Right, I have just completed my annual Castlevania marathon on my Twitch. This year's Castlemania consisted of all the games from the classic era I hadn't gotten to yet, which conveniently allowed me to dub the theme as "Reimagined" due to all of them either being a reimagining of a previous game or of the series concept as a whole. Let's dig into...
Vampire Killer - Conceptually I really like this game, but the lack of continues really hurts it. I had to finagle a cheat program to make it bearable, the "Game Master 2," officially from Konami itself. With it, I was able to give myself 99 lives and make it to the final level, but woof, Dracula is a tough son of a bitch and dying to him makes you redo the whole level. That was where I caved to save states. But again... on a conceptual level, I think this is a cool game. It's sort of a freeform level design, where you must find keys to progress. These keys are hidden in weird locations sometimes admittedly, but I like the idea. There are also regular keys that open the various chests in the level, that contain powerups and the like. As well as merchants that can sell items for hearts, a year before Simon's Quest even! Even without the continues problem, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but with a little more polish, I'd consider this one of the more unique entries in the series.
Haunted Castle - Not the first time I've played this. Thankfully I played the version on PS4 that has unlimited continues, otherwise this would've been a nightmare. As it stands... well, it's not good. The original version had a major problem: As implied, continues were... problematic. As this was originally an arcade game, you'd expect to be able to just keep chugging quarters in to have unlimited continues. Konami, on the other hand, decided that instead, you only get a set number of continues, and you can convert them into more health... at the cost of one fewer continue. And when they're gone, game over! ... the kind of game over that actually means game over. Oh, and also the American version of the game had things hit like trucks. I've only played the American version, since unlimited continues makes it passable, but even with these adjustments, it's just a really dull game. The level design is bland and just not a lot special happens. It's a forgettable game, but with a handful of iconic themes that later saw use in better games.
Castlevania Chronicles - Now this soundtrack goes hard, holy shit. Arrange Mode, I should specify. Game had some frustrating parts, but I'd say it was on the whole satisfying. Still not a fan of the Ayami Kojima Simon Belmont design, but it doesn't really detract. Simon's walk cycle is horrendous though, actually same for Haunted Castle now I think of it ("food-poisoned Simon" as I called it). Other than that, can't think of much to say. It's fine? I'd probably revisit it some day, but right now there are better versions of the original Castlevania. Like. The original Castlevania. Or Super Castlevania IV. ... at least this one had more catchy and memorable music than CV4?
Castlevania Judgment - One of the worst fucking fighting games I've ever played. I don't even know where to start with it. See, in the right hands, I think a Castlevania fighting game is a great idea! There's so many characters you could make a large and diverse roster out of! But they flubbed it royally here. The character selection is a little imbalanced, seeing as all but two characters come from the 80s/90s, apart from the original character who kicked off the plot of the game, and Shanoa, who I'm convinced was only added because this came out a mere couple months after Order of Ecclesia. No Soma, no Juste, no Jonathan or Charlotte, no Leon, no Hector, no Nathan Graves but that's a good thing. And then there's the fact that the entire cast got a makeover courtesy of Takeshi Obata, of Death Note fame. In a vacuum, all of these character designs are bangers. As Castlevania characters... they are unrecognizable as hell. Gameplay-wise, the controls not only suck, but there's no true character balance; some are (relatively) really good, some are incredibly awful. The characterizations are all over the place and nothing like their original portrayals... especially this bullshit. It's one of the worst games in the franchise.
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth - As discussed in the posts above, this is a remake of the actual worst game in the franchise. A loose one, for the better, although it does revisit some concepts from the original while excising the garbage. Which is... most of it. And yes, the music is changed for some reason? The original had amazing music! It was its only good element! Instead, they grab music from other games in the series and... well these remixes are stellar but it would've been nice to hear the original songs get an upgrade. Otherwise, solid remake, some frustrating elements of its own but otherwise an enjoyable entry. Dracula gave me shit until I realized his weak point, which was hard to pinpoint in all the chaos. (It's been a while since I've played this so I'd forgotten.) Overall a satisfying experience.
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair - At long last I got to try this out. Streamed it twice actually, once with two other friends, and a second time with a full party of six. It's... incredible, actually. Alright, so it's mainly the multiplayer aspect, it's not like the most well-designed game in existence, but it's competent enough and it's a blast with friends. Definitely enjoyed this a lot, definitely plan on playing more of it while my month of Xbox Live is up, after which I'll probably put it down for a while. Some of it's jank and it can be hard as hell, but I wish this game got more support. Glad to have finally played it.
Kid Dracula (Game Boy) - I'm still not sure if this or Judgment is the worst game this year. It acts as a sort of "arrangement" of the NES original, while also being a sequel. Actually, it did seem to somewhat refine the controls a bit, but in response it made everything else worse. I said that I enjoyed the original minus some jank and the last level... well, I struggled a lot through this version. It's rough, it kicks your ass in unfair ways, the level design combined with the enemy placement just left me frustrated throughout, there was a fair bit of save stating going on that started rather early as well. Not a fun game at all.
Maria Mode (SotN, DXC) - Thankfully, this was the finale instead. Not much to say, other than I finally played through this version of Maria Mode. Actually, I played the Saturn version last year, just never posted about it here because that year I was just replaying games with alternate character modes. Anyway, I feel like both had their merits and don't actually think one is objectively superior to the other. I had my fun with this one, although some of the boss fights could be challenging; not necessarily a bad thing, considering how easily they can be smoked as Alucard.
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Well, that was Castlemania: Reimagined. Had a blast, overall, especially getting to play through some games I hadn't yet. Of this list, the only ones I had already played were Haunted Castle and ReBirth. The rest had some ups and downs but on the whole, great year. God I love this franchise. God I miss this franchise.