Castlevania on the Nintendo Entertainment System
The game that launched the franchise. It's always interesting to remember how many of the elements of the fantastic later Castlevania games were planted here in the very first Castlevania. Everything from whip powerups to secrets hidden in the walls. The gameplay of the original Castlevania is simple, which is good. One button works your whip and the other makes you jump. It's simple yet very satisfying. Who doesn't want to whip zombies into dust? Once you're done whipping zombies in the first stages, there are many more enemies to beat, all of whom make appearances in later Castlevania games. The original Castlevania hasn't lost anything on its fastball since its release in 1986 (25 years?!). It's just as fun to play now as it was when the NES ruled the world. Because it was my first Castlevania and because it still rocks me to my very socks, I'm giving it the highest possible rating of...
Here's where the Castlevania franchise took its fist little departure. In much the same way that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link changed the perfect gameplay of the original game into something less than perfect, Castlevania II changed the gameplay of the Castlevania series (though admittedly not as drastically as Zelda II). In Castlevania II you spend the first part of the game walking around talking to townspeople, many of whom have very little of interest to say. When night comes it's a welcome respite because you finally get to whip something. Then the day comes again and you're talking to townspeople again. I never bought a Castlevania game hoping for an RPG. I bought it because I wanted to whip zombies, skeletons, and eventually Dracula himself. Castlevania II just incorporates too many RPG elements to be as enjoyable as other games in the franchise. It's not that I don't like RPG's. I just like my zombie whipping platformers to be relatively free of RPG elements and my RPG's to be full of 'em. I've never actually made it all the way through Castlevania II because I find it so fantastically boring half the time. I suppose many gamers felt the same way because the "talk to boring townspeople" feature did not surface again in the Castlevania franchise. I'm giving it...
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Now here's a refreshing return to form if ever there was one. After Castlevania II, Konami wisened up and came back to all the things that made the first Castlevania game so great. For one thing, you're whipping enemies right out of the gate (no pun intended). The picture at your left is the first thing you come to after the whip powerups that start the game. It's right back to non-stop undead enemy killing, which is the whole point of a good Castlevania game. The only knock I can put on Castlevania III is that I don't like the backgrounds as much as the ones in the first game. Sometimes you feel a little lost because Trevor will just blend into the background (a little like he's doing in the picture on your left). Despite that one shortcoming, Castlevania III included some nifty new features such as non-linear gameplay and multiple endings (which have become staples in later Castlevania games). Castlevania III has stood up to the test of time nearly as well as the original Castlevania. It's not perfect, but I'll still give it a hearty...
Castlevania for the Super Nintendo
When I was in high school I was good friends with a girl in my neighborhood named Diane. Diane had the peculiar talent of being friends with kids in every possible clique: jocks, stoners, nerds, cowboys, skaters, etc. When she threw a party, she opened the front and back doors of her house and people just swarmed. Pretty much my entire high school came. I remember going to one such party and there was a group of guys, mostly metalheads and stoners, who were playing Super Castlevania IV. They wanted to beat the whole game that night. They were passing the controller around asking who could beat which level. Eventually the controller got passed to me. It was the first time I had ever played this game. I remember thinking the controls were fantastic. You could whip in 8 different directions, and you could also hang your whip out there and just flail it around a little. The graphics seemed impossibly realistic at the time (I'm sure the graphics for Adventure on the Atari 2600 seemed impossibly realistic at one time). This game was everything I loved about the original Castlevania and more. Anyway, as with the original Castlevania, the nostalgia factor for this game runs quite high, but I still feel it deserves...
Castlevania for the Sega Genesis
A Castlevania game that you can play without a whip? Heresy! Heresy I say! The thing with Castlevania Bloodlines is that you have your choice of two characters when you start the game. The first is John Morris, who brandishes the classic Castlevania whip. The second is Eric Lecarde who carries a gigantic spear. For some reason when I'm skipping through all the intro stuff in an attempt to get to the zombie killing as quickly as possible, I always end up picking Eric instead of John. Then I'm spearing my foes when I wish I was whipping them. I have the choice of hitting the reset button and starting over, but I'm usually too lazy to do it once the game is up and running. The spear isn't a bad thing, it's just that whips are usually the thing you want to use in Castlevania. Anyway, my inability to wait and read things before I go hitting buttons should not affect the ranking of this game. It's a fine Castlevania game. It's not quite as good as its contemporary, Super Castlevania IV, but it's a noble effort and worth the purchase. I give it...
Castlevania for the Playstation 1
This is widely regarded as the very best game in the long and successful history of the Castlevania franchise. I must say that I agree wholeheartedly. As a 2d platformer running on a machine capable of a total of 3 d's Castlevania never felt out of place. As a matter of fact, it felt like a technological triumph. The graphics were mind-blowing and the gameplay built on the classic hack 'n slash of the original game and added all sorts of extra powers to it. I feel I must address something here, however. With my somewhat harsh treatment of Simon's Quest, some may think me a hypocrite because Symphony of the Night includes some RPG elements that previous Castlevania games did not. The only thing I'll say is this: the RPG stuff in Symphony of the Night doesn't keep you from hacking and slashing your way through the castle for more than 30 seconds at a time. At no point do you feel like you're waiting for the sun to go down. There's so much to do in this game that the RPG elements (occasional characters you have to talk to, back story, non-linear gameplay, etc.) don't slow you down at all. Symphony of the Night also introduces the Castlevania castle change. This means that once you've beaten the castle right side up, you play through the castle with the map flipped upside down. Different and harder enemies appear in the upside down castle, and with full powers you slash through fairly easily and don't ever feel like you're playing the same game twice. This feature has been mimicked with dark and light castles and other such things in later Castlevania games. It's pretty cool because by the time you're playing the upside down castle, you're so familiar with the map that it just seems awesome to be using the ceilings as floors. Anyway, Symphony of the Night is a fantastically awesome game that has held up like few other Playstation 1 games have. I would give it an even higher ranking if only I could, but since I'm too lazy to make one it gets...
Castlevania for the Gameboy Advance
There are three Castlevania games for the Gameboy Advance. I'm not sure the order in which they were released, but I know the order in which I prefer them, so we'll go from worst to best.
This is the worst Castlevania game on the Gameboy Advance, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. It just isn't as spectacular as the other two Castlevania games for the Gameboy Advance. For one thing, your character's sprite feels a bit small and bland. When you see the larger and more interesting character sprites in the other two games, you just know this game is third banana. The gameplay isn't all that bad, but they certainly could have done more with it. The games major feature is the DSS system, which allows you to collect and mix 'n match cards throughout the game that give you different magical powers. The system isn't as fun as it sounds and some of the cards leave you wondering what the filth they actually do. The game does feature classic 2d hack n' slash gameplay, and there's plenty of fun things to do in this game. It just suffers in comparison to the other two titles. It still pulls a solid...
This game is the blood brother of Symphony of the Night. Not only does it have a musical title, it shares many of the same powers, enemies, and some of the levels just feel a whole lot like levels from Symphony of the Night. Your character, Juste Belmont, is large and casts an awesome aura. The gameplay is very natural, especially if you've played Symphony of the Night. The castle is large and has many secrets, including a dark version (It's funny that a castle already filled with zombies and skeletons can have a darker side). There's nothing that I can think of to knock this game, so that must mean that I have to give it a full...
Not only is this the best Castlevania game on the Gameboy Advance, this might be the best Gameboy Advance game period. It has all your standard Castlevania 2d (I have never owned a 3d Castlevania game, and I don't really feel like I need to) hack n' slash action, but it has a bonus that's hard to beat: when you kill enough of one type of enemy, you will steal its soul and assimilate its powers. This little feature allows you to do all sorts of things like walk on water, summon familiars, shoot different projectiles, and lots of other crap. It's a really cool system that will have you slashing your way through enemies that you might have otherwise jumped over just so you can steal their souls and gain their abilities. The souls are grouped into four types (bullet, guardian, enchant, and ability) and you can have one of each type of soul equipped at a time. Also, the souls you have equipped in the final stages can effect which ending you'll get. The soul system is easy to learn and once you're into the business of stealing souls, you almost don't want the game to end. This is a truly great game and deserving of the vaunted...
Those are all the Castlevania games that I personally own. I don't own either of the Castlevania games for the original gameboy, but they are on my list of desired acquisitions. I don't own the Nintendo 64 Castlevania titles even though I own a Nintendo 64. I inherited my N64 with all the games I currently own for it and I haven't bought any games for it at all. It's not my favorite system. I don't own a Nintendo DS yet, but I'll get one someday. Anyway, I love Castlevania. I always have and I suppose I always will.
No comments:
Post a Comment