The slightly changed puzzles for two unlockables (finding Iris and Annette) were both an interesting twist and a bit of a "bruh I gotta get a guide to find these now?" with how they are.

Otherwise it seems all arond like Rondo but with a muddier 3D facelift (though it made the snake boss easier to stop fearing), and some songs are good if not kinda close to Rondo's ,others are alright but definitely not as good, and then there's Stage 7/Moon Light which is the one song I would say that beats the original song used.

Stage 5' isn't THAT different in that it did have a neat visual overhaul but when you have played Rondo, the stage does share a similar structure and layout (ducking under spikes over platforms in water, the split with knights guarding the areas, and that going the upper path will have you meet two black knights). Very similar in the first-time frustration factor as well.

A few moments were jankier to platform due to the 3D hitboxes (and Stage 7 has been tweaked to be a little bit more difficult) but other than that, the stages are often the same as Rondo in difficulty, and the bosses feel easier to keep track of which is kinda funny (though I couldn't bother with the Lesser Vampire so I ended up looking up how to find Annette and fight the real boss there)

Its still a version of Rondo which means that it does hold up, and having Rondo/SOTN in the same package really adds to value (even though you will likely need to look up where to find them, or at least Rondo in my case), but while the music remapping feature is cool, having to search so much to find EVERY song from both past games isn't so much. That and not being able to put the OG Rondo music for Dracula's fight; why show the option but lock that out?

That aside, I think that the visual style being kinda cluttered in some stages, the music unlocks (not going for a 100% run because of those when they are kinda useless if I have played everything already unless you want to revisit in the future or are a completionist) and getting a bit frustrated over "OH SO THEY WERE HERE ALL ALONG" moments with Iris/Annette along with Stage 5' being Stage 5' might have knocked off that one/half star from the Rating (though that frustration is also likely because I only played it the most on a phone...but it also means that I can say I beat Dracula and all stages except 5' so far on that of all things), but on the other hand, at least it doesn't break everything and what's still familiar feels more accessible than before.

I like Rondo more but a lot of what done here was clearly done with care for the fans, and PSP owners were eating real good when this came out.

Day One player, also Day One Kart player, it is a different handling beast than SRB2Kart and the tutorial does take a while, but beyond that, getting used to the curve of the new physics and juicing up the Kart with rings has been quite the new experience.

...I ended up playing six hours total last night after it launched. Six hours on DAY ONE.

...And a lot of that was spent online, as I've only completed four cups so far. It won me over.

I'm giving this one a 4.5/5 because the version I finished was Vampire Killer (the Japanese version) since the way limited continues work in the American version turned me off immediately after realizing how they worked and struggling up to Stage 4 where I saw the password kept my (lack of) lives and continues.

If you don't want to play with savestates, reloading passwords a lot and overall having to go through so much trial-and-error to complete the stages without enough mistakes that cost you valuable lives later on, I HIGHLY recommend you to play the Japanese version.

You still get "continues", but the passwords are given when you run out of them, and they will put you at the start of the stage you died at with all lives and continues refilled, so its merciful like Super Castlevania IV/Rondo of Blood instead of demanding like American Contra Hard Corps. And boy, you'll need that mercy when you get to Stage 5 and 6.

That aside, very creative game (specially for a Castlevania) and Iron Blue Intention slaps. Was pretty fun to go JOHN MORRISSSSSSS with bigger sub-weapons and whip swinging.

Might play Vampire Killer's expert mode one day (which is equivalent to Bloodlines's normal mode, but password system is unchanged), or maybe play thru Bloodlines with states, but for now I'm content with what I got here.

Some bosses might be a tiny tiny bit baloney (AND THE STAGE 6-4 KNIGHTS) without the respawn invuln bomb spam trick, specially if you are on a fresh password reload without any fire powerups...but having that little trick on your sleeve to burn through annoying enemies and bosses if needed is not only really funny to watch but also helps with the run time whenever you happen to die to use it, and overall is something fun to use as the only game that has it. Reminds me of Sonic Adventure and the spam dash lol

That aside, its Bomberman. BUT IT HAS CO-OP, AND I PLAYED THIS THING THE WHOLE WAY IN CO-OP WITH A NEPHEW, AND IT WAS SO FUN.

First time I played it with him was in July 25, 2023, then hadn't played it again until today January 21, 2024 as of writing this and actually completed it. Two sessions and the game is done- short but sweet (had a password to restart from the last time we played).

Bomberman with co-op is such a simple but effective game not only because Bomberman itself is easy to pick up by kids, but also there's so much funny stuff that can happen when both are trying to get one enemy, or even surprises when your little nephew managed to ace that one last enemy remaining on a stage while you somehow ran out of lives. Even if many time its you carrying the stages, but teamwork is what makes it fun, y'know.

We even managed to complete the game, me giving a last stand to the final boss after my nephew died and ending the second phase without dying with the Bomb Punch, right as his dad said it was time to go. Still surreal to think that such perfect timing happened, but I'm glad that it did.

TL;DR: Play this game- alone it should be worth to power-up and survive with it or go ham with the respawn trick, but if you can play this with Co-op, then DEFINITELY do it. With friends, cousins or nephews, it is a blast that's easy to get, and really easy to get some laughs at.

Bearing Arcade mode in LV8 diff was sure an experience. 44 minutes later but I did it with Yugo.

Kinda funny how the AI is SOMETIMES easily susceptible to throwing strings that can be evaded and punished with funny PPP string...but gotta admit that I only looked up properly how to Evade when Gado walling the life out of me in Stage 6 due to his attacks blockstun giving me little room for punishing until I started getting the hang of evades.

That aside, Bloody Roar is always pretty cool yah

First playthrough after years done- Tukikage had me lose several times but at least I got to beat him. The Bamsham fight will have to wait until I either somehow manage to survive Tukikage and everyone before him without losing once...or I accept using savestates to at least try that fight once.

AND HOURS LATER I GOT A GOOD RUN, FOUGHT BAMSHAM, LOST 10 TIMES, WON AT THE 11TH, AND THEN HAD TO FIGHT IT AGAIN ON MY TITLE DEFENSE...AAAAND SURRVIIIIVEEEEEDDDD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdrYej7IsqI

Baller game, very baller looking for the console it is one and very snappy to play- might be my favorite out of all the Punch-Out like games so far only because I haven't played the Wii game yet.