Year of the Animal: Day 285 - Kid Dracula

 Today's video takes a look at Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun known in the US as Kid Dracula, Konami's parody of the original Castlevania trilogy.

A Word About Konami, Apathy, And Pachinko Machines

Konami doesn't care anymore. The only games they've produced in maybe two years are a single Bomberman game for the Switch, a Pro Evolution Soccer game, and Metal Gear Solid V. Their two most important game makers, Koji Igarashi and Hideo Kojima, abandoned ship after they were seemingly trapped only making the sequels to the same games over and over. The last money I gave Konami was when they released the remastered collection of Hideo Kojima's Zone of the Enders games. I foolishly hoped it would convince the at the time game publisher to push their most celebrated creative mind to produce a third installment to one of his most beloved franchises. Alas, we got no such goodness and instead have been met with shoddy mobile iterations of the companies beloved franchises and Castlevania themed pachinko machines.

I can't speak for anyone else as far as their opinions of video game publishers, but many of the so called AAA publishers are guilty of the "take my ball and go home" garbage Konami has done in recent years. I'm not sure who their current leadership is, but we didn't have these problems with Konami in the 80s, 90s, or even in the last decade. Was every game they released perfect, not in the slightest, but they didn't blame gamers for not buying crappy games and just stop making games altogether. When the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles console title didn't set the world on fire, they borrowed from what worked with the followup. When Castlevania titles felt stale, a creative turn was made and the best titles in the franchise, particularly on the Nintendo DS followed. After a long hiatus of sorts, Treasure was tapped to develop Gradius V. This brought a fresh feel to a tried and true shooter series.

New Konami will give you a Metal Gear zombie game. I don't get it, but it's not my company. I don't make a dime from their decisions, but a lack of quality games released from what was once one of the most heralded publishers in gaming hurts everyone who loves gaming. Konami, Capcom, and other prominent publishers from the late 80s struggle to stay afloat in the age of the also-rans that dominate store shelves. The sad thing is that it's their fault for churning out shovelware much like it's our fault for not supporting good games that get released. Everyone has a role to play in the apathy of Konami, but Konami has to carry that cross. Carry it they will. Right to the trailer for the next Castlevania themed pachinko machine.

Koji Igarashi Leaves Konami!!!!

BREAKING NEWS: Koji Igarashi, the man largely behind Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, has left Konami as of March 15th. He has apparently left with designs on starting his own development house.

Record Of The 16-Bit War: 16-Bit Castlevania Titles

Today's video takes a look at the three 16-Bit Castlevania titles from Konami

The Summer Of 8-Bit: Castlevania II - Simon's Quest

Today's video takes a look at Castlevania II - Simon's Quest from Konami.

The Summer Of 8-Bit: Castlevania

Today's video discusses Konami's classic horror story, Castlevania.

 

 

Bigger Isn't Always Better: The Two Versions Of Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night

When Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was released in 1997, it was heralded as not only the greatest game in the Castlevania franchise, but also one of the greatest games to be released in the 90s. It has been ported to the Xbox 360, Playstation Portable, and Playstation 3 consoles in recent years, and those versions typically utilize the source code of the Playstation 1 iteration of this game. There was a Saturn version, however, and while it may have had some issues with it's graphics engine on Sega's 6th console, it was a game that as far as gameplay is concerned, was superior in some ways that folks may have missed.

For whatever reason, there are more areas in the Saturn game than the PS1 version. The Underground Garden and Cursed Prison areas were partially coded into

the final game, but were scrapped at the last second for some reason. In addition to these extra areas, there are enemies specific to them that don't appear in the PS1 version. For the curious, walkthroughs on how to find these typically unreachable areas can be found online, though once you reach them, you may freeze the game so make sure you save your game first.

As far as the Playstation version is concerned, once you have beaten the game or the first time, players can do their next run through Dracula's castle as Richter Belmont. In the Saturn version, however, you can play as Richter Belmont and Maria Renard, the girl Richter rescues in Rondo of Blood, right from the start. Each character brings a different play style to the game, and gives Symphony quite the shelf life. This may be the biggest advantage the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night has over it's PS1 counterpart, and this intangible should make it a far more desirable version of the game. For some reason, though, The Saturn version, with it's extra levels and characters feels like it was far less complete than the PS1 version. This was honestly the theme of the 32 bit console skirmish between Sega and Sony. Games released on both consoles typically fared better on the PS1, while the Saturn was filled with sub par and seemingly rushed ports.

There was a big reason why the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night was a Japan exclusive. With the console all but dead in the US a few years before, Konami saw no need in releasing the game in our country. With the game selling limited numbers in Japan, it has become a sought after collector's item and has garnered auction prices almost as high as the highly touted Radiant Silvergun. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has been regarded as one of the greatest games of the 32-Bit era, but the Saturn version, while decent in it's own right falls flat to it's more scaled back Playstation brother. This may explain why the PS1 version has been ported to so many consoles while the Saturn version, with all of it's frills, seems to be forgotten.

Castlevania: The Only Vampire Story That Matters

Back in the mid 80s, Konami released a game called Castlevania and the rest was history. Over the next 20 years, The series became known for it's daunting challenge, level design, and tight control, but unfortunately, they have also, in my opinion, led to the rise of these cornball ass Vampire love stories that teenyboppers are sprung on lately. Let's be real for like two seconds; nobody gave a shit about Vampires like that after the old Bella Lugosi movies. Blacula couldn't even help make Vampires more than a cornball stereotype for Scooby Doo to catch. So, in my humble opinion, Castlevania can be credited to the world starting to pay attention to teen angst drivel like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, that Twilight bullshit, or even True Blood should send thank you letters and emails to Konami and the estate of Bram Stoker, of whom the backstory is loosely based.


...That was my opinion. If you don't like it, build a bridge and get over it.