CASTLEVANIA MARATHON- 7/22
I would argue Rondo of Blood is the beginning of the golden age of Konami's big franchises. Start it here and end it at about 2005 and you have a roughly decade-long streak of back-to-back masterpieces (with a few misses, granted) that only a few studios have matched since (Off the top of my head, the only runs that can match it in both length and quality since are FromSoft and Naughty Dog, though I would be happy to be wrong).
Rondo of Blood is the best Classicvania. Everything just clicks with it. I really enjoy that after SC4's push into being much easier, Rondo kicks it back to being punishing but fair. Richter can swing his whip up, but only at one angle that means he can get some aerial enemies, but has to position himself with more care than Simon had to. The level design is similarly tough without being cruel, and I love the alternate stages mechanic.
The series continues to experiment with player choice and nonlinearity. Each level has an alternate path you have to work to get to, and like Dracula's Curse there's a separate playable character. Maria Renard is broken and makes the game comically easy, but she's also a 12-year old girl who fights by summoning animals (which is really funny) and you have to unlock her so I'm alright with it. Her ending cutscene is also really funny and displays that the devs knew exactly what they were doing by adding a broken character that's a little girl. It's great.
The presentation is also so good. I love the covers of older tracks and Richter's theme is maybe my favourite track in the series. The visuals are gorgeous thanks to being on a stronger console than its contemporaries on other platforms, most obvious with the addition of animated cutscenes that lend Rondo a shonen anime feel that keeps it distinct from its classic monster movie-inspired 2D bretheren and its gothic pretty boy-filled successors.
God, I love Rondo of Blood. It's a shame that it took so long for it to hit Western shelves because I really do think it's the peak of the series' sidescrolling platforming era.
Next- Castlevania: Bloodlines
Previous- Super Castlevania IV
I would argue Rondo of Blood is the beginning of the golden age of Konami's big franchises. Start it here and end it at about 2005 and you have a roughly decade-long streak of back-to-back masterpieces (with a few misses, granted) that only a few studios have matched since (Off the top of my head, the only runs that can match it in both length and quality since are FromSoft and Naughty Dog, though I would be happy to be wrong).
Rondo of Blood is the best Classicvania. Everything just clicks with it. I really enjoy that after SC4's push into being much easier, Rondo kicks it back to being punishing but fair. Richter can swing his whip up, but only at one angle that means he can get some aerial enemies, but has to position himself with more care than Simon had to. The level design is similarly tough without being cruel, and I love the alternate stages mechanic.
The series continues to experiment with player choice and nonlinearity. Each level has an alternate path you have to work to get to, and like Dracula's Curse there's a separate playable character. Maria Renard is broken and makes the game comically easy, but she's also a 12-year old girl who fights by summoning animals (which is really funny) and you have to unlock her so I'm alright with it. Her ending cutscene is also really funny and displays that the devs knew exactly what they were doing by adding a broken character that's a little girl. It's great.
The presentation is also so good. I love the covers of older tracks and Richter's theme is maybe my favourite track in the series. The visuals are gorgeous thanks to being on a stronger console than its contemporaries on other platforms, most obvious with the addition of animated cutscenes that lend Rondo a shonen anime feel that keeps it distinct from its classic monster movie-inspired 2D bretheren and its gothic pretty boy-filled successors.
God, I love Rondo of Blood. It's a shame that it took so long for it to hit Western shelves because I really do think it's the peak of the series' sidescrolling platforming era.
Next- Castlevania: Bloodlines
Previous- Super Castlevania IV
Reviewed on May 28, 2023