Beaten: May 12 2022
Time: I genuinely have no idea, but 20 min if you know what you're doing
Platform: Mac (via Parallels)

This cool little game is the precursor to the Ultima series, and what's here is literally just the bones of Ultima 1 + a tiny bit of story. For what it is though, it's pretty cool. Plus the 1998 version's music is bangin

First game I’ve beaten this year!!! It probably doesn’t deserve 5* for how cryptic the last dungeon, solomon shrine can be. As well as some boss fights that are pretty bad (bat demon guy in book 1. Darm is also one of the hardest bosses in any game I’ve played, if not the hardest). And the combat feeling rather janky at times. But I’ll give credit where it’s due, for a game that was released in 1989, it generally does a pretty good job of giving you hints on what to do next, so I only had to resort to a guide maybe twice for each part of the game. The QoL is also surprising, menu saving is a godsend in this kind of game.

And to cap this off with things I liked about the game:
-Maze level design is fun! The game almost feels like a metroidvania at points because of it.
-Music is fantastic.
-Bump system, while previously stated as janky, still has a lot of charm within.
-Story as well as the world building is decent-good

This is an unlocalized sequel to the original game. I imagine I'll be the only reviewer of this game on here so let me go in depth.

Story:
The story begins quite slow as the son of the previous protagonist explores the exact same world but once you reach new areas there's actually some pretty impressive plot twists. Like I genuinely was not expecting this to become so sci fi heavy. It makes the first game even more intense than it was because this plot twists were foreshadowed in it.

Gameplay:
The first game having enemies in the overworld was very impressive at the time but made the mistake of having them walk around invisibly until you get an item. This game fixes that problem by making them visible from the start. The magic system was revamped from a standard system to a unique system. Basically each character has a few slots for different spells. After using a spell in combat there will be a meter that has to fill up before it can be used again. This meter fills as you move around the map. It's a neat way of making sure you can't just spam your best moves. That being said it makes the game harder. The enemies in this game are overall more difficult than the original so it's definitely a whole difficulty notch higher.

I'm a sucker for the "classicvania" style and figured I'd give this one a try. It was really attractive to me—for one, the arcade sprites are huge and beautiful—admire Simon's Chun-li-esque thighs—and I was interested in seeing how the platforming acton translated into coin-op form. It turns out not very well.

I played the infamously difficult Haunted Castle on the Japanese rom, having heard it's easier than the American one. I was having an alright time until the third level, when it was taking four slaps of my level 1 vampire killer (I had died and lost my power up) to kill this game's flea variant; you simply don't have enough time to fire off four hits before the enemy hits you. Your other option is to rush the enemy and duck at exactly the right moment so he would fly over Simon, but it's 1) really hard to time and 2) useless when two of them are rushing at you, or there's a knight involved. I reset the game, ready to try to get there again with the level 2 vampire killer (which swaps the whip for a morning star flail) to see if it did more damage, and then dug into the settings. Sure enough, Konami Arcade Collection graciously supplies difficulty modifiers. I turned enemy enemy damage on low, and difficulty to easy. It was certainly easier, but still a pain in the ass.

The final level is a long bridge sequence to Dracula's castle. The bridge collapses behind you, while bats dive at you in front of you. When you stop to attack, the bridge collapsing doesn't pause, so as you defend yourself from bats while crossing the bridge you move ever closer to falling off. In fact, if you successfully kill every single bat you encounter, you are certain to be pushed off the falling bridge. However, these bats don't knock you back, so you can truck through them, but you'll take damage. You're forced to strategically kill bats and alternatively take damage while crossing the bridge, and figuring out exactly how many bats to kill to maximize leftover health for the Dracula fight was a weird experience. It's a fascinating bit of design where you literally cannot get through without taking damage. This learning process didn't feel great, but I found it was successfully thematic. You're not getting away clean if you want to kill Dracula. (I found after that you can also just memorize when the bats swoop down then time a jump to kill it as it does, but I'm too stupid for that kind of solution.)

Dracula himself was a total chump, and went down in just a few hits. In general, the bosses of this game are just rewards for making your way through the difficult levels, which I don't mind. I liked seeing Frankenstein and the Gorgon in arcade style, even if you only see them for a few moments.

I can't really recommend this game—The Astyanax is a much better Castlevania arcade game—but I'm glad I checked it out. It's an interesting curiosity and worth seeing if you're a fan of Castlevania.

So, uh... this was a thing apparently. Some time after Castlevania II, they made an arcade game for the series, which was NOT called Castlevania, because that would only make too much sense.

It was only thanks to the Arcade Archive of this game on the PS4 that I was able to play this game after 36 years, and after finally doing that... yeah, no, this game sucks. Sure, the attempt to make a Castlevania game for the arcades is appreciated, and it isn't flat out terrible, but this could have been done SO much better.

The story is basically a mix between Castlevania and Ghosts n' Goblins, because apparently Simon needed a wife, the graphics look pretty good for a Castlevania arcade game, the music is alright, but doesn't really have anything noteworthy, and it is short enough to where it doesn't waste your time.

As you would expect, everything falls apart when it comes to the gameplay. The control is pretty awkward, and does take getting used to if you are very familiar with other Castlevania games, the movement is SO FUCKING SLOW, Simon's sprite is way too big, and, the biggest problem, there are enemies and obstacles EVERYWHERE. As an arcade game, it is meant to eat up your money, so it does so by throwing as many enemies and obstacles at you at once without seeming like it is unfair, and you will take damage A LOT, most of it not being your fault. It works out for arcades, but when you play it at home, it makes me wanna throw my controller.

At some point in the game, I just decided to run through the stages while taking the least amount of damage as possible, and that ended up working out more times than not. If I have to resort to that in order to beat your game, then you know you have fucked up. With all that being said though, I think I have found a more hilariously bad cover art then the Mega Man 1 box art. Seriously, that is so bad, it is priceless.

Overall, while I don't think it is completely awful, it is a pretty bad attempt at a Castlevania arcade game, and I wouldn't recommend seeking it out to try to play it.

Game #23