​Coming out at the tail end of '93, we have our last classic Castlevania game on the Anniversary Collection as well as really the last proper classic-style Castlevania game made before Symphony of the Night revamped what the whole series was about (at least if you consider Dracula X on the SNES as a port of Rondo and not its own game, which is debatable). I don't like it quite as much as Castlevania IV or Rondo of Blood, but it's still an excellent entry in the series. This was one that took me only a few hours to get through the six stages of, with serious save state use only used in the last stage.

This is a bit of an odd Castlevania in how the story is both simple but also quite different from the simplicity of its predecessors. Sure, it's still basically "Oh look, let's go beat up Dracula again, he's a baddie", but this time you aren't even a Belmont (not by name, anyhow). This game takes place in 1917, and the vampire killer whip has passed to a distant relative of the Belmont clan known as John Morris (hilariously called "Johnny Morris" in Japanese). You can play as either him or as Eric Lecarde (who looks quite feminine in the Japanese version) who is out to avenge his vampirized girlfriend, as they trek across Europe to several famous spots to hunt down Dracula's allies before he can be taken on himself. While the story itself isn't really that interesting other than it calling into question how you can go from Romania to Germany to Britain during the height of World War 1, or the really funny way that one level is a German munitions factory (which also has a castle because of course it does) that is populated by skeletons wearing military helmets, it DOES give you the ability to play as one of the two characters. While Morris has his whip, Lecarde has a spear.

The two characters aren't nearly as different as Richter and Maria are in Rondo of Blood, but they play meaningfully different enough that a playthrough with each is definitely still worthwhile. I played through as Johnny, and he can whip in front of himself, but also diagonally upwards to swing on ceilings and even down (although your jump is so low that the downwards whip isn't all that useful). Lecarde's spear, on the other hand, can stab directly upwards and has a slightly longer range than Morris does, and he can also do a high jump. Morris' grapple whip and Lecarde's high jump give them access to slightly different paths through the levels, making even the levels themselves slightly different depending on whom you're playing as.

Instead of going through Transylvania, you're treking all around Europe to all sorts of different locales. Even Dracula himself isn't even in continental Europe at all, but in a castle in England. The different countries make for some very interesting level designs (like the swaying in the Tower of Pisa), and despite this game having fewer levels than the other 16-bit Castlevanias, they're quite long compared to those levels and each level feels very different to the others. My main complaint about the game is how stingy it can be with whip/spear upgrades. There are many bosses, particularly in Dracula's castle, for whom range is paramount to how easy a time you'll have with them. If you die once, you won't be given two whip upgrades to fight the boss again, you'll only be given one, and that aspect to the boss design really left a sour taste in my mouth. It's certainly far from how tilted the difficulty can feel in Castlevania 1 depending on the loadout you brought, but it's analogous enough to that frustration that it keeps me from holding this game in quite a high a regard as the other 16-bit Castlevania games.

The presentation is also no exception to the series general rule of excellence. The music and graphics that really show the kind of speed and color you could get from the Mega Drive come 1993, and it's probably one of the prettiest looking of the older Castlevanias in general as a result. Most of the differences between the Japanese and Western releases are cosmetic (such as making Lecarde look more masculine, Morris' first name), but one important difference is that the Japanese normal mode is the English easy mode, so even though I played through the game on "normal", what I played through compared to the rest of the world was easy mode.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. Though this may be my least favorite of the 16-bit Castlevanias, it is by no means not a great game. It still sets a high water mark just as most of the other games do, and is very well worth playing.

Esse jogo é a definição de querer passar nervoso. Investi 45 horas (dividindo entre PS5 e PC) e posso dizer que este é o melhor jogo de Dragon Ball, porém seu maior inimigo é a Bandai.

Entenda que 95% das decisões deste jogo são feitas de forma impecável: graficamente, trilha sonora, direção de arte, jogabilidade, e tudo mais muito bem feito. Mas a Bandai, com seu balanceamento e otimização, arruinou irreversivelmente este jogo.

Para explicar, tenho que começar pelo sistema de DLC deste jogo, um dos mais predatórios de todos os jogos. Nem a Capcom com Street Fighter 4 foi tão gananciosa quanto a Bandai com este jogo. Se você procurar em qualquer loja digital, Ultra Street Fighter 4 ou Street Fighter 5 têm todas as DLC por algo entre 20 a 50 reais. A Bandai faz este jogo com todas as DLC custarem entre 250 a 350 reais, isso depois de o suporte do jogo ter sido encerrado e as DLC terem sido lançadas. Este jogo, não contente em ser predatório com as DLC, teve uma versão otimizada para todas as plataformas onde casualmente as DLC desaparecem, e se você não entender bem a loja da PSN ou Microsoft, boa sorte em comprar tudo de novo, pois eles escondem as opções para enganar o público.

Agora, sobre a otimização, que para mim é o ponto baixo deste jogo, ele roda com os FPS que o jogo quiser. No online, é muito comum o jogo ter que apressar animações porque não está aguentando manter os 30 FPS. O mais impressionante é que na versão do Series S, este jogo trava o tempo todo. O melhor de tudo é que na versão para PC, nada disso ocorre, então se você jogar no PS5 ou Xbox Series e mudar para o PC, vai parecer que está jogando outro jogo.

E agora o PIOR ponto de todos, que é o balanceamento. O balanceamento deste jogo pode ser resumido em: as DLC são mais fortes e se não gastar dinheiro, você vai sofrer. TODAS as fusões DLC do jogo estão em um patamar tão acima que, pegando Vegetto Blue e apertando um combo básico 6 vezes quadrado, consigo derrotar qualquer ser humano que treinou muito neste jogo. Vegetto Blue, Gogeta Blue, Vegeta Base, Kefla, Broly Super e outros personagens DLC não jogam no mesmo nível dos personagens que não são DLC. Obviamente, existem exceções como Gohan Místico ou Bardock, mas aí são 2 personagens versus 6 DLC absurdas. O balanceamento deste jogo faz todas as coisas boas dele serem exterminadas com o tempo. Toda partida online você encontrará os seguintes times:

Vegetto Blue, Gogeta Blue, Broly
Gogeta Blue, Goku MUI, Kefla
Vegetto Blue, Gogeta Blue, Goku MUI

E eu não estou brincando, é só entrar no online e este jogo se resume a quem comprou todas as DLC e sabe apertar mais botões. Eu subi consideravelmente de rank e, honestamente, mesmo ganhando a maioria, sinto que perdi. Perdi tempo, paciência e sanidade por um jogo mal otimizado, mal balanceado e com um sistema de DLC mais prejudicial que conheci em décadas.

Finalizei um jogo com mais ou menos 80 horas de gameplay, só não consegui maximizar um link social (o cara da sala de arte) e não consegui pegar alguns personas fodas do jogo. Mesmo assim, que experiencia amigos...

Eu passei boa parte do meu tempo de jogo achando que esse Persona tinha como tema a morte, o luto etc etc, e é mesmo, mas mais do que isso, acho que o tema central é sobre você aproveitar a sua vida da melhor maneira possível, nessa caminhada você vai encontrar motivos para viver, sejam elas pessoas ou momentos.

Com certeza é um dos jogos já feitos

The next game in this Mario Kart marathon, Mario Kart DS, is actually the first one I had played beforehand and isn't brand new to me. I don't think I ever owned it back in the day, and apparently I still don't seeing as I had to emulate this one, but I remember playing it all the time with friends on the bus. Though, since I never owned it, I always had to use Shy Guy and also never really played the mission mode. That changes now as I got gold on every 150cc cup and did every mission, including the secret one you unlock.

I'm gonna start with my gripes I have. First, I think in terms of how the characters look, this is the weakest in the series. Some of them just look so off and blocky. Mario Kart 64 didn't have this issue obviously because they weren't actual models but this one really does. Some are better than others but, I guess I can cut it a little slack since it's the first portable title in 3D, a chunk of them just look kinda ugly. While the new courses have some really solid picks, some of them are just really forgettable. There are some absolute bangers like Waluigi Pinball, Tik Tok Clock and Airship Fortress. But then there's courses I find to be super bland like Figure 8 Circuit, Yoshi Falls or Desert Hills. Overall, I'd say it's a decent new track line-up but it's hit or miss. The retro track selection though, I found really weak. Half of the courses are from Super Mario Kart and Super Circuit so I just found them boring and then some of the picks from 64 and Double Dash are meh. The last cup does have Banshee Boardwalk and Yoshi Circuit so it was probably my favorite cup, but then it also has an awful course in Choco Island 2 so it's a bit conflicting. Overall, not a great selection of courses between both new and old but again there are some bangers here and there.

In terms of how the game controls, it controls leagues better than the last portable title Super Circuit. Instead of feeling super slippery, it feels way more similar to the newer titles. Only thing is, it has the old speed boost where its dependent on you going left and right on the d-pad rather than holding your drift for as long as possible. If you're used to Wii and beyond, it takes a little getting used to, but once you got it down it's pretty fun.

That's all fine and dandy, racing is fun but not that great in this game. What I remember the most was the battle mode and while I barely played it this time around, I remember absolutely loving it. Considering what Wii and 7 does with their battle modes, this is one of the better ones in the series. The maps are mostly all great and both balloon battle and shine runners were a ton of fun. Again, I'm mostly going off memory but this truly was the most fun aspect of this game at least when I played it as a young lad.

As I said before, I never played missions as a kid, but I can tell you I would've enjoyed them a lot back then. This along with the battle mode really saves DS from it's faults I listed before. None of the other games have something like this so you have a reason to come back to this one for sure. With so many missions, there's bound to be some that aren't the best but most of them were really cool. The fact there were bosses at the end of each level, and almost all of them are really fun, is just icing on the cake when it comes to mission mode. They should really bring this back for Mario Kart 9, would love to see what stuff they could come up with nowadays.

Of the 4 Mario Kart games I've played thus far, this is my favorite. While I didn't think the actual racing aspect was the best due to the course quality, the battle mode and missions make up for it and are THE reason to come back to this one. Been a long while since I played DS, had a ton of nostalgia when playing the battle mode specifically, so I'm very glad I was able to play this one again. Next in the series is the fan favorite Wii, I always liked DS more than Wii but that may change cuz I forgot how good that game's tracks were. Either way, look out for a Mario Kart Wii review coming soon!

THE DARK AGE OF THE LAW

yah idk the game kind of jumps the shark, like this game is so far removed from the initial premise of legal proceedings and murder mysteries that the first game at least establishes the veneer of lol.

if you can appreciate the game for what it is as the wright anything agency's wacky j-drama adventures rather than a more meaningful sequel to apollo justice and the games which came before it, its a great time. but the way characters are written is kind of ridiculous and off-putting as a canonical entry in a multi-decade series, and the cases (PARTICULARLY THE PHANTOM GOOD GOD) are just so far removed from any semblance of gripping character drama or gritty mystery or anything to that effect

i enjoyed the game for what it is, i just hope this is not the direction capcom takes for the inevitable ace attorney 7