Introduction
Growing up I was always a huge fan of the Castlevania series. It all started for me when I played the first 3 games on my friend’s NES, sometime during the transition between the 16- and 32-bit eras. We spent an entire day getting our young asses whupped by each game, as we illogically jumped from one game to another, losing our progress, but having a hell of a time.
One may ask, Why the hell did it take me so long to play Castlevania? Well I didn’t have an NES growing up, instead relying solely on my Uncle for access to Nintendo’s dominant patriarch console, and unfortunately never got Super Castlevania IV for my SNES. Despite these major oversights, all was forgiven following that fateful day at my friend’s house; I was addicted to the series, now considering it one of my favorite of all time.
Unfortunately, the series in its 2D form has been essentially a no-show since the DS era, and has, of late, been ignored by Konami, who instead prefer to focus on Pachinko machines.
Luckily, the DS games were incredible Symphony of the Night-esque experiences, and kept me busy for quite some time. It is for that reason that I was thrilled when I heard that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night’s, an ambitious SoTN clone, KickStarter campaign was as success. Though this “MetroidVania” style game is critically adored and widely accepted as the better style of Castlevania, I have always preferred the classic, balls-hard, linear approach to the series.
The last time I was able to experience such a Castlevania was during the PSP’s run, with Dracula X Chronicles, which included a 2.5-D remake of Rondo of Blood, the original Turbografx CD Rondo of Blood, and Symphony of the Night; clearly one of the most epic anthologies in gaming history. Since that experience, I had been starving for more of the classic style of Castlevania, but was left un-satiated. That is, until I discovered that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night had a certain stretch goal that was successfully reached. The reward for reaching one of the game’s financing goals, was an entire classic-style Castlevania game entitled: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. Needless to say I was twice as excited as I was for even the original Bloodstained announcement, despite the game merely being a means to whet the communities appetite during the primary game’s development.
Continue reading “Retro Revamped #3: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon”