Shmegalamonga: Happy 30th anniversary, Castlevania!

Monday, September 26, 2016

Happy 30th anniversary, Castlevania!

26th.
27th.

Holy shit, 30!
I remember bringing the cartridge home from the store like it was fucking yesterday.
Damn!
Anyway, all my commentary on it is already in the 27th.

6 comments:

B. D. said...: That headband that Simon Belmont is wearing makes him look like one of Khan's followers in TWOK.

Doesn't that box art look awfully similar to the "Maniac Mansion" art...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Maniac_Mansion_artwork.jpg

I've never understood why he's wearing a skirt.

Here's one for you: http://www.avclub.com/article/30-years-night-musical-history-castlevania-242877; September 26, 2016 at 2:09 PM
Diacanu said...: I remember that I bought both Castlevania, Rygar, and Trojan, because I was looking for something that was a close enough clone to Rastan.

It was arcade only, side scrolling, and you were a Conan ripoff walking along taking wood chopping swings with his sword at monsters.
I've since replayed Rastan on arcade emulator in the 00's,...and it kinda sucks.

I also thought the music was awesome when I originally played it.
Meh....I must have been new to 16 bit tracks or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbRsXElzrVU

Castlevania, Rygar, and Trojan were all way better.
Although, I didn't think so at the time.
My memory really distorted the shit out of Rastan.

Anyway, I like the world of Castlevania best, and the sequels (especially Symphony) were fucking amazing, BUT toe to toe against just the original, I think Rygar was best.
That had vertical and diagonal grappling hooks, point based spell casting, side-scroll and overhead levels, there was just a lot more you could do in that one.

I remember they did a 3-D sequel, but I heard it sucked.; September 26, 2016 at 4:50 PM
Diacanu said...: Re: Maniac Mansion. Holy shit, you're right!

Re: Castlevania music. Thanks! I'll check it later, debate's on.; September 26, 2016 at 7:07 PM
B. D. said...: I've heard of "Rygar" and seen it, but never played it. Well, you are making it sound interesting, I guess.

I've never played "Rastan" and have never seen it, but I have heard it mentioned before--there was some crappy 16-bit side-scrolling beat-'em-up game whose name I have COMPLETELY forgotten--wait, no I haven't, it was called "Battle Blaze" and had some toothy guy on the cover--and the "DieHard GameFan" magazine review (remember THEM?) started the review by saying "Remember Rastan, or how about Conan?"

I like the original "Castlevania" well enough but good lord is the Grim Reaper a bitch to beat. I like "Castlevania II: Simon's Quest," but I admit that its detractors (AVGN among them) have a good point about it playing like a demo.

That AV Club article leaves out any version of "Beginnings," the first-level theme from "Castlevania III." "Beginnings," "Bloody Tears" and "Vampire Killer" are the three quintessential "Castlevania" tunes which all turned up again in multiple other CV games. You know 'em. They're all particularly awesome in SCV4, but they went with the level 4 (rotating room) theme for that one, which is also great. Hell, that whole game has great music, like all of it.

I sort of regret never playing the 1993 game "Dracula X: Rondo of The Blood" or whatever the hell it's called. The one where you're Richter Belmont. It was a Turbografx-16 or Turbo Duo or whatever the hell game and I keep seeing it repeatedly referred to as one of the best games, not just best CV games, but one of the best games EVER of its era and I never had any way whatsoever to play it.; September 27, 2016 at 8:21 PM
Diacanu said...: They released a 3-D version of Rhondo where you could unlock original Rhondo and Symphony as bonuses.
I think it was for PS2.; September 27, 2016 at 8:28 PM
Diacanu said...: Nope, PSP.
Bastids.

http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/games/dxc.html; September 27, 2016 at 8:30 PM

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