[Editor's note: Educate Yourself is kind of like a book of the month club. Each month, Cowzilla3 picks a title and tries to get the community together to play and write about the game. -- CTZ]

 

Welcome one and all to the third and hopefully most prolific month of Educate Yourself: The Classic Game of the Month Club. Perhaps this is your first time with us. If so, might I suggest finding out more about the club here.

 

Now that you know all about it and you’re desperate to join let’s all jump right on in. We had a great time last month playing Splatterhouse and learned a lot about our bloody gaming heritage and whether or not wearing a possessed hockey mask is a good way to go about rescuing your girlfriend from the clutches of evil. If you missed out on all the Failcast fun, FNF debauchery and general retro gaming that was last month’s Educate Yourself, fear not, for we are roaring back this month with another awesome game. Find out the details after the jump.

Castlevania? But that really is a classic! Everyone’s played that. Even my mom’s played that. Well, everyone except me. There I said it and I feel good about it. It’s like a secret that’s been weighing on my chest for years. Sometimes we miss great games, everyone does it and that is what Educate Yourself is all about, getting a chance to play the great games you’ve missed even if “everyone has already played it.” So I know I’m not the only one who hasn’t played this game and I know not everyone has played it all the way through so let’s get down to it and find out (or remember) why everyone loves this game.

Of course there are plenty of great reasons and excuses to pick up and play the original Castlevania not least of which is the fact that it was recently a subject on RetroForceGO! If you listened to any of that episode, you know that the Castlevania series is still hot, HOT, HOT! Ever wonder while you were playing through your fancy new DS versions of the game how the whole thing started? Plus with the Order of Eclasia coming to us soon, you won’t be able to discuss whether or not the gameplay has changed, regressed or stagnated over the years without educating yourself to the ways of the original. It’s actually a pretty interesting debate as to how such a long standing series morphs and changes as the games progresses and going all the way back to the beginning can’t hurt.

Finally Simon Belmont vs. Dracula is one of the greatest showdowns in gaming history and since the new games have moved away from the Belmont clan, this is now the only way for the great rivalry to survive. So pick up your whip, dust off your magic tome and start to ponder what the hell Frankenstein is doing in Dracula’s castle. And remember to stay tuned for the club’s FNF, which is currently scheduled for Friday the 13th (oooooohhh, sppppooookkkyyy) and the spot on Failcast.

Where to Get It
Wii VC – 500 points
eBay - $3-$7
Amazon - $7-$29
Gametap
Not here (Once HarassmentPanda returns from his exodus, hopefully soon.)

What to Write About
Castlevania is a series that has changed and yet not changed over the years (unless it went 3D). How has the gameplay changed, developed and evolved since this first incarnation.
Dracula. Man or myth? Man or drag queen?
Why don’t’ games use whips more often?
Are there games that you think do the Castlevania formula better than Castlevania now that you’ve played the original?
Really, why is Frankenstein there?
Who is truly the most bad ass monster in all the world, does Dracula really take the cake?
So, open ended or level by level? What is the true way a Castlevania game should be played?

Forums
Talk about it