When Rondo of Blood was passed over for a US release I was dismayed to say the least. As one of the lone Turbo Grafx owners in my neighborhood it was supposed to be the game that justified owning the damn system in the first place (at least in my mind) but it simply wasn’t […]Renny Blaster
When Rondo of Blood was passed over for a US release I was dismayed to say the least. As one of the lone Turbo Grafx owners in my neighborhood it was supposed to be the game that justified owning the damn system in the first place (at least in my mind) but it simply wasn’t […]
I’ve wanted to do a thorough review on this one for quite some time. For years I’ve read about the differences between Castlevania III and its Japanese counterpart, Akumajou Densetsu. Most of that information was concerning the music but rarely ever went into the gameplay changes between the two versions of the game. Some of […]
As one of the biggest supporters of the NES in America Konami released a host of titles in nearly every genre. They had so many games in fact that they created a second label (Ultra Games) to get around Nintendo’s 5 games a year limit. But even that wasn’t enough and many of their best […]
For as much as I harp on bad licensed videogames in the US it’s not as if Japan and Europe were not subjected to the same rash of cheap product. In the UK Ocean were generally the first to jump on any movie license and usually flooded every PC format with sub-par pap. And Japan […]
It’s a shame that Irem is mainly known for R-Type as they have crafted a number of little known classics over the years such as Metal Storm and Ninja Baseball Bat Man (look it up its awesome!). While they were partly responsible for unleashing Spelunker on the world everyone has their skeletons in the closet. […]
Konami had lofty plans for Castlevania 64, setting out to create one of the most ambitious 3d adventures of the time. However between their developmental inexperience and the reality of the monster they were trying to create Castlevania 64’s initial release was a scaled back version of what they originally planned. Less than a year […]
Even on a console as awesome as the NES there were still many games that fell through the cracks or never saw US shores. For the most part we did receive most of the absolute cream of the crop but there are some glaring omissions. I still question why Konami left Parodius, Wai Wai World […]
You know for some strange reason I really wanted to play 8 Eyes. Fresh off the Guardian Legend (awesome game go play it now) I saw an advertisement for it in one of my comic books and the flowery ad copy hooked me. Dual Attack Mode! You can control a falcon and a dude at […]
Ah Earnest Evans you could have been a contender. In 1991 the Sega Genesis had only just begun its surge in popularity on the back of Sonic the Hedgehog and at that point the major third parties like Capcom and Konami were still not on board. An action game in the same vein as Castlevania […]
In the last days of the PlayStation Sony more or less stopped giving a damn about what was released and as such many publishers used it as an opportunity to release terrible games at budget prices. It’s downright fascinating just how much of this cheap crap went on to become record best sellers. Spec Ops […]
During the 32-bit era there was a disturbing trend of taking beloved franchises and slapping them in 3d, as if that were enough to instantly make them better. Once you take into account 90% of the developers in the industry had no experience working with 3d you can see how the results were usually […]
It isn’t very often that a game comes along that is so great it transcends genre. Super Metroid is considered one of the greatest games of all time and is deserving of that status. Not too many games follow that same gameplay structure, which is a shame but I imagine its a nightmare to design […]
It was a crying shame when Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was passed over for US release. The TG-16 had floundered in North America but still everyone hoped that the series high profile would afford it a bit of leeway. We all should have known better: if Street Fighter Championship Edition wasn’t brought over no way […]
We all have them. Objects of desire. Those things that for whatever reason have reached such near mythical status in our minds that we feel we absolutely must have them. In the gaming world these usually take the form of limited editions of games, imports, or unreleased games. In this case, long time fans of […]
It’s strange that Konami was one of the last major publishers to come to the Genesis. While most third parties did not hesitate to run screaming from Nintendo’s strong arm tactics of the 80s they held fast. Granted, their SNES output was more than enough to sustain them but why not chase the dollars of […]
The early years of the SNES life were a pretty magical time. Many beloved franchises received new installments, usually with the Super moniker to remind you that now you’re playing with power. Super power. While the vast majority of those games were good, one game that was truly exceptional and deserving of the Super moniker […]
They say the third time is the charm and on the NES that definitely seemed to be the case. A very weird trend emerged on the system where the second game in each series was a departure from what made the first game popular. You can see this in Super Mario Brothers 2, Zelda 2, […]
Though it was popularized by Symphony of the Night that wasn’t the first time the Castlevania series had flirted with RPG mechanics. That distinction belongs to Castlevania II, a game with a very storied history among gamers for a variety of reasons. It would continue the streak among NES games in which the 2nd game […]
It’s funny how some of the most legendary franchises in gaming got their start. Werewolves, mummies, vampires, these are all classic movie monsters that people are familiar with. Basing a game on fighting these creatures doesn’t seem all that exciting at first; plenty of games by that point had at least dabbled with with […]
