VinnyVania: Super Castlevania IV - Part 03

Drac Attack!

VinnyMania

Posting

Looking at the release date, I just realized Super Castlevania IV was released on Halloween. Fitting.

Brad Shoemaker - Barkerville (SNES Remix)

I tried streaming this [on my phone] at work.

It didn't.

As a Starbucks drone, we know it's too early. It's always too early. We hear the same thing every day all day.

I don't get those who like Super Castlevania 4. I mean, I dislike these earlier Castlevanias anyway (except Simon's Quest, which doesn't really count anyway), but something about 4 grates against me in a serious way that 1 and 3 don't. I... kinda hate 4. Even the music sounds off to me.

I'd really love if they did Castlevania Bloodlines next... it's a sorely underrated Castlevania game with brilliant music.

@tgjessie: it's not so great, in my opinion. it sounds like you may have some additional intangible issue with it on top of what i have though.

it really seems like the multidirectional whip was a last minute addition. a lot of enemies are completely trivialized and no threat at all because you can attack upwards. the wiggly-whip is lame too. it makes some enemies a complete non-threat because it destroys projectiles, and it isn't fun or satisfying to use beyond the sheer silliness of it. it's also kinda ugly tbh.

i just played it a few months ago and i was glad to be done with it. in contrast, i finished dracula x/rondo of blood (having never played it before) last week and man... it's incredible. i think it's in my top 5 games of all time.

@synthesis_landale: Truth. I love the SNES sound.

After hearing Austin saying the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic is pretty good I wonder if he remembers that in the comic Mr. Hyde revenge-rapes the Invisible Man to death for assaulting Mina.

*nervous laughter*

Oh my god... BARKERVILLE on better sound hardware!!! :D

I have no idea why but this is my favorite feature on the site.

Yeah! Every time I play rondo of blood, I move it back into my top 5. So brilliant. Like when gbeast in this episode got really excited while strategizing for all of the bosses in this episode? That's what all of rondo is like, plus Richter's crazy steep nuanced learning curve of controls.

The only things in rondo I would change are the branching game layout (it's lame that half the content is in the alternate stages!), and also stage 6 is ridiculous.

IIRC in the psp remake of rondo, if you play stage 5 alternate, you get to skip stage 6. That was awesome.

@darbish: Alan Moore is the best.

Yeah, the sawblade tower is a bit of a bummer. In college, I used to be able to beat this game in about an hour with almost no deaths.

Wow, Dracula went out in a wet fart...

At least the guys did some hilarious shit there!

I will be very, very sad if they decide to skip Rondo.

@acedrgn: Rondo is the perfect capstone game for this era of "classic" action-centric Castlevania. It'd be a wonderful place to end Vinnyvania, if they so chose.

Then Symphony of the Night switches over to the more Metroidy, RPG-lite era. Though I wouldn't mind seeing them play those games, as well.

Congratulations on conquering evil once again Vinny!

Looking forward to whatever's next: Bloodlines, Rondo. Either way take whatever break from Castlevania you guy's need, and by all means turn fridays into Life is Strange day for a while. Fun times ahead either way.

i feel like this series is going to drive alex into an early grave

Man, they don't even give Bloodlines a mention as a potential followup. Endless bummer. I tell you, it gets no respect! It even has the dopest soundtrack.

Yeah. Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood would be perfect for Vinnyvania. I hope they'll play those. Not really interested in the metroid'y ones.

@austin_walker I just want to mention that, the 'vat full of clones' reveal is also in the middle of Neo Genesis Evangelion where an episode end with the camera pull back to reveal a massive vat full of naked Rei(s).

Also, I am so glad you said your bit about Frank Miller because sometimes I feel like I am the only person who've turned on him. What I feel about Frank Miller that he personify the 90s comic trope of gritty violence and sex disguised as maturity. The 90s came and gone but Miller stayed the same or in some cases, got even worse. Have you read 'Holy Terror'. It's atrocious!

@austin_walker The bridge is not MADE OF bats, they are living under the bridge and when it collapses they fly out. Castlevania only deals in total realism.

i would love to see vinny play thru symphony of the night just because i've never managed to see that game altho i know i'm in the minority there

I hope they at the very least play Rondo (not Drac X), because it is perhaps the pinnacle of this style of Castlevania.

Castlevania 64 is very much its own thing, and Legacy of Darkness is the same game with an extra playable character who has different versions of the levels. At least it's mostly straightforward and level-based, unlike SOTN and what came after it.

SOTN and the GBA and DS games are all great, but I don't know if they're really well-suited for a feature like this. The PS2 games are okay, but would probably be extra-dull to watch.

Now Rondo of Blood needs to happen!

I'm pretty excited to see Vinny play through Rondo of Blood and Bloodlines so that we can reach the TRUE pinnacle of the series. I'm of course talking about Castlevania 64.

Rondo of Blood on PC-Engine! That would be great if you guys could do that one. Rondo of Blood would be a great lead up into Symphony of the Night (since it's the prequel to SoTN). Plus, IMO, it's the best traditional castlevania game.

Absolutely love this series, I hope they keep this going up to at least SotN.

@austin_walker yelling about the unwelcome appearance of a dread "Bone-man" during the first frantic attempt climbing the diagonal flying platforms is still killing me. Killing me in my laughbones.

I would love to see:

Rondo of blood, Bloodlines and Symphony of the night before this series ends.

They definitely need to play Rondo of Blood. I was never a big fan of Bloodlines, but I wouldn't mind seeing them give it a shot.

It'd be fun to see them get through CV64 too.

The Metroidvania ones are numerous and thick, so you might want to do some sampling.

I suggest giving SOTN, Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia a go -- one per platform.

When you guys cover Dracula X please do the Psp remake it is so much better. It plays so much better than the one on the Snes and has plenty of awesome secrets.

I think that the version they should play is Rondo of Blood, which is what the SNES game was based on. It was released for the PC Engine in Japan; the US didn't get this version of the game until the PSP remake that you're talking about came out. Later, they released the original version of Rondo of Blood on the Wii Virtual Console. Unlike the PSP game, it uses 2D sprites, although you can apparently unlock the old 2D version on the PSP remake.

The SNES game is a lot different aside from using a lot of the same sprites; it has completely different levels for the most part. Most people prefer the PC Engine game.

Another Castlevania in the bag! I'm hoping they do Boku Dracula-kun next, even if they don't finish it and it's just a one-episode thing off to the side.

Bloodlines should be next, the only game on the Sega platforms of the era and the first to come out after IV.

bloodlines ties in with portrait of ruin, and rondo of blood is the direct prequel to symphony of the night.

So now they need to send @alex back to Japan to kill Dracula.

Vinny please don't forget Castlevania: Bloodlines on Genesis

love that game so much

Glad you enjoyed the fight scenes in Kingsman. That Church fight was originally supposed to be much more gory but during production the changed the target rating from M to T so we had to remove all the bones popping out and stuff. It was originally filmed as one continuous shot as well, without cutting away to the people watching. Not really sure why they decided to break it up, it was a lot more intense as a single shot. Still, we're happy with how it turned out :)

I'd really like you guys to continue this series. I'd love to see the early 3D stuff in particular just because it's so different.

My favourite part was Austin getting so excited he called the skeleton a bone man

I remember that "super-power-up" cheat just before Dracula's bedroom as being one of those things put into the game for the sole purpose of selling the Official Nintendo Power Super Castlevania IV Strategy Guide (tm). Capitalism, everyone!

Yep, since this feature started I was hoping they'd get to Bloodlines.

I like the frequency with which Alex needs to say "why would you make this?"

More importantly, Castlevania Rondo of Blood on the TG16. Might be the greatest classic CV.