What Is the Best Castlevania? - 20th Anniversary of Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN)

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below and now speaking of Castlevania on

to the episode

20 years ago I said this game sucks and

then launched into a tie raade

dissecting all the things that were

wrong with Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest

because I'm the nerd and my mission is

to warn you that lots of those old games

that you look back at with sentimental

longing are actually steaming piles of

goat [ __ ] Don't Go Near them the thing

is at the time I didn't know who I was

talking to it was the summer of 2004 and

YouTube didn't exist yet so I was pretty

much ranting into the thin air of Sorrow

that lingered over my stale room of

Dusty game consoles and VHS tapes in my

closet underneath a pile of socks and

underwear was a shoe box full of old NES

games and there it was Simon's Quest

like a call to action I became somebody

you now know as the [ __ ] nerd back

then I wasn't yet the Angry Video Game

Nerd I wasn't even the angry Nintendo

nerd episode one I didn't have a name or

a face I was just a voice just a voice

in your head telling you to stay away

from this filth was I even wearing my

white shirt when I spoke those words no

to tell you the truth it was hot so I

wasn't wearing anything just kidding so

for this occasion I'm going back to my

roots when I was only a voice Simon's

Quest was released in North America in

December 88 using some Christmas money I

bought it from Toys R Us I played it

constantly and at the time I noticed

nothing wrong even though I was

endlessly traveling in circles it didn't

matter to me because I was stupid no it

was because it was a time of Innocence

it was 1989 most likely when I first

played it so by the time I reviewed it

about 15 years had passed while publicly

2004 is known as the beginning of the

Nerds era for me personally it was the

end of the Neolithic Nostalgia age

leaving behind my childhood in a

spiteful fart cloud of frustration it

was like coming out of a hangover and

then realizing how much you drank the

night before Oh those nights it all

seems like fun and games your judgments

impaired you're making merry but

afterwards your head is pounding with

humiliating defeat as you begin

assessing all the damage you caused to

yourself honestly with how many bad

games there are it's hard to imagine why

Simon's Quest was the first one I picked

you all know what I picked next that one

where I had to drink a six-pack of

Rolling Rock and show you my face on

camera for the first time and after I re

re re Revisited it so many times I

finally beat the game with the help of

my future self I exercised that demon so

let's move on this time I actually want

to talk about something a little more

positive if episode one was a coin this

is the flip side if I thought Simon's

Quest was the worst Castlevania Game

well then what's the best best yes I

already answered that in my Castlevania

4art episode in 2009 I said my favorite

was Super Castlevania 4 but the question

now is do I still believe that are any

of the challengers able to claim the

throne well first of all I'm talking

about the Retro era of Castlevania games

on the main consoles in the four parter

I mentioned most of them some would

consider Castlevania 3 to be better than

four because of the multiple characters

the forking paths

or maybe just because it came before

those are all valid reasons and it's

totally legit if you're more of a

Castlevania 3 kind of person I replayed

it and I still have to say I favor four

the 16-bit graphics and sound are more

effective for immersing you into the

spooky atmosphere the control is so much

smoother and not to mention you can whip

in all

directions and it's not as ruthless with

so much of that knockback [ __ ]

some would say knockback is what makes

it challenging I say that's what makes

it

cheap I mentioned Bloodlines this would

be the Sega genesis's answer to the

Super Nintendo and konami's tradition of

always making two separate versions

during the 16-bit War I can't ignore

that Bloodlines gives you the choice of

two different characters and there's

some very interesting level design but

in my opinion it's not as interesting as

the spinning room and all the things

that happen in four in Bloodlines you

can't whip in all directions and this

time I don't see why not if they would

have taken one note from four sure you

can whip down and also diagonally up but

only while you're jumping in four you

can do it from the ground I could go

down the list and say the sound effects

and music aren't as good this and that

but the whipping alone is enough to

settle it for me once again I stand by

what I said in the old video Bloodlines

is a great game but it's not as good as

four for me personally now it's time to

talk about the one I missed entirely

Castlevania Chronicles and it was on

Playstation so I have no idea how I was

completely oblivious to this game's

existence perhaps I confused it with

Castlevania the Dracula X Chronicles

which was the PSP version of Rondo of

Blood with updated Graphics it also

included the original version of Rondo

of Blood and Symphony of the Night but

anyway the Castlevania Chronicles was

originally released in 1993 on the sharp

x68000 computer exclusively in Japan so

it's no wonder I didn't know about it

back then but it was re-released on

Playstation in 2001 which is the version

you're seeing right now

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it's essentially a remake of the

original Castlevania with redesigned

stages I beat it in less than 3 hours so

it's a nice confined experience but I'm

not going to lie I played it on the

easiest difficulty setting possible if I

were critiquing the original release I

would probably say it's way too [ __ ]

hard but in the PlayStation version

there's two modes original and arranged

arranged mode has some slight

enhancements with graphics and sound but

most notably it lets you adjust the

difficulty and doesn't have the

knockback now if you want the knockback

if you're a gaming masochist and love

the insane challenge then you still have

the option and I tip my hat to you to me

Fair difficulty is very important I

don't want it too easy but not too hard

either for me Castlevania 4 is balanced

perfectly Chronicles isn't that

remarkable since it's pretty much a

remake of the first game and while four

is also kind of a remake in a sense as

it's basically retelling the events of

the first game it offers a lot of new

stages that bear no resemblance and is

much more original than Chronicles again

Chronicles it doesn't have the eight

directional whipping it's more like

blood lines you can whip diagonally

while jumping but in Bloodlines it's

diagonally upward here it's downward

pretty strange how they got parts of the

controls right but they just couldn't

give us the whole damn thing not as good

as four but it's a great game it gives

you that old school basic Castlevania

experience and it's nice to have finally

played it after all those years of being

oblivious the search for the true

successor to Castlevania 4 led me down

an uncertain Road in my four parter I

talked about Castlevania Dracula X on

Super Nintendo I talked about how the

whipping was a step back to the NES

style and the difficulty was rather

sadistic especially that final battle

with Dracula I lightly brushed upon the

fact that this was a remake of Rondo of

Blood which was on the PC engine in

Japan but did I actually review Rondo of

Blood and include it as part of my

Castlevania Marathon no I didn't and

that was a [ __ ]

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shame ever since the PSP there's been

many ports of this game so it's not as

elusive as it once was I finally played

it all the way through on the PS4 and

got 100% completion for the first time

and now I can see that Dracula X was

definitely not a direct port in any way

sure there were some similarities but

Ronda blood is a very different game

that quite frankly blows Dracula X to

Smither the graphics and sound effects

give you everything you want the music

delivers even more tracks that rank up

with the most classic Castlevania

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tunes and the natural feel and

satisfaction of destroying enemies could

never be

better right from that opening stage

you're whipping skeletons against a

fiery background before you realize hey

that's the first town from Simon's Quest

it's like burning down the memory of a

shitty game with a kickass game all

around it reminds you of the other

classic Castlevania you have a dungeon a

clock tower even a ghost ship and

amazing Boss characters both new and old

the enemies might be a little strange am

I seeing this the bats are carrying

swords there's a secret character you

can find Maria once you find her she

becomes playable it's a lot like

Castlevania 3 where other characters

join but unfortunately you can't switch

between RoR and Maria on the Fly you

have to choose one or the other on the

menu which is kind of disappointing yay

Maria is a very powerful character and I

find myself playing as her just as much

or maybe more than RoR but man what a

bizarre character totally out of place

with the franchise I mean she's going

around throwing cats as one of her sub

weapons and yes you can explain that

four of her six sub weapons are based on

the four guardians of Chinese mythology

as if that makes throwing cats look

totally normal there's also a bunch of

prisoners you can find which are more

more or less Easter eggs but none of

them are playable characters thank you

very much Maria it's nice that it gives

you save slots so unlike the earlier

games you can keep your progress also if

you accidentally get a sub weapon that

you don't want you still have a chance

to pick up your old one again that's

really nice to them the earlier games

would have just said [ __ ] you you're

stuck with it on the other hand the

whipping is a major downgrade even from

Bloodlines and Chronicles because now

you can't even whip d diagonally at all

what's the deal with that the pause

feature is a little bit dysfunctional

because the music keeps playing I don't

understand the reasoning the whole point

is to pause everything your mom calls

you or your dog starts barking at

something you want to stop and hear

what's going on so you got to pause put

down the controller pick up the remote

control and hit mute what were they

thinking so this is the first

Castlevania game on a CD so the sound

capabilities are a major advancement but

this also gives it a field day to

incorporate a lot of really weird voice

acting who are you mister I am Rector

Belmont vampire

Hunter you proved amusing to me it's

your fault for being so mean to

everyone this is also the first in the

series where the anime aesthetic is so

prevalent while Maiden Japan I always

assumed that the earlier games were

going more for a Bram Stoker Hammer

films influence so it definitely strayed

from that it's grumbling everyone R for

it look at Maria's

ending if you would have shown me that

screenshot I would have never guessed

that's a Castlevania

Game the question remains is it as good

as Castlevania 4 well it's got to be

close right it's linear for the most

part it's old school how I like it the

advancements such as the safe slots the

opportunity to keep your old items the

secondary character should all give it

the added bonus points to overtake four

but the stiff horizontally restricted

whip is a major setback and for this

reason alone I do not like it as much

but there's a whole other factor that

threw my decision into further question

something so perplexing that it nearly

turned my opinion into a NeverEnding

stalemate nearly half the game is hidden

I thought it was kind of short until I

realize there's all these secret levels

I didn't know about and when I say

secret I mean secret it's not like in

Castlevania 3 where you come to a

forking path and decide which way you

want to go this is more like the cryptic

[ __ ] you'd find in Castlevania 2o

you might have to break through a random

wall or hit a certain spiked ball so

that it falls and opens the path below

or you might might have to kill a

certain enemy to reveal a switch that

opens a staircase or most of the time

you have to take a leap of faith and

drop down a pit that would normally send

you to your doom how would you ever know

to do that without looking it up You'

either have to fall by accident or

deliberately drop down every pit you see

and here I am trying to evaluate whether

or not I think Rondo blood is as good as

four and I nearly Miss half the game

because I didn't know about all the

hidden paths I have never been more

confused with my own opinion on one hand

this means it's a much bigger game than

I was going to give it credit for it

even has a cemetery stage which I said I

wish the series had more of but on the

other hand the game is like one big

giant Easter egg hunt this is the reason

I criticize Castlevania 2 so much so

what am I trying to say here is rondu

blood the best or worst it has all the

things about Castlevania that I love and

hate and if you have such a great game

in there why keep so much of it hidden

the final nail in the coffin is all the

sadistic knockback [ __ ] which is just

plain cruel [ __ ]

[ __ ] [ __ ] nope Castlevania 4 all the

way so while it seems that's the end of

the road that four is my undefeatable

Champion Symphony of the Night I think

is worth a rematch

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just to recap things I've said before

this is the first Castlevania that said

hey you know what we're going to be like

Metroid from now on except for the

occasional 3D and you'll be going

through Dracula's gigantic castle for

the entire duration of the game no

outdoor scenes or very little I

mentioned how every time you die you

have to endure an excruciatingly long

game over screen only to send you back

to the main title and load the game all

over again [ __ ] that I mentioned how I

preferred the common sense challenge of

four there's no tricks you can't turn

into a bat and fly over [ __ ] you never

have to think which way am I supposed to

go here which item should I use am I

equipped properly should I grind and

level up none of that you just run

through and play in Symphony of the

Night the main character is alard who

mainly uses a sword so the eight

directional whipping is even applicable

at this point you only play as RoR in

the very first scene and as sort of a

bonus after you've beaten the entire

game in fact you even have to beat the

damn game upside down before you get

that far but after so many years have

passed I found the real secret to

enjoying the [ __ ] out of Symphony of the

Night I say beat the game unlock RoR and

then take a break take a good long break

and come back now you're playing Castle

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Bia first of all I wasn't aware or had

forgotten that RoR had so many moves

that aren't immediately apparent it's

still bugs me that they never brought

back the eight directional whipping but

for some reason they still included that

limp twirl or whatever you want to call

that but with all the new moves it kind

of makes up for it RoR here is just as

much fun to control as Simon first

there's that cool little backflip thing

and then there's the sliding kick man I

love that I love it so much it has

become an addiction I mean why just walk

into the next room when you can slide

kick yeah it never gets old then there's

the dash attack which is kind of neat

whenever you have time to pull it off

you have to press up down down forward

forward attack what is this [ __ ]

Street Fighter down up jump makes you do

an uppercut which is not just a great

attack but it also serves as an infinite

jump to reach higher places

unfortunately it's extremely awkward to

pull off any move that makes you hit

down up while you're in midair is [ __ ]

as hell and I think there's a certain

speed to it you can't hit it too fast or

too slow I don't get it sometimes it

works sometimes it doesn't but you

absolutely have to do it a lot because

it's the only way you can reach certain

spots especially when the castle goes

upside down again yes it's like

replaying the entire game so all those

spots with alard where you had to turn

into a bat and fly now you have to upper

cut into the air over and over like a

madman you still have your sub weapons

but unlike alard RoR doesn't have any

items to equip no inventory whatsoever

but after all that is basically what I

wanted to return to castania simpler

routes as opposed to a more complicated

RPG system playing as

is an entirely different experience and

is like a mandatory second half of

Symphony of the Night and in the Saturn

and PS4 Port you can also play as Maria

damn well maybe I'll have to try more of

that next time but after fully

experiencing it as RoR I can say I

definitely enjoyed it a whole lot more

than the main alakar game did I enjoy it

as much as four in a lot of ways yeah I

think so this past playthrough was the

closest I ever came to replacing four as

my number one favorite Castlevania game

all they had to do was this make RoR the

main game and then have alard be the

second half or as a secondary character

in that case I would have found this

contest to be a lot easier to decide but

even then all the ungodly time spent

reloading whenever you die is a major

strike against it game over sometimes it

comes down to the simplest things in

four I can never forget that feeling of

gratification when you land on a

Stairway and moonwalk or when you latch

on to something with the whip and feel

that momentum build as you swing

yourself back and forth how about the

appealing sound of those golden

platforms and treasure chests spilling

coins as you walk across them or the

sound of the bones collapsing when you

hit the

skeletons it's countless little things

like that and why is the eight

directional whipping so important it's

because it gives you the feel feeling of

Freedom when you engage with an enemy

you can decide whether you want to

strike from the air or hit him from

below your instincts take over rather

than trying to adapt to some clumsy

limitation maybe this game spoiled me

and maybe you'd say the full whip

directions make it too easy how does the

whip save you from all that crazy [ __ ]

near the end like when the giant

sprockets chasing you up the stage it

still gets pretty damn hard the full

whip controls just give you a fair

chance to hit anything on the screen you

you and the game are in perfect

competition no cheap shots you're not

fighting with one hand behind your back

you're in full control so when you die

it's on

you some things stay the same and

Castlevania 4 is still my

favorite and other things vary such as

my complex thoughts about Castlevania 2

even though it pissed me off I was still

able to look back at it again and

realize there's much I appreciate so I

can can change my mind a little but one

thing I can say if it wasn't for Simon's

Quest you might not have ever known

about me and I might not have ever known

about you why else would I still be

doing this this battle against shitty

games has been quite a ride and all the

memories created since to me have gone

far beyond just Castlevania this has

been 20 years and counting so godp speed

and [ __ ] balls

f

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