From all-new video games to fabulous cakes, the Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania games get lots of makeovers from fans and developers alike. Here are two more machinima renditions to add to the list.

First up is the disorienting and somewhat upsetting Half-Life Super Mario Bros. I guess in a 2D world, a grey haze is all Mario would see for miles around on either side of his orange brick path. But I can’t remember the last plumber I met that uses a crowbar. And guns? Really?

Next up is a Castlevania Half-Life 2 mod that makes a lot more sense in context. But it still has the inexplicable crowbar.

Both videos are brought to us by Machinima.com.

That is according to Jeremy Bolt, who is Anderson’s co-producer on Resident Evil: Afterlife. Visiting that film’s set, the site ShockTillYouDrop.com says it spoke to Bolt, who “told us this morning that Paul W.S. Anderson is still circling video game adaptation Castlevania at Rogue Pictures and that they are waiting on a script.”

“Bolt added that he and Anderson would like to adapt Konami’s Metal Gear Solid for the big screen at Columbia Pictures,” ShockTillYouDrop.com added.

You can check out Paul W.S. Anderson’s filmography here but he ain’t no Bergman. Please note that none of this confirms Anderson has anything to do with the Metal Gear project.

Paul W.S. Anderson Still Circling Castlevania [ShockTillYouDrop.com]

Sure, they’re tiny, but at least they’re better than blurry mobile phone pictures of Famitsu magazine.

Here’s a nice screenshot!

As we detailed earlier, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth will colourise and modernise the 20-year-old outing of Christopher Belmont in his quest to kill Dracula for Konami’s third downloadable retro “ReBirth” effort.

There will be new enemies, new traps and various other improvements such as rearranged music.

Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is priced at 1000 Wii Points.

I checked in with Konami, wondering if the recently-announced 2D downloadable Wii game Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth (coming to Japan at the end of this month) might be Igarashi’s TGS project.

“Iga was involved in the development of Castlevania: Rebirth, however we aren’t ready to share any details on Iga’s next project just yet,” Konami US spokesman Jay Boor told Kotaku. “Please stay tuned.”

I hope to get more clarification of what Igarashi’s involvement is as we get closer to Rebirth’s release. The game does not yet have a release date outside of Japan, but the participation of the man most associated with 2D Castlevania should excite some fans.

In June, Konami revealed that another of its star creators, Hideo Kojima, would be overseeing the next console Castlevania, Lords of Shadow, which is a third-person action game.

(Public Service Advisory: That’s Igarashi on the right. Michael Fahey can be seen somewhere on the left of this photo.)

Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth will colourise and modernise the 20-year-old outing of Christopher Belmont in his quest to kill Dracula for Konami’s third downloadable retro “ReBirth” effort. According to NeoGAF poster Duckroll, details from Famitsu indicate “new enemies, new traps, and other improvements in each stage” will be added to Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, along with rearranged music.

Hopefully, North American and European Wii owners will get access to the WiiWare title as soon as our Japanese counterparts. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is priced at 1000 Wii Points.

Here is the ESRB listing:

Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth
Platform: Wii
Rating: Teen
Content descriptors: Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence

Rating summary: This is a side-scrolling action game in which players battle against monsters in Dracula’s castle. Players use a chained whip to fight their way through halls and dungeons filled with zombies, skeletons, flying eyeballs, and bats. The enemy creatures frequently shoot projectiles and attack players in hand-to-hand combat. If players sustain too much damage, they keel over and emit a burst of red blood. Some rooms in the castle also have spikes or spears stained with red, blood-like splotches.

Castlevania the Adventure ReBirth [ESRB via Go Nintendo]

Hollywood got the big screen game rights back in 2005 with Resident Evil helmer Paul W.S. Anderson attached to write and direct. Shooting was slated to start in Eastern Europe back in late 2006, but by the following summer production was still stalled.

Anderson handed off directing duties to Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard). Things continued to stall and filming was supposed to commence in spring 2008. Fast forward to earlier this summer when Saw franchise co-creator and director of Dead Silence and Death Sentence, James Wan, signed on to co-write and helm the flick.

“James is doing a pass on the script to put himself into it with the tricks and the traps, which he is really good at,” says Anderson. “One of the things with Castlevania is it’s not just about the creatures but the environment trying to get to you as well. I think he is a terrific choice because a key part of Castlevania is the intensity of being trapped within the confines of the castle, and he’s shown with Saw that he excels with intensity in confined spaces.”

According to Anderson, Wan is merely tweaking the original script and the project is currently in “pre-pre-production”.

Paul W.S. Anderson Promises Vampire Whips and Horror Movie Traps In ‘Castlevania’ [MTV]

If you’re going to make fun of Castlevania, you can focus on one of two things: tiny shorts or whips. This clip from a recent Robot Chicken episode has made its call.

[via Go Nintendo]

Koji Igarashi, who has overseen three critically-lauded Nintendo DS Castlevanias and has been involved with the franchise since 1997’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, is still with Konami, company spokesman Jay Boor told me during a phone call from the San Diego Comic-Con.

“He is still at Konami, and he is still working on projects,” Boor said.

The spokesman said that press questions about Igarashi’s status have been common since Igarashi failed to appear during the E3 debut of the Kojima-overseen Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. That new Castlevania game is being developed by Madrid-based MercurySteam with involvement from Kojima Productions. The new title was the first major Castlevania project announced without an apparent connection to Igarashi in years.

Boor declined to address questions of Igarashi’s potential involvement in Lords of Shadow, neither confirming or denying that the developer would be working on that project.

Konami hopes to announce the next Igarashi project at the Tokyo Game Show.

Castlevania games have been released in 2005, 2006 ad 2008 on the DS, but no such project has yet been announced for 2009. Each of those games has been overseen and promoted by Igarashi. Asked by Kotaku if there would be a new DS Castlevania this year, Boor said, “I can’t say anything.”

We’ll look to TGS for the next chapter of this story, which will hopefully illuminate Koji Igarashi’s path at Konami and whether there will be any further intersections with the storied Castlevania series.

[PIC]