Saw that when I was doing my weekly GameStop search of "Bonus!"
I befriended the goobs who work at the GameStop I've been preordering stuff from recently... they seem to get all kinds of preorder goodies and never have a shortage of it.  I scored a second Rocket Slime keychain today, I didn't even have to ask. ;D  Anyway, I will be sure to keep an eye out for that one.  PoR is definitely a game I'll be preordering, anyway.

I am really curious as to what's going to be on the soundtrack... I really hope it's not a rehash of that silly Castlevania sampler disc that came with preorders of SotN.

I thought the Castlevania Music Collection disc was actually pretty damn cool for its time, a lot of people were just getting into the soundtrack-collecting scene back then.

It was really cool, but I too hope the new disc isn't the same thing all over again.

Just a heads-up that the Portrait of Ruin pre-order bonus has now been extended beyond the CD, which now also includes a 48-page art book with dust jacket, an exclusive Castlevania-themed stylus, and a similarily-themed game case that holds two DS games. 

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?pro … d=B180197A
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager … Id=3154572

The CD itself is described as being "packed with music from the entirety of the series' lifespan."

I'm expecting another Suiko V deal, a scratched CD and traveler's guide-size artbook, but I'm not griping, it's free (well $5 actually since the retail is $34.99). Already had mine POed online because they never get any good bonuses in their stores. I remember POing Lament way in advance expecting the bonus CD only to have some clerk like, "dur, what that is?".

http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/11/exc … castl.html

Castlevania 20th Anniversary Premium Music Collection Track Listing

Castlevania

1 – Prologue

2 – Vampire Killer

3 – Posion Mind

4 – Bloody Tears

5 – A Requiem

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

6 – The Silence of the Daylight

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse

7 – Prelude-Epitaph-prayer-Beginning Boss

Super Castlevania IV

8 – Theme of Simon Belmont

9 – Beginning

The Castlevania Adventure

10 – Battle of the Holy

Castlevania: Bloodlines

11 – Reincarnated Soul

12 – Iron-Blue Intention

Dracula X: Rondo of Blood

13 – Overture

14 – Beginning

15 – Opus 13

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

16 – Dracula Castle

17 – Golden Dance

18 – Marble Corridor

19 – Requiem of the Gods

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

20 – Lament of Innocence ~Leon's Theme~

21 – Admiration Towards the Clan

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness

22 – Abandoned Castle ~Curse of Darkness~

23 – Endless Sorrow ~Long ver.~

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

24 – Requiem

25 – Sign of Blood Pulse

26 – A Vision of Dark Secrets

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

27 – Successor of Fate

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

28 – Ruined Castle Corridor

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

29 – Pitch Black Intrusion

30 – Dracula's Tears

31 – Demon Castle Pinnacle

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

32 – Hail from the Past

33 – Jail of Jewels

34 – Behind the Gaze

35 – Piercing Silence

BONUS TRACKS

36 – Beginning-The Legend of Demon Castle

37 – Bloody Tears

Wanted to make this a separate post for clarity...

It looks like a solid collection, and mostly what I was hoping for: a summary of music from a variety of installments in the series.  They got all of the main theme songs here, which is the most important part, as they're the most identifiable, and also amongst the best.

However, I do have some gripes already: The lack of CV3 tracks (other than "Beginning", which has an unnecessary three renditions), the CotM version of "Requiem" rather than the Rondo of Blood version, and the omission of both "Awake" and "The Sinking Old Sanctuary" (both "main themes" IMO).

Other than that, they got a lot of tracks I like, including some I was surprised to see on here.  Of course, everyone has their own tastes, so mileage will vary...but for being free, this is great!

Decent list for a collection release, I suppose.  Too bad there's nothing from Castlevania Legends (the last GB one) on it.  I still want an OST for that one, however impossible the odds are now.

So it's been confirmed that the preorder bonus thinger for Portrait of Ruin has hit Gamestops?
If so, good, now I have a reason to go there tomorrow other than to play with their Wii. XD

It totals to $39.99? Or at least when I was checking, if I'm not mistaken, I was pretty sure I had seen PoR initially priced at $39.99 at ebgames and then dropped to $34.99. So now I just have a confirmation of $39.99 plus tax, etc. It doesn't really bother me either way, though. I was just wondering if it was also priced at $39.99 after their order when it showed $34.99 at ebgames for anyone else.

Yeah, I noticed they changed the price to $34.99, but if you order online they charge you an extra $5 to cover the cost of shipping the bonus items, so it's back to the same price.  I don't mind because I will be extremely surprised if most GS/EB stores actually get this in.  Maybe it's just where I live, but almost everytime I see a pre-order bonus online for GS and go to one of their stone and mortar stores to pre-order, they have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about and say their computers don't have anything listed, of course they'd still be happy to take a deposit.  I already got screwed on the Lament bonus and would have got screwed on the Gradius V bonus if I hadn't ordered online.

As far as the track listing, it's about what I expected but didn't hope for (cuz I already own them all sans the Portrait tracks).  Like Xlord, I would have liked to see some Legend of Dracula tracks, along with some Dracula XX tracks.  Probably nice for people who don't purchase soundtracks, even though inclusion of Lament and CoD tracks was completely unnecessary considering the pre-order bonuses for those 2 games.

Ah, heh. I just checked ebgames to browse and they had this:

Note: This title has recently dropped in price from $39.99 to $34.99. If you have pre-ordered this game at $39.99 you will only be charged $34.99. Gamestop.com/EBgames.com's policy is to always charge the lower price upon shipment.

Ah, well. I was first thinking to pre-order in the store, but I had a feeling they may or may not actually have it in, so I just went ahead and ordered it online since someone mentioned it. Yet, I knew about it already, but for some reason I only decided to after they mentioned it. Strange, since it offers so much at such a price.

I picked up my CD tonight, and it's pretty cool. I've heard most of it before, but it's really cool to see how the series' music has evolved (or devolved) over the past 20 years. The Portrait stuff is cool, but nothing amazing. It did make me want to purchase the Aria/Dawn OST, though... I forgot how nice that music was! Personally, I would have picked different songs for the CD, but for a free album it's pretty damn good.

EDIT: it sounds like the POR songs are either arranged or have upgraded synth... there's no way the DS cranked out these bad boys.

And the bidding begins:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Castlevania-Portrai … dZViewItem

I pre-ordered the game at EB a month ago, with my $5 deposit being conditional to getting the promo disc. Went to check if they had the game earlier today, clerk said tomorrow. Asked about the promo disc, was met with an empty stare. "Tomorrow with the game, maybe?", was all the clerk could reply. I left with the unshakable feeling I would never hold this bonus in my arms...

Do people working at EB and other vg stores even know anything about games? It seems everytime I go somewhere and ask about a game or a bonus or somesuch, I'm the one with all the information. Granted, any employee can't keep track of every single release going on, and at minimum wage I suppose we can't ask them to, but you'd think they would hire vg freaks instead of people who couldn't care less if they were making burgers at McDonald's or packing bags at the grocery stores. Heck, _I'd_ work at EB if I didn't already have a job that pays twice as much, and I'b be damn good at scaning games and saying "we don't have PS3" each time the phone rang. *End Rant*

EB's like that, I've found. I never got the Squaresoft bacpack, Chrono clock or Ghaleon punching puppet I was supposed to by pre-ordering with them. Incidentally, the third one there was around when I stopped pre-ordering altogether.

Ugh, I only wish I had pre-ordered two.  They're going for like, $50 on ebay.  Could have paid for my extra copy of PoR and then some.  Overall, though, the items in the pre-order bonus are very nice.

There was a Squaresoft backpack?  I used to not pre-order things.  I remember my first pre-order, at Toys R Us, for Starfox 64.  They didn't sell their pre-order copies until two days after the game came out, I was so pissed, I didn't bother with pre-orders for years.

The SquareSoft backpack was only obtained if you sent in all 3 proofs of purchase from the "summer of adventure" games (Legend of Mana, Threads of Fate, Chrono Cross) in to Squaresoft, and they sent you the backpack by mail.  I still have mine, and use it to store my loose GBA carts in, along with my other gaming goodies that are must-haves for car trips.

They pop up on ebay often.  It's not a fullsized backpack, more like a ... purse, or something. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Squaresoft-BACKPACK … dZViewItem

As I thought, I picked up my copy of Castlevania this evening, without the bonus of course. Never mind the fact that the guy right in front of me got the "last" one, I was told my pre-order demand was made in late november, when it was actualy made in mid-october. But the computer never lies said the clerk/supposed-manager. Arguying for 10 minutes didn't do any good  because I had no proof I was telling the truth. In any case, I sent a long and detailed e-mail to the eb games help desk. I can't wait to see if they are as helpful as their name would imply.

Oh, GameStop...

"Sorry, we never got our preorder bonuses in. Check back next week, they might ship them to us late."

Thank god I was smart enough to order one online as well, just in case something like this happened.

Douchebags.

Adoru,

whenEVER you preorder, do *not* leave the store without a receipt proving that you put down some money on the game and what DATE it was. Preorder receipts own the universe man.

Ramza

Mine arrived yesterday, easily the best US pre-order bonus ever.  The mini-artbook and timeline are too sexy.  I tried to warn people about POing online vs. in-store.

This is the basis for why I leaned towards pre-ordering online. Just have to wait for my copy tomorrow. Though, when I pre-ordered Wind Waker way back they did have the Zelda bonus with no problem. Oh well, I guess it's usually safer to do it online.

That artbook is pretty, it looks like a Magic Tome

And if your real name happens to be Tom, you can just hold it above your head and say (in the spirit of Lisa's 'I Am the Lizard Queen!') 'I Am the Magic Tom!!'

My GameStop.com order arrived today, box un-crushed (supposedly a lot of people have been receiving their bonus in varying states of crush-itude).  This is one of the better preorder bonuses I've seen... very nice.

Mmmm.. Fluffy Crushyness..

Yeah, I've heard that too.  One friend told me his was very crushed.  Mine was slightly crushed.