Jongaming
11 reviews liked by Jongaming
Metroid
1986
"Bro this game is so outdated!!! Just play Zero Mission instead and skip this!!!!!!!!!!"
why don't I skip over your bad takes how about that
shoutout to HPRshredder and his guide for getting me interested in playing Metroid 1 again as well as The Geek Critique for revisiting the game and shedding a more positive light to it. I haven't seen U Can Beat Video Games's video yet but his Castlevania II and Dragon Warrior ones were really great so this one's probably worth checking too, okay I'll actually talk about the game now
there's something about the original Metroid that has this cool...."uniqueness"? yeah I'm not sure what's the right word for it, but there's a unique feeling about this one that none of the later games quite have. now I agree that every other Metroid game I played is better than this one (every 2D one besides Metroid II GB, a decent portion of Prime 1), but I'd say that this is comparing a collection of gold trophies to a singular dusty gold trophy that could use a quick feather duster to shine again. what I'm saying is that this game's good
what's cool about the original Metroid's story is that there's nothing to precede it. none of the familiar lore of the later games is here so what we're given is in this one (which isn't much) (that's cool though) is all we really get. basically a powerful species known as "Metroids" has been captured by the Space Pirates, they're like criminals but in the space alien variety. The Federation Police sends out some bounty hunters to Planet Zebes, which is the Space Pirates hideout, to stop them from using the Metroids as a dangerous weapon however none of them were able to succeed. as a last resort they send Samus Aran, a cool cyborg dude (please don't get on my case I'll bring it up later) who gained a famous reputation for completely bounties most others thought would be impossible. naturally it would make sense for them to send the best of the best, so now Samus Aran must now traverse through Planet Zebes, explore and find the items and abilities left by it's previous civilization, defeat the two leaders of the Pirates (Ridley and Kraid), and eradicate the Metroids before they destroy the galaxy! for the first game, there's still a pretty decent amount of backstory and is still much more than a majority of games that came before it, so it's cool that there's a reason why you're there as well as an actual world you're in that isn't just a bunch of nameless disconnected levels, that's pretty nice for a game made in 1986.
Metroid is an exploration game, everyone probably knows it. what everyone always knows as well is that you're aren't just going right the entire game (cue a lengthy explanation on how a first-time player goes right until a dead end, only to go all the way back to the left and find the Morph Ball so they can go through the tiny corridor they couldn't before). your ultimate goal of the game is to defeat both Ridley and Kraid so you can access the final part of the game you encounter the Metroids as well as the final boss, however the way you go about doing so is all up to you, to the point where you can choose whether to face Ridley first or Kraid first. now you could immediately head straight for their hideouts and take them out as soon as possible, but an inexperienced player will no doubt get their ass handed to them, which makes sense since Zebes is a pretty hostile planet, so they'll probably want to stay around in Brinstar (the beginning section of Zebes) for a while and gather items to power up and prepare them for the tougher parts of the game. some of the items you can get are Missiles, which not only are a powerful offense, but can also help you open the Ketchup and Mustard Doors that can't be opened by regular shots. Energy Tanks not only increase your health by 100 but it also fully restores your health too, there's 8 of them in the game but Samus's health is maxed out after 6 of them, so it'd be a good idea to save the remaining 2 for when you need to regain some health quickly. now for actual upgrades, the Morph Ball (or Maru Mari as the cool people call it) lets Samus morph into a tiny ball to get through small passages, and the Bomb allows Samus to make bombs in this form to help defeat small enemies and get through blocks that otherwise can't be destroyed. the Long Beam makes Samus's shots long ranged which can be good for dealing enemies from far away, but it's not too important of an upgrade so you can to skip it if you want. the Ice Beam lets you freeze almost all the enemies in the game which also can turn them into temporary platforms before they thaw out which can helpful if you don't want to deal with them or if you want to do a few helpful skips, it can still be used as a regular weapon. the Wave Beam is a beam that pierces through everything and is decently powerful, however it overrides the Ice Beam which is needed if you want to defeat or get away from the Metroids in the final area so it's actually even more skippable than the Long Beam, if you plan to use this then make sure you pick up the Ice Beam again before you head to the final area. the High Jump Boots let Samus just higher, not much to say other then it helps Samus obtain the Varia Suit easier. the Varia Suit not only changes Samus's armor to a bright pink as a symbol of power, but it also halves all damage taken, making it very useful when it comes to traversing beyond Brinstar. lastly the Screw Attack, probably the best upgrade here, lets you perform a powerful shock whenever you diagonally jump, which instantly kills most regular enemies in the game, not only that but it's possible to get the item before you even face Ridley or Kraid, I cannot justify its power with what I'm saying here so you really need to get it yourself so you can understand what I mean.
once you're powered up and have defeated the two Space Pirate leaders, you can head to the upper left corner of Brinstar and gain access to the final area, Tourian, where the Metroids and final obstacle of the game is awaiting you, "Mother Brain". you better conserve your missiles for the end, and I don't mean just for Mother Brain, but to even get to her you'll have to destroy regenerating barriers that can only be damaged by barriers, they don't regenerate if you can manage to destroy them thankfully. the Mother Brain fight is weird, she doesn't attack you at all but the Rinkas (floating projectives that aim for you) and the cannons in the battlefield are very plentiful, so you'll be spending your time getting hit by those a lot thanks to your big hitbox, and whatever you do, DON'T fall in the lava in front of Metroid Brain, try to keep your distance by being on the right edge of the final pillar so you don't fall in the lava and instead land on the safe platform to the right of the pillar. after defeating Mother Brain you've now completed the ga-- SIKES YOU HAVE TO DO A SURPRISE ESCAPE SEQUENCE but it's kinda easy outside of the platforms being a bit small, the layout is also repeated a lot so it really shouldn't be a big deal once you memorized it. when you do that only then do you get the ending and here's when the fun part comes in. depending on how fast you beat the game, you might be able to discover Samus's true identity! if you manage to finish the game under five hours, Samus takes off the helmet to reveal....HE WAS A SHE THE WHOLE TIME?!?!?!?!?! yeah everyone and their mother knows Samus is a female nowadays (unless you don't so if this is how you find out then I'm terribly sorry), Nintendo themselves only kept it a secret for this game in particular, but for 1986 this was a pretty cool hidden twist, especially considering that Samus is one of the first female protagonists. yeah Ms. Pac-Man predates her by about four years, sorry Samus! if you finish the game in under three hours Samus goes down to a leotard which also lets you play as in that form after the credits (or by a password if you don't want to do all that), and under a hour has her go into a bikini. she must be the most cocky and confident bounty hunter ever if she's taking down an entire planet wearing nothing but that under her suit. if you didn't beat the game under five hours, you can always try again and see how faster you can become with more experience and knowledge of Planet Zebes. it's a pretty short game so that along with the incentive of getting to see Samus in a 8-bit bikini makes the replayability of the original Metroid pretty high.
Metroid's graphics are very simplistic, but I think this actually benefits toward the game's favor. normally having a black background for the entire game would be kinda lame, but for here it works. you're venturing inside a dark and hostile planet, if the background was blue or something then the entire atmosphere would be thrown out of the window. speaking of atmosphere, I think this is the first game in my opinion to successfully pull off a tense one. the realistic looking enemies compared to other games at the time having stuff like Goombas or Moblins makes you feel like your dealing with a much more genuine threat, though a lot of them are actually easy to face against especially once you have enough upgrades. all the dark scenery likes the faces you see next to the elevator that takes you to Ridley as well as the iconic face in the corridor just before Kraid's room makes you feel like you really don't belong here, thankfully you're playing as Samus though and no one is more capable for this job than her.
if you need something to boost the atmosphere, then the soundtrack's got you covered. the Title Theme starts off simplistic and foreboding but if you stick around long enough then it transforms to a much more hopeful melody but looping back to the menacing drones again. the Start Jingle and Brinstar continue this optimism with an upbeat and heroic tune before you end up wandering into a Secret Area that brings back the droning from the beginning of the title screen but with a more neutral and mysterious tone this time. if you're lucky and happen to come across the statues that grant you upgrades you get this Item Jingle to signal that not only did you gain a new ability but that you're on the right path to victory. though if you hear this near an elevator and choose to go down, you'll instead hear this foreboding tune of Norfair which while also signifies you're on the right part (to Ridley in particular), it also means the game's no longer messing around and you face a huge threat of getting killed if you haven't prepped up enough before. go down even further to Ridley's Hideout and get to even to hear this game's "you will die" theme. if you choose to go to Kraid's Hideout, you instead get this really rad and groovy ass theme that I can't believe was composed back in 1986. it's insane how bopping Kraid's theme is, it almost feels out of place in a way but I'm not complaining, this is the best track in the game and I will not be argued otherwise. once you face Ridley and Kraid or just venture into Tourian, you get this pretty threatening theme once you ignore the goofy bubble sounds that play during the whole thing. by the time you get to Mother Brain there are no more melodies, there are only deranged 8-bit noises to describe the terror that is Mother Brain, and by Mother Brain, I mean everything else that's inside her room. the Escape Theme starts off with a "you need to get out" vibe but after the first 30 or so seconds it insteads transforms into a "you saved the galaxy, just one more push!" vibe. then there's the Ending Theme which is a full on melody that goes from menacing to triumphant then just starts going all out after that first minute, okay this might rival Kraid's theme for the best track in the game.
so yeah Metroid NES is epic especially for its time and I feel the smaller majority that still thinks this game holds up, though it is rough in a couple of places I'll admit. lack of a map, similar looking rooms, enemies being able to hit you while you're going through doors, starting with 30 energy after a game over, the entirety of Mother Brain's room, it's a little rough to get into, especially on your first or second playthrough when you have no idea what to do. if you have the courage to come back to this game though and learn everything about it, it becomes much more enjoyable and dare I say....fun. even with Zero Mission being arguably a better Metroid 1 experience, I still can't bring myself to say this game can be easily skipped. Zero Mission may take place in Zebes, but otherwise it's a full-on remake with completely different room layouts as well as reworked bosses and gameplay elements, a very great remake I have to add, but I do have the courage to tell you that you will indeed be missing out if you don't give the original a deserved shot. despite all my praises, this is somehow still the weakest Metroid I've played but a 7/10 being the weakest goes to show the exceptional quality of the Metroid franchise, heck I might change my score to a 8/10 later down the line because that's how neat I think Metroid is.
so yeah that's it, play the game, git gud or something do people still use that phrase
why don't I skip over your bad takes how about that
shoutout to HPRshredder and his guide for getting me interested in playing Metroid 1 again as well as The Geek Critique for revisiting the game and shedding a more positive light to it. I haven't seen U Can Beat Video Games's video yet but his Castlevania II and Dragon Warrior ones were really great so this one's probably worth checking too, okay I'll actually talk about the game now
there's something about the original Metroid that has this cool...."uniqueness"? yeah I'm not sure what's the right word for it, but there's a unique feeling about this one that none of the later games quite have. now I agree that every other Metroid game I played is better than this one (every 2D one besides Metroid II GB, a decent portion of Prime 1), but I'd say that this is comparing a collection of gold trophies to a singular dusty gold trophy that could use a quick feather duster to shine again. what I'm saying is that this game's good
what's cool about the original Metroid's story is that there's nothing to precede it. none of the familiar lore of the later games is here so what we're given is in this one (which isn't much) (that's cool though) is all we really get. basically a powerful species known as "Metroids" has been captured by the Space Pirates, they're like criminals but in the space alien variety. The Federation Police sends out some bounty hunters to Planet Zebes, which is the Space Pirates hideout, to stop them from using the Metroids as a dangerous weapon however none of them were able to succeed. as a last resort they send Samus Aran, a cool cyborg dude (please don't get on my case I'll bring it up later) who gained a famous reputation for completely bounties most others thought would be impossible. naturally it would make sense for them to send the best of the best, so now Samus Aran must now traverse through Planet Zebes, explore and find the items and abilities left by it's previous civilization, defeat the two leaders of the Pirates (Ridley and Kraid), and eradicate the Metroids before they destroy the galaxy! for the first game, there's still a pretty decent amount of backstory and is still much more than a majority of games that came before it, so it's cool that there's a reason why you're there as well as an actual world you're in that isn't just a bunch of nameless disconnected levels, that's pretty nice for a game made in 1986.
Metroid is an exploration game, everyone probably knows it. what everyone always knows as well is that you're aren't just going right the entire game (cue a lengthy explanation on how a first-time player goes right until a dead end, only to go all the way back to the left and find the Morph Ball so they can go through the tiny corridor they couldn't before). your ultimate goal of the game is to defeat both Ridley and Kraid so you can access the final part of the game you encounter the Metroids as well as the final boss, however the way you go about doing so is all up to you, to the point where you can choose whether to face Ridley first or Kraid first. now you could immediately head straight for their hideouts and take them out as soon as possible, but an inexperienced player will no doubt get their ass handed to them, which makes sense since Zebes is a pretty hostile planet, so they'll probably want to stay around in Brinstar (the beginning section of Zebes) for a while and gather items to power up and prepare them for the tougher parts of the game. some of the items you can get are Missiles, which not only are a powerful offense, but can also help you open the Ketchup and Mustard Doors that can't be opened by regular shots. Energy Tanks not only increase your health by 100 but it also fully restores your health too, there's 8 of them in the game but Samus's health is maxed out after 6 of them, so it'd be a good idea to save the remaining 2 for when you need to regain some health quickly. now for actual upgrades, the Morph Ball (or Maru Mari as the cool people call it) lets Samus morph into a tiny ball to get through small passages, and the Bomb allows Samus to make bombs in this form to help defeat small enemies and get through blocks that otherwise can't be destroyed. the Long Beam makes Samus's shots long ranged which can be good for dealing enemies from far away, but it's not too important of an upgrade so you can to skip it if you want. the Ice Beam lets you freeze almost all the enemies in the game which also can turn them into temporary platforms before they thaw out which can helpful if you don't want to deal with them or if you want to do a few helpful skips, it can still be used as a regular weapon. the Wave Beam is a beam that pierces through everything and is decently powerful, however it overrides the Ice Beam which is needed if you want to defeat or get away from the Metroids in the final area so it's actually even more skippable than the Long Beam, if you plan to use this then make sure you pick up the Ice Beam again before you head to the final area. the High Jump Boots let Samus just higher, not much to say other then it helps Samus obtain the Varia Suit easier. the Varia Suit not only changes Samus's armor to a bright pink as a symbol of power, but it also halves all damage taken, making it very useful when it comes to traversing beyond Brinstar. lastly the Screw Attack, probably the best upgrade here, lets you perform a powerful shock whenever you diagonally jump, which instantly kills most regular enemies in the game, not only that but it's possible to get the item before you even face Ridley or Kraid, I cannot justify its power with what I'm saying here so you really need to get it yourself so you can understand what I mean.
once you're powered up and have defeated the two Space Pirate leaders, you can head to the upper left corner of Brinstar and gain access to the final area, Tourian, where the Metroids and final obstacle of the game is awaiting you, "Mother Brain". you better conserve your missiles for the end, and I don't mean just for Mother Brain, but to even get to her you'll have to destroy regenerating barriers that can only be damaged by barriers, they don't regenerate if you can manage to destroy them thankfully. the Mother Brain fight is weird, she doesn't attack you at all but the Rinkas (floating projectives that aim for you) and the cannons in the battlefield are very plentiful, so you'll be spending your time getting hit by those a lot thanks to your big hitbox, and whatever you do, DON'T fall in the lava in front of Metroid Brain, try to keep your distance by being on the right edge of the final pillar so you don't fall in the lava and instead land on the safe platform to the right of the pillar. after defeating Mother Brain you've now completed the ga-- SIKES YOU HAVE TO DO A SURPRISE ESCAPE SEQUENCE but it's kinda easy outside of the platforms being a bit small, the layout is also repeated a lot so it really shouldn't be a big deal once you memorized it. when you do that only then do you get the ending and here's when the fun part comes in. depending on how fast you beat the game, you might be able to discover Samus's true identity! if you manage to finish the game under five hours, Samus takes off the helmet to reveal....HE WAS A SHE THE WHOLE TIME?!?!?!?!?! yeah everyone and their mother knows Samus is a female nowadays (unless you don't so if this is how you find out then I'm terribly sorry), Nintendo themselves only kept it a secret for this game in particular, but for 1986 this was a pretty cool hidden twist, especially considering that Samus is one of the first female protagonists. yeah Ms. Pac-Man predates her by about four years, sorry Samus! if you finish the game in under three hours Samus goes down to a leotard which also lets you play as in that form after the credits (or by a password if you don't want to do all that), and under a hour has her go into a bikini. she must be the most cocky and confident bounty hunter ever if she's taking down an entire planet wearing nothing but that under her suit. if you didn't beat the game under five hours, you can always try again and see how faster you can become with more experience and knowledge of Planet Zebes. it's a pretty short game so that along with the incentive of getting to see Samus in a 8-bit bikini makes the replayability of the original Metroid pretty high.
Metroid's graphics are very simplistic, but I think this actually benefits toward the game's favor. normally having a black background for the entire game would be kinda lame, but for here it works. you're venturing inside a dark and hostile planet, if the background was blue or something then the entire atmosphere would be thrown out of the window. speaking of atmosphere, I think this is the first game in my opinion to successfully pull off a tense one. the realistic looking enemies compared to other games at the time having stuff like Goombas or Moblins makes you feel like your dealing with a much more genuine threat, though a lot of them are actually easy to face against especially once you have enough upgrades. all the dark scenery likes the faces you see next to the elevator that takes you to Ridley as well as the iconic face in the corridor just before Kraid's room makes you feel like you really don't belong here, thankfully you're playing as Samus though and no one is more capable for this job than her.
if you need something to boost the atmosphere, then the soundtrack's got you covered. the Title Theme starts off simplistic and foreboding but if you stick around long enough then it transforms to a much more hopeful melody but looping back to the menacing drones again. the Start Jingle and Brinstar continue this optimism with an upbeat and heroic tune before you end up wandering into a Secret Area that brings back the droning from the beginning of the title screen but with a more neutral and mysterious tone this time. if you're lucky and happen to come across the statues that grant you upgrades you get this Item Jingle to signal that not only did you gain a new ability but that you're on the right path to victory. though if you hear this near an elevator and choose to go down, you'll instead hear this foreboding tune of Norfair which while also signifies you're on the right part (to Ridley in particular), it also means the game's no longer messing around and you face a huge threat of getting killed if you haven't prepped up enough before. go down even further to Ridley's Hideout and get to even to hear this game's "you will die" theme. if you choose to go to Kraid's Hideout, you instead get this really rad and groovy ass theme that I can't believe was composed back in 1986. it's insane how bopping Kraid's theme is, it almost feels out of place in a way but I'm not complaining, this is the best track in the game and I will not be argued otherwise. once you face Ridley and Kraid or just venture into Tourian, you get this pretty threatening theme once you ignore the goofy bubble sounds that play during the whole thing. by the time you get to Mother Brain there are no more melodies, there are only deranged 8-bit noises to describe the terror that is Mother Brain, and by Mother Brain, I mean everything else that's inside her room. the Escape Theme starts off with a "you need to get out" vibe but after the first 30 or so seconds it insteads transforms into a "you saved the galaxy, just one more push!" vibe. then there's the Ending Theme which is a full on melody that goes from menacing to triumphant then just starts going all out after that first minute, okay this might rival Kraid's theme for the best track in the game.
so yeah Metroid NES is epic especially for its time and I feel the smaller majority that still thinks this game holds up, though it is rough in a couple of places I'll admit. lack of a map, similar looking rooms, enemies being able to hit you while you're going through doors, starting with 30 energy after a game over, the entirety of Mother Brain's room, it's a little rough to get into, especially on your first or second playthrough when you have no idea what to do. if you have the courage to come back to this game though and learn everything about it, it becomes much more enjoyable and dare I say....fun. even with Zero Mission being arguably a better Metroid 1 experience, I still can't bring myself to say this game can be easily skipped. Zero Mission may take place in Zebes, but otherwise it's a full-on remake with completely different room layouts as well as reworked bosses and gameplay elements, a very great remake I have to add, but I do have the courage to tell you that you will indeed be missing out if you don't give the original a deserved shot. despite all my praises, this is somehow still the weakest Metroid I've played but a 7/10 being the weakest goes to show the exceptional quality of the Metroid franchise, heck I might change my score to a 8/10 later down the line because that's how neat I think Metroid is.
so yeah that's it, play the game, git gud or something do people still use that phrase
Ten chances to add Geno and all ten of them wasted on lame ass anime characters
Super Mario RPG
2023
♫Super Mario RPG♫
♫this is the game that's just for me♫
♫jumping around and getting Frog Coins♫
♫leveling up with the team all day♫
♫Mario, Bowser, Peach, Mallow♫
♫Geno Beam and the Geno Whirl♫
♫climbing the vine for the Lazy Shell♫
♫steamrolling the enemies in our way♫
♫Terrapins, Chaindeliers, Goombas, Paratroopas♫
♫Spikeys, Hammer Bro, Frogogs, K-9s♫
♫Croco, Shymores, Bodyguards, Claymorton♫
♫formally known as Mack the Knife♫
♫Smithy the Sword fell from the sky♫
♫"Uh actually, his name's Exor!!!"♫
♫don't care just wanted to reference that♫
♫okay now back on-topic we go♫
♫Mario has to gather all the♫
♫Star Pieces to fix up the Star Road♫
♫so he can restore everyone's wishes♫
♫wait a sec this is just a Kirby plot♫
(♫this is just a Kirby plot, this is just a Kirby plot♫)
(♫this is just a Kirby plot, this is just a Kirby plot♫)
♫I'm gonna be honest with you♫
♫I don't have any lyrics left♫
♫but that's okay and I'll tell you why:♫
♫you get to hear this violin solo♫
♫this is the game that's just for me♫
♫jumping around and getting Frog Coins♫
♫leveling up with the team all day♫
♫Mario, Bowser, Peach, Mallow♫
♫Geno Beam and the Geno Whirl♫
♫climbing the vine for the Lazy Shell♫
♫steamrolling the enemies in our way♫
♫Terrapins, Chaindeliers, Goombas, Paratroopas♫
♫Spikeys, Hammer Bro, Frogogs, K-9s♫
♫Croco, Shymores, Bodyguards, Claymorton♫
♫formally known as Mack the Knife♫
♫Smithy the Sword fell from the sky♫
♫"Uh actually, his name's Exor!!!"♫
♫don't care just wanted to reference that♫
♫okay now back on-topic we go♫
♫Mario has to gather all the♫
♫Star Pieces to fix up the Star Road♫
♫so he can restore everyone's wishes♫
♫wait a sec this is just a Kirby plot♫
(♫this is just a Kirby plot, this is just a Kirby plot♫)
(♫this is just a Kirby plot, this is just a Kirby plot♫)
♫I'm gonna be honest with you♫
♫I don't have any lyrics left♫
♫but that's okay and I'll tell you why:♫
♫you get to hear this violin solo♫
whether you like him or don't like him, there's nothing you can do about him, because he's number one
whether you like him or don't like him, there's nothing you can do about him, because he's number one
whether you like him or don't like him, there's nothing you can do about him, because he's number one
Tsukihime
2000
”I am never going to play that fucking shit in my life,” I said after reading Cab’s review on Tsukhime, circa April 2022. However, regardless of telling myself that, the morbid curiosity of playing whatever this game was has lingered in my head for quite some time. Probably not helped by me getting a bit into Melty Blood at the time, alongside watching the Ufortable adaptation of Unlimited Blade Works. But, if you know me at all, the biggest roadblock was of course the adult content. Not that I mind a story reflecting sexual themes, as those are important stories to tell, but more in the fact that the way Tsukihime presents those themes is gross and immature. However, my friend DomencioDovanna let me know of a fan patch that entirely skips the pointless time sink that is the adult scenes, while still not undercutting the themes, and he helped me set it up. Thanks!
It’s truly fascinating seeing Nasu’s humble beginnings in the VN industry. While not his first written work (that would be Garden of Sinners, iirc?), it was the first of his stories to be in the Visual Novel format. Context is very important to Tsukihime’s release, as it was a game made by about less than 10 people on a shoestring budget. In fact, all of the visual assets were made by one person, that being Takahashi Takeuchi. Both his artwork alongside Nasu’s writings share nice parallels in being extremely earnest, but still very amateurish and yet to fully bloom into their greatest potential. And that’s what’s so endearing about Tsukihime. Behind the blurry photographed backgrounds, the poor handling of sexual themes, the sometimes janky spritework, the occasionally repetitive prose- there’s a clear effort here to tell a memorable story. It’s probably one of the most honest and impressive games I’ve played, and it’s that context of its development that heightens my respect for it overall.
I don’t want to delve into the story very much here, because ultimately I would like you, the reader, to see what lies under the moon yourself. It’s a story about how important the choices in our lives matter. It’s a story about overcoming our trauma and finding a greater understanding in ourselves. And yes, it is a story that is telling us that life is worth living. It has these wonderful heroines, and each route is truly unique. It’s a game that’s both comfortable yet unnerving, fills us with sorrow but also gives us joy, it can disgust us yet can be so beautiful.
If you have ever wanted to try out Tsukihime, now is the time. The english patch by mirror moon has been out for years, and even offers a SFW patch for the game as I described above. You can play it on a multitude of platforms, even including a fantastic web version that is soon to be the definitive edition of the game. The plus disc also has a translation by mirror moon, and is also worth checking out after the main game, alongside a translation of the sequel(?) Kagetsu Tohya, by Mr Fortayee. And of course, the remake is going to be getting an official translation next year, which I am very excited for! If you don’t have the patience though, there is an already existing translation patch for the Switch version by Tsukihimates.
Despite all of what I’ve said, I can’t exactly recommend Tsukihime. It’s absolutely not a game for everyone, and your enjoyment of the experience is going to vary. But I think if you can look through the cracks, you can find a fantastic narrative that may stick with you for a long time. And lastly, a thank you to Dr Delicious who sat through all of my liveposting throughout my playthrough, and gave me much more insight into the story that made me appreciate the experience even more as a whole.
” - —- Thank you. I’m glad I met you, Sensei.”
It’s truly fascinating seeing Nasu’s humble beginnings in the VN industry. While not his first written work (that would be Garden of Sinners, iirc?), it was the first of his stories to be in the Visual Novel format. Context is very important to Tsukihime’s release, as it was a game made by about less than 10 people on a shoestring budget. In fact, all of the visual assets were made by one person, that being Takahashi Takeuchi. Both his artwork alongside Nasu’s writings share nice parallels in being extremely earnest, but still very amateurish and yet to fully bloom into their greatest potential. And that’s what’s so endearing about Tsukihime. Behind the blurry photographed backgrounds, the poor handling of sexual themes, the sometimes janky spritework, the occasionally repetitive prose- there’s a clear effort here to tell a memorable story. It’s probably one of the most honest and impressive games I’ve played, and it’s that context of its development that heightens my respect for it overall.
I don’t want to delve into the story very much here, because ultimately I would like you, the reader, to see what lies under the moon yourself. It’s a story about how important the choices in our lives matter. It’s a story about overcoming our trauma and finding a greater understanding in ourselves. And yes, it is a story that is telling us that life is worth living. It has these wonderful heroines, and each route is truly unique. It’s a game that’s both comfortable yet unnerving, fills us with sorrow but also gives us joy, it can disgust us yet can be so beautiful.
If you have ever wanted to try out Tsukihime, now is the time. The english patch by mirror moon has been out for years, and even offers a SFW patch for the game as I described above. You can play it on a multitude of platforms, even including a fantastic web version that is soon to be the definitive edition of the game. The plus disc also has a translation by mirror moon, and is also worth checking out after the main game, alongside a translation of the sequel(?) Kagetsu Tohya, by Mr Fortayee. And of course, the remake is going to be getting an official translation next year, which I am very excited for! If you don’t have the patience though, there is an already existing translation patch for the Switch version by Tsukihimates.
Despite all of what I’ve said, I can’t exactly recommend Tsukihime. It’s absolutely not a game for everyone, and your enjoyment of the experience is going to vary. But I think if you can look through the cracks, you can find a fantastic narrative that may stick with you for a long time. And lastly, a thank you to Dr Delicious who sat through all of my liveposting throughout my playthrough, and gave me much more insight into the story that made me appreciate the experience even more as a whole.
” - —- Thank you. I’m glad I met you, Sensei.”
as someone who's well familiar with the current state of Mario Party, mostly from other people on the internet, I gotta say....this ain't bad
now I'm not a Mario Party guy, I was always the Mario Kart one instead so don't expect me to go "THIS ISN'T LIKE THE N64 AND GAMECUBE ONES GRAAAAAH" because my personal experiences with the Hudson Soft Mario Parties doesn't go beyond 8, DS, and recently a tiny bit of 7. I will say that when it comes to the post-Hudson Soft games, this is the one that's definitely the closest to the originals (typed by someone who's barely touched the originals). I think what helps is how the Mushroom Village hub from the original is brought back as well as the Koopa Troopa who's the same exact Koopa that's the guide of the boards in the first Mario Party, I think that's really cool. I mean yeah he's no Geno or whatever but seeing him so excited to guide again as well as explaining the board events that took place in the N64 days really makes me root for the guy, welcome back bro. oh yeah Toad's hosting again too but he's everywhere
there's only five boards from this game (two from MP1, two from MP2, and one from MP3) and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. granted they're excellent board choices, even if Space Land was a bit of a mess from my experience, but it couldn't have hurt to include a couple of more boards from the later ones. five is just way too low, the original Mario Party has more boards than this game! at least they're not slacking on the minigame department, which has at least 100 of them, all of them coming from the previous console Mario Parties. of course this is no doubt impressive, I don't even think I've gone through every one by the time I finished all five boards. personally some minigames feel near impossible to win if you're facing CPUs on Hard and Master, but that isn't too much of a critique instead more or less a skill issue on my part, as well as the usual Mario Party BS. lastly I want to mention the Lucky Spaces, which I know were definitely not on the original boards. I don't dislike them really I mean whenever you step on one you always get something good I can't hate that, but I do think there's a little too many of them. in comparison to all those Lucky Space spots, there's only been one time someone landed on a Chance Time Space during all five board playthroughs, they should really replace all those Lucky Spaces with Chance Time that'll truly bring out the chaotic Mario Party experience
so yeah I'm done for the time being. playing through all five boards is my personal completion seeing as there's likely no proper ending for this game. there's achievements and collectibles to get, but they're mostly not too special such as stickers and pages about the characters that you can easily find on the Super Mario Wiki, yeah sorry not incentivized with unlocking all of that. you can unlock the option to use the original board music, but I only wish they went all the way by having the option with the minigames too (I know there's 100 of them but it still would have been neat). but yeah I've probably sounded a bit nit-picky during this review but I really did enjoy my time with the game and I'm looking forward to returning whenever I start playing online with my friends. if you're a Mario Party fan, I heavily recommend checking it out, especially if you got other people to play it with either locally or online. this is really a step in the right direction for Mario Party, and I hope that continue to improve onward. so yeah not much else to say, I like that Mario's pose and the dice block is the exact same as MP1, thanks for reading.
you can't select Mario Party DS as your favorite Mario Party, ignore everything I said Mario sucks
now I'm not a Mario Party guy, I was always the Mario Kart one instead so don't expect me to go "THIS ISN'T LIKE THE N64 AND GAMECUBE ONES GRAAAAAH" because my personal experiences with the Hudson Soft Mario Parties doesn't go beyond 8, DS, and recently a tiny bit of 7. I will say that when it comes to the post-Hudson Soft games, this is the one that's definitely the closest to the originals (typed by someone who's barely touched the originals). I think what helps is how the Mushroom Village hub from the original is brought back as well as the Koopa Troopa who's the same exact Koopa that's the guide of the boards in the first Mario Party, I think that's really cool. I mean yeah he's no Geno or whatever but seeing him so excited to guide again as well as explaining the board events that took place in the N64 days really makes me root for the guy, welcome back bro. oh yeah Toad's hosting again too but he's everywhere
there's only five boards from this game (two from MP1, two from MP2, and one from MP3) and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. granted they're excellent board choices, even if Space Land was a bit of a mess from my experience, but it couldn't have hurt to include a couple of more boards from the later ones. five is just way too low, the original Mario Party has more boards than this game! at least they're not slacking on the minigame department, which has at least 100 of them, all of them coming from the previous console Mario Parties. of course this is no doubt impressive, I don't even think I've gone through every one by the time I finished all five boards. personally some minigames feel near impossible to win if you're facing CPUs on Hard and Master, but that isn't too much of a critique instead more or less a skill issue on my part, as well as the usual Mario Party BS. lastly I want to mention the Lucky Spaces, which I know were definitely not on the original boards. I don't dislike them really I mean whenever you step on one you always get something good I can't hate that, but I do think there's a little too many of them. in comparison to all those Lucky Space spots, there's only been one time someone landed on a Chance Time Space during all five board playthroughs, they should really replace all those Lucky Spaces with Chance Time that'll truly bring out the chaotic Mario Party experience
so yeah I'm done for the time being. playing through all five boards is my personal completion seeing as there's likely no proper ending for this game. there's achievements and collectibles to get, but they're mostly not too special such as stickers and pages about the characters that you can easily find on the Super Mario Wiki, yeah sorry not incentivized with unlocking all of that. you can unlock the option to use the original board music, but I only wish they went all the way by having the option with the minigames too (I know there's 100 of them but it still would have been neat). but yeah I've probably sounded a bit nit-picky during this review but I really did enjoy my time with the game and I'm looking forward to returning whenever I start playing online with my friends. if you're a Mario Party fan, I heavily recommend checking it out, especially if you got other people to play it with either locally or online. this is really a step in the right direction for Mario Party, and I hope that continue to improve onward. so yeah not much else to say, I like that Mario's pose and the dice block is the exact same as MP1, thanks for reading.
you can't select Mario Party DS as your favorite Mario Party, ignore everything I said Mario sucks
Final Fantasy XVI
2023
This is the best X-Men movie
I don't think I can describe how great this game is better than all the people who wrote their reviews before I did, but I'll tell you one thing:
that very moment I began hearing lyrics in "Welcome to the New World!", I knew I was in for a wonderful time.
that very moment I began hearing lyrics in "Welcome to the New World!", I knew I was in for a wonderful time.
I enjoy Tetris, specifically the GB versions as those are the ones that I grew up with. are they perfect though? not exactly. GB Tetris lacks the QoL improvements that make the later releases so great, such as the Hard Drop and Preview. so yeah it’s not perfect, it’s just okay.
wait you’re telling me a rom hack added all those features I mentioned into the original Game Boy version? okay nvm the game’s perfect
as someone who’s particularly fond of the Game Boy games’ aesthetic, a hack like this is practically what the Doctor (Mario) ordered. no longer do I have to worry about those pesky S and Z Tetromino showing up at the worst time possible as now I can just hold them and get a different piece in return (unless I was holding another S/Z Tetromino before then that’s on me). on top of that, the hard drop feature makes game sessions feel much snappier during the earlier levels where the blocks take 10 million years to fall down. oh yeah you can also skip the rocket cutscenes by pressing Start but why would you want to do that those scenes are iconic. all of these features and more, on the OG GB. there’s really no reason to go back to the original version once you’ve got yourself used to this one unless you need the authentic fix of how Tetris used to be played. the only thing that would make this better for me is if an equivalent of this hack was made for Tetris DX as that version supports full color, though DX is technically a different game even if the gameplay is very similar to the original, I just think it’d be cool!
I don’t really know what else to say it’s kinda hard for me to go into an in-depth analysis of Tetris unless you want me to go into the entire history of how the game was made but that’s not what you’re here for, go find a YouTube documentary for something like that. excellent rom hack. if there’s any way you should go about playing the Game Boy version of Tetris in this day and age, this is the way.
if nobody got me I know Tetris got me can I get an AMEN
wait you’re telling me a rom hack added all those features I mentioned into the original Game Boy version? okay nvm the game’s perfect
as someone who’s particularly fond of the Game Boy games’ aesthetic, a hack like this is practically what the Doctor (Mario) ordered. no longer do I have to worry about those pesky S and Z Tetromino showing up at the worst time possible as now I can just hold them and get a different piece in return (unless I was holding another S/Z Tetromino before then that’s on me). on top of that, the hard drop feature makes game sessions feel much snappier during the earlier levels where the blocks take 10 million years to fall down. oh yeah you can also skip the rocket cutscenes by pressing Start but why would you want to do that those scenes are iconic. all of these features and more, on the OG GB. there’s really no reason to go back to the original version once you’ve got yourself used to this one unless you need the authentic fix of how Tetris used to be played. the only thing that would make this better for me is if an equivalent of this hack was made for Tetris DX as that version supports full color, though DX is technically a different game even if the gameplay is very similar to the original, I just think it’d be cool!
I don’t really know what else to say it’s kinda hard for me to go into an in-depth analysis of Tetris unless you want me to go into the entire history of how the game was made but that’s not what you’re here for, go find a YouTube documentary for something like that. excellent rom hack. if there’s any way you should go about playing the Game Boy version of Tetris in this day and age, this is the way.
if nobody got me I know Tetris got me can I get an AMEN
me and the gang Soma Cruising into Dracula’s Castle
I’ve heard very great things about Aria of Sorrow in particular so I’ve had high expectations going into this game, like let’s say at least 9/10 expectations. however seeing as you can see my rating right there, I won’t beat around the bush and instead go straight into the point.
the year is 2035, fur coats and bell-bottoms are back in style as Soma Cruz goes out to watch the solar eclipse with his definitelynotgirl-friend Mina Hakuba at her shrine. out of nowhere, the two are transported into Dracula’s Castle where they meet up with Genya Arikado (real clever name there buddy) who informs Soma that he has the ability to absorb the souls of monsters and orders him to go to the master chamber while intentionally leaving the situation vague. along the way Soma will meet many other wacky characters such as Graham Jones, a dude who’s 99% not evil or anything, Yoko Belnades, a member of the Church whose investigating the castle, Hammer, an army soldier who was sent to investigate as well but decided “nah I’m going to open up a shop in Dracula’s Castle instead”. lastly there’s J, some amnesiac dude who lost his memory back in 1999, the same exact year that Dracula was finally destroyed for good, hmmmmmmmm. If I had to describe what the vibe of this story’s like, I’d say it’s an in-between of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, more-so RoB outside of the art style, but it does start to hit SotN territory near the very end. I think some of it is due to how you’re not playing as a professional hardened vampire hunter like most of the games from before. Soma’s instead a pretty goofy guy. not only does he appeal to the male fantasy but he also believed that the story of Dracula was a fairytale (well he’s not wrong outside of his universe). for the most part he’s just some regular high school dude trapped in a castle until he isn’t but that’s a bit of spoiler territory so I won’t go into that whole plot twist here.
so yes you must once again traverse the Metroidvania and I have to say out of all the castles so far, this one was the least confusing to go through, and that’s good. on top of that it’s also the shortest one yet which surprised me as I was expecting another castle or just a longer one to get through, but hey that just means it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I think the reason why it’s not as long as the others is because they instead put their focus on the newly introduced Tactical Soul mechanic. Sometimes when you defeat an enemy, there’s a rare chance you can absorb the soul they have. there’s four types of Tactical Souls in the game: Bullet Souls which let you perform an enemy attack similar to how a sub-weapon would be used, Guardian Souls that let you use various abilities by pressing or holding the R button, Enchanted Souls that give you unique attributes or boost stats without draining your MP, and Ability Souls that give you active abilities to traverse areas of the castle. every regular enemy in the game has a soul you can absorb, that’s pretty impressive once you think about it. not only that, but you can also have one of each of the main types (red/blue/yellow) on at each time rather than being restricted to just one, so you can just mish-mash any combination you want and just go wild, which will net you a great amount of replayability.
that said, I do have one problem with them, and it’s that some of the souls in the game have ridiculously low drop rates, returning us back to Circle of the Moon enemy grinding. the one in particular that comes to mind is the Lightning Doll soul which I needed to stand a chance against Death. I could have sworn I took at least an hour leaving and coming back to the same room, defeating those dumb dolls, and not getting anything out of them. eventually I did get the soul and ended up becoming a bit overleveled for the Death fight and a brief portion of the game after that, but man did that take a while. eventually you get the option to buy the Soul Eater Ring from Hammer’s shop that increases the rate of soul drops, but good luck getting it without money strats since it costs a whopping 300,000G. so you either spend a bunch of time grinding money to purchase the ring, or spend a bunch of time defeating enemies over and over without it, there’s not really an easy way out. oh yeah equipable weapons are back, didn’t really have a good opportunity to bring it up back there. not much for me to really say except that the best weapon’s hiding around only halfway in the game inside a hidden wall, it’s literally just lying there, no grinding or purchasing acquired. to be honest I was hoping to see more futuristic weapons or even futuristic stuff in general in this since it takes place in 2035 but it’s not really a deal breaker, I’ll take my succubi disguising as shrine maidens as well as my handguns to shoot them with.
on a bit of a side note, there’s a bonus mode you can unlock after completing the game at least once that lets you play as Julius Belmont, a member of (surprisingly) the Belmont clan. Julius is BUSTED for real; immense attack power, high health bar, insane movement options, he’s supposed to be a Belmont but instead he ends up feeling like Goku. bro can really turn a 5-hour long game into a 5-minute long game, that’s how powerful this dude is, the only way you’re going to get a game over with this guy is if you’re intentionally going out of your way to do so. he can’t access the shop or use other weapons and healing items like Soma can but he really doesn’t need them, all he needs is his trusty Vampire Killer and a couple of sub-weapons. not too difficult honestly but you’re playing as a Chad Belmont, maybe the Chaddest of all the Belmonts so can you really complain?
for the graphics this comes to no surprise, they’re great. the Metroidvania Castlevanias are almost guaranteed to have smooth and detailed spritework, so you can expect to see more of that in this one. on the GBA brightness spectrum, I’d say it’s an in-between between the previous two games color palettes. it's not too dark, but it's not too bright….it's just right. I don’t really have much to say here, I think most of the color choices are fine. the only two I feel like could have been a bit better are some of the areas in the Underground Reservoir and the first phase of the final boss. a lot of the areas in the reservoir have this odd turquoise color scheme that makes the area look like some sort of ice cave, nothing too major but maybe a muter color palette could have helped. as for that first phase, your vision is kinda impaired during it since everything is just….gray, neat callback to Harmony of Dissonance with that one. while we’re on the topic of the final boss, can I say how crazy it is? it feels like there’s at least four different attacks going at the same time with that thing and it’s just nuts, not to mention all the tiny bullets flying everywhere that are not only a pain to avoid but can juggle you into other attacks meaning you have to heal yourself ahead of time. man what a nightmare, I was starting to get PTSD flashbacks to Scarlet Symphony during that mess.
on the bright side let’s move onto the music, and yes I’d say it’s pretty good. the composition sounds more similar to Circle of the Moon, and on top of that the music is a lot more catchy and action-packed. a bit ironic since the game’s opening starts off with a slow and calm mysterious theme with the Prologue, great track by the way one of my favorites. then the Castle Corridor theme plays and now it’s good old Castlevania time, with an epic GBA guitar to boot! the Chapel has more of a menacing and foreboding tension going on, while Study gives the vibe of something Bach or Beethoven would have composed. Dance Hall unironically sounds like clown music I cannot take it seriously. it’s not a bad track by any means it just sounds so unintentionally goofy that I was taken back when I first heard it during my playthrough. Clock Tower sounds relatively normal when it first starts but then out of nowhere it starts bringing the DOOM guitar out of nowhere and all of a sudden it’s now a rock song. this might seem a little odd, but Floating Garden, Underground Reservoir and Forbidden Area all kinda sound like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon tracks to me. am I the only one who thinks that or does anyone else think so too? Premonition is the perfect cutscene music for Castlevania, and Dracula’s Fate is also perfect for what occurs when it plays. Confrontation is a pretty alright boss theme, but Formidable Enemy is where it really goes hard, especially when it brings out the trumpet and the song starts going DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOT. of course how could I forget Heart of Fire, the theme of Julius Belmont who we’ve already established is a Gigachad that for some reason has not gotten any women in the 55 years he’s been alive, life really done my bro Julius dirty. honestly the only thing truly holding this game’s soundtrack back is that it’s stuck on the GBA. the tracks already sound good on their own but if they had CD quality then they’d for sure be even more amazing.
I was debating on whether this game is either four stars or four and a half stars worthy. in the end I decided to go with the latter as this is a great beginner-friendly game if you want to get into the Metroidvania styled Castlevanias. I’d still say Symphony is a little better in that regard since there’s so many ways to make the game easier for you, but you can’t go wrong starting with this one instead. as for overall, this is definitely one of the best Castlevanias, only being beaten by Rondo and Symphony. Rondo is just a hella neat platformer, and Symphony’s soundtrack and sound effects are unparalleled, at least when it comes to Castlevania. Aria definitely has a better designed castle though so they’re pretty neck-to-neck really. so yes I was not disappointed, Aria of Sorrow was pretty epic and now I shall become one of many to shill this game to you. check it out, you'll have yourself a fun time.
Underground Cemetery is the best track btw
I’ve heard very great things about Aria of Sorrow in particular so I’ve had high expectations going into this game, like let’s say at least 9/10 expectations. however seeing as you can see my rating right there, I won’t beat around the bush and instead go straight into the point.
the year is 2035, fur coats and bell-bottoms are back in style as Soma Cruz goes out to watch the solar eclipse with his definitelynotgirl-friend Mina Hakuba at her shrine. out of nowhere, the two are transported into Dracula’s Castle where they meet up with Genya Arikado (real clever name there buddy) who informs Soma that he has the ability to absorb the souls of monsters and orders him to go to the master chamber while intentionally leaving the situation vague. along the way Soma will meet many other wacky characters such as Graham Jones, a dude who’s 99% not evil or anything, Yoko Belnades, a member of the Church whose investigating the castle, Hammer, an army soldier who was sent to investigate as well but decided “nah I’m going to open up a shop in Dracula’s Castle instead”. lastly there’s J, some amnesiac dude who lost his memory back in 1999, the same exact year that Dracula was finally destroyed for good, hmmmmmmmm. If I had to describe what the vibe of this story’s like, I’d say it’s an in-between of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, more-so RoB outside of the art style, but it does start to hit SotN territory near the very end. I think some of it is due to how you’re not playing as a professional hardened vampire hunter like most of the games from before. Soma’s instead a pretty goofy guy. not only does he appeal to the male fantasy but he also believed that the story of Dracula was a fairytale (well he’s not wrong outside of his universe). for the most part he’s just some regular high school dude trapped in a castle until he isn’t but that’s a bit of spoiler territory so I won’t go into that whole plot twist here.
so yes you must once again traverse the Metroidvania and I have to say out of all the castles so far, this one was the least confusing to go through, and that’s good. on top of that it’s also the shortest one yet which surprised me as I was expecting another castle or just a longer one to get through, but hey that just means it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I think the reason why it’s not as long as the others is because they instead put their focus on the newly introduced Tactical Soul mechanic. Sometimes when you defeat an enemy, there’s a rare chance you can absorb the soul they have. there’s four types of Tactical Souls in the game: Bullet Souls which let you perform an enemy attack similar to how a sub-weapon would be used, Guardian Souls that let you use various abilities by pressing or holding the R button, Enchanted Souls that give you unique attributes or boost stats without draining your MP, and Ability Souls that give you active abilities to traverse areas of the castle. every regular enemy in the game has a soul you can absorb, that’s pretty impressive once you think about it. not only that, but you can also have one of each of the main types (red/blue/yellow) on at each time rather than being restricted to just one, so you can just mish-mash any combination you want and just go wild, which will net you a great amount of replayability.
that said, I do have one problem with them, and it’s that some of the souls in the game have ridiculously low drop rates, returning us back to Circle of the Moon enemy grinding. the one in particular that comes to mind is the Lightning Doll soul which I needed to stand a chance against Death. I could have sworn I took at least an hour leaving and coming back to the same room, defeating those dumb dolls, and not getting anything out of them. eventually I did get the soul and ended up becoming a bit overleveled for the Death fight and a brief portion of the game after that, but man did that take a while. eventually you get the option to buy the Soul Eater Ring from Hammer’s shop that increases the rate of soul drops, but good luck getting it without money strats since it costs a whopping 300,000G. so you either spend a bunch of time grinding money to purchase the ring, or spend a bunch of time defeating enemies over and over without it, there’s not really an easy way out. oh yeah equipable weapons are back, didn’t really have a good opportunity to bring it up back there. not much for me to really say except that the best weapon’s hiding around only halfway in the game inside a hidden wall, it’s literally just lying there, no grinding or purchasing acquired. to be honest I was hoping to see more futuristic weapons or even futuristic stuff in general in this since it takes place in 2035 but it’s not really a deal breaker, I’ll take my succubi disguising as shrine maidens as well as my handguns to shoot them with.
on a bit of a side note, there’s a bonus mode you can unlock after completing the game at least once that lets you play as Julius Belmont, a member of (surprisingly) the Belmont clan. Julius is BUSTED for real; immense attack power, high health bar, insane movement options, he’s supposed to be a Belmont but instead he ends up feeling like Goku. bro can really turn a 5-hour long game into a 5-minute long game, that’s how powerful this dude is, the only way you’re going to get a game over with this guy is if you’re intentionally going out of your way to do so. he can’t access the shop or use other weapons and healing items like Soma can but he really doesn’t need them, all he needs is his trusty Vampire Killer and a couple of sub-weapons. not too difficult honestly but you’re playing as a Chad Belmont, maybe the Chaddest of all the Belmonts so can you really complain?
for the graphics this comes to no surprise, they’re great. the Metroidvania Castlevanias are almost guaranteed to have smooth and detailed spritework, so you can expect to see more of that in this one. on the GBA brightness spectrum, I’d say it’s an in-between between the previous two games color palettes. it's not too dark, but it's not too bright….it's just right. I don’t really have much to say here, I think most of the color choices are fine. the only two I feel like could have been a bit better are some of the areas in the Underground Reservoir and the first phase of the final boss. a lot of the areas in the reservoir have this odd turquoise color scheme that makes the area look like some sort of ice cave, nothing too major but maybe a muter color palette could have helped. as for that first phase, your vision is kinda impaired during it since everything is just….gray, neat callback to Harmony of Dissonance with that one. while we’re on the topic of the final boss, can I say how crazy it is? it feels like there’s at least four different attacks going at the same time with that thing and it’s just nuts, not to mention all the tiny bullets flying everywhere that are not only a pain to avoid but can juggle you into other attacks meaning you have to heal yourself ahead of time. man what a nightmare, I was starting to get PTSD flashbacks to Scarlet Symphony during that mess.
on the bright side let’s move onto the music, and yes I’d say it’s pretty good. the composition sounds more similar to Circle of the Moon, and on top of that the music is a lot more catchy and action-packed. a bit ironic since the game’s opening starts off with a slow and calm mysterious theme with the Prologue, great track by the way one of my favorites. then the Castle Corridor theme plays and now it’s good old Castlevania time, with an epic GBA guitar to boot! the Chapel has more of a menacing and foreboding tension going on, while Study gives the vibe of something Bach or Beethoven would have composed. Dance Hall unironically sounds like clown music I cannot take it seriously. it’s not a bad track by any means it just sounds so unintentionally goofy that I was taken back when I first heard it during my playthrough. Clock Tower sounds relatively normal when it first starts but then out of nowhere it starts bringing the DOOM guitar out of nowhere and all of a sudden it’s now a rock song. this might seem a little odd, but Floating Garden, Underground Reservoir and Forbidden Area all kinda sound like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon tracks to me. am I the only one who thinks that or does anyone else think so too? Premonition is the perfect cutscene music for Castlevania, and Dracula’s Fate is also perfect for what occurs when it plays. Confrontation is a pretty alright boss theme, but Formidable Enemy is where it really goes hard, especially when it brings out the trumpet and the song starts going DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOT. of course how could I forget Heart of Fire, the theme of Julius Belmont who we’ve already established is a Gigachad that for some reason has not gotten any women in the 55 years he’s been alive, life really done my bro Julius dirty. honestly the only thing truly holding this game’s soundtrack back is that it’s stuck on the GBA. the tracks already sound good on their own but if they had CD quality then they’d for sure be even more amazing.
I was debating on whether this game is either four stars or four and a half stars worthy. in the end I decided to go with the latter as this is a great beginner-friendly game if you want to get into the Metroidvania styled Castlevanias. I’d still say Symphony is a little better in that regard since there’s so many ways to make the game easier for you, but you can’t go wrong starting with this one instead. as for overall, this is definitely one of the best Castlevanias, only being beaten by Rondo and Symphony. Rondo is just a hella neat platformer, and Symphony’s soundtrack and sound effects are unparalleled, at least when it comes to Castlevania. Aria definitely has a better designed castle though so they’re pretty neck-to-neck really. so yes I was not disappointed, Aria of Sorrow was pretty epic and now I shall become one of many to shill this game to you. check it out, you'll have yourself a fun time.
Underground Cemetery is the best track btw
