And here we are, Halloween day, and part four of “Castlevaniathon!” What a perfect day to finish this series on! Things pick up right where they left off — with James blowing his character up in Castlevania 64, disappointed with what the game was. As James would put it, he was looking in the wrong spot and, by choosing to go with the Nintendo over Sega and Sony, he missed out on some other options in the series, and touches on the first of these with Castlevania: Bloodlines on the Sega Genesis.
Bloodlines is a much more traditional game in the series. James has quite a bit of praise for it, but it’s still not as good as Castlevania IV, given the control is limited by being more traditional. He finds the character options a bit odd, especially considering one of the characters is supposed to be a relative of a character in the original Dracula novels! Pretty wild.
We then take a look at the PlayStation and a game which is by far one of my all time favorites – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Honestly, in a way, this is what we were all waiting for, I think — when James said Castlevaniathon was going into November, we knew this would have to be discussed.
If you can’t guess already, James has plenty of positive to say here. Still, he doesn’t avoid covering oddities (like the voice acting) and addressing some of the quirks of the game, many of which are due to its RPG like nature. That, and the “game over” screen which I think he makes a bigger deal of than it actually is — you can easily skip it.
Of course, he also touches on the fact that this game set a precedent that many games would have to take place completely inside the castle, as well as being the source of the “Metroidvania” concept – A Castlevania title which plays like Metroid (and yes, the term only applies to Castlevania games.)
He then goes on to cover the feel and style of games following Symphony of the Night – how the console games seemed to experiment with gameplay while the handheld releases followed the SotN format.
To finish off, he talks about how the games just aren’t the same — that Castlevania IV was just the pinnacle of Castlevania. Even for as good as SotN is, it doesn’t play the same way since you can just get new equipment or level up Alucard. The classic games just had you, the whip, a sub weapon, and your own skills.
He ends by sharing what the games mean to him in one of the most genuine ways I’ve ever heard anyone who really loves gaming describe them – old memories that will last forever.
The great thing about games, though, is you can always play them again, and re-experience the joy you had with them, if in a limited form some 10, 20, or 30 years later.
We end on a montage of final Dracula battles, some fitting music, and a thank you message to us, the fans, for watching. A fitting finale to an amazing 4 part series.
Final Rating: 5/5
It’s obvious that this would be top quality to me — not just the fact it covers Symphony of the Night, but the fact that it tells you everything you needed to know about why Castlevaniathon happened — James really wanted to share his love of Castlevania, and how much joy (and frustration) he got from these games as a kid.
It was also chance for him to touch on what the series had become by that time, how different it was and, in a sense, make peace with the fact that things change and as we grow older we find more comfort in the familiar than the new. That’s fine, and completely natural.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — as another person who has always had a genuine love for the art form that is the common video game, especially in those early years, I’ll always love when James takes the time to do a video like this, that’s a more genuine look back at his memories.
We need more of this, I think, in gaming culture in general.