Or Castlevania: Bloodlines, if you prefer. Personally, I think both names are rubbish, and pretty much irrelevant.
My experience of this game previously has been that I own it, I’ve played it a few times, but because it wasn’t a Metroidvania style Castlevania (which I used to prefer over the older linear type) I never persisted with it. Of course, these days I enjoy most 2D Castlevanias, and since I just read about Castlevania: The New Generation this week in the excellent Hardcore Gaming Castlevania book and remembered that I’d never finished it, I thought I’d give it another go.
It’s excellent. Perhaps better even than Super Castlevania IV on the SNES. The graphical tricks the game pulls (sprite rotations and so on) were very unusual for the Mega Drive, not least because – as SNES fans would gleefully remind Mega Drive owners – there was no Mode 7 on the Sega console. The music, a vital ingredient in the series, is also incredible although perhaps not as iconic as in other Castlevania titles. It’s also a lot easier than Super Castlevania IV, which surprised me.
I played through as John Morris – the guy who isn’t a Belmont in name but is by blood, apparently, so can wield the Vampire Killer. He was in the original Dracula book too, apparently. The other character you play as is Eric, who has a pike or something. So yeah, I didn’t bother with him. Why would you? Tch.
There were some great bosses, marred slightly by Death’s Tarot Wheel of SuckySuck(TM), most of which I don’t think I’ve seen in other Castlevania games. Dracula also suffered from Irritating and Unnecessary Gaming Cliché #3, which was a shame but pretty much expected. I’m tempted to play more CV games now, but there aren’t any on the Mega Drive and that’s what I’m focussing on right now. There’s a sort of clone on the Master System though? Hmm.
More retro stuff! Almost no non-retro stuff! Time to bin the PS4!
Play
Midnight Resistance (Spectrum)
After playing the Mega Drive version last week, I sought out the Spectrum “original”. Yes, I know the arcade version was the original, but that’s not my first contact with the game. Completed it.
Midnight Resistance (C64)
Which I decided to do as well. My word, are C64 emulators stuck in the dark ages compared to other machines. I spent almost as much time trying to figure out configuring controls and stuff than I did playing the game, which is not as good as the Speccy one, but does have better music. Completed it.
Strider (MD)
One of my first Mega Drive games and one very rarely completed – mainly due to the Boss Rush at the end. Stuck with it this time and got it done. It was hard.
Batman (MD)
Much easier than I recall, aside from the batwing level, but with some terrible boss fights. It hasn’t aged well, unfortunately. Also completed.
Land of Illusion (MS)
A big step up from Castle of Illusion. More levels, more variety, more everything. Excellent game, completed.
Legend of Illusion (MS)
A shoddy Game Gear back-port, which improves on the previous two 8bit “Illusion” games in some ways, but is a massive step back in others. A disappointing end to the not-quite-a-trilogy. Completed.
Castlevania: The New Generation (MD)
Better than I remember. Pretty awesome, in fact. Another completed game this week!
Puggsy (Mega CD)
This took a little while to get working, mainly because I had to find a way of ripping the original disc to a bin/cue file pair. That’s done now, and I’ve beaten the first two bosses.
Want
Starting to wonder if I actually want these now, given the fun I’ve had with retro games recently, but:
No Man’s Sky (PS4)
I think.
Lego Marvel Avengers (PS4)
Probably.
Firewatch (PS4)
Do I?
HYRULE WARRIORS LEGENDS (3DS)
YES. This I definitely still need.
Bin
PS4? It doesn’t play Mega Drive games.
Expense
Nothing this week, again.
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Who knew we’d make it as far as the third letter of the alphabet? Certainly not me. The third letter being C, of course.
C
C is quite a popular initial in the world of Mega Drive games. Sadly, a lot of them are C for College, as in College Football, and if there’s anything worse than American Football it’s American College Football because of oh god it’s crap. There’s a C for Coach game too, which is Coach K College Basketball, and even though basketball is a trillion times better than American Football, it’s still College and still boring. Just so you know: sports games ain’t gonna feature positively for most of the Alphabest series.
Some games that avoided the shortlist, but you may have expected them to have made it, include Cannon Fodder (which is a great game, but not without a mouse), Castle of Illusion (which was pretty good, but nowhere near as good as the 8bit version which I played later rendering the Mega Drive version obsolete), Columns (two player mode is non-interactive so utterly pointless – get the Master System version instead) and Comix Zone (technically very polished and clever, but too hard to be any fun at all). That leaves us with these three:
Crüe Ball is a Mötley Crüe themed pinball game, featuring some of their music and visually is a mix of metal and bizarre organic creatures (flying brains and stuff), and features bosses and all sorts. As well as (or despite, if you don’t like “Dr. Feelgood”) the Crüe overtones, it’s a great game of pinball too, with some arcadey sub-games (like a side on Breakout type section). Probably the best pinball game on the Mega Drive, in fact, although there aren’t that many to compete with it.
Columns III is slightly confusing because Columns II is virtually unknown. It finally becomes what the original Columns should have been (and was, on the Master System) by way of having Puyo Puyo style competitive two player. Building a massive combo to massively hinder your opponent never gets old, and in Columns III five players can play at once. If you have that many friends. There’s a decent single player “story” mode too.
Castlevania: The New Generation, known as Bloodlines elsewhere, is not only better than Super Castlevania IV, it does things the Mega Drive simply isn’t supposed to do. Sprite rotations and warpy effects and scaling and all the sorts of things the SNES’ extra hardware was employed to do and provide the Nintendo Gloat Factor but apparently the Sega console can’t cope with. Well, it can. Oh boy can it.
And the Alphabest?
Both Columns III and Crüe Ball are excellent games, and a few also-rans are also well worth a play (Chakan: The Forever Man and Contra: Hard Corps, for example), but far and away the best C is Castlevania: The New Generation.
It’s an almost perfect platformer. It looks incredible. It has two different selectable characters who change the combat completely. And it’s Castlevania – one of my favourite game serieseses ever. It’s incredible.
Next time! D! If I can be bothered.
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Pingback: Alphabest: Mega Drive – C - deKay's Blog
In 2016, I completed a whopping 110 games. My previous record, because of course I’ve been keeping count, was 84 in 2015. You’d think with a number like that, I’d finally be on top of my backlog, right? Ahahahahano.
I didn’t anticipate completing that many. Like in previous years, I did strive to finish the RetroCollect 52 Game Challenge (which I managed before the end of June) and then expanded that to 104 games just for a laugh (and I sorted that by mid-December), but of course I had to go and beat that too, didn’t I?
There may be some arguments over what constitutes a “game”, and what counts as “completed”. There’s no hard and fast rule, whatever feels right for a title, usually. However, normally a game is “something you play” and “completed” is “reached the final goal”, “got all the achievements” or “watched the end credits” as appropriate.
DLC and addons are usually classed as separate games even if technically they’re not – like Life is Strange episodes, or the Lego Dimensions level packs.
Anyway, here’s the full list of 110:
Fallout 4(PS4 15/01/2016)
Batman Returns(Lynx 24/01/2016)
Grim Fandango Remastered(PS4/Vita 30/01/2016)
Thomas Was Alone: Benjamin’s Flight(Vita 30/01/2016)
Hatoful Boyfriend(Vita 31/01/2016)
Nova-111(PS4 15/02/2016)
Bayonetta(Wii U 15/02/2016)
Sonic the Hedgehog(MS 28/02/2016)
Street Fighter Alpha(GBC 28/02/2016)
Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush(Wii U 05/03/2016)
Disney Infinity 3.0(PS4 06/03/2016)
ToeJam and Earl(MD 10/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(MD 12/03/2016)
Mega-lo-Mania(MD 12/03/2016)
Castle of Illusion(MS 12/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(Spec 15/03/2016)
Land of Illusion(MS 16/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(C64 17/03/2016)
Strider(MD 17/03/2016)
Legend of Illusion(MS 19/03/2016)
Batman(MD 19/03/2016)
Castlevania: The New Generation(MD 20/03/2016)
Hyrule Warriors Legends(3DS 28/03/2016)
Puggsy(MCD 02/04/2016)
Time Gal(MCD 02/04/2016)
The Legend of Galahad(MD 03/04/2016)
Lego Lord of the Rings(360 04/04/2016)
Broforce(PS4 05/04/2016)
My Nintendo Picross – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess(3DS 09/04/2016)
Psycho Fox(MS 10/04/2016)
The Witness(PS4 24/04/2016)
Firewatch(PS4 27/04/2016)
The Beginner’s Guide(Mac 01/05/2016)
Freedom Planet(Wii U 02/05/2016)
Affordable Space Adventures(Wii U 06/05/2016)
Hudson Hawk(GB 07/05/2016)
Streets of Rage 3(MD 07/05/2016)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles(MD 08/05/2016)
LocoRoco Cocoreccho(PS3 13/05/2016)
Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure(MD 14/05/2016)
Rainbow Islands(MS 14/05/2016)
Gauntlet 4(MD 18/05/2016)
Star Fox Guard(Wii U 22/05/2016)
Emily is Away(Mac 22/05/2016)
Quiet, Please!(Wii U 26/05/2016)
Quiet Christmas(Wii U 28/05/2016)
Vacation Vexation(Wii U 28/05/2016)
Candy, Please!(Wii U 29/05/2016)
Star Fox Zero(Wii U 03/06/2016)
Teddy Boy(MS 04/06/2016)
James Pond II: Codename Robocod(MD 04/06/2016)
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars(MS 04/06/2016)
Asterix(MS 11/06/2016)
The Lucky Dime Caper(MS 12/06/2016)
Assassin’s Creed Unity(PS4 13/06/2016)
Kirby: Planet Robobot(3DS 21/06/2016)
The Temple of No(Mac 28/06/2016)
Battlefield 4(PS4 29/06/2016)
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse(3DS 02/07/2016)
There’s Poop In My Soup(Mac 02/07/2016)
Gunpoint(Mac 29/07/2016)
Missing: An Interactive Thriller – Episode One(Mac 30/07/2016)
McPixel(Mac 03/08/2016)
Beware Planet Earth(PC 15/08/2016)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE(Wii U 16/08/2016)
Sakura Spirit(Mac 17/08/2016)
StreetPass Trader(3DS 15/09/2016)
StreetPass Slot Racer(3DS 16/09/2016)
Running Battle(MS 18/09/2016)
Ranma 1/2(SNES 18/09/2016)
StreetPass Explorers(3DS 19/09/2016)
StreetPass Ninja(3DS 21/09/2016)
No Man’s Sky(PS4 10/10/2016)
StreetPass Chef(3DS 11/10/2016)
Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~(3DS 16/10/2016)
Catherine(PS3 17/10/2016)
Pokémon Y(3DS 25/10/2016)
Year Walk(Wii U 28/10/2016)
Gargoyle’s Quest(3DS 30/10/2016)
Actual Sunlight(Vita 02/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone(3DS 05/11/2016)
3D Puyo Puyo 2(3DS 06/11/2016)
3D Thunderblade(3DS 06/11/2016)
3D Altered Beast(3DS 06/11/2016)
One Night Stand(Mac 11/11/2016)
3D Power Drift(3DS 12/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa(3DS 12/11/2016)
3D Galaxy Force II(3DS 13/11/2016)
PaRappa the Rapper 2(PS4 13/11/2016)
Virginia(PS4 15/11/2016)
3D Maze Walker(3DS 17/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (MS Ver.)(3DS 17/11/2016)
3D Sonic the Hedgehog(3DS 19/11/2016)
Lego Marvel Avengers(PS4 21/11/2016)
Retro City Rampage DX(3DS 21/11/2016)
Apartment 666(Mac 26/11/2016)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter(PS4 26/11/2016)
Super Fantasy Zone(MD 26/11/2016)
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure(NGPC 27/11/2016)
SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium(NGPC 27/11/2016)
Sonic Triple Trouble(3DS 07/12/2016)
Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey Remastered(PS4 10/12/2016)
Sonic Blast(3DS 11/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions(PS4 15/12/2016)
Box Box Boy!(3DS 23/12/2016)
Ultratron(Wii U 24/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: Back to the Future(PS4 26/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: Adventure Time(PS4 28/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: The Simpsons(PS4 30/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: Midway Arcade(PS4 31/12/2016)
Now, will I repeat that in 2017? I doubt it. I’m not even going to try.
Oh, and I’ll write some more about some of my favourites in another post another time!
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