Castlevania

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

With a new game, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, available now, I have been kind of thinking back to the past about this great game series. From NES to today, there have been more games than I can honestly recall. So please share your thoughts on the new game or any of the other various adventures of the Clan Belmont and their eternal nemesis. I'll post mine in the morning, yoga must be done first.

[Downhome 0]

I would just like to say that the new Castlevania kicks every kind of ass that there is, I'm fucking LOVING it so far. I haven't got too much into it though, because I know that as soon as I get HCTP tomorrow, that'll by my "game to play" for a while.

 

Still, the new Castlevania is just great, pure and simple.

 

What with this new Castlevania out now, and the new TMNT game that came out last week, I'm loving thinking about old school.

 

*wipes tear*

 

It just takes me back.

[Guest Ahhee]

I can remember waking up one Christmas morning in my youth and unwrapping an NES followed by my first game, Castlevania. What a way to start out my NES collection. I loved that game, even though some parts of it had me inventing new curse words.

 

DH how is the feel of the new title? I've read all the copy about 'it's 3D but it plays like 2D' but I'm not sure I'm buying into it. Does it have that PS2 Contra feel or a Devil May Cry perhaps?

[Downhome 0]

I can remember waking up one Christmas morning in my youth and unwrapping an NES followed by my first game, Castlevania. What a way to start out my NES collection. I loved that game, even though some parts of it had me inventing new curse words.

 

DH how is the feel of the new title? I've read all the copy about 'it's 3D but it plays like 2D' but I'm not sure I'm buying into it. Does it have that PS2 Contra feel or a Devil May Cry perhaps?

It plays like DMC, but with a whip. It obviously doesn't PLAY like the 2D titles, but it does FEEL like them. What I mean by that is the mood, the differnt monsters you come across, and all of that.

 

It isn't perfect, but it's a very good start for Castlevania in 3D (I don't count the shitty N64 games).

 

It's also less RPGy if you know what I mean, you don't really level up and all of that. It's a hardcore action game, oh yeah. It still has some RPG elements, but not as many as SotN or something like that.

[Guest wildpegasus]

People were talking about Battletoads being hard but if memory serves me right I defenitely had considerably more trouble beating Castlevania III. Great graphics for the NES and a great game. I love a good challenge.

 

Super Castlevania IV-Absolutely beautiful from beginning to end. I can't say enough great things about this game. Fantastic use of graphics, AWESOME music, chilling sound effects, rotating rooms, nice bosses, super whip techniques and just plain cool as cool can get.

 

Playstation's Castlevania (can't remember the name right now)-Very fun.

[Downhome 0]

CastleVania: Symphony of the Night, for the Playstation, is one of the few games that I call "perfect".

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Let me just say:

 

I FUCKING HATE MEDUSA HEADS!!!!

[AndrewTS 0]

I've played a little of LoI and I'm planning to get the game.

 

However, would you believe that there are a few fans bitching because of some storyline conflicts?

[Guest Plushy Al Logan]

CastleVania: Symphony of the Night, for the Playstation, is one of the few games that I call "perfect".

Me too, I also hate bats, dogs, hunchbacks, and fishmen.

 

 

I always mark out for Frankenstein's Hoss, the Grim Repaer, and Dracula's second form.

[Renegade 0]

HoD, AoS and SoTN are excellent titles as is Super castlevania IV and the very rare (and very awesome) Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. I used to have the iso and emulator for that game a while back but it was deleted.

 

Bad castlevania games however, can be really really bad. Games such as Simons quest, Castlevania the arcade game, the gameboy Castlevanias and circle of the moon really stink.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

SoTN is still in my top three games of all time. Like the good man, Downhome, said above it is probably the closest thing to a perfect game that I have ever played. Discounting the N64 and the early gameboy debacles, I don't think there is a Castlevania game I haven't enjoyed. One of my regrets is never being able to find a working copy of the true Dracula X, all the versions I've found online have been corupt files.

 

Alucard has to be my favorite character in the series, with Trevor and Simon following. Least favorite was Slyha(?) from Castlevania 3. Least favorite enemy was of course the medusa heads, and favorite enemy was the Grim Reaper.

[razazteca 0]

So is the Turbo Graphix 16/PC Engine the true from of Dracula X? I heard it is hard to burn to cd.

[Renegade 0]

So is the Turbo Graphix 16/PC Engine the true from of Dracula X? I heard it is hard to burn to cd.

Yes it is, unlike the very poor snes version. Its harder to actually find the iso and mp3 (and I keep kicking myself that I deleted it.)

[razazteca 0]

I thought I seen some rumors that it might be released on PS1.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

*joins in on the kicking*

[Guest Coffey]

Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NES) & Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX) are two of my favorite games of all time. The original Castlevania game was good, although very challenging. I don't think I ever got past Frankenstein. Castlevania 3 was really cool too. You could wall climb/morph and shit depending on which character you selected.

 

Hell, except for the N64 game, I think I've liked all of the Castlevanias.

 

I almost bought Lament of Innocence on impulse, but I'm moving into a new house and have to start worrying about bills and shit. I don't really make that much money, so I can't just blow cash on games & DVD's anymore.

[Jingus 0]

Games such as Simons quest, Castlevania the arcade game, the gameboy Castlevanias and circle of the moon really stink.

Ah, that would be Haunted Castle you're talking about there. Didn't know there was anyone else besides me who'd ever played the damn thing. And yeah, boy howdy, did it suck. Whoever heard of an arcade game that wouldn't let you drop another quarter continue?!

 

But Simon's Quest? Simon's Quest ruled. Yeah, it was RPG-ish, but think of it this way: without Simon's Quest, do you think there ever would've been a Symphony of the Night?

[Renegade 0]

I played haunted castle back in the day, swore at the machine a couple of times, kicked it and left. These feelings were later revisited when I downloaded the mame rom. Nothing like a constipated vampire hunter.

 

As for simons quest, the game ticked me off to no end when I played it on the nes. Laughable whip reach, horrendous control and the fact that you could spend the entire game walking for hours on end and still having no clue where to go next.

[AndrewTS 0]

I thought I seen some rumors that it might be released on PS1.

That'd be awesome, and why the hell not? The demand is a hell of a lot greater than there was for that old PC title they released as Castlevania Chronicles. Throw in a minor enhancement or two, Ayami Kojima art, and you have yourself a bitchin', must-own title for the retro crowds.

[Guest Sakura]

I like SOTN quite a bit but that's about it. I don't hate the others, they're just too hard and I don't like old school platformers much.

 

The GBA ones seem good, but I can't get into that kind of game on a portable.

[AndrewTS 0]

Sakura: Well, the very early titles are that way, but the later ones, like Super CV IV and Bloodlines, are much better. Still, yeah, a lot of the early CVs were too damn hard and the control was muddled on them.

 

Incidentally, here's a picture of three of the most important members of the current CV team:

 

Michiru Yamane (left) the music composer, IGA the director (front), and Ayami Kojima for character designs and art (right)

 

Man, what a grumpy puss on IGA, despite working with such beautiful and talented coworkers. He actually looks far scarier there to me than ANY form of Dracula.

[The Man in Blak 0]

My two cents:

 

Out of all of the classic "Castlevania formula" titles, I would actually have to say that I enjoy Castlevania: Bloodlines the most. The storyline that harkened back to Bram Stoker's dracula, the option to play as two different characters (including a badass with a spear), and the different stages based on European cities made for an awesome side story to the series.

 

And while SotN is easily the best overall package that the series has offered, I would actually argue that the gameplay in Aria of Sorrow is a little deeper and more enjoyable.

 

The fact that there's only a couple of clunkers (the N64 abortions and that fugly SNES port of Dracula X) in a series that has lasted around 15 years is just a testament to the concept and the developers. Just an awesome series.

[Nevermortal 0]

Too much un-necessary shitting on the N64 game.

 

It was a decent game, I liked it, I owned it.

 

Then again, I'm a very huge dark/macabre mark, so much so that I loved Nightmare Creatures...

[Renegade 0]

Too much un-necessary shitting on the N64 game.

 

It was a decent game, I liked it, I owned it.

I'll agree with that, the N64 game wasnt THAT bad, especially the updated version.

[Jingus 0]

I thougt Bloodlines was tolerable, but not one of the better games in the series. The graphics and sound were sub-par compared to SC4, the controls seemed less precise, and the bosses were uninspired at best. The much-hyped "gore" in the game mostly limited itself to the first stage. And what the hell happened to the plot at the beginning of the game? Something about a witch reviving Dracula, and the Bloody Countess, Elizabeth Bathonry, but then you get to the end of the game and it's all been forgotten.

 

I've never played Dracula X, though of course I've heard about it. What's it like?

[AndrewTS 0]

Well, for Bloodlines, I chalk some of it up to the system differences, and different teams. I like both though.

 

Incidentally--a sizable number of the Super CV IV team went on to become a little company called Treasure.

[Renegade 0]

Well, for Bloodlines, I chalk some of it up to the system differences, and different teams. I like both though.

 

Incidentally--a sizable number of the Super CV IV team went on to become a little company called Treasure.

I thought it was the contra team, unless it was the same team.

[AndrewTS 0]

Well, for Bloodlines, I chalk some of it up to the system differences, and different teams.  I like both though. 

 

Incidentally--a sizable number of the Super CV IV team went on to become a little company called Treasure.

I thought it was the contra team, unless it was the same team.

I'd assume so judging by Gunstar Heroes, but I remember that quite a number of names matched up on both.