Retro|Spective 002: Castlevania

[Neon Ignition]

Taking another break from the exhaustingly long journey through PS2 exclusives, we look to revisit another classic franchise whose gaming history far outstripped the discussion that the original thread attracted, another thread lost to the purge of 2016. This time it's a look at a franchise with lots of whip cracking action and gothic architecture. This time, it's a journey through Castlevania:

Game 01 - Castlevania
Developed for the NES's disk system before being ported for the US to cartridge, the original platformer established Simon Belmont as the lead in a battle against Dracula himself as he takes up the mantle 100 years after his ancestor defeated the vampire lord. Developed along side what will be our second entry into this discussion, the original game spans 18 stages and was a success that no-one foresaw leading to a legacy of titles as long as there has been.




Have you played the original and did it deserve its success?

[fuse]

I'm very big on the series and have quite a collection of them, but I wasn't there from the start, and I also don't mind admitting that I'm more drawn to the adventuring side of things that came with the Iga era of games. The first one I played was Adventure on the Gameboy, which I don't think I was mad about even at the time, and I didn't really play this one (the NES/FC game) to completion until the GBA re-release, when it already felt quite clunky and archaic. There are some things that still stand up - like the music - and I suspect if I were a couple of years older and had an NES at the time I'd have been all about it, but it's not my favourite one to revisit by some distance.

[Dogg Thang]

The main reason I love the early games in this series is simply the music. The games had such amazing soundtracks. But it terms of the games themselves, I never quite got on with them because I always felt the limited controls were where the challenge lay and that frustrated me. Even all the way back in the day, I felt the character should be able to move better than he could and so the main enemy in the game was actually the control. Let me hit at useful angles. Let me duck. Let me control my jumps properly.

So I often just struggled through the games for the music. Although I don't think I ever completed any until Symphony of the Night. That was a whole different kind of game.

[Asura]

Yep, this is one of those few really major retro series that I had zero experience of at-the-time. Like I didn't know who the guy in Captain N was, at all. First one I ever played was Dawn of Sorrow.

[chopemon]

I have started playing the originals recently in the Castlevania collection on PS4. I understand why they are good and liked but I've never got on with 8 bit games. I think I need 16 bit onwards. I save stated my way through it as it is too hard for the amount of inclination I had to play it. Thought it looked great, has great music and played well for the time. I'm going to play the others as kind of historical pieces but Rondo is the only classic Vania I play to have a good time with.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 02 - Vampire Killer
Developed for the MSX2, this side project to the NES title has the same set up of Simon Belmont facing Dracula but instead of linear stages this game uses mazed ones where players must kind a key to the exit and then the exit itself. In effect this version of the game was the early precursor to the Symphony style of entry into the series.




Did you ever brave Dracula's castle via this version?

[QualityChimp]

Embedded Tweet

[Nu-Eclipse]

Can't say I ever really played any of the original 8-bit Castlevania games (or Haunted Castle coin-op, for that matter).

Super Castlevania IV was my first experience of the franchise.

And yes, Chi no Rondo is still the best game in the series. Don't @ Me.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Using this thread as a poor excuse to post Deadmau5's cover version of Vampire Killer, sorry not sorry.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Like I didn't know who the guy in Captain N was, at all.

Lol.

IIRC (unless I'm mistaken), licensing issues with Konami & Capcom were part of the reason that the Simon Belmont and Mega Man characters in Captain N looked vastly different from their iconic videogame portrayals.



That said, I was definitely aware of who Simon Belmont was at the time.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 03 - Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
The third game in a year, 1987 saw this direct sequel launch on the NES with Simon Belmont working to defeat a curse placed on himself by Dracula in the previous game. The sequel mixed in some open world and RPG elements with the platforming action. The game was very well recieved and is held up even today.



Do you have any memories of this first attempt at a sequel?

[chopemon]

Just realised I should post this absolutely killer, perfect, wonderful album.

It is by the Naoto Shibata Project and is a load of amazing rock covers and arrangements of Castlevania music. I really think this is perfect music and this album never fails to get me pumped up if I am in a bad mood or I need to get some work done.

The Naoto Shibata Project was a studio band with revolving performers lead by bass guitarist Naoto Shibata. The group performed arrangements from Konami games for the Perfect Selection Battle series of albums.

Naoto Shibata: all arrangement, bass guitar (all albums), guitar (Shooting)


Eizo Sakamoto: vocals (Snatcher)


Masanori Kusakabe: guitar (Dracula)
Katsu Ohta: guitar (Snatcher, Dracula II, Shooting II)
Akio Shimizu: guitar (Shooting, Dracula)
Kazumasa Saitoh: guitar (Dracula II, Shooting II, the Best)
Kyoji Kudoh: guitar (Dracula II, Shooting II)


Tatsuya Kase: synthesizer (Shooting II)
Koichi Seiyama: synthesizer (Dracula II), keyboard (the Best)
Yusuke Takahama: synthesizer (Dracula, Snatcher)
Jeff Fujimoto: synthesizer (Shooting)


Hirotsugu Homma: drums (the Best)

[fuse]

Most of my experience with the game comes from watching people demolish it in speedruns, hah. Some of its logic is obtuse (that is being as generous as I can), and it's a great example of the kind of game of its time - one where ideally you want a group of friends all busting their heads against it each night, and reconvening in the playground to share what weird experiments you'd tried and what results you got out of it. Nowadays you just google it and strip the thing bare.

Same as with a few people are saying, the 8 bit games are tough to go back to now.

[Dogg Thang]

Just realised I should post this absolutely killer, perfect, wonderful album.

I paid a fortune back in the day for the CD of that and its sequel.

[dataDave]

My mum randomly surprised me with NES Castlevania back in 1990. It was on sale in WH Smiths for £20.

I loved it. A lot. The music was always there to inspire more and more attempts at it. It took me and my stepdad ages to complete it, and I have lots of memories of the various failed attempts with my friends. I still play it today with my son. If anything can teach patience it's games like this.