Gamasutra procured a list of the top ten most popular PSone Classics in the PlayStation Store for North America, and the results really aren't that surprising, especially the top two spots. Street Fighter Alpha and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night top off the list, two third-party titles atop a sea of originally Sony-published titles. Crash Bandicoot shows up three times in the top ten, with his original outing taking the number three spot. Twisted Metal 2 and Spyro the Dragon come next, followed by Crash 3 and 2, Wild Arms, MediEvil, and Hot Shots Golf 2. 2 Xtreme came nowhere near making this list, a sign that all is right in the world.

Unfortunately the list doesn't also contain sales numbers for each title, which would shed a greater light on the whole PSone Classics situation. We've dropped a line to Sony to see if that info is available. In the meantime, head over to Gamasutra to see their analysis of this top ten list.

Top 10 Most Popular PS1 Games In PlayStation Store [Gamasutra]

The rest of this week's updates are mostly trailers, with video content for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, inFamous and Heavenly Sword ready for download. Movie trailers for The Brothers Solomon, I Am Legend, Resident Evil: Extinction and The Brave One round out the list.

European PS3 owners can also download a demo for 2K Games' The Darkness. Of course, North American gamers can also get their hands on it, they'll just need to create a UK account.

Gamers who have only played the recent Metroid-style Castlevania games from Igarashi and company might find the Rondo of Blood remake on the shallow side. This is straight up, old school Castlevania. It's largely an exercise in scrolling to the right, whipping at dangerous things, jumping over benign things, and eating turkeys stashed in the walls of Dracula's castle.

There are no complex systems, no items to collect, nothing outside of a linear "walk and whip." And that's okay. Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles doesn't venture far from its roots, similar to Konami's other portable title Contra 4.

That doesn't mean it's a cakewalk. The PSP game adheres to older gameplay conventions, where skill is a must and save points were few and far between. During my E3 2007 experience, I played through the first three levels of the game before I exhausted my share of credits. Far more challenging than the recent Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS releases.

Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles is shaping up to be the answer to hardcore CV fan's wishes. It's loaded with some of the best games in the series, in lovingly recreated and original forms, plus it sports a host of sweet bonus features. Fans weened on the newer, longer adventures should take note that it's not quite what they may be used to.

Even better than that? It will contain the original version of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood in all of its 2D bitmapped glory as well.

But it doesn't stop there. Konami is also throwing in a PSP port of the PlayStation classic (and Rondo of Blood sequel) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with a little extra polish. You'll have to head over to 1UP for the full details. Damn, it's a good day to be a Belmont fan. Michael McWhertor

Previews: Castlevania PSP [1UP]

Well, as Mr. Smith hinted at weeks ago, the new 512 MB memory card for the 360 is priced and dated over at Gamestop.

According to the retailer, the unit ships out March 1 for $49.99. That's ten bucks more than the currently available 64 MB version or half the price of a 20 GB hard drive attachment. Michael McWhertor

Microsoft Xbox 360 Memory Card 512 MB [Gamestop - thanks, Jay!]

If my prediction of core pack discontinuation in 2007 comes true or MS releases that 256 MB memory unit, this sort of thing won't be an issue. Regardless, core pack users should be denied Castlevania goodness for their shortsighted purchases. I just want to shake you core pack owners! Gah! Michael McWhertor

Castlevania to break Live Arcade size limit [Gamespot]

I spent some time with the port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night today and came away very pleased. The game plays nearly identical to the original, with almost nothing to distinguish it negatively from the 32-bit original.

The game controls very well with either the analog stick or digital cross pad, with the only control change being that the castle map is now displayed with the left trigger. Graphically, the game looks like it did in 1997. Players can choose either original (pixelated) or enhanced (filtered) graphics modes, with the option to stretch the screen vertically and horizontally to fill a 16:9 display. I'd recommend against that, as the game looks far worse stretched out.

Musically, the rich soundtrack seemed intact. However, some voiceovers from a conversation with Maria sounded a bit choppy and the ambient noise of Central Hall was fairly loud, so don't take this as confirmation that the redbook audio is perfect.

There are ten achievements for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, all of which veterans or noobs should have little trouble completing. Some are as simple as defeating certain bosses, some as time consuming as completing 200.6% of the map, but nothing too extreme awaits future downloaders.

The game is due to be available on Live "soon." I highly recommend anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of securing a copy do so when it hit. This is still a great game. Michael McWhertor