I even prefer Bloodlines to Super Castlevania IV, a title which I think doesn't really hold up as well as an overall experience as everyone thinks (but it's got loads of graphical gimmicks, which is cool, and it's solid overall).
I agree. People cite blind nostalgia as the reason for people liking Bloodlines, but Bloodlines is easily the better game from a game play perspective. SCIV is really poorly-balanced, as the enemies generally don't have a means of competing with Simon's new abilities. Not to mention the fact that you barely even need sub-weapons at all in SCIV.
SCIV had very little impact on the future installments in the series (in the form of whip-flailing and some enemies), whereas Bloodlines managed to snag a sequel in the form of a pretty significant installment in the series. People are just downright delusional about the quality of SCIV and its impact on the series.
Man, what a massive drop in quality after Super Castlevania IV and Rondo. People saying that Bloodlines isn't as bad as the NES games, or that it's even a 'good' game, really need to check themselves. Nostalgia is messing with you, man. I appreciate that some may have owned nothing but a Genesis growing up and Bloodlines was it during your formative youth, but come on now. As much as the NES games have aged, Bloodlines has none of the design panache of those aged classics. Bloodlines looks like a fanmade game and, having fired it up out of curiosity, it plays like one too.
I salute Vinny for sticking with it though, if it were me I would've skipped straight to Symphony. Bloodlines is to Castlevania what the CD-I games are to the Zelda series.
I owned both a Genesis and an SNES, and I played Bloodlines after I first played SotN, and I still love Bloodlines. Bloodlines is an interesting game in that it takes elements from each of the older installments in the series and combines them to form what I consider to be a better end product.
Starting with the jumping, Bloodlines borrows more heavily from the NES games in that you can't steer your jumps in mid-air. Given the game's faster pace, you want predictable jumps, and the lack of air control gives you just that. You can, however, jump onto and off of stairs, similar to the other non-NES installments in the series, so you still have plenty of mobility when you need it.
As far as whipping goes, Bloodlines gives you the means to whip in five directions instead of eight, and it limits the diagonal whipping to when you're airborne, which makes perfect sense when you consider the fact that you generally don't need to whip diagonally up when you aren't airborne. Even if you do, there's a second character for that. You don't need to be able to whip down or diagonally down as you did in SCIV. That always felt awkward.
I like how this game handles sub-weapons, because the order in which it gives you sub-weapons is always Boomerang - Axe - Holy Water. You also nearly always get sub-weapons from candles, and you only ever get them from the single candles. You don't really need the ability to reclaim your old sub-weapon as you did in Rondo, as I believe that this is the one game in the series that disperses sub-weapons in this manner. It's very predictable.
While the use of visual effects in this game can seem odd, I at least like the fact that it never interrupts the pacing of the game. That wasn't true of SCIV, in which you had to just hang there doing nothing while a room turned, for example.
That said, I don't mind if Vinny uses a code. He'd gradually get better at the game to the point that he'd get these codes or better, anyway. Thing is, though, I do feel that he's selling the game short by not having to replay more of it. The original Castlevania on NES required that he replay earlier parts of it a lot, and I don't feel that he's giving Bloodlines the same chance. While that's definitely disappointing, I have no problem with looking past that to suggest that he use a code, because - again - he'd get better at the game with each play-through, anyway.
It's funny that they happened to mention GameWinners.com, because I'm the one who submitted the best passwords for Bloodlines to that site. I did it back when I was in high school. There's a set of codes that gives you nine lives and two continues for any level. I earned each of these passwords legitimately and on every single difficulty after inputting the nine lives code and playing from the beginning until I finished each level without losing any lives. You can find them here:
And yeah, if it wasn't already obvious, then I have to say that I *love* Bloodlines. I loved it then, and I love it now, and I didn't even play it until after I played SotN. It's probably my third- or fourth-favorite game in the series, after SotN, PoR and maaaayyybe OoE. It's my favorite in the non-Metroidvania style, though. Great game.
Like gems like Dynamite Cop, though, I suppose that I played it at a time when the content didn't seem so ridiculous. It's funny to see your reactions to some of the stuff in Bloodlines, even if I still don't think any of it's all that crazy.
Just wait until they see Dracula and his unique ability to shoot bones, boomerangs and fire from his crotch. It's easily one of my favorite Dracula battles in the series, thanks to the awesome transformation effects (even if there's a shit-ton of slowdown).
Man, I'm kinda bummed that they're not liking this installment in the series. This is easily my favorite Castlevania game in the classic, level-by-level style. It's actually the only one that I ever have any real inclination to go back and play.
These guys know there isn't a Dracula fight on Normal difficulty, right?
EDIT: I may be miss remembering this but you definitely miss out on something by not playing the game on the hardest difficulty. I just don't remember what ...
You can't select Hard from the beginning. You have to finish the game on Normal first. It's kind of a bummer, because the ending is split into three segments. You get one segment (barely an ending) on Easy, two segments on Normal (better, but not complete) and three segments on Hard (even better, but still really short). On Hard, the fight against the suits of armor that takes place after the water mage will result in there being a third suit of armor to fight. Also, I want to say that one of the later bosses will have another form, but I'm really foggy on that one. It's been a while since I played it.
By the way, guys, those skeleton gargoyle things aren't too difficult to manage. Just pay attention to which side they come onto the screen from. They pretty much always do a full loop around you and rush you from the same side that they entered the screen from.
Also, I hope they call the SotN one SymphVinny of the Night.
I love the fact that a third of the video is spent on the team select screen. Very entertaining Quick Look. Kinda makes me want to go back and watch the Backbreaker Quick Look.
I don't believe that the tip from the chat regarding how Death's knock-back works is accurate. I could be wrong, as this is always the point of the game that I quit, but watching Vinny play made me come to the conclusion that Death is knocked back more as he's moving faster and in the exact opposite direction in which he's moving when hit. That's why he's kept down so much some of the time.
What's happening is that he happens to be on his way up at a decent speed when he gets hit the first time, then he's pushed down and off of the screen. Since he can't get hit when he's off of the screen, he has more of an opportunity to build up speed, so he's knocked down further when he finally comes back up and gets hit.
If he barely gets knocked back from a hit, then it's because he's barely moving when he gets hit. If he's above you and gets knocked upward from a hit, then it's because he's moving down at you. If he's to your side and gets knocked away from you from a hit, then it's because he's moving toward you.
In short, if you want Death to go down, then only hit him when he's clearly moving up.
Lure him up toward the top of the screen as he swoops down, and whip him as he comes up. He'll then go down, and you can push him further using the same method. Just give him time to build up a bit of speed. Otherwise, you won't push him back much at all, and his brief invincibility frames will allow him to basically just stay in place without being pushed in any direction as long as he isn't moving.
I wanted to address some things that came up in this episode:
Regarding the castle entrance being in multiple games (but the castle, overall, being different from game to game), this is explained to some extent by Alucard in Symphony of the Night. Maria mentions that the castle seems different, to which Alucard replies that the castle is a "creature of Chaos" in that it takes a new form each time that it reappears. So, it's the same castle, but the layout of the rooms (and even which rooms appear in general) can vary from game to game.
Regarding why Dracula has a gigantic cross in his castle (not to mention the chapel in general), prior to becoming the character we know as Dracula in the series, he was actually deeply religious. He renounced God in anger after his wife fell ill and died while he was away in battle (fighting in God's name). His pursuit of power and immortality was an act of defiance against God. I assume that he happened to have a chapel in his castle, so it just happens to appear in the castle from game to game - albeit in different locations - as per the aforementioned "creature of Chaos" thing.
As for what he (assuming that you mean Dracula) does with the hearts (or other items) that happen to be in candles throughout the castle, I believe that this was explained at some point (but maybe not in any of the games). It could've been in an interview with Iga or something. In either case, my understanding is that the candles (or other breakable objects that contain power-ups) contain souls or bits of souls of those people whom Dracula killed, and the power-ups are intended to provide aid to anyone who opposes Dracula. It's their last gasp in an effort to fight evil.
It's worth noting that Alucard doesn't initially get anything out of candles at the beginning of SotN. Once he collects the Cube of Zoe, however, items begin to materialize from candles. Note that Alucard happens to pick up the Cube of Zoe shortly after announcing his opposition of Dracula (his father) to Death. By continuing into the castle and collecting the Cube of Zoe, I believe that he's proving his intent to the souls in the candles.
While Alucard can immediately collect items from candles in Castlevania III, and you could argue that this is a plot hole of sorts, I'd argue that Alucard's intentions were clear because he joined Trevor.
In short, the Castlevania has a lot of weird little things in it that -regardless of how insignificant they seem - are legitimately explained in some form and considered to be cannon.
I remember asking for Street Fighter II and the Super Advantage joystick for my birthday one year. My mom brought Mario is Missing and the NES Advantage home, instead. I was really bummed. She agreed to take them back and get the stuff that I'd asked for the next day, but my older brother and I still stayed up all night finishing this game. I can't say that it was particularly fun or challenging (especially since all of the boss battles are similar to killing Koopa Troopas in that you can't die).
If they're willing to do any classic-style Castlevania game, then they should at least play the following games:
Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis)
Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES) - It's available on Wii U's Virtual Console, and it's different enough from Rondo to warrant a play-through, in my opinion.
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine) - Preferably the version on Wii U Virtual Console. They could also do the remake for PSP, as I believe that it's PlayStation TV-compatible now.
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (WiiWare) - Assuming that you can still access WiiWare games on Wii's eShop, I'd love to see Vinny play through this. It's a really solid game that shows that the classic formula can still work very well today. Also, I'd love to see this re-released for Wii U.
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