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 …
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 …
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 …
I downloaded this for the Virtual Console last weekend, but then didn’t actually play it. Well, I loaded it, got confused, and turned it off again. Today, however, I found it has an in-game tutorial! I had a quick scan of that, and then started playing. And it’s lovely. Comparing it to Advance Wars is unfair (Military Madness is years older – if anything, it’s a clone of Famicom Wars, Advance Wars‘ great-grandad) but unavoidable. The premise is the same …
I found this today. I knew I had it, but had completely forgotten how small it was. Like, 24x17x4cm. Which is VERY small. Shame it only has a 233MHz CPU and no built-in network card.
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 …
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’ …
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. …
The Canon MV930 is a cheap MiniDV camcorder. We buy a couple of camcorders at work each year, and they’re normally Canons. So this one arrived last week. And nice it is too. It’s got all the features we need, and it records onto SD cards and stuff, and is reasonably rugged and simple to use. However. It has one glaring problem. You see the big white button on the back? That’s the Record button. You press it, and it …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
Well, it was actually several sessions play today, rather than just one long go, but I reached the end, defeated Dedede, and then beat Nightmare. Hurrah! I noticed that the last level (the one in black and white) was actually some sort of medley of the levels from the original Game Boy Kirby game. I’d never realised that before. I just thought it was black and white for some sort of arty reason. It explains why you don’t get any …
Ran through all of Ice Cream Island and Butter Building, and I’m now onto the third level of Grape Garden. There’s been nothing too taxing so far, and I’ve found all of the hidden areas (all two of them) so far as well. I’m 35% complete, according to my save game file.