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I realized with all the screen caps I'm going to be trying to take, I'd end up spamming the What Are You Playing thread. For those who aren't aware of what insanity I'm doing here, here's the story:

I've decided to play through every Castlevania commercially released for handhelds and consoles (with the exception of the N64 titles). I will be using emulators for a few of the titles I don't own just yet, but the trip is going to be fantastic.

I will be taking screenshots of credits/ending scenes as I complete them. I will also be using the avatar of the Belmont that I'm currently playing as I progress through the game. Should be fun!

Game list:

Castlevania for NES
Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest for NES
Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse for NES.
Super Castlevania for SNES

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence for PS2
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness for PS2

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonace for PS3.
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood for PSP.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for PSP.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for NDS (Don't have this one yet)

Castlevania: Bloodlines for GENESIS
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for NDS (Don't have this one yet)

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for GBA
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for NDS (Dont' have this one yet)

Castlevania: Order of the Moon for GBA
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for PS3

(With Frank 's recommendation I may be adding the original Gameboy trilogy to this list at some point)

Now the reason for this seperation of games, is due to a minor following of story/timeline. Alot of these games are interwoven and I'm going to try and play them close to their timeframe.


(Theme Music for the first stage if you'd like some backround sound for the pics)


Arriving at the Castle de Dracul, Gilgamesh Belmont begins with the battle that started this whole thing off:

The first major villain of the castle, after making his way through the courtyard and entry: The Giant Bat!

With [II] Axes and being highly familiar with this foe, the Giant Bat is slain without landing a blow.

And so passing the first obstacle, the Castle's entirety is revealed.

(Side Note: I'm not sure whether I should take so many screen caps, as alot of people have played these games and most of this would be nothing new for most. So I'm going to experiment with more and less screens per update)

Music for Medusa Tower:


Heading into the next tower, I remembered an old secret (the secret Crown that simply gives some bonus points)

(Meant to take a couple screens of the Medusa Head barrage but was more worried about surviving)
The Queen herself....

She was no match for the power of the Stop Watch!

Music for Mummies Tower:


The Infamous Mummy Twins! (Almost didn't make it getting to them, fleas everywhere...)

And the aftermath of a few well placed Holy Waters (while totally cheating from the ledge where the wraps couldn't hit me)....

(Sadly I was too overwhelmed by f'in FLEA npcs to really stop to think to take screenshots of this stage, will totally make up for it in next update)

You do yourself a disservice if you do not play the GB Castlevanias.

Frank said:

You do yourself a disservice if you do not play the GB Castlevanias.

Spoiler

Click to expand...

I'm most likely going to

Music for Tower De Frankenstein (and tons of freakin Fleas)


So after some lower area hijinks I make it up to the upper area to my dismay... FLEAS!

Followed by another pain in the ass staple of Castlevania games... the Skeletal dragon.

Armed with a triple shot (III) Holy Water, Frankstein with Flea Rider was up... I was going to need it after the beating I took getting here....

In an effort to save myself alot of agony I just unloaded Holy Water like it was going out of style. Needless to say, Frankenstein took about 2 steps before....

Music for Death's Tower:


So as I enter the new tower, I'm greeted by wonderful familiar faces..... uuuuuugh.

Seems I'm not the first to enter Death's Tower... hopefully I fare better than these two

Red Bones and Dragon Skull Turrets... not a good combination....

Entering the Gallery and greeted by the lovely Axe Throwers....

Death himself! Armed with a Triple [III] Holy Water, I totally got this....

After dying once, returning with a Cross Boomerang and almost dying again...

Music for Dracula's Tower"


The Final Tower looms...

The Crumbling Tower and Bridge with the village in the far distance...

A Giant Bat? I thought I killed the only one!

After out running the bat and thinking I was in the clear....

Out running almost 6 Giant Bats... I wish I were exaggerating.... I come to a Bell Tower full of Fleas and Falcons... fantastic.

After taking a hell of a beating (I died 4x trying to get through that tower)... the final staircase awaits....

Music for the final confrontation:


Scaling the long staircase Simon can see the moon has risen to it's highest point.... now is the time...

Bleeding and on his last leg, Simon is confronted by the Dark Lord himself....

It proves too much for our mighty Vampire Killer...





or does it? ........

When you play Simon's Quest, I believe there's a ROM out there that removes the super long transitions between day and night and fixes some of the Engrish, which was pretty much my biggest complaint about that game. I'm one of the few people that actually liked the game itself.

Well, the esoteric "puzzles" that no human being could ever decipher were a pretty big problem too.

You mean the head against Debora wall wasn't clear that you had to face a wall and duck? Yeah, some of that has to do with the terrible translation, but yes, some of it was very obtuse.

Bowielee said:

You mean the head against Debora wall wasn't clear that you had to face a wall and duck? Yeah, some of that has to do with the terrible translation, but yes, some of it was very obtuse.

Click to expand...

No, there are completely unexcusable parts that aren't explained. Like how to get certain items to continue in the game required you to walk into an empty room and thrown a Holy Water randomly until you found hidden basements.

Really silly game and when I get to it, I guarantee I'll be using a light walkthrough to get through it.

That's not even something to be ashamed of, the game outright requires it. I only ever beat it as a kid because of Nintendo Power.

(It took me a couple days to actually beat this fight, it was brutal. I was able to mostly breeze through the bosses, but Drac really gave me some trouble)

Thinking the battle was won when Dracula's head came from his shoulders.... the Dark Lord shows his true colors!

Bleeding and almost dead (again) it comes to an end brutally...

Escaping from the Castle, the view is stunning...

As it crumbled in the distance, a voice spoke to Simon....
(no shit )

Couple of Notes/Questions:
Should I take more screenshots or less (just update boss fights)?
The screenshots WILL get better in quality (I found out NEStopia defaults the pictures at 200x200, so upscaling them in Photoshop didn't do them justice).
Should I post information about each game? A history of when it was released, the chronology of the story line, some interesting facts etc?
My plan is to go to Castlevania 2 then 3, but now I'm considering doing the original Gameboy 1-3 (Chronologically all over the place) series after instead of going to the PS2 series (A direct prequel to most of the games). Thoughts?

Well, 3 is a prequel to most stuff too. I don't think it matters much what order you play them in. The PS2 games' stories are best left forgotten anyway.

Oh, my advice for Castlevania 3? Bring Sypha. Grant and Alucard are completely worthless in the balls hard unfair Dracula fight.

Frank said:

Well, 3 is a prequel to most stuff too. I don't think it matters much what order you play them in. The PS2 games' stories are best left forgotten anyway.

Oh, my advice for Castlevania 3? Bring Sypha. Grant and Alucard are completely worthless in the balls hard unfair Dracula fight.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I realized 3 is a huge prequel, like really really far back, and honestly 1 and 2 are also halfway through the continuity anyway. As for who I'll use in Castlevania 3 I guess we'll have to see

UGH, so I'm just gonna post this in here. I'm not a fan of the whole Mirror of Fate thing going on with the 3DS. Now Trevor and Sypha are Simon's parents and Sypha is no longer a bad ass wizard but a love interest that needs to be protected? Fuck off. I don't think you could kill Dracula in 3 without Sypha. I never did anyway and I'm the only person I know that's beaten Castlevania 3. Even the Angry Video Game Nerd didn't beat it and he usually plays through everything. I mean, mother fucker played through Ghostbusters for NES. That must've been like trying to play a game while having dental surgery.

Frank said:

UGH, so I'm just gonna post this in here. I'm not a fan of the whole Mirror of Fate thing going on with the 3DS. Now Trevor and Sypha are Simon's parents and Sypha is no longer a bad ass wizard but a love interest that needs to be protected? Fuck off. I don't think you could kill Dracula in 3 without Sypha. I never did anyway and I'm the only person I know that's beaten Castlevania 3. Even the Angry Video Game Nerd didn't beat it and he usually plays through everything. I mean, mother fucker played through Ghostbusters for NES. That must've been like trying to play a game while having dental surgery.

Click to expand...

He even beat the NES Ghosts n Goblins for real, including not having the cross the first time he hit the final boss.

Update: I totally haven't abandoned this project (obviously with the new avatar) it's just that I can't seem to figure out where to take screenshots for this game. There's no real -milestones- so I've taken a bunch of random shots and will compile something up hopefully by today.

It begins... again... Simon shall be victorious....

Music for Town:


Arriving in the first village, Simon notices how similar the townsfolk are... must be alot of inbreeding...

Speaking with some of the Townsfolk it seems there is a bit of a riddle love going on with them...

Making his way into the local shop, a deal he just can't pass up is offered... Holy Water, one of his favorites!

After speaking to a few others, he finds out of a manor in the woods and makes his way out of the village, a merchant stops and makes a curious offer...

A White Crystal eh? Why not.

Music for Forested Area (Daylight)


Heading out of the city and into the Woods, it's clear that Dracula's influence has stayed strong, leading to undead and other monsters roaming nearby...

Making his way through the forest and toward the Mansion, after what seemed like hours passed before an ominous feeling came over him...

Music for Forested Area (Night)


The Night came almost instantly and the dread of the Forest grew ten-fold....

Fighting desperately through the Forest, covered in bile and the remains of many hard fought battles, Simon made his way to the waterways outside of the Forest just in time to see the Daybreak....

Is he safe? Most likely not but the Mansion loomed ahead....

Gilgamesh said:

Music for Forested Area (Daylight)

Spoiler

Click to expand...

Now with lyrics!

If you think that's good, you should see the one I have for Castlevania 3...

Quickly finding his way through the woods, instead of the Mansion, he finds the town of Veros... a town he will soon find... filled with secrets...

Paying a beggar some coin, he hears a rumor about a hidden merchant in a room nearby... it seems he may have been taken for a fool...

Hurling a vial of Holy Water at the wall in frustration of being duped it seems the beggar was not the liar previous believed...

Realizing his wounds from the trip weren't slowing their bleed he seeks refuge in the nearby church...

Hearing of his journey, the Preacher tells Simon of another secret merchant in the city... seeing as how Holy Water opened the way last time...

Another merchant, this time one with a very valuable object for a very steep price...

Giving his new whip a crack he prepares to head out again...

Damnit, you made me bust out my old nintendo and pop this game in. It took a bit of blowing in the cartridge, and jamming stuff in just right so the cartridge was in the right spot, but it finally started up.

I'm surprised this thing still works.

Nintendos are hardy and usually if they stop working, you only have to bend the clips that connect the cartridge on the inside back into position to get it working again.

The old consoles were pretty much bullet proof. I only wish my atari survived. It didn't make it through the episode where a bird got into our house while we were away and pooped all over it though. I'm guessing some leaked into the insides, and we didn't crack it open to check it out before powering it on.

I'm pretty sure my grandmother still has the Odyssey 2 that she had for the grand-kids.

I'm just waiting for you to get to Symphony of Night. Best Castlevania ever. Possibly best side-scroller ever.

ed: And yes, you DO have to beat it upside down for it to count.

ed2: Oh wow so apparently that game has a major cult following. Kind of mad I threw away my old disk:

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Castlevania-Symphony-Night-Sony-PlayStation-1-1997-/2357

He has quite a ways to go.

Not if he skips the other ones and just does what I tell him to. <waves hand> "These aren't the Belmont's you're looking for"

Necronic said:

I'm just waiting for you to get to Symphony of Night. Best Castlevania ever. Possibly best side-scroller ever.

ed: And yes, you DO have to beat it upside down for it to count.

ed2: Oh wow so apparently that game has a major cult following. Kind of mad I threw away my old disk:

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Castlevania-Symphony-Night-Sony-PlayStation-1-1997-/2357

Click to expand...

Wait, you didn't know the game had a huge following? It and Super Metroid are responsible for that sort of game being called Metroidvanias.

SoTN was one of the first games I downloaded from the PSN, sorry, double checking my purchase history, it was THE first game I downloaded from the PSN.

Yeah, SotN has ALWAYS been huge. It's usually a lock for a Top 10 list.

Let's get going Gilgamesh! I just rocked my way through Simons Quest in a couple evenings. I did use a walkthrough though. It's the only Castlevania game I have, so I'm done.

Meanwhile, I think I may have to break out:


Pretty sure I got the free version from nintendo power.

Yeah my free time just hasn't been great these past three days. I know I could knock this game out in a sitting if I had a bloody sitting

Well done Shakey and Dragon Warrior is fantastic!

Just messing with you. Take your time, it's your deal.

Holy crap, the save where I beat the Dragon Warrior last is still there. That must be over 15 years now isn't it? Jesus...

Shakey said:

Just messing with you. Take your time, it's your deal.

Holy crap, the save where I beat the Dragon Warrior last is still there. That must be over 15 years now isn't it? Jesus...

Click to expand...

Man... that battery... they were still using NiCad back then weren't they? Or were they alkaline? I think I remember the battery dying in my zelda cartridge...

GasBandit said:

Man... that battery... they were still using NiCad back then weren't they? Or were they alkaline? I think I remember the battery dying in my zelda cartridge...

Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I had thought I'd start it with all open save slots and I'd have to open the cartridge to make sure the battery wasn't corroded. Surprised the hell out of me.

I know my early Nintendo games still work. So the batteries might be fine.

You also need to update your sig.

Yeah I'm criminally behind in playing this series.

With WoW 5.2 just released, working on 3 solid characters, playing through Dead Space, just got Awesomenauts as a gift, and life with wife+3 kids. I may have been a bit over my head to start this thread without having beaten at least 3-4 games with screenshots prepared

I know that feel, bro. I haven't been able to play very much of anything. Spring break is coming up in a week, so I'll hopefully be able to get back and finish Ni No Kuni and Sly Cooper.

So, apparently the Lords of Shadow thing is a reboot. That, I had no idea of (suck it, ending sentences in prepositions is fucking awesome). I guess having Trevor Belmont be Gabriel's son and Simon be Trevor's is ok then if it's some other thing. Having Sypha be generic wife that needs to be protected though is still fucking bullshit. She's still the only way to beat Dracula in CVIII.

Spoilers for the new game on 3DS.

Philistine.

Isn't Simon supposed to be Trevor's grandson in the original series? Saying he's his son or grandson really doesn't matter too much in the scheme of things when his father was never explored. The thing with Sypha is kinda bullshit, as her blood is supposed to be the entire reason any of the Belmonts have magical ability at all.


Why did they even reboot it to begin with? There were still vast swaths of history the Belmont family wasn't accounted for.