Castlevania: The New Generation (MD): COMPLETED!

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.

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