ILX Plays: Castlevania (for the NES)

The worst thing is when you lose one of the good secondary weapons because a killed enemy drops a dagger which you can't avoid picking up. I was having a really good run in the hall leading up the grim reaper when that happened.

i beat it w save states last year, now i play a single credit each time to see how far i get can. i want to get good at this game.

the stress level is really far down compared to being a kid. back then if you were playing with people, and died, you'd have to wait at least a whole turn. falling off a cliff, being killed by the Grim Reaper, basically life or death when you had to give up the controller. now it's just play, do whatever, use save states, or not, that's cool

Fuck, so close with the Reaper. I was able to kill him, but his last two scythes didn't die along with him.

I'm going in with multiple boomerangs and firing them off before he's even appeared. After that it's chaos.

http://cdn.wikimg.net/strategywiki/images/3/33/Castlevania_Skeleton_Red.png

These red skeletons are interesting to me. They're not super tough enemies: they can't be killed, but they're slow. The crucial thing is where they're placed, often above or below staircases in such a way that you can't easily pop your head up to the next floor, or so that you have to race to reach the bottom of a staircase before the skeleton gets to that spot. The designers were aware of how awkward the game's stair mechanics are and built these little challenges around it.

Alright, progress! I'm now on to dying a lot in the clock tower. The fleamen have learned to climb walls.

while I love the design of this game, it's just a tad too difficult to be 'enjoyable' imo

Finished! The game's one act of mercy was to make Dracula's chamber a continue point. I was all set to be replaying the clock tower endlessly.

Once you get the hang of Drac's first form it's fairly mechanical. On the second form I used the same holy water method as abanana. I'll try it with the cross too.

This game was a blast. Definitely a new favourite.

finally beat Grim Reaper, shout out to Mikeyspike200 for describing how to beat him with holy water, getting totally crushed in the next level

er, Mikeyspikey200

I tried a single credit run just now and made it as far as the reaper. I could have beaten him too dammit.

New game: ILX Plays: Mike Tyson's Punchout for the NES

i did end up beating this but i used an unconscionable amount of saves

playing castlevanja tonight

uncle vania

It's strange that there hasn't been a new game in the Castlevania franchise since 2014. You'd think what with the popularity of the Netflix show, and things like Bloodborne/Lies Of P, there'd be scope to do something quite ambitious, possibly like an open world RPG but in the Western anime style of the show. I'd play it