The History Of Castlevania

[Music] item concealing candles mysterious wall meet monsters there's only one series I could be talking about and that's Castlevania the eternal battle between the Belmont bloodline and Dracula has been chronicled in videogames over the past three decades spanning from the Famicom and NES to the ps3 and 360 yes unfortunately it's been quite some time since we've been able to brandish a whip swinging it at everything from jumping skeletons to flying medusa heads and more and while we're looking forward with hopeful hearts that more Castlevania will one day come we decided now would be a great time to look back at the history of Vampire Killers [Music] the series started way back in 1986 on the Famicom disk system released only in Japan and under the name Akuma Jo Dracula the game saw huge success prompting Konami to create a version for the Nintendo Entertainment System and bring it to western regions it was released one year later in 1987 under a new name Castlevania the name change happened due to the overall avoidance of religious themes in Nintendo of America's video games during the 80s and 90s with Akuma Joe Dracula translating roughly to demon Castle Dracula Konami of America went with a new moniker Castlevania was what they went with most likely because the game is about a castle and Transylvania is intrinsic with vampire lore as for the actual game itself Castlevania is a side-scrolling platformer that sees the player controlling Simon Belmont as he makes his way through Dracula's castle to ultimately fight and kill the Lord of Darkness your main weapon is a whip which becomes more powerful and longer as you collect the appropriate power-ups you'll also come across various sub weapons such as holy water a boomerang like cross and a throwing knife using these sub weapons cost hearts which is basically the Castlevania series version of manna the levels mostly have you moving from the left side of a room to the right but at times you'll climb a set of stairs and make your way back to the left on a different floor this wasn't something you saw much in this era as most games of this side-scrolling ilk prevented backwards progress and of course you'll come across a large variety of enemies along the way mostly inspired by the classic Universal monster movies each level is broken up into three stages the beginning of which you'll be transported back to if you die and if you lose all of your lives you'll be sent back to the very beginning of the level eventually you'll reach a boss room that has you fighting characters like mummies Frankenstein and death himself the Castlevania games are notorious for their difficulty with the bosses serving as the cherry on top of that unforgiving cake this is where most players have come up with what you may call cheesy strategies to conquer them [Music] but in Castlevania the bosses aren't necessarily the scariest foes each enemy is capable of killing you or seriously endangering your run as the last while there are boats and platforming Castlevania is all about learning what each enemy is capable of and how best to deal with them whether it's mastering the flight path of a medusa head the timing of a bone pillars fireballs or the throwing arc of the skeletons bones you need to learn each monsters intricacies to effectively make your way through the levels and its bosses this combat mastery is the heart and soul of Castlevania something that permeates each subsequent entry in the series a game that seems now impossible turns manageable once you master your enemies patterns [Music] since its release Castlevania has effectively become videogame royalty one of the undeniable classics of the NES era unfortunately however we don't actually know for sure who created it during this time in Japanese video game development many people use pseudonyms in the credits of games the reason for this is commonly believed to have been away for companies to prevent their employees from being poached with the Castlevania credits being full of parodies of Universal monster movies it's not immediately clear who did what many fans believe that a Hitoshi a Komatsu was the creator of Castlevania it's known that he directed the NES games but he seemed to disappear from the industry in the early 90s no one has been able to track him down since now while Castlevania was the first in the series to make its way to North America there was actually a different game that came to Europe first this was vampire killer on the msx2 computer and while it shared many similarities to the first Castlevania there were also some significant differences the most notable is the lack of side-scrolling with single flip screens being used instead this was due to the fact that the MSX two's technical limitations made scrolling quite difficult to pull off however the differences don't end there vampire killers levels were less linear and tasked players with finding the skeleton key and exit to the next level treasure chests and merchants also populate the castle with the latter offering players new items at the cost of hearts vampire killer released in Japan as Akuma Joe Dracula a month after the Famicom disk system version and because it released in Europe before the NES version came westward it doesn't feature the Castlevania branding and while the vampire killer name didn't stick as the Series title it did eventually become the name of the legendary whip wielded by the Belmont family kastlevania to Simon's quest was up next for the series and released in 1987 in Japan on the Famicom disk system while the NES version came to North America in 1988 it served as a direct sequel to the first game continuing the story several years after Dracula's defeat in that fateful battle Simon Belmont was cursed to undo this curse Simon must find five pieces of Dracula's body resurrect him and then vanquished the Lord of Darkness for good Simon's quest was quite ambitious for its time implementing an open-world RPG elements and a day and night cycle during the day Simon can talk to various towns folk to buy supplies and receive tips on what to do next however when nightfall hits enemies get stronger and the towns folk disappear as for what you'd buy from these villagers well you didn't collect wit power-ups and items by hitting candles instead you purchase them with hearts so in this game you actually have to buy better whips and the stakes that you'll use on Dracula's body parts Simon's quest featured a similar combat system to the original Castlevania but many fans felt it was considerably less challenging than its predecessor the easy bosses are often criticized but it was also more forgiving if you happen to die as you would spawn nearby rather than at the start of the level instead it focused a lot more of its difficulty on obscure and perplexing objectives and thanks to its enigmatic and oftentimes poor translation players criticized it for being too cryptic in fact it's become notorious for these seemingly nonsensical puzzles and solutions one of the more infamous ones requires you to equip a specific item kneel in a specific spot for a specific amount of time and wait for a tornado to take you to a castle simon's quest is considered in NES classic by many but its cryptic nature and format was abandoned with its sequel in 1989 Akuma drew Densetsu hit the Famicom in Japan and a year later it would come westward as Castlevania 3 Dracula's curse [Music] Dracula's curse is set prior to the events of the original Castlevania it sees Simon's ancestor Trevor Belmont on a mission to kill Dracula it features the same style of platforming as the first game but spices things up with alternate routes and multiple characters throughout the game you'll come across branching paths at which you'll need to make a decision of which way to go the first of these choices comes during the second stage while more branching paths appear deeper into your adventure you'll come across different alternate characters depending on your chosen path and you won't be able to meet them all in a single playthrough the new playable characters include sizeable nadas a sorceress utilizes powerful spells grant tenacity a pirate that can climb walls and stab foes with his dagger and a loo card the son of Dracula who can shoot fireballs and turn into a bat each character joins you after you defeat a boss whether it's a monster that has captured them a possessed version of themselves or in a low cards case a test to see if you can help him vanquish his father like many games in the series Castlevania 3 has its fair share of regional differences however in this game they extend further than just censoring the naked statues the North American NES version is actually considered to be more difficult than its Famicom counterpart the Famicom version features a version of grant that actually throws his dagger and less punishing checkpoints Dracula himself is also considered more difficult on the NES thanks to him using his magic beams much more frequently the biggest change however is within the sound the famicom version contains a specialized sound chip called the VR c6 which brings two more pulse wave channels and an extra saw wave channel to the table this makes the music sound much more vibrant thanks to the VR c6 his ability to emulate elements such as a synth string section unfortunately the NES is unable to support external sound chips so the soundtrack was downgraded for the North American release [Music] a year prior to the release of Castlevania three we saw this series make its handheld debut on the Gameboy this kicked off a sub series of sorts which saw three releases between 1989 and 1997 the first was Castlevania the adventure which starred another bailout family member named Christopher it featured four stages no sub weapons or stairs and hearts that replenish your health instead of mana the adventure saw remake on the Wii in 2009 as a we were title called Castlevania the adventure rebirth this remake had six levels and unlike its gameboy counterpart five sub weapons it was received much more favorably than the original which was criticized for its technical limitations now the adventure was met with a sequel in 1991 called belmonts revenge Christopher once again takes center stage as Dracula kidnaps his son turns him into a demon and reclaims his castle Belmonts revenge added a level select and two sub weapons the axe and holy water the Japanese version on the other hand featured a cross instead of the axe [Music] the last Gameboy game Castlevania Legends was released six years later in Japan in 1997 with the North American release coming a year later this time you're playing as Sonia the first of the Belmonts to hunt down Dracula gameplay is similar to the previous two games but instead of sub weapons she has soul weapons which are earned from defeating bosses like sub weapons these use hearts as fuel allowing Sonia to perform various abilities such as freezing enemies replenishing her health bar and damaging foes in a variety of ways while this was positioned as the first game in the series timeline it was later removed from the Canon altogether now before we move on to the 16-bit era were not quite ready to leave the Famicom just yet Konami released aku Maggio special boku Dracula Kuhn in 1990 roughly translated to Diamond Castle special I'm Kendrick EULA the game is a spin-off parody of sorts that features the son of Dracula on a journey to defeat the evil demon galimov much like Dracula's other son Alucard Kid Dracula can throw fireballs at his enemies it's a much more cheerful and wholesome game than any other in the series but unfortunately it never released outside of Japan three years later however a sequel released in all regions on the Gameboy with the dawn of the 16-bit era came super Castlevania 4 for the Super Nintendo releasing in 1991 it was somewhat of a retelling of the first Castlevania though it did feature new mechanics and levels some of which took place outside of the castle altogether as such summon must venture towards Dracula's castle before actually making his way up to the Dark Lord's lair while following a linear path in the same basic format of previous games super Castlevania 4 allows you to whip in eight different directions in addition to swinging it around with the d-pad while holding the appropriate button Simon's whip can also be used to grapple on to specific points and swing from platform to platform on top of all that super Castlevania 4 makes use of the snes's mode 7 feature which enables a game's background to be rotated and scaled this allows for certain games to look like their 3d super Castlevania for uses mode 7 most notably in stage 4 where the level rotates in one section and then twists like a two-man oh and perhaps the most important thing is that if you hold the opposite direction of the d-pad while also walking up stairs Simon will do a little moonwalk love your move Simon the next Castlevania game released exclusively in Japan well at least at first another game called Akuma Joe Dracula released exclusively for the sharp x68000 in 1993 it of course would come to western regions on the PlayStation in 2001 as Castlevania chronicles this game is another remake of the first castlevania sticking much closer to that original game than even super Castlevania 4 did but still featuring new stages enemies and items the PlayStation re-release contains this original version but it also saw the inclusion of an arranged mode that features new cutscenes and music in addition to a new Simon Belmont sprite and balanced changes to the difficulty level following the sharp x68000 s Dracula was another japan-only release aku Maggio Dracula ex Chino Rondo also known as Rondo of blood considered by many to be one of the series best Rondo flood was exclusive to the PC engine super cd-rom the Japanese version of the turbo graphic CD it follows a new Belmont ancestor named Richter with a story told through anime cutscenes and Japanese voiceover this time Dracula is resurrected by the dark priest shaft and Richter must do what Belmonts do but wait there's more Richter's lava net is kidnapped by Dracula along with three other women one of those other women is Maria Renard who once rescued it becomes an alternate playable character she's considered by fans to be somewhat of an easy mode thanks to her faster attacks double jump and slide as for how richter plays Rondo focuses on classic Castlevania combat as opposed to super Castlevania 4s eight-way whip attacks and flailing [Music] [Music] for the first time however a Castlevania game would not feature whip upgrades Richter wields the vampire killer whip at full strength the meaning you won't be handicapped with a shorter leather whip when you die Rondo also brought back alternate paths however these aren't clear-cut like they were in Castlevania 3 there instead secrets you uncover by breaking certain walls are falling down specific pits leading you to new levels in bosses classic Castlevania sub weapons also make a return with a new addition in the Bible which spins around Richter providing somewhat of a shield and dealing damage to anyone who touches it and as is Castlevania custom hearts still govern how many times you can use a sub weapon but in Rondo you'll be able to consume even more hearts to perform a more dramatic and powerful attack in all previous games you'd also lose your current sub weapon if you picked up another accidental or not however Rondo will drop the sub weapon you replaced allowing you to pick it up again if you so desire now while this version of Rondo didn't release outside of Japan a couple remakes have made their way west the first of these is Castlevania dracula x which released on the smash in 1995 known as dracula XX in japan and vampires kiss in europe this game is more an adaptation than an actual remake it features richter as the main character and some of the same enemy sprites but the levels are completely different and while Maria can still be rescued she is no longer a playable character the difficulty was also increased which some fans think is a good thing this is especially true when it comes to the Dracula fight which is known to be a bit easy in the original Rondo of blood other players however find Dracula X to be one of the more frustrating castlevanias a more straightforward remake released for the PSP in 2007 this was dracula ex chronicles which featured 3d graphics new cutscenes and slightly reworked stages one of the most notable was the final battle with dracula which was changed to match up more closely to the beginning of Castlevania Symphony of the Night difficulty has also been changed with some areas being much easier while others much harder other changes include the addition of unlockable extras that appears pickups in game two of these extras are full playable versions of the original Rondo of blood and Symphony of the Night however they both feature redone vo this means that the original Rondo is in English while much of the dialogue and Symphony of the Night is changed these versions of the games are also the ones included in 2018 requiem collection on the ps4 next in the series is 1994's Castlevania bloodlines the first and only game to release on the Sega Genesis and it's kind of a sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula yes the famous novel in which the famous count was created bloodlines follows John Morris the son of Quincey Morris who landed the final blow on Dracula in Stoker's novel however in Castlevania the Morris family is linked the Belmont clan how they're connected isn't exactly clear at this point but with the vampire killer whip in the hands of the Morris family and Quincy's untimely death during his battle with Dracula John must team up with fellow vampire hunter and Belmont relative Eric liquor to take on the next big evil baddie and that baddie is Elizabeth Bartley who was revived much like Dracula prior to the events of Rondo of blood she effectively starts the first world war to revive Dracula with the dying Souls which prompts John and Eric to travel across Europe to wage war against Bartley much like Dracula is based on vlad the impaler Bartley is also partly based on a historical figure linked with vampires Elizabeth báthory was an alleged serial killer who was believed to have killed hundreds of young women in the late 1500s and early 1600s in Castlevania Bartley is Dracula's niece and well that family isn't exactly known for its pacifism as for bloodlines gameplay well it's a bit of a mix between super Castlevania 4 and Rondo of blood while it's closer to Rondo in terms of whip gameplay John can't attack diagonally when jumping and swing on ceilings unlike Rondo however it does feature whip upgrades but the most powerful being a type of energy whip that can be lost if you get hints Eric the card on the other hand uses a magical spear that was given to his family by a Luo card the spear can be upgraded the same number of times as the whip with the final being a fire spear however it's ultimately a much more effective weapon Eric can attack upwards and diagonally while standing drive his spear downward while jumping and Fault himself directly into the air in addition to its greater reach he can also spin the spear around him for as long as you hold the appropriate button and push left and right on the d-pad [Music] when compared to its Super Nintendo and pc-engine counterparts bloodlines is a much darker game for example bloodlines features much more blood and gore than the previous two games however this was not the case in all regions in Europe and Australia all mentions of blood were removed this includes when it's seen in various levels and the title screen which features blood dripping into a sea of gore and because of the title its European name is Castlevania the new generation while in Japan it's known as vampire killer with super Castlevania 4 Rondo and bloodlines behind it konami z' next move with the Castlevania series was a big one one that in some ways would redefine the series direction for the next decade but first we need to rewind a bit prior to the development of Rondo of blood a young programmer named Koji Igarashi started working at Konami he worked on a business sim game that was cancelled before becoming a programmer on to Tana twinby and the dating sim tokimeki memorial both for the PC engine his future wife was working on Rondo of blood at a time a game he would play on his time off and after the development of tokimeki memorial he requested a transfer from this point forward he worked as part of the Castlevania team work began on the follow up to bloodlines which was set to release for Sega 32x add-on for the Genesis this game was ultimately cancelled and if it wasn't for Igarashi we wouldn't know much about it talking to one up in 2012 Igarashi said we made an early playable version but the game did not progress because our company's policy towards the hardware changed management decided to make the playstation our focus so we made some drastic changes to our initial ideas and ended up with symphony of the night and in 1997 Castlevania Symphony of the Night released for the original PlayStation the game opens with the retelling of Richter Belmont fateful battle with Dracula and the collapse of the Dark Lord's castle what is a man a miserable little pile of secrets but enough talk how about you however five years later it rises unexpectedly and with the disappearance of Richter Alucard takes it upon himself to find out what's going on he comes across many of the classic Castlevania enemies as he ventures deeper into the castle including a familiar face Maria Renard the twelve-year-old vampire hunter from Rondo of blood compared to the Belmonts a loo card is a much more agile fighter wielding a wide array of weapons spells and abilities unfortunately for him death appears shortly after a loo card enters the castle and steals his entire arsenal leaving him to venture Dracula's lair to reclaim it this is where Symphony of the Night differs most from previous games the entirety of the castle is free and open for you to explore however there are areas you just won't be able to access without the right powers you can gain these powers by collecting relics which allow you to double jump turn into an animal or mist and much more this kind of exploration and progression is linked closely to Nintendo's Metroid series you may have heard the term Metroidvania when referring to games similar to Symphony of the Night well this is what that's referring to however Symphony also adopts many traits similar to an RPG in addition to leveling up and increasing your health and MP you'll also be able to equip different kinds of armor weapons and accessories to boost your stats sub weapons also make a return from previous castlevanias most of which you'll recognise from those James as for other things you'll recognize many of the enemy sprites inhabiting Dracula's castle came from previous games it's actually quite satisfying taking on some of the series more frustrating enemies with the more powerful son of Dracula [Music] Symphony of the night was also the first game a Yami Kojima worked on Kojima is a character designer who is best known for her elaborate paintings that often adorn the box art and other materials for the Castlevania games from this point forward her work would be seen on many games and projects within the Castlevania series Symphony of the Night is widely regarded as one of the best games of all time and has seen multiple read releases over the years just one year later it was ported to the Sega Saturn with extra content unfortunately many considerate and inferior port which was unusual given the Saturn's reputation for handling 2d games better than the PlayStation it features slowdown in specific areas a stretched image to fit the increased resolution and a lack of transparency in addition to other things however it did feature new areas and marija as a boss and playable character in addition director being playable from the beginning as opposed to an end game unlockable the PlayStation version was also re-released in HD on the Xbox 360 as an Xbox Live Arcade title the first game on the service to exceed 50 megabytes and of course we have the version with redone vo that's unlockable and dracula x chronicles on the PSP unfortunately at the time of its original release Symphony of the Night was not commercially successful particularly in the u.s. despite that most games in the series from this point forward would follow the same formula as Symphony of the Night however this was not the case for the forthcoming n64 games [Music] following the release of games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Castlevania 2 tried to make the jump from 2d gameplay to 3d levels platforming in action Castlevania 64 follows Belmont err Reinhart Schneider and Sipho descendant Carrie Fernandez as they take on Dracula if you haven't noticed by now this entire series involves someone fighting Dracula because he's an evil dude who just won't stay dead courage don't leave me when it comes to gameplay Castlevania 64 takes a lot of cues from ocarina of time it utilizes a lock-on system to target enemies as well as a first-person mode to view the environment on top of that your main attack is governed by the B button while your secondary attack and sub weapons are relegated to the C buttons and instead of an open world or more openly explorable Castle like in Symphony of the Night Castlevania 64 makes use of individual levels at the time of its release Castlevania 64 was received favorably GameSpot's review scored in an eight point two out of ten saying quote the developers have done a fantastic job of capturing the atmosphere and spirit of the series while providing a well-balanced challenging gameplay experience that's filled with pretty visuals awesome music plenty of Secrets and some incredible bosses positive reviews were also written by game pro egm and IGN despite this praised castlevania 64 is a contentious game amongst series fans today with some loving it while others hate it some claim that this is because Castlevania 64 doesn't necessarily start off on the best foot the forest of silence is the first level in the game and is criticized by some for being too bland while game spots review said it would have benefitted from an in-game map [Music] another criticism the n64 Castlevania games get pegged with is that the second game released later that same year originally titled Castlevania special edition legacy of Darkness is a prequel and reworked version of Castlevania 64 the prequel events star two new characters Cornell a werewolf that's on a journey to save his kidnapped sister and Henry a knight who was saved by Cornell as a kid and returns to Dracula's castle to save children in his own set of levels both are playable and once certain kids are saved you'll also unlock Reinhardt and carries quests from Castlevania 64 now despite their inclusion some things have been changed including the removal of the voice acting on top of that players can use the n64 expansion pack to increase the game's resolution this however makes the framerate jittery as detailed in GameSpot's review which scored the game a 7.3 and said its quote exactly what it sets out to be a better version of the original before Castlevania re-entered the 2d plane a 3d action game was being developed for the Sega Dreamcast Castlevania resurrection was slated to star a resurrected Sonya belmonts the protagonist of the game boys Castlevania legends and another belmont named victor it was going to be set prior to the events of the first Castlevania but was cancelled in the year 2000 due to the impending failure of the Dreamcast and the release of the PlayStation 2 despite Konami looking towards the ps2 it would be more than three years before Catholic aim to that platform in the meantime Simon Belmont would appear in evolution skateboarding as a playable skater and yes he could fight Dracula in an appropriately themed level who's the one who break my silene he's gonna as for proper Castlevania games the company set its sights on the Game Boy Advance with three games that all followed in the footsteps of Symphony of the Night the first was circle of the Moon which released in 2001 as a launch title for the GBA this time the protagonist is a vampire hunter named Nathan graves though he has no relation to the Belmonts and does not wield the vampire killer web what set circle of the Moon apart from symphony is its magic system which is called the dual setup system or DSS for short you collect cards throughout the castle that allow you to cast different types of magic action cards give you your spell while attribute cards add effects such as fire ice or plant spores GameSpot's review gave it a nine point six out of ten calling it one of the best portable adventures ever created the second GBA Castlevania is harmony of dissonance which released the very next year in 2002 it set 50 years after the events of the first Castlevania and stars Simon Belmont grandson juiced now it's quite similar to Symphony of the Night with just sharing many similarities with Alucard including his - moves and appearance however it features two different versions of the same castle and you'll travel between them to unlock new areas GameSpot's review score 9 in 8.2 calling it easier than circle of the moon but still great on its own merits the last castlevania game on the GBA is 2003 Zarya of sorrow it's set after the events of 1999 s Diamond Castle war the results of which traps Dracula in a solar eclipse for all eternity the years 2035 and our star is soma cruise who's able to absorb the souls of enemies and use them against other monsters he's transported to Castlevania along with his friend Mina who we must save before she's put into danger he meets multiple characters along the way including another Belmont descendant named Julius he was present during the demon Castle war being the one who ultimately in the Lord of Darkness each of these characters you meet is in the castle due to a prophecy that was put in place after Dracula's defeat the mystery of why soma was transported is one of the more interesting story elements of the entire series and much like its predecessors it's similar in structure and gameplay to Symphony of the Night however the soul system adds an interesting layer think of it as Castlevania meets Pokemon when soma kills an enemy he has a chance at absorbing its soul for example instead of throwing axes he can throw bones like the series infamous skeletons after absorbing their souls other souls allow him to restore health guard against attacks and much much more the metroidvania like abilities that allow you to access new areas also come in the form of these souls aria of sorrow received great critical acclaim with GameSpot scoring it in eight point six out of ten and calling it one of the gbas best action games because of its success it would receive a direct sequel though players would have to wait for the Nintendo DS to arrive first in the meantime to 3d action games were on their way the first was lament of innocence in 2003 which is an origin story that explains how the Belmonts are destined to fight dracula for all of eternity this time the lead Belmont is Leon and he's on a quest to save his lover Sarah from a vampire that this time is not Dracula of course this is Castlevania so you can bet we'll see the Lord of Darkness before the end credits not only is it the first game chronologically it was also the first game to feature the newly designed Castlevania logo that would be used in every game from this point forward now lament of innocence does have a lot of what makes a Castlevania game truly Castlevania with familiar enemies sub-weapons destructible candles and much more however it's more of a character action game in the vein of Devil May Cry than any previous entries in the series and instead of an openly explorable Castle it features somewhat of a hub that players can access multiple areas from this was koji eager ah she's first time working on a 3d Castlevania game a task he told GameSpy was a lot harder than his time on the 2d games he said quote we've extended a 2-d game style into 3d but 3d is a very different environment it's really obscure comparatively having a 3d environment is not as precise as it was with 2d the good point about 3d gaming is bringing the actual reality based environment to gaming the dynamics of audio of the graphics bring a new reality to life lament of innocence wasn't quite the smash hit that its metroidvania counterparts were but it did receive generally favorable reviews IGN scored o29 Game Informer in eighth and GameSpot a seven point seven calling it a fun though fairly short and simple game that marks a promising new beginning for this beloved series it's follow-up castlevania curse of darkness released in 2005 on the ps2 and original Xbox while it kept the 3d game playing graphics curse of Darkness was a lot more similar to symphony of the night than lament of innocence was first off like a loo card Hector isn't restrained to a whim and can equip multiple different weapons curse of darkness also features an explorable world as opposed to the squared off levels in lament of innocence the map system remains the same from that game however so don't expect a square grid like in Symphony of the Night as for the story it follows Hector a devil forge master who betrayed Dracula during Kathleen eeeh three said a few years after the events of that game Hector's on a hunt for fellow forge master Isaac after he learns that he was behind the murder of his fiancee as a devil forge master Hector can create creatures called innocent Devils which he uses to aid him in multiple ways for example fairy-type IDs heal Hector pumpkin types raise luck and battle types join him in his fight there are others but they all involve attacking enemies in a variety of ways curse of darkness wasn't received quite as well as lament of innocence though it did have its fans most of which praised the battle system GameSpot's review however scored it a six point eight calling the level and enemy design boring critic Greg Kasavin said Castlevania fans will probably find that this game gets off to a very promising start but the good first impression simply wears off before long game spots review also noted that while Castlevania was having a difficult time sticking the landing on consoles it was thriving on handhelds prior to curse of Darkness the first of three Nintendo DS games released that game was 2005 s castlevania dawn of sorrow the sequel to aria of sorrow [Music] [Music] now before we get into dawn of sorrow I should warn you that I am going to mention a pretty significant spoiler for aria so leave now if you don't want the ending ruin for you dawn of sorrow has set a year after Aria and continues sohma's story at the end of Aria we discovered that soma is actually the reincarnation of Dracula which prompts an evil cult to try and take control of him or extract his dark power and implanted in a new host effectively resurrecting the Lord of Darkness the gameplay is very similar to Aria continuing on with the soul system one new addition however takes advantage of the DS's touchscreen the magic seal system requires players to draw the pattern on the touchscreen to trap a boss's soul if you fail in drawing the pattern you have to fight the boss a bit more before getting another chance this particular feature wasn't received well but overall the game was welcomed with much critical acclaim GameSpot's review scored it in 8.9 saying quote it sticks close to the tried and true formula so it will be an instant hit for anyone with an affinity for the sort of explorative gameplay the series is known for the next es game released a year later in 2006 portrait of ruin is a sequel to the Sega Genesis game bloodlines as it stars John Morris's son Jonathan and his witch friend Charlotte it set years after the events of that game where it's revealed that John Morris died after his battle with Dracula in bloodlines at the start of portrait of ruin however it's unknown as to why meanwhile Jonathan has inherited the vampire killer whip but is unable to master it and use its true power which is why you'll equip more than just the fabled whip throughout the duration of the game as for the story well Jonathan and Charlotte discovered that Dracula's castle has been revived once again thanks to the vampire Lord Bronner who plans to wreak havoc in Dracula's absence Jonathan and Charlotte meet a mysterious ghostly figure who assists the two in their fight against Bronner once again this handheld entry was very similar to Symphony of the Night you could play as both main characters switching between them on the fly or fighting together at once while controlling one character the other will be driven by AI to contribute attacks there are also specific spells that you'll need both characters to be present for Jonathan Morris is what you'd expect from a castlevania protagonist at this point with whips swords and other weapons at his disposal while Charlotte uses spell books to summon weapons and other spells additionally the to discover that they'll need to enter magical paintings to destabilize the castles power each painting features its own world lending a bunch of different themes and locales in contrast to the Gothic castle aesthetic portrait of Rouen was also well received with GameSpot's reviews saying it was great not because of what it does differently but because it quote stays true to the familiar castlevania design and delivers a fun lengthy adventure both dawn of sorrow and portrait of ruin adopted a more anime influenced art style as opposed to a Yamaka dima's character designs however the final castlevania DS game would adopt a gothic art style designed by Misaki Haruka 2008 order of ecclesia is set after the events of Symphony of the night when the Belmonts have disappeared leaving many to form their own groups to dispel Dracula and other evil beings one of these is the order of ecclesia of which the protagonist Chenoa is a member of as someone who can wield magical glyphs which are basically this games version of weapons she is chosen to be the wielder of Dominus a glyph that's powerful enough to defeat Dracula however her friend Albus is angered by not being chosen himself so he prevents the ritual and seriously hurts Chenoa causing her to lose all memory and emotion once she awakens she must go on a quest to stop Albus and reclaim Dominus the combat is similar to past games though instead of weapons you'll use glyphs these glyphs are acquired similarly to souls in dawn of sorrow killing specific enemies will give you specific weapons for example if you kill a sword wielding skeleton you'll have a chance to absorb a sword glyph [Music] once absorbed you'll then be able to attack with that weapon and because glyphs are technically magic you'll consume mana when using them however mana recharges much faster than previous games making it more like stamina than actual mana on top of that ecclesia features multiple different locations each with their own square based grid map as opposed to one single castle you'll traverse the world visiting each location by selecting them on a map with new areas showing up once you make your way through others Weigel village acts as somewhat of a hub with shops and other people calling it home however they've been kidnapped by Elvis so you'll have to rescue them before you can buy their wares once rescued you'll also be able to complete quests for them that will grant you new items to buy now order of ecclesia is notable for its harder difficulty critics praised this in addition to some of its unique mechanics GameSpot's reviews scored it in 8.5 and said it's streamlined level design and versatile combat system make this the most engaging Castlevania gaming years unfortunately order of ecclesia would be the last game in the series that went full bore with the Symphony of the Night format later games would feature exploration of this kind but not to the extent that these games are known and loved for [Music] the next game Castlevania judgment released in 2008 exclusively for the Wii it's a 3d fighting game that features many of the characters throughout the series history from Simon and Trevor Belmont to Grant dinasty and Eric Lockhart however they feature radically different designs as instead of a Yami Kojima's classic artwork judgment uses designs created by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata unfortunately the game was very poorly received by critics with GameSpot's reviews scoring it a 3 out of 10 the review said quote the unforgiveable flaws drained nearly every ounce of enjoyment from judgment and whatever aspiration it had falls flat on its face the abhorrent camera dreadful art and cumbersome controls are for masochistic applicants only fans of the franchise fighting or fun will find nothing of value in this sloppy cash in the same year a teaser trailer for a new Castlevania game was shown at the Tokyo Game Show and it was Konami z-- first attempt at rebooting the series the game was set to release for the ps3 and 360 and feature Alucard is the protagonist however it was never heard from again [Music] fast forward two more years and we're in 2010 it was a big year for Castlevania with the release of three different games the first was Castlevania puzzle encore of the night which was a favorably received puzzle game that featured similar art to what was used in Symphony of the Night and released exclusively on iOS with a Windows Phone release coming a year later the second was castlevania harmony of despair a digital Xbox Live Arcade game that focused on multiplayer the story involves an enchanted book that carries the story of Castlevania Dracula's castle comes to life and brings together characters from across the series history with it the playable characters at launch were a low card soma Cruz Jonathan Morris Charlotte O lean and Chenoa downloadable content introduced even more characters such as belmonts richter simon and julius up to six players can fight Dracula's minions together online and while you can roam the castle freely no matter where any of the other players are you will be able to perform more powerful attacks when fighting together unfortunately the Xbox Live Arcade version did not feature local co-op but the ps3 version that released a year later did the multiplayer focused harmony of despair received mixed reviews GameSpot scored at a seven point five out of ten and said it doesn't give a good first impression but harmony of despair delivers new and exciting gameplay opportunities for an old series the review pointed to the cooperative gameplay and challenge as high points at this point in castlevanias history konami was looking to reboot the series despite the fantastic praise and passionate fan base castlevania wasn't selling as well as the company would have liked through a prototype and pitch period konami decided to move forward with a project created by developer mercury steam the project was actually an original IP before it was greenlit as a castlevania game the project was cancelled early on in development but as NTV reported back in 2010 producer David Cox showed the game to Konami Japan and got help from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima which helped set the game back on course now the original pitch was to remake the first Castlevania but it was completely decided that mercury steam would reboot the series entirely castlevania lords of shadow is what the team ended up with lords of Shadow stars Gabriel Belmont played by The Full Monty actor Robert Carlyle Gabriel is a member of the Brotherhood of light in order of knights that wage war against monsters Gabriel's wife Marie is killed by one of these monsters and with her soul in limbo Gabriel sets out to kill the lords of shadow and bring her back from the dead along the way he meets the oldest living member of the Brotherhood of lights a man named zou back that's played by Patrick Stewart who is also the game's narrator mankind faces ruin and despair the world is changing yet hope remains in the hearts of the people we go about our daily lives never knowing the forces that can change our destinies forever we are oblivious ignorant like sheep to the slaughter lords of Shadow revolves mostly around a style of character action combats in linear levels where the player swings their whip around both for targeting single enemies at a time and entire groups enemies include creatures such as vampires werewolves and goblins but every now and then you'll come across a gargantuan sized boss called it Titan you'll use your whip to grapple onto their large bodies traverse them and smash their runes to take them down its new direction wasn't a huge hit with all fans but lords of Shadow was received quite well by critics both game informer and joysticks courted a 9 Eurogamer awarded it an 8 and GameSpot gave it a 7.5 GameSpot review praised its graphics combat and voice acting but lamented its camera puzzles and derivative nature as for its sales lords of Shadow was a commercial success and its first month it sold more than 1 million copies and eventually became the best-selling game in the series konami was happy with the sales and decided to move forward with two more games in the lords of shadow sub series now if you care about spoilers for the first Lords of shadow then now is the time to stop watching seek the guardian of the lake I was paid to him but we must be quick climb into my bag honey the first of these sequels was lords of shadow mirror of fate which initially released on the 3ds in 2013 before getting ported in HD to ps3 and 360 later that year mirror of fate features four playable characters during different moments in time Gabriel Belmont is playable during the prologue then we get control of trevor belmont Simon Belmont and a loo card over the course of the rest of the game now lords of Shadow was a 3d action game similar to God of War but mirror of fate takes the series back to 2d this time with 3d graphics however unlike its other 2d handheld brethren it focuses much more on combat than exploration mirror of faith story starts with Gabriel Belmont fighting the Demon Lord one year before the events of the first Lords of shadow during this time his wife Marie gives birth to Trevor in secret but the Brotherhood pushes her to hide him from Gabriel as they already know he's destined to become Dracula which is revealed at the end of lords of shadow years later Trevor and cypher give birth to Simon and are killed at the hands of Dracula [Music] Simon is raised by barbarians and vows to get revenge on the vampire Lord we also get sections where we play as a Luca and Trevor Belmont who we learn are the same people in the lords of shadow universe trevor falls to dracula during their battle at which point he reveals himself as Dracula's son the lord of darkness then prevents his son from dying by turning him into a vampire marking his coffin with the word a loo card at this point players had already experienced the aftermath of Alucard awakening in the previous act GameSpot's review criticized the story for being predictable as it's told in Reverse and some big clues diminish the surprise but critic Peter Brown did appreciate that it defied the established history of the Belmonts he also praised the combo heavy combat and 2d gameplay for working well together in addition to the variety of challenges provided within the castles walls however the QuickTime events were a sticking point that lessened the experience King spots review scored it a 7 out of 10 later that year the ps3 and 360 versions released with a visual boost and without many of those actions stealing QuickTime events thanks to these changes those versions received an 8 out of 10 mirror of faith served as somewhat of a stopgap between the first and second lords of Shadow castlevania lords of Shadow 2 released on ps3 360 and PC in 2014 [Music] miserable pile of secrets this time you're playing is dracula for the first time in the series of course since Gabriel Belmont is Dracula you've already kind of played as him but nevertheless you now have Dracula like powers the combat is similar to the first game sticking to the character action style of gameplay however Dracula can use the blood of his enemies to take advantage of the void in chaos which grant him temporary access to special weapons the former gives him the void sword which heals him with each hit on an enemy while the latter equips them with claws that can pierce through an enemy's defenses as for the story it starts with the Brotherhood of light seeing Dracula's castle moments before Dracula kills all of them and is confronted by a luke card Alucard and Dracula come up with a plan to give Dracula the sweet release of true death that he's always wanted in an attempt to trick Satan into thinking Dracula is dead Alucard stabs his father with a sword that puts him into a centuries-long sleep the rest of the game is set in modern day though Dracula has no memory of why he was put to rest it pleases me to see you recovered o friend indeed our guest is just a little confused I know what he wants Sobek who is now an enemy warns dracula of scenes returned and gives him the vampire killer whiff you know the enemy of my enemy is my friend that whole thing dracula must now set out to kill those who wish to summon Satan while fighting the modern day brotherhood of light which is now led by his descendant victor bal mons unfortunately the conclusion to the lords of Shadow series was not received as favorably as past games while it did garner positive reviews from some outlets the reception was largely mixed Destructoid and IGN gave the game a 6.5 while Game Informer gave it a 6 GameSpot's review awarded it a 7 though said it should have been a much shorter game critic Peter Brown criticized the stealth sections and weak start but praised its beautiful gothic world impressive enemy and boss designs and satisfying conclusion to the lords of Shadow trilogy unfortunately lords of Shadow 2 was the last new Castlevania game to be released it's been more than four years and there's been no word on a brand new entry Konami is not the video game publishing force it once was with the cancellation of silent hill's removal of PT from the PlayStation Store and falling out with Hideo Kojima Konami has released very few games this generation and while Konami has been in the gambling business for quite some time the company has since become infamous for its slot and pachinko machines based on its beloved franchises Castlevania is no stranger to these machines now aside from Pachi slot where is Castlevania in 2018 while Konami announced a new mobile game that's set to release later this year but thankfully that's not the most noteworthy thing Castlevania 3 Dracula's curse was adapted into a Netflix series in 2017 and was well received by fans and critics alike its second season debuts on October 26 the same day konami releases castlevania requiem a collection that bundles both symphony of the night and Rondo of blood on the ps4 but that's not it's both Simon and Richter Belmont are playable in Super Smash Bros ultimate in addition to the fighter having a stage based on Dracula's castle while on this stage you can get items by hitting candles in between various monsters from the series making appearances Dracula will even show up at times wreaking havoc on anyone who gets in his way and to the surprise of many kid Dracula was even teased during a Nintendo Direct but we're not exactly sure how he'll factor in and on top of all that Smash Bros ultimate features a loo card as an assist trophy as well as 34 brand new arrangements of classic Castlevania songs over the years castlevanias influence has been seen throughout various games both indie and triple-a alike 2018 in particular has seen a large influx of these including dead cells chasm and much more with all of that and the various other Castlevania goodies this year proves there's still plenty of love for the series whether we'll see a new adventure well that remains to be seen but you can be sure that fans are eagerly awaiting Dracula's next resurrection [Music]

Channel: GameSpot

Views: 496,997

Rating: 4.9290729 out of 5

Keywords: History of, evolution of, History, retrospective, look, series, franchise, making of, story of, story summary, complete story, game, games, video game, gaming, gameplay, juego, gamespot, dracula, alucard, simon belmont, symphony of the night, konami, belmont, trevor belmont, rondo of blood, nes, vampire, richter belmont, castlevania timeline, lords of shadow, circle of the moon, dracula x, video game history, video game documentary, gaming documentaries, history of video games

Id: TpSKNZzSFj8

Length: 56min 36sec (3396 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 27 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/TomorrowWeKillToday]

That was a good watch, I’m surprised they didn’t mention Bloodstained at all though

[u/TomorrowWeKillToday]

If it was relevant to the series, why not? It wasn’t like an advertisement or anything, they discussed the programmers and Konami’s business changes so it would have fit well 🤔

[u/Doctor-Mak]

Imma watch.

[u/meltingpotato]

Konami, eat shit and die.

Every day I have more reasons to hate Konami. I hope they go bankrupt for the sake of games like Castlevania, Contra, Silent Hill, MGS, TMNT. just so we can see these again.