Castlevania

I love Castlevania.  I grew up an NES kid, and my parents didn't have a lot of money to buy me games.  They did their best, but I still had a rather small library of titles as compared to some of my friends.  I can remember at school we would often trade NES games with each other.  This is how I remember getting access to games like Metal Storm, Metroid, and Kid Niki: Radical Ninja (no I'm not making that title up).  We also were regulars at the video store.  Yes, back before the release of DVDs, video stores were all the rage.  My parents would rent movies, and allow my brother and I each to rent one game.  This was my first exposure to a little game called Castlevania. 

Konami released Castlevania in 1987 here in the States, and to me it was the first "horror" game I had ever played.  (Let's be honest, it was rather difficult to instill horror in a kid with an NES game.  First game I legitimately jumped  was the Playstation's Resident Evil, where the first demon dogs jump through the window...and if you say you didn't jump, you're a damn liar.)  It stared a virtual cornucopia of horror movie icons, all led by "The Count" (Yes, believe it or not, in the original instructions he was "The Count"..not Dracula).  You were Simon Belmont, latest in a long line of vampire hunters that were around to slay the beast when he got a little froggy.  The game was a lot of fun, and was really a typical early NES game.   Meaning it didn't have a lot of levels, but it got insanely hard at towards the end (Grim Reaper hall is one of the hardest things I've ever done).  What wasn't like most NES games at that time though, was the amazingly wonderful music.  While themes like the Super Mario Brothers will always be iconic and recognizable, Castlevania's music was the first time I remember thinking, "Damn, I wish I had that on a cassette tape."  (Those were like..what we used before there were such things as iPods and CDs...god I feel old.)  Funny story, I went to a local theater October of last year to see Paranormal Activity 3 (which I shouldn't have seen) and in the lobby of the theater they were playing monster music in honor of Halloween.  Right after the always classic "Monster Mash" was the original 8-bit Castlevania theme.  Epic.

The timeline is somewhat of a mystery to me.  Even though I can easily google and see the timelines, I don't really remember there being such a timeline.  Several games claimed to be the "first" in the timeline, but it seems that every 5 years or so, Konami releases another "beginning."  Important note here too, while there are supporting characters to the franchise, and even mains, as the time I write this, there has only been one female Belmont, Sonia.  She was reserved for the original Game Boy game Castlevania Legends.  She was supposed to be in the Dreamcast's Castlevania, but it never came out.  

Now there are a slew of Castlevania titles out there, and while I would love to sit down and write a nice long lengthy review for each one (which if this blog gets big, I probably will do at some point), but for the sake of my fingers and your eyes...(come on that was funny), I'm going to group them for your reading pleasure.  Castlevania, while all having to do with the same source material, mostly fall along the lines of three different genres (except the shitty Wii tournament fighter, and that multiplayer one from X-Box Live and PSN a few years ago....).  These genres are the "classic platformer,"  "Metroidvania," and "Belmont of War."  I'll describe each one and then tell you the best game of that type and the worst as well.  I will do my best to not leave out any titles, but given how these games were released from Japan, I might miss one (hoping not to).

Classic Platformer
Titles in this genre: Castlevania, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Castlevania X, Castlevania the Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, Castlevania Legends, Castlevania: Bloodlines

This is the classic style of game that would go on to define the NES as a console, the platformer.  It focused on moving from point A to point B, defeating enemies and had a much tighter focus on perfectly time and placed jumps more so than the combat.  These games were insanely difficult (especially Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse).  The main weapon of the main character in each of these games was the whip, and could gain sub weapons by whipping candles to gain them (axe all the way baby).  This genre was started by Super Mario Brothers, but with Castlevania the difficulty was turned way up, and there was a greater focus on combat, specially with the boss monsters.  It is important to note here than while they are "different titles" I consider Rondo of Blood and Dracula X the same game, because they really are.  Rondo is a far better (because it's the original) port of the game, but Dracula X was the same thing, and all we had to play of that part of the timeline until recently. While the games are all different, and the difficulty varies, if you have played one of these titles, you should be able, in theory, to play them all.  Keep in mind as well that the only two games in this genre not on a Nintendo platform were Rondo of Blood (Turbographix 16) and Bloodlines (Sega Genesis).  Rondo of Blood is also the first game of the entire franchise to have cut scenes and a focus on the story.

Best game in this genre:  Super Castlevania IV - Tough choice here, because Rondo of Blood is amazing as well, but I'm giving it to IV.  Simon's whip control in this game has yet to be duplicated by any other title in the franchise.  It is, at it's core, just a basic retelling of the original Castlevania, but it's superior to the original in every way, which is really hard to do.

Worst game in this genre:  Castlevania The Adventure- This came out towards the start of the original Game Boy's life span, and to be fair, being the worst on this list is really not a bad thing.  It was just a smaller version of the Castlevania, and the NES did it far better..and more colorful.







Metroidvania
Titles in this genre:  Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Castlevania:  Harmony of Dissonance, Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

This is probably the genre most of you are most familiar with.  Now before any of you pitch a fit, yes, Simon's Quest is the original Metroidvania game, not Symphony of the Night.  Go back and play it.  It has far more in common with this genre than the platforming genre.  While Simon's Quest might have been first, Symphony of the Night did it better, and the release of that game on the Sony Playstation was so amazing, that it would dominate the way we would play Castlevania until the time that I write this.  Sure, they branched off into trying other things, but they always went back to the Metroidvania style.  As the name implies, this genre plays a lot more like Metroid.  It focuses more on exploration and upgrading rather than timed jumps in the classic titles.  Most of these had an experience system that would further advance the power of your character as you defeated monsters.  These games were also far more story based than the platform style, some with fully voice acted cut scenes.  While most Castlevania's are supposed to be in a "timeline" the Game Boy Advance's Aria of Sorrow, and the DS's Dawn of Sorrow, are the only two games in this genre which you play as the same protagonist.  These two games also have appearances by Alucard, the son of Dracula, and main character of Symphony of the Night, and a support character in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.  

Best game in this genre: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - There is nothing I can say about this game that is bad.  It's just how I feel, seriously.  It's a massive game, with tons of exploration, tons of spells to unlock, tons of weapons, armor and items (not to mention the combinations of them, for different effects) and familiars to fight along side you.  Alucard could turn into a wolf, bat, or myst.  The graphics were gorgeous for their time, and some of the boss encounters were truly epic.  The soundtrack is also one of the finest video game soundtracks ever produced, with a combination of gothic sounding music played metal.  It's amazing.  This is easily one of my top 10 games on the original Playstation, and that's a pretty exclusive list, given it's library.  It should be noted that this game also received a Sega Saturn release, but only in Japan.  This version was superior to the Playstation version due to the inclusion of not just Richter Belmont (who was unlockable via code in the PSX game), but also the female protagonist Maria Renard.  This remains the only way to play as her through this game.  She was very handy, complete with a triple jump.  Given the Saturn's lack of popularity here in North America, this version is rare and increasingly expensive. 

Worst game in this genre:  Castlevania II: Simon's Quest- I have a rule about games, probably because I'm old school (which means I had no internet or anything to help me when I was a kid). The rule is that if I can't beat the initial offering the game gives me without help from an outside source, like a book, then it's got problems.  It can still be good, but it's a flawed game.  Castlevania II was the first game I ever played that I had to dip into my boxes of Nintendo Power magazine in order to find out what to do.  The most maddening thing to me was the fact that most villagers flat out freaking lied to you.  I'm cool with people not wanting to talk about Dracula, or the curse, or the monsters outside each village, but just say, "I don't know anything," rather than shoot me a bold faced lie.  This made the magazine mandatory reading in order to get anywhere in the game.  This also holds the distinction of being the easiest game in the series.  Dracula, after being one of the hardest accomplishments in gaming history in the first title, could be beaten by a chimp wearing a diaper on his head in this game.


Belmont of War
Tiles in this genre:  Castlevania (N64), Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, Castlevania: Lament of Innocent, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Yes, I'm obviously saying these games are similar to God of War.  Even the earlier Nintendo 64 titles are like God of War.  Honestly, these games are Konami's attempts to take the series into the 3rd dimension.  During the Playstation/Nintendo 64 lifespan, the "en vogue" thing to do was take your game and turn them into 3D games.  Most classic titles did this from Super Mario Brothers  to Super Mario 64, Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy VII, and even the Blue Bomber himself, Mega Man went to Mega Man Legends.  Some of these attempts were successful, such as Mega Man Legends, and some were not.  Castlevania started out on the not side.  As the Nintendo 64 (Castlevania and Legacy of Darkness) versions were, well, easily the worst of the entire series.  They are teeth grindingly painful, and if you do have the opportunity to play them, I high suggest you don't.  Once the we got to the time to the PS2/X-Box, however, Konami managed to put out a few games that were better.  While some did enjoy Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness, most hardcore fans of the franchise stuck with the Nintendo DS's Metroidvania titles instead.  The odd man out here, is the newest of the franchise Lords of Shadow, which I'll get into ...um...now?

Best game in this genre: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - The odd man out, right?  Well, I say that because it really is a God of War clone, and while I group all of the above mentioned games in the God of War style game, Lords of Shadow is about as blatant as one can get.  Think of Jim Carrey in Batman Forever, at the part for this box.  He's wearing the same suit as Val Kilmer, same glasses, and even the same mole.  Same thing, really.  However, in this case, that's not a bad thing.  The game plays really well.  Furthermore, the entire game is narrated by Patrick Stewart.  How cool is it to have Jean-Luc Picard walking you through every stage of the game, eh?  And how cool would it be if one of the guys who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of video game developers were to work on it?  This game was over seen by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.  The only thing that I'm not too clear on is how you can have a Castlevania game where the last boss isn't...Dracula.  I seem to remember hearing that this game is a "reboot" of the Castlevania timeline, as well, which would make sense.  Overall, it's a really well done game.  My jury is still out on it being officially Castlevania.


Worst game in this genre: Castlevania (N64)- This game is the equivalent of waterboarding.  I don't think I can paint a better picture than that, eh?  First and foremost, there's no music.  Castlevania has no music.  Don't think about that, or blood will shoot out of your nose.  Next, the controls suck.  It's hard to explain,  but let's just say that when you make a platformer, 3D or otherwise, controls are the most important part.  I can forgive bad controls on a crappy game like Onechanbara, because while it sucks, and the controls suck, they don't detract from running around and killing the shit out of zombies.  The game sucks, but it has a certain charm where fun can actually be had for a (small mount of) time.  With this game, however, the controls just make the game painful to play.  Originally, this game was supposed to come out along side the Nintendo 64's DD64, which was a disc drive that was going to be used for a plethora of cool stuff, supposedly.  Nintendo never released it, so we'll never know.  I do remember that Castlevania would use the DD64 in order to have a fully functional world that would evolve if you were playing or not.   The game would take into account what time it was when you were playing, and things of that nature.  Of course, what we got was...well a game that was probably only 1/3rd finished.  If I remember correctly, this game was originally supposed to have 6 playable characters, and delivered 2 (with a 3rd in Legacy of Darkness).  Overall, I suggest avoiding this game, and double avoid it if you consider yourself a fan of the franchise.