My Video Game Library: Castlevania

    I, of course, knew of the Castlevania series well before I got any of the games. There was a 'Belmont' character on one of the old Saturday morning cartoons (more of that in a later post). The games were always being mentioned in the gaming mags. However, it wasn't until the news for the first Castlevania game for the PS1, Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night or SotN, that I became truly invested in the series. Those first preview pictures held a huge secret that would earn the game the "Best Middle" award from EMG (IYKYK).  The game ventured away from the linear path of the previous games to a more explorable situation, with sections locked away until certain upgrades were found. (In fact, this led to the creation of the term 'metroidvania' style of game that had such branching paths that had to be unlocked after this game and the Metroid series, which I never followed.) I started playing the afternoon I got it, after picking it up at the Game Stop at the Huntington Mall.  I think I even opened it and started reading the manual to get a head start. I was surprised at the opening, where my character flew across the screen past the first rooms, only to wind up into basically the first boss battle, pretty much unprepared. Somehow, I managed to work my way through the game, managing to get over 190% of the game explored (again, IYKYK). I worked my way to the final boss, Dracula, as Alucard, his half-vampire son. Yeah, silly, but the name was around before the series was started, I think. Yet, I could never beat him, even with the tips I found.  Still, I loved the game.  It is still the highest ranked game of the series. 

    Later on, a previously unreleased game for the US came out, Chronicles, and I got that for Christmas.  My mom had a cousin pick it up in Lexington somewhere. It was in the standard linear-style, so the change in play was tricky to adjust to. I made it about halfway through the game before I had to take a break. I was never able to get back to either of the games before I lost them in the flood.

    When the GBA first came out, a Castlevania game was one of the highlights. Circle of the Moon featured the same type of explorable gameplay from SotN, but with a different magic system. This time, I was able to complete almost all of the game, even beating the main boss and most of the unlocked challenges. I just couldn't figure out the one empty room with the soundbite of a skeleton.  The graphics could have been a little cleaner, though. The next GBA game was Harmony of Dissonance.  This one brought back the "Sorry, but our undead overlord is in another castle" schtick from SotN (once again, IYKYK). This game was a little underwhelming.  One of its side quests was finding objects to decorating a spare room in the castle. Yes, a challenge involving interior decorating. You couldn't even adjust the objects.  Just find them and, poof, they were arranged for you. Too easy.

    The third GBA game was Aria of Sorrow.  Of the GBA games, this one was the most like SotN. Set in a near-future Japan (?!), you play a college student who gets sucked into the castle where you get the ability to suck (?!) the spirits from enemies you defeat to gain powers from them that you get to decide which ones to use. I must say, this was my favorite of all of the games. While I had almost beaten the game in full before the flood, I had to wait until I got a new GBA to finally finish it.  In the interim, I had found great tips in a gaming mag. I had found every ability, beaten the real last boss, and defeated the unlocked boss challenge mode, getting the best weapon in the game.  Excalibur.  However, since my character wasn't the future king of England, it stayed in the stone. It was more of a hammer than a sword.

    There were follow up games to AoS on the Nintendo Dual Screen (DS), but since I never got the system, I missed out on them. I really hated that. There would be other Castlevania games afterwards, by the game company decided to go a different route, and get out of the console gaming market. There have been other signs of Castlevania in various media, such as a highly rated cartoon, but no new games in some time. I almost even opened my free Apple Arcade trial just to try out a Castlevania game, but I didn't since I don't think it was in the same style. I also didn't want to get stuck paying the monthly fee once the trial was over. Still, I think I would like to play the series again one day.