Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)

Next week on ugvm is Retro Week, and so I was hoping to play this a bit then. Only... I can't.

For two reasons. Firstly, in order to not break the rules of the week, I would have to play either the original Rondo of Blood (rather than the 2.5D remake that makes up the main title in this collection), or Symphony of the Night. Both of which have to be unlocked in the main game.

Secondly, the main game is too bloody hard. The first two stages are easy. Very easy. But then once I'd rescued Maria it all became far too hard far too quickly. The men with spears are difficult when in pairs (one on a level with you, one spearing from above), and the Medusa heads, as always, are a right pain in the backside. But then I came across a gold skeleton and I just can't bump him off. I'm not even sure I'm doing him any damage. Grr!

Castlevania (Wii)

I have decided that this is officially the Hardest Game Ever (except for Game Over on the Spectrum). I'm still getting trounced by the axe armour and medusa head combo en-route to Death. Which is ironic, don't you think?

I did actually make it to Death. Once. But I only had one notch of energy left and one of his sickles materialised exactly on my head, so I lasted less than a second.

Castlevania (Wii)

GNnnNNnnnnnNNGGggggGGGGGggggH!

I reached Stage 15 again. Several times. And those bloody Medusa Heads killed me. Again. Wii controller through the TV screen time!

Castlevania (Wii)

Hurrah! I did it!

No, not completed it. That's a Whole Other Thing, but I did manage to get to and defeat The Creature. And it only took $hlmun attempts! It's his imp friend that causes all the problems, as The Creature itself doesn't really do a lot. In the end, I found it easiest to just dodge the imp and his rocks wot he chucks, and just get the occasional hit in to The Creature when possible.

When I finally killed him, I nearly messed it up anyway as I almost forgot about the two rocks still en route to my face. Luckily, one fell short and the other was destroyed accidentally by a dagger I threw.

Reached Stage 15, where lots of Axe Knights and Medusa heads made short work of me. Tch.

Castlevania (Wii)

Gah. This is getting really annoying now. I can get from the restart point to The Creature without dying most times now, and often without even getting hit. However, that stupid imp that keeps hopping around the room once I get there kills be far too easily.

I even managed to get The Creature down to two energy bars - one more whipping would have done it. But no. I died.

Castlevania (Wii)

FRUSTRATION FACTOR 10! Not only is it a bit bloody hard (I managed to get to The Creature, but died), but for some reason my Wii remote keeps cutting out. I've tried both remotes, new batteries, switching off anything that might interfere, switched the Wii off at the wall and all sorts. Nothing works. I had this problem with Sonic and the Stupid Rings a couple of weeks ago, but nothing since. Other games are fine, as are the other Wii channels. Gah.

Basically, I can't actually progress now.

Castlevania (Wii)

Also too hard! Well, not as hard as Dragon's Curse, but certainly not easy. I'd left the game "saved" (using the Wii's game state save function) on Stage 7, but stupidly didn't continue when I died so had to start from the beginning again.

Luckily, I reached 7 again quite quickly, and then moved on past it - to Stage 10, killing two mummies on the way (and only just whipping them before they killed me too). Apparently there are 17 stages, so I'm most of the way there now.

Dragon's Curse (Wii)

Once again, it's a Sunday, and once again, it's New Game Time! Hurrah!

This week, it's Dragon's Curse on the Wii. Or rather, on the PC Engine on the Wii Virtual Console, if you see what I mean. Or even, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap on the Master System on the PC Engine on the Wii Virtual Console. Yes. That.

It's a bit bloody hard, isn't it? I've killed the dragon, been turned into Lizard Man, escaped the castle, ended up in the town, explored the beach area, found a key, found two hearts, been in the desert, and generally died a lot. I've bought some better armour, but I have no idea how to get through the lava section without dying, as each hit I take wipes out most of my energy.

Also: Castlevania has broken this game, as I keep trying to slash the candles to get hearts. Which (obviously) doesn't work.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360): COMPLETED!

After killing another boss, I realised I had four of the five parts of Vlad already, meaning I was getting close to completing the game. However, it took me ages to figure out where the final piece was - and it turned out it was being held by Death in the Reverse Caverns area of the map.

I was expecting him to be hard, but in fact, since I'd just killed another Doppleganger of me which led me to a Dark Sword (which is really powerful against Dark-type enemies), Death died pretty quickly. My pet sword actualy finished off his second form on it's own, which was quite good. In fact, my sword is getting very good now, actually aiming for baddies properly most of the time instead of randomly spinning in empty spaces on the screen.

With all Vlad's bits, it was back to the upside-down big clock thing, and there was Shaft again. Who died so quick I hardly got a chance to see his attack pattern (mainly due to my sword pet again, actually). Then... Dracula himself. After a cringe-worthy bit of dialogue (complete with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and punctuation faux pas), I got to attack him.

He had piles of HP, and I didn't have a crucifix on me to help. However, I did have some "resist Dark" potions, and a couple of smart-bomb type weapons. Then it was just a case of standing underneath him chucking axes up into his face(s). Luckily, since he filled almost the entire screen, my sword pet could get a load of hits in almost anywhere it span, so it wasn't long before Dracula was dead and the dialogue got worse (in every respect). Finally - the credits! With spelling mistakes :)

So that's another Castlevania game complete. I was hoping for an achievement for completing it (but no), and I didn't unlock Richter Mode either, so I suspect I haven't explored enough of the castle yet.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Haven't played this in a few days, as Rocket Slime had taken over pretty much all of my gaming time this week. But, since I completed that earlier, I went back to SOTN.

It suddenly got hard. I've found loads of baddies who are difficult to kill and do stacks of damage. I've been trying to work my way back to the Entrance, or at least, where the entrance was in the right-way-up castle, and it's slow going. My brain refuses to rotate the castle I've got to know already, confusing me all the time. I've fought a few more bosses (including Medusa, who was easy), and found a few power-ups, though.

Castlevania (Wii)

The very first NES Castlevania at that. It appeared on the Wii's Virtual Console downloads last Friday, so I downloaded it but didn't play it until today.

Some people have said that Super Castlevania IV is a sort of remake of the original game, rather than a proper sequel. Konami themselves have retconned the story a couple of times themselves, so that it was, and then it wasn't - so I'm not sure how it stands officially now. Either way, going back to Castlevania and it's clear that they're similar. Very similar, in fact.

I'm on Stage 6, where things have started to get difficult. There's no fancy effects, no whippy-swingy, and some enemies are missing, but so far, it's all given me a bit of deja vu...

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

After a very short journey to the middle of the map where I needed to use the two rings I had and met Maria again, it was off to kill Richter with my new Holy-resistant garb and Holy-killingerating sword. And lo - he was easy. Really easy, in fact, since none of his attacks could now do more than 1 damage, whereas previously 80+ was the norm. Excellent.

In fact, I didn't kill Richter at all, but Shaft, the thing controlling Richter making him Bad.

And then... the whole world turned upside-down. Literally. There's a second castle, which is the same as the first one, only the other way up! And harder! Gah! That means I'm only half-way through the game. Thankfully, though, I do have all the powers I need to navigate the new castle unhindered (I hope), and so I set about finding a save point and defeated two bosses, who gave me bits of Dracula. Yes, just like in, uh, Harmony of Dissonance. I think.

8 hours in, 125% complete. Ace.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

A bit of a mammoth gaming session on this today, in several segments rather than in one go, however. In now particular order, I managed the following:

Got the Mist transformation, quickly followed by the Bat transformation and then all five Familiars. It seems the familiars all level up too, as you use them, starting out crap (where they don't attack anything) slowly becoming more intelligent. My pet sword is actually pretty helpful now, especially when I was killing Legion.

Have defeated a few more bosses, and found Evil Richter Belmont in Dracula's throne room. I couldn't kill him. In fact, I barely scratched him, so I retreated and then found I probably reached him far too early, and explored more of the castle, finding armour and a sword which should help as they're powerful versus Holy.

I've also got two rings now, gold and silver, which are telling me where to go next. I suspect it's a quick stop somewhere before returning to Richter.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Aha! Double-jump GET! That opened up huge amounts of map for me to get to, although lots of items are still out of reach. I suspect a flying or super-jumping ability to become available at some point.

I'm really loving this, although I think I've found the entrance to Dracula's room already. I can't get there yet (there's a jump I can't make), but I'm running out of places to go. I did find out that my save file data shows how much of the castle you've explored - I'm at around 50% so far. That can't be right, surely?

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Being so like Circle of the Moon is actually disturbing me somewhat now, as I feel I've played the game before, but not quite. It's odd. I had a go flicking the "enhanced graphics" off and on, but aside from Som--uh, Alucard, it doesn't make a lot of difference to my eyes.

I killed my clone, who was somewhat easy, found a thing that turns me into a wolf (which I haven't found a use for yet) and braved the Clock Tower, only to find I couldn't actually progress very far. Found a warp point which took me back to near the entrance to the castle, and then took a route up the left tower. Found another boss up there - a griffon or something - who was pretty easy, and then went back to the Library and found an old man who sold me potions and stuff. It doesn't show what percentage of the map you've unlocked, which is a pain, as it doesn't really give you clue as to how far into the game you've got.

I'm also well overdue a power-up or too - I really think I need a double-jump or something...

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (360)

Finally! Symphony of the Night is in my grasp! Well, sort of - it's on my Xbox 360's hard drive. This is the first of the "Metroidvania" style Castlevania games, and I've just been playing it.

As always (well, except for that GB one and the PS2 one...), it's great. I'm Alucard, who plays much like Soma did in Aria of Sorrow, and the graphical style is much like Circle of the Moon, so it's like a kind of mish mash of all the CV games I've played over the last few months. I know this came first, but that's what it feels like.

So I've killed the first boss, met Maria, and explored quite a bit of castle. It's ACE!

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

That Richiter is a bit ACE with his whip, no? I mean, I killed Death on just my second attempt - and I was only on Level 13!

I then killed Stella and Loretta, although they were a bit more difficult (two hits from pretty much any attack and you're dead), so I levelled up to 20 and tried again. Once dead, I found that I do need to do some paintings after all - the way to Dracula is blocked, and I can't get into Brauner's painting yet.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

Played through a little more of Richiter Mode this evening, although mainly only to progress through the map. I'm trying to get to where Dracula should be, to see if I really need to do all the paintings to complete the game. However, I can't remember the route and so keep getting lost.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

As an aside, I really should get round to scanning the covers for some of these games...

I thought I'd have a quick go through as Richiter Belmont. And it was quick. I mean, he's fast. Badly animated, but fast. I killed the boss at the end of City of Haze, who was really easy, and due to the way the map is open from the start I found my way to the Clock Tower and killed Stella (or Loretta? I don't know which...).

Then I did a bit more on Sisters Mode, killing the boss in City of Haze again (and again, he was really easy), and then saved the game before working my way over towards the Clock Tower with them.

Do I have to do all the paintings with Richiter and the Sisters? I mean, I don't get any power-ups after doing so, and everywhere on the map seems to be open anyway. Surely I can't just find Dracula and kill him? Hmm.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS): COMPLETED!

TA-DAAAH! Completed!

I gave up on the Nest of Evil thing, and went back to the game proper. Decided it was time to actually learn to use the Vampire Killer, so set about killing Richiter Belmont. Yes, really. Well, a "memory" of him anyway. Bizarrely, the weapon I killed him with, was the Cream Pie. It dealt a fair amount of damage, and could be thrown at such an angle so as to be just out of reach of his whip.

So he was killed, I had the Vampire Killer, and it was off to kill Dracula and Death. And then Dracula again. One attempt and I died, and then the next attempt - kill0red!

After the credits and all, I found I'd unlocked two more modes - Richiter Mode and Sisters Mode. The former is just Richiter (and Maria) with a cut-down weapon set and no items. Played that for a bit. Sisters Mode is Loretta and Stella, controlled with the d-pad, and they attack using the stylus. It's totally bizarre. Played that for a bit too.

Then I played online in co-op mode, which is basically Boss Rush (of a sort). The guy I was randomly paired up with was crap though.

Then I went through Boss Rush course 1 in just under two minutes. Go me!

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

Again, the stats: 8 hours 34 minutes in, Level 39 reached, 895.5% explored. Good lord. Who's betting it'll be 1000% when all is done?

So I completed the final four paintings. Or at least, what I thought were the final four. The bosses today included Medusa (who was VERY easy, once I realised there was a place you could stand, from where you could slap her about, but not get hit by any of her attacks (well, you had to duck for one, but still). I also had Frankenstein's Monster, and a Werewolf to kill, neither of which were especially difficult. Oh, and a mummy, who was easy too.

I've ditched the Nebula whip in favour of the Royal Sword I got for completing one of Wind's quests. It's a little slow, but does waaaaaay more damage than anything else I had at the time of getting it, and even now it's still my most powerful weapon.

Anyway. After all the paintings were done, the big one they were "sealing" opened, and I went inside to kill Brauner. He was pretty simple once I realised his pattern, and also I found that I'd picked up a Meteor spell somewhere along the way which really helped too. With him dead, the doorway to Dracula was open. So you do have to kill Dracula in this game - it didn't look like that was going to happen...

But I failed to do so. The reason? You don't fight Dracula. You fight Dracula and Death. At the same time. Gah!

So I stopped all that and decided to go and do some more quests. Collected loads more items and spells and things along the way, and when I reached 888% explored I opened up a new area and a new painting - Nest of Evil. It's Boss Rush mode, more or less! I gave it a go, and got through all the rooms of "normal" baddies, only to come across a baddie from Dawn of Sorrow who promptly killed me.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

I will start by pointing out my "stats" at the end of today's play: 6-ish hours in, Level 30-ish ranked, and (wait for it...) 455% explored. Why bother with a percentage if you're going to go over 100%? Eh? Anyway.

I finished my fourth painting, and then explored more of the castle. This involved back-tracking into other paintings for power-ups I may have missed (like the Toad Morph one), and then I made it up into the Clock Tower. Every Castlevania needs a Clock Tower!

There, as is usual, I met Death. And, as is also usual, he killed me. A lot.

Then I figured out his weakness (he has two forms - one is weak to magic, the other weak to physical attacks) and pattern, and so defeated him with relative ease. A short jaunt around a bit more of the top of the castle (returning to Vincent and Wind, and finding Vincent was turning into a vampire...), and I found Loretta and Stella. And I (after a couple of attempts) killed them. Oops.

It seems you're not supposed to kill them. You're supposed to cure them. With the "Sanctuary" spell that I didn't have.

I decided to do some more quests for Wind instead, and in doing so, I found Sanctuary! This not only cured Vincent, but saved the twins too. Aces. They then opened up a new room, with five new paintings in. Apparently, I have to close the four smaller ones to open the last one.

Off I went into the "Dark Academy" painting, where I found an Owl Morph spell, and lots of big, difficult baddies. I think I may have to move past my Nebula whip (which has been great), as it just isn't powerful enough any more.

Castlevania (PS2)

Hmm. Not really enjoying this a great deal any more. Well, I was never enjoying it loads as it is, but there are just too many things I don't like about it - the camera, the controls, the lack of platforming, the bits where there is platforming being difficult due to the camera or controls, etc. It's all a bit rubbish, really.

So I found the "e" stone to put in the "meth" stone in the Lab level, which brought a golum to life. And then I killed it. Which kind of defies the point, really, doesn't it?

I then moved on to the garden level, and opened up loads of the map, found a power-up to protect me from fire (or something), and couldn't find a door in a room to the right of the map that is marked on the floor plan, but isn't actually in the room. Gah!

So I left, and then went back to the House of Thingie (the churchy level) and tried to reach a high platform in a room near the start. But I can't. Not even double-jumping and whip-grabbing can do it. I gave up for the day.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

Sand painting boss found! It was some woman who, who had a strange attack - she throws hearts at you, and if you're Jonathan, and they hit you, then she takes control of you and you control Charlotte. Jonathan then attacks you. Erk.

Luckily, I killed her without too many attempts, and then it was back to the Castle to rest up, and move onwards (and upwards). I found the next painting - Nations of Fools - which was set in a circus, although some of it was upside-down and sideways and all sorts.

The boss there was Legion, the giant ball of people with tentacles inside. He wasn't too hard, but wasn't anywhere near as easy as the kill-without-being-hit version in Harmony of Dissonance.

After that, I explored more of the castle and bumped into Stella, one of the twin vampire girls. She attacked me, but was pretty easy to defeat. I got a locket from her, which revealed the true identity of Wind - linking the game further to Castlevania: Bloodlines, which I haven't completed yet. Confronting Wind explained some more backstory to what happened between Bloodlines and Portrait of Ruin, how the Morris family ended up with the Belmont's Vampire Killer whip, and foreshadows an event due to happen in 1999. The same event Julius mentions in Aria of Sorrow that Konami haven't turned into a game yet. I wish they would!

Finally (for now) I spent a while doing quests for Eri^H^H^HWind, gained a few new moves, and figured out how to mince the meat - you need to punch the animal corpses - Rocky style!

I'm just over two and a half hours in, on Level 21, and have uncovered uh, 344.5% of the map. And you thought the 198.8% of Harmony was extreme...

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

And into the next painting I went! One nice thing about the paintings is that it allows Castlevania-ing in locations not normally included in Castlevania. So there's a bit less castle, and more, well - this painting is in Egypt, so it's got sand. And sandworms! It adds a bit of variety to the proceedings, anyway.

So I've gone though loads of this Egyptian level, and not found a boss yet. I've found a few places I can't yet reach (even though I now have the double-jump power-up), and I have a better whip, which means I've ditched the slow sword I was using. I bumped into Brauner and his twin daughters, but they don't want to fight me, instead wanting to dispatch Death who I'd previously seen poking around.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

Wow. Just wow.

Yeah, so it doesn't have the soul collecting of Dawn of Sorrow, and the tag-team system ranges from pointless to annoying, but how any reviewer can say this is anything less than fantastic is beyond me. It ticks all the boxes: save points and warps in sensible places, a shop to buy potions, a great (if confusing, currently) story, and excellent graphics and controls.

Today's play took me back to the City painting, as Wind told me to "find the butcher in town and mince some meat". So off I went, found the meat, slapped it about a bit, and erm, nothing happened. Tried all sorts of powers and skills and magic and weapons on it, and... nothing. Hmm.

Then I left the painting and went off exploring the castle. I found another painting (which I haven't entered yet) and another boss (some green goo in a big pot) who was pretty easy to kill. Level 12 and 130% explored now!

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

Just in the nick of time! With my handheld versions of Castlevania having run out yesterday, Play Asia delivered Portrait of Ruin today. Phew, eh?

And... is it any good? Of course it is! It's ACES!

The first thing to hit me was the graphics. Not the character graphics, as although they're good - they're nothing special, but the backgrounds. Several layers deep with detailed parallax. 3D objects in the distance (like a big abbey thing which you see 'around' as you walk past). Of course, Dawn of Sorrow had much of this, but having spent the last few weeks with the GB and GBA Castlevania titles, it's enough to blow you away. There's also some nice use of 3D on some of the enemies - the Peeping Eye, for example, is fully 3D and swoops and rotates and flicks its tail at you. Lovely.

So progress, then. I've found Wind, entered my first painting, found the boss therein (a headless suit of armour and a flying separate head) which was really very hard until I discovered (a) the pattern, and (b) a tag-team giant lightning cross "smart-bomb" type move. Yes, I said tag-team: you control two characters - Jonathan Morris and, um, a girl whose name I've forgotten. You switch between them by pressing a button, and can operate both characters at one for pushing things and pulling levers and using each other as a boost up. Anyway, I'm digressing.

I killed the armour boss, and "finished" the painting. I then moved on through the main castle itself, and found another boss (who is a creature that chased me at the start of the game). It was pretty easy, actually. I'm now in a new part of the castle, and I'm looking for another painting. I'm about one hour 20 minutes in, and have explored 112%-ish of the castle. Yes. 112% and I've only done two bosses. Hmm.

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GB): COMPLETED!

Another day, another completed Castlevania! So this was a fair bit easier than the last one, although there was a tricky bit near the end with ropes that move up and down and then change direction, with the cogs on either end killing you.

The end-of-Dracula's-castle boss wasn't Dracula, but Solieyu Belmont, the son of the main character (Christopher Belmont). He was under Dracula's power, or something, and was actually bloody hard to kill, what with his whip and stuff.

But kill him I did, and then it was the shortest of short levels before I had Dracula himself to kill. He was pretty easy, once I'd figured out you had to whip him in the face.

Game Over, then!

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GB)

No sooner was the first GB Castlevania over and done with, I moved straight onto the sequel. And guess what? It's ace. Not Aria of Sorrow ace, or even Super Castlevania IV ace, but it's certainly waaaaay better than The Castlevania Adventure. Yeah, so it's still slow (although not quite as slow), but it's easier (so far), not jerky, has more detailed graphics and there aren't any pixel-perfect jumps! BEST.

You have four castles to tackle, before moving on to a fifth, housing (I assume) Dracula. I've already completed the first four, finding them fun to play and not console-smashingly impossible, and the bosses are much better too.

And the game has a password system, so I can stop and continue later. Which I will do!

The Castlevania Adventure (GB): COMPLETED!

Oh my! Only four levels? Just as well as if there were any more, things may have been broken on purpose.

Level 3 is the real killer. The spikes are really rather hard to get past. Once you do, however, the rest of the game is pretty easy in comparison. The boss at the end of Level 3 was some sort of Harpy, who was easy to dodge, and then it was on to Level 4. It looked like there was going to be a SuckySuck(TM) bit, with all the previous bosses one after another, but thankfully it was just the first one. Again. And again. And again. I must have killed him about ten times on this level alone.

After some more spikey bits (which were actually pretty easy), I finally made it to Dracula. And killed him on my second attempt. He turns into a bat after you die, but thankfully he's not too difficult.

So that's the first Game Boy game I've completed in years, and the 9th game this year so far. And the 5th Castlevania title this year too. I've got the second Game Boy Castlevania lined up now too!

The Castlevania Adventure (GB)

What? In? Hell?

This has to be the slowest, hardest, most irritating game ever made. Ever. Your character (Simon? It doesn't tell you) moves as a snails pace. You have no subweapons. You can't jump very far (and the game is full of pixel-perfect jumps), you only have three lives, often when you die you go back miles, and the whole game jerks and judders all over the place.

Ace!

So I spent AGES trying to get past the Stepping Stones of Doom (pixel-perfect jumps) near the end of Level 1, and finally made it. Then Level 2 threw up some heads that spit balls which aren't nice, and boomerang men, before finally making me kill a load of moles. Which I eventually managed. But since when did Dracula have moles?! Bats and zombies and rabid dogs, yes. Moles?

Now I've just got past an awful forced-scrolling vertical run-from-the-spikes bit, only to think "Phew!", and then have another forced-scrolling horizontal run-from-the-spikes bit. With pixel-perfect jumps! Hurrah!

I'm this close to smashing the game into a billion pieces.

Castlevania (PS2)

I worked my way through the House of Whatsit (I can't remember it's real name) and found three buttons which seem to activate locks. Or parts of them, anyway. I then got to a door that I need a Yellow Dragon Key to open, and generally ran out of places to go. I warped back to the shop, and bought some stuff, before going back into the castle and trying the Anti-Soul Mysteries "level". No, really. That's what it's called.

It seems a lot easier than the other bit, so perhaps you're supposed to do this first? I made it up to the third floor, but I'm stuck needing a key again. I did, however, find the Yellow Dragon Key, so all wasn't lost. I've found what I think is the boss too, albeit shattered into bits. There's a giant Polo on the wall with a word on it, that I need to find an 'E' for, I think.

Anyway, I warped out, bought stuff, and found a save point.

Castlevania (PS2)

A new Castlevania game for me to play! And my first 3D Castlevania too. Well, aside from about ten minutes with the abortion that is Castlevania 64. I didn't really know what to expect. Incidently, in the UK this game is just called "Castlevania", which kind of makes sense as it's chronologically the very first "episode" in the series, but elsewhere it has the subtitle "Lament of Innocence".

I've not spent long with it yet, having only watched the opening film, explored what I can to start, completed the "training" section, and then moved on to some House of Somethings. I'm not at all sure about Leon Belmont's double jump, nor his blocking. Or his whip-grab-jump move. But it's early days yet.

The camera is already annoying though...

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA): COMPLETED!

So I went rummaging around for three books that Mina suggested I might need. I actually had one already, and the other two were found pretty easily once I'd taken a good look at the map. I found another boss (Legion) who was alarmingly easy to kill, and then got another soul or three.

After all that, I had the books required, and the three souls it was suggested I equip (Flame Armour, Succabus, and Giant Bat - all traits of Dracula, if you think about it...), so I set them all up and went after Graham again. He was even easier to kill than last time! Not least because the Succabus soul gives you HP each time you get a hit in. Oh, and I was on Level 39 instead of 32 or something too.

Then a thing happened that I won't say as it's a spoiler, and then instead of the game being over, I could carry on playing. Got another soul and some better armour from the room just past Graham, then set off to the black mist door (with the floating garden baddies now complete walkovers - even the huge Devil which previously took a billion hits), where I had to fight Julius. He wasn't easy at all, as it turned out, and I used just about all my potions on him. Managed it though, then retreated back to Hammer to get more supplies, saved my game, then stepped into the Quantum Leap acceleratorwarp to Chaos and vanished.

Soma awoke to find himself trapped in the pastin a twisted version of the castle, where going from one room to another seemed to warp him around the various areas I'd previously been through. It almost became a SuckySuck(TM) bit, as there were loads of previous bosses, but since they're all really weak now, or I could just skip them (flying bat powaz FTW), I won't complain.

Then Chaos came. And he was easy. Like, realy easy. OK - not as easy as Dracula at the end of Harmony of Dissonance, but still pretty simple to beat. And the game was over - properly this time, with the happy ending and everything!

Super Mario World (Wii)

New Virtual Console Game Day! Yaay! Mind you, I haven't really played Mario Kart 64 much after buying that last week, but that's mainly because The Castlevania has stolen my brains.

So I downloaded Super Mario World, and tried very hard to get used to the "proper" way of holding the pad (I have this freaky way of doing it with the SNES pad and the classic controller for the Wii isn't quite right). I think I may have it sussed though.

I've found the yellow and green switch palaces, killed Iggy, and am about to embark on the Donut Plains Ghost House. It's aces, is this.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Bossaroo! Did the third boss-room-that-isn't-a-boss first of all today, and then moved on to the actual next boss. At first, it seemed like it was going to be a giant bat, but then a huge hand came out of nowhere and squashed the bat, killing it.

Instead, I had to kill the two hands and two eyes of a, uh, thing. Balgone? Something like that anyway. It was actually pretty easy once I'd sussed the fact you could jump on the hands as long as they weren't swiping.

Then I got a soul to turn me into a bat, opening up more areas of the map. Went and got all the small areas I'd previously been unable to get to done first, before moving on to a new area with some really hard baddies in (flying things with pitchforks, succabuses, harder versions of previous bosses, etc.) and found a save point in a tower. Then, found another boss - Graham.

He did Dracula's classic "warp then shoot fireballs" attack at first, and then morphed into a huge thing with grabby hands and a storm cloud thing. He seemed impossible, until I realised you could tell which hand was going to grab at you, so you got a chance to dodge. So I killed him, and then the credits came up and the game was complete!

So why no "COMPLETED!" in the title of this post? Because I think the game is lying. The end boss seemed too easy (although, that was also the case with Harmony of Dissonace), but also I'm only at 86% of the castle complete, there's that swirly black door thing to get past yet, and the ending didn't seem quite "right". Also, it didn't unlock any other modes, unlike every other recent Castlevania game does. So there's more, kiddies!

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Death = DEAD! Well, sort of. He got sucked into some sort of whirlpool thing. I'd got the lightning doll soul, which really helps, and gone up a couple of levels. In the room just past Death was a soul giving me the power to swim (I guess Soma never got his bronze swimming certificate), so off I went into the waterways in the bottom of the map.

Found lots of new baddies, souls, weapons (I now have an ice sword which is way more powerful than the hrunting), and a ring. Did get a bit stuck though, but eventually found my way into a new area with loads of beam skeletons and stuff.

And then, I found not one, but two boss doors. Neither of which had a boss behind them, instead having a difficult room each and a weapon and armour at the end of each. Did those, and levelled up a bit more. I'm now on Level 28.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Well. It looks like Death is the next boss after all. I spent ages exploring every single part of the map that I could get to, and found some more weapons, potions and armour (and collected a few souls along the way), but found no other bosses.

Now I have to traipse half-way around the castle again to get back to him! Bah.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

I'm lost. I think. I killed another boss, and got a power-up to do the Jesus thing and walk on water, which let me access a couple of new areas. However, I then stumbled into some kind of garden filled with giant chickens, and then into some strange castles in the sky that are linked together in a strange way with really difficult wear-jaguars (or something) and devils in.

Then I appeared to be in a clock tower, and it was difficult with loads of Medusa heads and dragons and Disc Armours in. And then, I found Death. Surely I shouldn't be up to Death yet? I mean, he's usually at the end of the game? I tried to kill him, and it took ages to defeat his first form and then his second form killed me. So I don't think I should be there...

I backtracked a bit, but the castles in the sky warped me around again and I ended up in a place with a black cloud blocking a door, and I don't know what to do there. Eventually, I managed to make it back to known territory and saved the game. An upside of my wanderings is that I now have over 50% of the map open.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

I'm 35% through this already! Lawks. Killed the Manticore easily this time, as I found that if you stand in the doorway, you can't be hit. Grenade-tastic!

After that, it was STOP! Hammertime! As in, I met Hammer. And he told me he was going to set up a shop by the castle entrance. As you do. I then collected a soul that gave me a double-jump (finally!) and had a bit of an explore some more, heading vaguely to Hammer's shop, and finding a few new routes and a warp point along the way.

Killed some more bosses, including a huge suit of armour and a thing which kept swapping heads, and have the group slide power-up too.

I've also got a nifty broadsword now, which is a bit slower than my previous weapon of choice, but does waaaaay more damage and has a wider killing arc, meaning I can swipe it at things above and below me. I've improved my armour as well, buying War Fatigues from Hammer, and have a soul which boosts my strength. However, I'm now in an area with some witches and persephones and it's a bit hard.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Squeezed a bit more of this game into my day, exploring an area I'd have found far more easily if I'd actually looked at the map I'd found.

Worked my way up into some sort of bell tower, but couldn't find anything to do up there, so came back down again. I then found another save point, followed by a Manticore boss, that killed me. So it's harder than Harmony if nothing else...

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

So, no sooner had I finished Harmony, I was on to Aria. They're even on the same cartridge (hence the same box art on the left there), so I didn't have to swap games or anything. Ace.

Only played for about half an hour so far, and Soma's sword (rather than Juste/Nathan's whip) is taking a bit of getting used to. I've already found a few things about Harmony that I prefer to this (yes, I know - and I didn't like that as much as Circle), such as the ability to save anywhere, and the ability to equip more concurrent items. However, since Aria has a primitive version of Dawn of Sorrow's soul system, you get to use several magical items at once. Graphically, it's very lovely, and the silly blue glow of Juste is no more, which is good.

I've killed a huge skeleton-with-no-legs boss, gone up abut 4 levels already, upgraded my weapon and armour, got a soul to let me jump further, have assorted other souls, and have run out of places to go already. Hurrah!

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA): COMPLETED!

Well. After getting a couple of keys, I was able to get around pretty much the entire map. Picked up the Griffin's Wing and Crush Boots too, so I then could get round the entire map, and killed a few more bosses on the way and collected fahsands more power-ups and some well ace armour. I reached Level 48 or so, and my DEF stat was so high that almost no enemy could deal out more than a couple of damage to me. Even some of the bosses that were left barely scratched me. Excellent.

Then I found, right at the very top of the map, part of Dracula's body. This opened a passageway - and I knew it was the blocked hole in the floor near the middle of the map. So, I set off down there, bought loads of Potions and High Potions, and saved next to the hole before jumping in to kill...

Maxim? What, no Dracula? Well, I was expecting Maxim then Dracula, but no - just Maxim. Who was easy. And then it was game over and I'd won. Sort of. Not the proper ending, methinks.

A quick search of the internet, and it seems I needed to be in Castle B, not Castle A for the proper ending (and have some specific items equipped). So off I went, only to find the hole in the floor sealed. I didn't have all the parts of Dracula, apparently. Eventually found his missing eye (nice), and tried again. Hurrah! I was in!

Then there was Maxim to kill again (he was even easier then), and finally Dracula. Well, not Dracula as such, a Dracula Wraith (who was so easy I didn't even get hit), followed by a second Dracula form. Who was also easy. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Dracula was in fact the easiest boss in the entire game. Tch. So much for my millions of High Potions...

And that was the REAL actual proper happy ending! Completed!

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)

Grr! I'm stuck again! I've explored everywhere I can, and even though I now have the smash-through-walls whip attachment, I have exhausted every area there is.

I have killed a couple more bosses (including a Giant Merman), and found a load more HP/MP/heart Max power-ups, and have explored 125% of the castle(s) now, but I have no idea where to go next. There are loads of doors still locked, a hole in the floor that is sealed, and at least three rooms I can't navigate as I can't jump high enough...

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)

After half an hour of searching, and finally resorting to watching the first part of a speedrun on YouTube, I eventually found somewhere I could reach but hadn't been to yet. And so, I had opened up a huge new area!

In fact, my exploration status went from about 65% of the castle, to 102% in this evening's play. No, that isn't a mistake - it turns out there are two castles. Cripes.

Both are effectively the same layout, but with slightly different graphics and enemies. Sort of like the light and dark worlds of Link to the Past. Yeah, so not content with stealing Metroid's raison d'etre, Konami have nicked bits of Zelda too. ACE! :)

Anyway. I have killed loads of bosses now. There seem to be hundreds of them in this game. Got rid of a giant slime, a giant skeleton, a giant Peeking Eye, and a few other things which were not all giant things. Also pushed a huge Guardian Armour into a clock mechanism, mincing him and spitting out a load of Guardian Armour items I could wear, improving my stats considerably. I've also come across Maxim again, who is now slightly less scary than he was previously, and Death, who I couldn't kill as he ran away.

I'm on about level 26 now too, and have collected a pile of items for Juste's room. Yeah, he has a room in the castle. I don't know why. It's all a bit Pokémon, actually.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)

Hmm. Some of the flaws are starting to show in this game now. The map isn't as easy to navigate as in Circle of the Moon, especially in the way that there are rooms which serve no purpose than to slow you down. No baddies, no spikes, just a poorly laid out room to navigate. They're not hard, just annoying. Then there's the structure of the bosses. You don't seem to have to do them all in a specific order, and you don't get an extra move power-up after each, meaning you wonder why you bothered killing them.

The graphics aren't as good as Circle either, mainly due to the drab caves, busy bone caverns, awful psychedelic swirly nonsense, and strange character after-effects. Then there's the problem of not being able to use sub-weapons and spellbooks.

I mean, it's still good, but it should have been better, really.

Anyway. I've killed a couple more bosses (which aren't that great either, to be honest), and have explored 61% of the castle. I'm totally stuck now though, as I can't find anywhere to go. Locked doors, sealed holes in the floor, platforms I can't reach (even though I now have the double-jump power-up) and walls that are clearly breakable (but I can't break them) block every route. Bah.