Castlevania's coming to Wii after all, but not in the form you expected ... or may have hoped for. Nintendo Power's latest issue (August 2008, their 20th anniversary edition – congrats!) has the scoop on Castlevania Judgment, a 3D fighting game featuring characters (and game mechanics) from the classic vampire-thwapping franchise.

In its first look at the game, the Nintendo Power gang reveals that Castlevania Judgment will feature gameplay that uses the nunchuck for character movement and the Wii remote for swing-based attacks. Sub-weapons such as crosses and holy water, a staple of the series, will appear and – just as in the action-adventure games – cost hearts to use. The character roster as revealed so far includes Simon Belmont, Alucard, Dracula, Maria Renard, and Shanoa. Traps, random monsters, and destructible environments will also play into combat.

The August issue of Nintendo Power is arriving in subscriber's mailboxes now. Thanks to GoNintendo for the heads-up, and to Nintendo Power for confirming the story. Otherwise, we'd have chalked this one up to a really bad weird dream caused by too much cold medicine. Achoo!