A stroll through the castle with Simon Belmont and Dracula

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 20 years now since the first Castlevania game came out. As I continue to struggle in the final battle of Order of Ecclesia, I think about all the times I’ve faced off against the various supervillains of Castlevania over the years. My collection of games is nearly complete now, and I’ve received word that my review copy of Judgment is on its way at last, so it shouldn’t be too much longer before I’ve got the whole library of North American releases in the Castlevania franchise. Once that happens, will I want to play them all through once again, start to finish? Should I play them in chronological order? There’s an idea.

Let’s have a look at where the franchise has been over the years as I get ready to tear into a game that could provide an excellent retrospective of some of its most important characters.

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Castlevania’s localization is a cesspit of hatred and lies

I’ve mentioned Konami’s localization woes in the past. What makes the issue so tragic is the high level of quality in the games themselves. Perhaps some of the money they spend on Hideo Kojima could go toward localizing their games with something other than a special needs 12 year old fueled by pixy stix. I’m trying to be serious, but it’s just not working, because that just isn’t me.

Most of the localization problems are in the end credits. The titles of those who spent so much time working on the title are often spelled incorrectly. Letters are transposed all over the place. You know, these are all careless errors. If I spotted them reading credits that are generally just a list of Japanese names, anyone at Konami could have.

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Modern retro re-envisionings are not for the faint of heart

It’s been a long time since I broke my gamer rage over the head of Viewtiful Joe, and it seems the calming glow of endlessly continuing is starting to wear off. I’ve been tackling three games recently that have all given me the same familiar feeling. Frustration.

While Paul touched on this quite eloquently and accurately by sharing his experience of Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, let me make it clear that the game is not for those who aren’t ready to return to 1986 and play through an experience not unlike the original Castlevania. This is a beautiful thing, but let’s look a little deeper. You’re not ten anymore, playing the game every day for hours after school and getting an entire summer off. The muscle memory that lets you beat Castlevania today doesn’t exist for Dracula X Chronicles. And finally, when you punch something at age 32, you’ll do a lot more damage.

The sensation is similar with Mega Man Powered Up, but somewhat less. At the default difficulty, Mega Man Powered Up is harder than the original Mega Man, with or without muscle memory. They’ve also mixed up the boss weapon weaknesses it seems. On easy difficulty, it’s a cakewalk. I close my eyes and shake at the thought of what the hard difficulty would be like. And on the subject of Mega Man is my third game right now, Mega Man 9. Mega Man 9 is really, really hard. The level designs are devious, evil, and unforgiving in a way the original games only alluded to. You’ll die in the same spot over and over and over again. You’ll make it to a boss for the first time on your last life with only a sliver of life left and they’ll kill you in a second. It will take six more tries before you can make it that far again. Are you ready for this? Are you, really?

Dracula X Chronicles is a gorgeous game to see and hear that will crush you again and again. Mega Man Powered Up is probably the most full-featured modern remake of a game I’ve ever seen, boasting difficulty options, a comprehensive level editor, playable boss characters, and a fleshed-out story… all of which was not seen in the original. Not one for purists perhaps, but it’s wonderful. Mega Man 9 is an achievement, a throwback, and a terrible, cruel joke all at once.

This, my friends, is gaming nirvana… within lies only the purest hell of games that were designed hard because long games didn’t fit on cartridges, and they didn’t want you to finish the game in an hour. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Amazon deal: Dracula X Chronicles

Amazon’s got a new deal of the day up for the nice and hardcore Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PlayStation Portable. For just twenty bucks you too can die over and over again while marveling at the great sound and visuals of the only US release of Rondo of Blood. Don’t forget that the original Rondo of Blood along with the much-lauded PlayStation classic Symphony Of The Night are in there too. Provided you can live long enough to reach it, that is.

See also:
His Name Should Be Rondo.
Ones to Watch: PSP Releases for October 2007.

Via PSPFanboy, who linked to Amazon’s product page.

His Name Should Be Rondo

So the new Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles game for PSP is very pretty and it sounds really great. The music is nice, and the sound effects are well done. Each secondary weapon is surprisingly well animated. But I think the Belmont hero’s name should be Rondo, as in Rondo of Blood, as in after 2 hours of playing this game all I’m still good at helping him do is bleed when hit, then die in a spray of blood. I’m talking about the difficulty level of this game. Before they put a fresh coat of paint on this classic razor-edged gem Konami made sure to put blue painter’s tape over the extraordinary difficulty of the original game so that once all the pretty graphics and sounds were done they could carefully tear off the tape and have a beautiful game that is fiendishly hard.

Here’s what our Bloodsplosive Belmont is good at doing:

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