It's October, so let's whip Dracula! CASTLEWEEN 2020

Sarge said:

I have never actually played through easy mode. Sounds like it might be a pretty fun little romp.

EDIT: Haha, boy, yeah, that was really easy. No knockback, double power against bosses, starting with 30 hearts each stage, never losing the Triple Shot... the odds are absolutely stacked in your favor. Got a no-death run out of it. So that's one more Drac down. Poor guy, he never stood a chance.

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Yeah, the first time I tried it (on an airplane, no less), I got a 1cc on my first try. But it's pretty fun.

Dracula said:

• The manual for the odd and fun-looking Ghost House for Sega Master System confirms that this game's Draculas are, indeed, Draculas. Please enjoy this manual snippet.

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Why did you doubt me so, Drac?

After Trevor found her, Sypha went on a solo quest on Stages 4-10 of Famicom Castlevania 3 to zap Dracula with ball lightning! Two deaths again, one at an awful jump from the edge of a stone platform onto one of those seesaws in Stage 7, and then another when I panicked while fighting an Ax Armor and fell through some stairs in Stage 9. The first phase of Dracula is actually quite troublesome for Sypha with lightning, and I broke my self-imposed Sypha-only rule to the extent that I switched to Trevor to clear the screen of useless orbs, then swapped right back. I only had three units of health and was slightly concerned, but Sypha disintegrated the second phase instantly, and then it was just this adorable version of Drac's third phase, with his little baby lasers that he can't even shoot upward! Sypha made short work of him.

I plan to loop around so Sypha can beat up Alucard (I wasn't going to voluntarily play the falling blocks level).

I also played Super 4, and Coney Island Disco Palace Dracula is down as well! Four-death run, though two of them were on the disappearing/reappearing bridge right before the Frankenstein monster, so I do not claim responsibility for those. I got killed liked a moron by Medusa heads in the rotating room, and then I got distracted because this was the first time I've every gotten to Death with the cross (if the final vertical ascent doesn't kill me, Slogra usually does), and I learned that Death instantly evaporates crosses you throw! Well, he didn't when he was hanging out at the top of the room throwing sickles, so I'm not sure if it only happens when he's doing his Force-pull/boomerang scythe thing, or just any crosses on his horizontal plane get nuked. That's part of what was distracting me, trying to figure that out.

Drac has made epic comebacks against me with that final phase several times, and this time he brought me from almost full health to three units (so couldn't take another hit), but I pulled it out! Man, to restate a very obvious point, the music of that whole final sequence is incredible...how Dracula's theme starts the moment you defeat Death and continues without interruption as he enters, and that triumphant shift to Simon's theme...I think this is still my favorite Castlevania soundtrack, even if it's no longer my favorite Castlevania game.

Also, I was playing the Japanese version just for funsies, and I'm so used to the cool green acidic look for the dungeon. The bright red bloody aesthetic was really throwing me.

These are fun to do.

In all seriousness though, I will try to add to the Dracula kill count soon.

Castlevania 1 Dracula is down! Played easy mode on the Japanese version.

Add an Alucard beatdown to the pile!

Ha, I forgot that the Japanese hard mode of CV3 has normal Medusa heads and doesn't replace them with those awful, erratic skull enemies. The hatefulness of the US version is just so intense, even toward players who have already beaten the game!

After trying a couple other Vans, I landed on Harmony of Dissonance for my Dracula kill. It's been a good decade since I last played through the game, and revisiting after this extended absence has been great fun. I like how the game is a celebration of Vania history with all sorts of nods and callbacks. Last night, I bested the Skull Knight, boss of the wonderfully bone-filled Skeleton Cave (has there ever been so many Skeleton Apes in one area? It's a regular Donkey Kong graveyard). I love how they took the iconic* first boss of CV3 and expanded the encounter into a fun and surprising fight. Coming off the first boss (of course a giant bat, here made up of smaller bats, which always very good) and a guiding design principal of the game becomes clear. It pulls all sorts of elements from the series history and joins them together in a metroidvania context. Heck, Juste himself attacks like Simon but looks like Alucard. It makes for a interestingly flavored adventure, a castle that's also a museum.

Plus, there's the incredible visual design. This iteration of the castle is jammed full of grandiose gothic visual design and striking backgrounds. And there's the wonderful twist, my favorite in the series I think. I know that the game is a black sheep, but I find a lot to love in it and I'm glad I decided to return to it for this year's Ween.



*He shows up in Captain N, that makes him iconic.

HoD is a buffet of concepts. In the devs play for SOTN, Iga mentions that they originally designed an "Alucard's bedroom" for SOTN where you'd collect pieces of furniture to redecorate it as you explore. Of course this concept was eventually integrated into HoD, totally divorced of its original context, and now it's a room that Juiced just feels like decorating, for no other reason than that it's empty. And I love this.

Joust has an appreciation for fine craftmanship and hates to see an empty space go to waste. I respect his passion.

Lokii said:

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It's funny that fans feel the need to go in and alter the game's colors like this to make it look somewhat respectable. A guy way back even captured a bunch of sprites using this darkened palette and pretended nothing was amiss.

Also, you don't technically fight Dracula in this game—just some of his body parts that combined with a shirtless man's ill will and learned to talk. Bonus Dracula, sure.

Wasn't he Draculas Ghost, though, or was that just a localization choice?

Oh huh. I just grabbed a gif to round out the post. I didn't realize it was from a hack.

I would like to make the case for a full Dracula tho.

Dracula Phantom in Japanese, Dracula Wraith in English. But those names, along with the dialogue, just distinguish that it's not Dracula himself.

Dracula Wraith: So- So this is the power of Belmont...
Juste: Vile spawn of Maxim, you are not worthy of being my opponent.

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Igarashi was pretty particular about trying to respect the premise that Dracula only comes back once a century unless something strange is going on. Here, the excuse was that you fight something that resembles Dracula but actually isn't.

Harmony has long been my favourite Castlevania of the 2000s and later, so I delight in every instance when it's appreciated for its virtues rather than slammed for its faults. Justice for Soshiro Hokkai.

Fair enough. But if it's got Dracula's brain and eyeball and ring that should count as a Dracula.

Dracula can we get a ruling?

The Dracula Wraith/Phantom/Whatever is like a reverse Ship of Theseus. What if you took apart the ship, then put it back together in a different way, but now it's super gross and horrible? And it's like, the figurehead is stuck to the poopdeck and there's a big wadded up sail bristling with cannons, and it's firing laser beams at the Parthenon. We have to stop the Ship of Theseus before it starts World War III!

The Dracula Wraith/Phantom/Whatever is worth 1 Dracula Point.

I completed Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2 Episodes 1 and 2.

How many Draculas did I kill?

Harmony is super cool just for having that awesome dash right off the bat. I love having such a mobile protagonist.

Peklo said:

Harmony has long been my favourite Castlevania of the 2000s and later, so I delight in every instance when it's appreciated for its virtues rather than slammed for its faults. Justice for Soshiro Hokkai.

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So you think we gave him his juste deserts?

Dracula said:

The Dracula Wraith/Phantom/Whatever is like a reverse Ship of Theseus. What if you took apart the ship, then put it back together in a different way, but now it's super gross and horrible? And it's like, the figurehead is stuck to the poopdeck and there's a big wadded up sail bristling with cannons, and it's firing laser beams at the Parthenon. We have to stop the Ship of Theseus before it starts World War III!

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Do you mean the Demon Castle War?

Sarge said:

Harmony is super cool just for having that awesome dash right off the bat.

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Hmm...

Falselogic said:

I completed Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2 Episodes 1 and 2.

How many Draculas did I kill?

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Goose egg.

How many "Draculas" did I kill? I just completed episode 2 again this time I got the good ending.

Oddly, despite them being just the most Vain of any Castle Style Monster Game, I don’t think there’s a single Dracula in all of CotM

Would Bloodless count as a lady Dracula (a Draculady, if you prefer)?

And I think Gebel would count as a Bonus Dracula but you can't fight him (and per the rules dropping him in a pit doesn't count).

I'm appealing this ruling to the highest authority!

Octopus Prime said:

Oddly, despite them being just the most Vain of any Castle Style Monster Game, I don’t think there’s a single Dracula in all of CotM

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Unfortunately, Octo has the right of things.

HOWEVER: Given the difficulty of completing a Curse of the Moon Game, and the closeness of it to the Spirit of Dracula, and several other invisible yet potent factors, I am nevertheless awarding Falselogic 1 Bonus Dracula for his efforts.

Well, I was going to do the final episode of the game, but if I don't get any credit for it...

If it affects your decision making any, I will consider The Final Episode to be credit for MEGAMAS, next month.

Max Slimmer is a great boss, not because the fight is any great shakes (it's no Salvo the Slime), but because of Environmental Storytelling.



Why is a slime lab at the top of the clocktower? Because it is harmonious in its dissonance and Castlevania Castle is a creature of chaos.

The environmental storytelling is that Maximillian Slimer got a nose cold and sneezed all over the tube in the background, shattering it. You're the real monster for attacking him when he's sick.

I wanted to fight the orange slime...

I beat Drac in Castlevania: Bloodlines. I often forget how short that game is compared to the other 16-bit entries.