Ending Music: “Unholy Vespers”

The first of my two reviews for the recent Castlevania games. Like what you see? Be sure to check out my Staff Pick for the month. (last month too!) Make sure to check back here at Powet.tv for the other Castlevania review you won’t want to miss!

Election season has passed and we’ve elected a new president. To commemorate this occasion, this week’s $20 GOTW focuses on a contest, which, just like politics can get brutal and leave a lasting effect on its participants. This week’s lost classic represents a bold change in the formula of a well known classic shooter franchise. So head on in and celebrate the end of this historic election season.
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Not all games based on movies or cartoons are bad, and when the licenses expire the games disappear too! This is the Powet Top 5 Lost Licensed Games, presented by Keep Playing!

Think I missed a game? Leave a comment and let me know!

Halloween is this week, so this week’s $20 GOTW and Lost Classics is dedicated to gaming’s original frightfest, Castlevania. More specifically, I’ll be looking at one of the franchise’s most prolific installments, Dracula X. Dracula has once again been revived, and it’s up to Richter Belmont, the latest in the line of the vampire hunting Belmont family, to destroy him. This time the stakes are higher, as Drac has kidnapped several maidens from the nearby village. Among them are Richter’s fiancee Anette, and her sister Maria. Dracula X was notable for it’s bright and crisp graphics, CD-quality audio, multiple routes through the levels, multiple endings, and the ability to play as a second character (Maria). However, despite being its critical acclaim amongst fans and reviewers, the Super CD title never saw a release outside of Japan until recently. I’ll be looking at both the original game (by way of its PSP remake), and the Super Nintendo adaptation. Although more recent entries in the series (such as the recently released Order of Ecclesia) utilize Symphony of the Night’s non-linear RPG-styled action, the classic linear gameplay seen in Dracula X still holds up even after more than a decade.
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I finally managed to wrap up my review of the most recent in the Silent Hill series of survival-horror games with my return to video reviews.

If you can switch to the higher quality version, do so. I tried a slightly different way of presenting things than my last two videos, which help highlight my opinions alot better, but they get a wee bit obscured.

It’s been raining Castlevania these days it would seem. Two games, Order of Ecclesia and Judgment, will be released within the next few months; an arcade game is being released in Japan; the manga to Curse of Darkness is being translated and released here in the states – not to mention the live-action movie and the animated Dracula’s Curse OVA that are in production. You’d think this would all be enough!

It would seem series frontman Koji Igrashi begs to differ. He announced at the Tokyo Game Show that they have yet another Castlevania game in production to be released in the future for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Iga dropped the bigger bomb when he said that this new game would be a direct sequel to series highpoint, Symphony of the Night.
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Based on the comic book of the same name, Bucky O’Hare was one of those shows that had a cult following without achieving much commercial success. Taking place in an alternate dimension where animals live as humans, it told the story of spaceship captain Bucky O’Hare, his crew, and their quest to defeat the Toad Empire, which has been brainwashed by the supercomputer KOMPLEX. It only lasted one season, but it was enjoyable for what it was. The obligatory marketing blitz followed, and Konami, riding the success of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games, snatched up the gaming rights. Along with a solid arcade beat-em-up (which featured the show’s voice actors and served as a conclusion to the events of the cartoon series), they released this equally solid NES platformer which seems to draw inspiration from Capcom’s Mega Man.
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You put a “2” behind a game title and you’ve got a safe bet: more of the same. Its makes it easier for developers to release another game, and players get what essentially amounts to more levels of a game they already like.

But there are some that dare to be different, and turn the entire idea of franchise gaming on the ear. For the purposes of this list, games that jump between generations are omitted as upgrades and changes are expected on new hardware.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES)

The first in the series is a great linear dungeon crawler. Its proven the test of time, and started a series still going very strong today (in 2D no less!). But wow, Simon’s Quest was really different. Its much more of an open world, introduces RPG elements, and even adds a night & day passage of time. Modern Castlevania games balance elements of exploration and action well, but this was uncharted territory at the time. Castlevania III, while a fantastic refinement of the game play of the first, misses out on the stuff in Simon’s Quest.

TMNT 2: The Arcade Game (NES) [Read the rest of this entry…]