Hey everybody! Sorry everything is so late today. Dear ol' Dyson couldn't make the show last night, so I didn't get my usual eight hour head start on exciting sound editing! But they say better late then never, right?
Anyway, since I wasn't on the show, I really don't have any of the highlights my friend Ben tells me he likes so much. To keep him happy, and to contradict something I heard while editing, I'll give you this lonely little highlight.
Highlight!
- Am I the only person that loves Castlevania 2? :(
Have a great week, folks. (Hopefully with this new episode of RFGO!) See you next week for our fiftieth episode!
PS - We'd like for you to go check out Pixeljam's new game: Dino Run. The reason, aside from it's supreme awesomness, is that at the end of the show I reveal a secret code that the guys gave us. A code that just may allow Dtoid members to play with super special content!
That's right. This episode of RFGO! has a secret hidden code.
Contest:
9:56 PM on 05.19.2008
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/downloading
Also, it's 4 in the morning here so it's not technically Monday. Does this mean I have two Mondays this week and no Tuesday?
We may do another Castlevania show in the future, though. The amazing series deserves more time. :)
they should really remake it with a nice 2-d HD-ness like all the ones you talked about last episode!!
Looking forward to both the Castlevania part 2 episode and the big 5-0 :D
Wii isn't what I was expecting it to be? I blame it on how mainstream it's become. It's literally become a dumping ground for every shitty game that's conceived. Most of the games that people hold so highly are highly unoriginal, and NMH is seriously the only reason that I don't regret having kept my Wii for as long as I have. Oh, and playing GameCube games on it doesn't hurt, either, as I just picked up Viewtiful Joe.
Also, I share the sentiment that having people talk about games is awesome. I think I was on the tail end of the "Games are for geeks" thing that was there before Halo existed.
As for how to change up Castlevania, how about have a Belmont (or generic hunter character) have to investigate occult happenings not related to Dracula. I.E. Have to look for clues as to where the monsters are and why they are spawning or whatever. I think just having a monster hunting game would be fun. Probably not Castlevania though :(
Legion was translated as Granfalloon in SotN. He's the big ball of bodies.
http://castlevania.classicgaming.gamespy.com/dungeon.html
A lot of Castlevania stuff here, and it is not that bad.
And that Dolphin was Dracula >.>
Castlevania is referred to as Demon Castle Dracula in Japan. Why they changed the name in the U.S. is beyond me, but yeah...Castlevania's so bad-ass that it doesn't even matter. As for my favorite playable character, that'd probably be a tie between Alucard and Richter.
Granfalloon (or Legion) was originally in SotN. It was called Granfalloon in the U.S., but Legion is the more accepted name for it, as it's been used since then.
As for whips, I really don't mind not having them. I'd hafta say that PoR did whips right with Nebula. In case you're not familiar with it, it's basically a homing whip of sorts.
Colette's painting should have fire-breathing chocobos having chocobo sex while little fire-breathing chocobos pop out of both aforementioned chocobos while even more chocobos begin eating......
I love Castlevania, though we will not include any N64 or other 3D version in that love. Damn them all! To Hell, even!
Apparently someone hacked their rom file (??) and figured out the pizza rolls password. So I was told that this new password was the, uh, new one.
Blacksunempire: Naw, I ain't slacking. I just got caught up in some craziness that couldn't be avoided. It was pretty awesome, for sure, and I may tell you about it on the next show. That is, as long as 'Loose Nukes' doesn't get all butt-hurt if I tell another story from my day to day life.
'sides, two shows out of 50 ain't too shabby. I think Toph and I are tied (maybe) for shows missed.
Actually, Rev said that Tiff was supposed to reveal it on that episode of Podtoid, but she couldn't be there, so he did it for her. So, I assume that they were supposed to do it first, since Tiff was the one who was supposed to do it and she's Ms. Dino*Run Password.
S-pless: I guess if that was the case, then so be it. I was under the impression that it was to be a RFGO! specific thing, but it appears that that was my mistake. She is Ms. Dino Run, as you so eloquently put it.
We were also supposed to have an episode of RFGO! last week, too. That may be part of the reason that I thought we were supposed to be the first. We do start at the beginning of the week, as far as podcasts go.
Sweet sustenance. bravo.
I know it's about 110 or so, and the comments have gone over that numerous times. Don't forget to include a warning next pre-show post!
It was the first of the series I played when I was in elementary school. IMO, it has the greatest music in a Castlevania game aside from Symphony of the Night. Everyone forgets about the final Dracula's castle music, but it was very original and had the most amazing feel to it. If you managed to get that far in the game and actually find Dracula's castle, that music filled me with a sense of awe and excitement.
It was one of those early games on the NES that was a true social experience to beat it. No one ever beat that game on their own. No one. Unless you cheated and had a Nintendo Power. Even then I don't remember the Nintendo Power walking you through the entire game. Back in the day when games were hard enough that you got stuck playing them, you had to have friends who had a brother who had some friend from another school that knew some trick they discovered to get further. Thats how we figured it out when I was younger. You had to know someone that knew someone that knew something. Everyone would come over to that someones house to sit and marvel at how he did it and then brainstorm on how to get further in the game. A bunch of wide eyed 8 year olds hanging on the edge of their seat watching the Grim Reaper get owned by a slick looking Simon Belmont was amazing at that time. We cheered when we first got the morning star! That too was an awesome moment.
Remember the feeling you got when you discovered a castle on your own? Or the feeling of great accomplishment after having beaten a castle and memorized where all the invisible blocks were. How about when you came across a hidden town in the middle of the night and you prayed for daylight before you were hunted and killed by night terrors and fricking annoying black crows as you jumped across water. This is what makes Castlevania 2 stand out for me. The sense of discovery and immense enjoyment I got from figuring things out even if I needed to get help from friends across the street.
Say what you will about the game, love it hate, its all good. I'll understand not everyone had the great experience with it that I did. But for me, that game meant something back then.
End Rant.
Oh--another thing about Simon's Quest: it gave me a chill up my spine that I wouldn't get again until the advent of survival horror. It was my first play-through, and I get to that first town, unclear about what to do next. I walk up to a guy and hit B (I think) to talk to him at the precise moment the day/night cycle switches over. So it looks like I went up to him, engaged him, and in my mind's eye, I see him turn (and in my kid imagination, he's all pale and sweaty) and say ominously "What a horrible night to have a curse" and then it's HOLY TITS WHERE DID THESE ZOMBIES COME FROM
So no, Colette, you aren't alone. More Zeldavania!
Overall, the 3-D Castlevania games for the Ps2 and N64 were mediocre at best and seem more like technical demos than real games, especially since they all seem to have been half-heartedly thrown together, especially given the utter lack of effort shown in putting together a large and immersive castle environment.
However, while I am glad to see that Castlevania in its 2-D incarnation is alive on the DS (and I guess the PsP if you consider the remake of Rondo of Blood), I just can't stand that 2-D Castlevania has basically degenerated into Konami spitting out game after game with the same Symphony of the Night engine over and over again with little new developments. In addition, none of the these games have anywhere close to the scale or scope of Symphony of the Night. In other words, they feel as disappointing to me as I felt of Metroid Fusion as the 2-D follow-up to Super Metroid (thank god for Metroid: Zero Mission). I used to think that the GBA/DS lacked the power to handle an all-out sequel, but obviously Contra 4 has proven me wrong.
So yeah, I guess I feel that if Konami wants to save its franchise, it needs to sit down and commit to making an all-out sequel, 2-D or 3-D as opposed to just being satisfied with 2-D Symphony of the Night clones or 3-D tech demos.
Go Stella!
I also fail because I tried to type in the password on DinoRun and nothing happened. Do I press enter afterwards?