Dare say it has…actual effort put into it? The future of Castlevania looks bright if this is what we’re getting from a collection of re-releases. There’s interviews, a timeline of included games, a run-through of the Belmonts involved, character/location concept art. It’s littered with old-school tips, brief historical overviews of each game, and a rundown of the controls in case you haven’t played any of them before (the Genesis-style Bloodlines controls add an extra button to the mix). No controller remaps is a bummer, especially if you don’t own a solution you like (a Pro controller is ace here, I had no real complaints).īut the best part is probably the roughly 80-page “bonus book” extra, also accessible from the main menu. A quick save state slot is a go, as is an instant (and I mean instant) back to the main menu/game selection when it’s time for a change. It’s a perfect chaser after you finish the original game, especially when you can spot all of the homages and sit back and enjoy the wacky casino games.Īll eight offerings have six display settings (well, three, as half are scanline variants: original, pixel perfect, 16:9, 4:3 scanlines, pixel perfect scanlines, and 16:9 scanlines), and the Game Boy games have dot matrix and (limited) color filters. Kid boasts a four-way Mega Man-style charge shot, and the Rockman comparisons don’t end there as he’ll acquire abilities from bosses. This one is extra special as it’s the NES (Famicom) edition and not the Game Boy version (which was actually a sequel/re-imagining), which was never released in the west. As sort of a parody of the original franchise, you’ll take a super deformed version of Dracula’s son on a goofy romp through a lot of the same types of Castlevania levels, but with adorable chibi editions of enemies stomping around. Mmm mmm Swedish Chef kissy fingers, this subseries is great. I’m proud of my physical copy.Īnd then there’s Maude Kid Dracula. Bloodlines differentiates itself while still keeping to the core of Castlevania. Now is the time to play this one if you missed out. It has more of an immediate beat-’em-up feel with flashier power-ups and some impressive animations, with bulkier enemy models, as well as a globe-trotting concept and a continuation of the multi-character option from Castlevania III. It’s another game that’s not always in the Castlevania conversation – especially for SNES kids – but it should be. Plus, Belmont’s Revenge wins out with a more compelling stage-select option from the get-go, a flashier soundtrack, and more detailed game worlds.īloodlines is so extremely Sega Genesis you’ll be able to hear it immediately after booting it up and mucking about for a few moments. Still, they’re a frequently forgotten part of Castlevania‘s history and should be remembered. They don’t really stand out anymore (even in this compilation) and the blown-up visuals and slowdown don’t do any favors for games that were from a Game Boy source. The two included Game Boy iterations, on the other hand, are a bit more complicated. There’s a reason they all get speedruns yearly at various events, and they’ve been talked about at length, so I won’t bore you here. The first four games, straight up, are all great platformers that still hold strong. It’s a true trip down memory lane and the avenues you might not remember so well. The classic feel that was born out of the original is present throughout the collection, despite the more free-roaming aspects of Simon’s Quest and Dracula’s Curse. Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (Game Boy)Įach and every game deserves to be there for different reasons but come together as one cohesive symphony of storytelling.Mirror of Fate sort of course corrected (and served as a prelude for the better Metroid: Samus Returns from the same developer), but by then the damage had been done: Castlevania has been dormant for nearly five years now.īut Konami will never, ever pass up the chance to resurrect the classics. While the original Lords of Shadow was a fine God of War-like romp, it was far removed from what made the series famous in the first place, and the sequel flub kind of put a kibosh on the whole idea of a 3D Castlevania. Castlevania went through a pretty rough patch after 2008’s Order of Ecclesia.
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