Castlevania II / Golvellius retrospective: ’Vania mania | Metroidvania Works
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- At last, the "metroidvania" concept begins to live up to its name. Metroid was on-point from the start, but Castlevania was slower to come around to the exploratory action-RPG concept. After the baby steps of the original Castlevania ( • Castlevania retrospect... ) and Vampire Killer ( • Metroid / Vampire Kill... ), Castlevania II felt like the first meaningful effort to turn the quest to stop Count Dracula into a proper adventure. It was also kind of a mess, but hey, like I said-baby steps.
Also in this episode, Compile gives us another interesting twist on the action-RPG with Golvellius. It's not really a metroidvania, but that's OK.
Video Works is funded via Patreon ( / gamespite ) - support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its RUclips debut! And be sure to check out the Retronauts podcast (www.retronauts.com), where I (and many others!) tackle a much wider array of classic gaming topics each week. 
Игры
What a wonderful morning to watch a new Metroidvania Works.
The morning Metroidvania Works has vanquished the horrible night.
I’m one of the ones that strangely loves Castlevania 2. It came out just at the right time to engross and challenge me with its baffling mysteries.
Golvellius is also of of those games I never played but has always been on my wish list. There are so many good Sega games to catch up on as a Nintendo purest back in the day!
Got done replaying Simon's Quest yesterday. Never knew the function of the later Dracula parts, thanks Jeremy. Platforming to get to the Diamond was the most challenging part for me (got worst ending though because I took too long and died too many times). Music of Simon's Quest though is all killer, no filler.
The secret to the best ending in Simon's Quest is to grind for experience and cash in the mansions, where the game clock doesn't advance. Kinda boring! They'd figure it out a decade later.
The soundtrack is amazing, but it's maybe 5 minutes total. Most of the music is 30-second loops!
The daytime town theme is the best!
Nuuh Bloody Tears is best! \o/
I keep coming back to this one. It's too good.
As much as I love all of the content you produce, Jeremy, I could watch you talk about just Metroidvanias and nothing else, and STILL be immersed and satisfied with your iconic, high-quality content and analyses!! There's certainly been a surplus in recent decades, but as a die-hard fan of the genre, I love every second!!
Excellent video as always, and happy Halloween~!!
2 weeks of Castlevania related videos from Jeremy!? What did I do to deserve this?
As soon as I saw that big, round, cyan boi in Golvellius, I knew there had to be a connection to The Guardian Legend. I can't wait for that game to get covered as it's one of my favorite NES games, and something I really wish had become a franchise in its own right. I'd have loved a SNES sequel and beyond.
Here in Brazil MSX computers were the pinacle system for games before Sega's Master System and Megadrive consoles
Konami and Compile were probably the two most talented devs of that era, as far as I'm concerned. Both were trend catching, yet highly creative and often experimental. Konami gets bonus points for their historical and contemporary arcade releases, but there's something super cool about products like Golvellius and Guardian Legend.
At least developers started to learn that insta-death and free roaming 2D platformer-adventure hybrid don't mix well from here on.
Also, they've also learned that NPCs shouldn't lie unless that's a plot point or certain NPC is blatantly called a liar by other NPCs.
I find Golvellius to be a delightful game, still highly playable today (I never played it as a child, so I have no nostalgic attachment). And the ending is hell of charming.
the smooth buttery tones of Mr. Parish always make my midweek.
All these years and I never knew-- or even thought to look up-- what CV2's original Japanese title was. Neat!
I've long thought that the English titles for Castlevanias 2 and 3 are backwards. Simon's Quest sounds like an introduction to a new character ("you've played the other guy's quest, now play Simon's Quest!) and Dracula's Curse really has little to do with any curse from Dracula. Castlevania III does introduce a new character, so it would make sense to call it Trevor's Quest.
More significantly, Castlevania II's primary plot motivation is dispelling Dracula's Curse. So much of the game revolves around it, from the three endings to your goal as a player to the monsters everywhere to the most iconic text string in the series. There might be no game in the series more about Dracula's Curse than Castlevania II, which makes giving that title to the next game and awkwardly shoehorning it into the last sentence of its intro kind of bizarre.
Yeah, I always assumed Simon's Quest started a different character to the one from Castlevania.
Then I, you know, read the instruction booklet.
@@TheSmart-CasualGamer I borrowed Simon's Quest from a friend a few times. I never saw the manual. Also, it was the only NES Castlevania I really saw specifically referenced. (well, some of that was that I thought any reference to Simon was exclusive to 2, but I also never encountered CV1 carts like I did CV2 carts)
Castlevania II was the first CV game I ever played and I have tons of nostalgia for it.
Same here.
0:04 yo I love Black Magic M-66! so iconic!
Going into this with no instructions was my first introduction to any kind of grinding. "Nothing in this game is obvious."
Loved Golvellius on the SMS, can still remember a lot of the music.
Excuse me, Simon doesn't "collect" Dracula's remains in this game, he prossesses them.
You gotta collect before you can prossess
@@JeremyParish Well done. I stand corrected.
I loved this game as a kid. I still remember getting it for Christmas. I was probably in 3rd grade and me and my Dad would play it every night after dinner and once my homework was finished. I wasn’t that good at it so I really preferred watching my Dad play. Thanks for reminding me of better times. This has been a tough, long year. Also, I love your in-depth examinations of some of my favorite NES games. That being said, my favorite Castlevania game has to be Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.
The Guardian Legend was pretty bad ass for its time. I still think about some of the tunes from that game.
Compile would also "revisit" Golvellius with a spin-off title called "Super Cooks" on MSX2, which is... basically Shin Maou Golvellius, except you're a chef, you fight enemies using a frying pan (and other weapons you find, such as a salt shaker, a burner, etc.), and all the enemies and NPCs are food-themed.
Super Cooks is amazing, if you haven't played it. It's arguably the best Golvellius game, as it has multiple weapons, "item crash"-style weapon effects for each that you can learn not just for combat purposes but for exploration, and -- miracle of miracles -- THE ABILITY TO FACE LEFT DURING SIDE-SCROLLING SECTIONS. Yes, you can actually turn around! Hallelujah! ;)
It also has some absolutely hilarious moments in it. One entire stage is supposed to be America, and all the NPCs speak nonsense English until you happen to take an English course from a very specific NPC, at which point their dialogue is properly translated into Japanese and thus comprehensible.
It's the weirdest way to adapt one's own classic game and make it brand new, but it's also VERY Compile. Highly, highly recommended!
Huh, I’ll have to look that up sometime.
@@JeremyParish If you do, don't let the first area fool you: the first area is an exact 1:1 copy of the first area from Shin Maou Golvellius, albeit with altered puzzles, enemies, and NPCs. The 5 subsequent areas, however, are completely original.
@@Alianger I agree, actually -- that's why I said "arguably." From an objective standpoint, depending on what you're looking for, Super Cooks is easily the best in the series -- it's the only one with multiple weapons that function completely differently, to say nothing of each one having an unlockable item crash. And it also has the nicest-looking, best-designed, and most feature-rich side-scrolling stages. And easily the nicest, most detailed environments of them all.
But, as you said, it's extremely linear compared to even Shin Maou, which I actually found a bit overly linear itself compared to the original MSX1 game. TBH, despite its wonky controls and extremely basic graphics, that original MSX1 game is probably my favorite in the series simply because its world is the most fun to explore -- though I have yet to play the Master System version, so I'm not sure where that one would stand in comparison. As far as I can tell, it, too, has a completely unique world map, just as Shin Maou does, meaning all three versions of Golvellius offer their own experience. Which is kind of cool!
@@Alianger Well... those are objectively features present in Super Cooks that are not present in any of the three versions of Golvellius, is what I mean! So if having a greater variety of attacks, or more detailed sprite work in environments, is more important to you than nonlinearity, Super Cooks is going to be the clear winner.
Either way! There's not a bad Golvellius game. Though... the whole "find" system does kind of break your brain if you stop to think about it for even a moment. The currency in Golvellius is THE INTANGIBLE ABILITY TO DISCOVER HERETOFORE CONCEALED THINGS IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT. It's dropped by enemies, you can spend it to buy things, and you can increase your ability to find things (and, thus, your "purse size") by reading bibles... which you buy with the very thing those bibles teach you.
It may be the single most meta gameplay concept I've ever encountered. Pac Fujishima had some... interesting ideas in his head 30 years ago, to be sure! ;)
I was actually waiting to see what obscure connection Black Magic M-66 had with either game. ;)
It may only get credit for Bloody Tears and the first dip into exploration as far as the West knew at the time, but the atmosphere Simon’s Quest presented was top shelf for Halloween gaming.
I can’t help but wish that Compile further explored Golvellius and Guardian Legend years later. They certainly earned their fame elsewhere but that is an intriguing “what if”.
We've arrived! Never beat CV2 as a kid, but finally did in my teenage years via emulation. I always hoped it'd get remade w/ QoL updates and sorta make it a modern metroidvania.
Golvellius just FEELS really fun to play, and doesn't get nearly enough praise (the SMS one, anyway). The only thing holding it back is how short it is compared to the Zelda games.
I still remember the day I got this game. When we originally got an NES, we got SMB, of course, but my dad wanted to get one more game. I suggested the first Castlevania as I played the arcade version. Being 8 at the time, my dad was reluctant to listen to me. In the end, he did and fell in love with the game.
Then I got Castlevania II for my 9th birthday. It was buggy and cryptic, but I loved the exploration and puzzles.
And the music. Bloody Tears still one of my favorite tracks.
Just had a wild retro Castlevania dream where I was playing a romhack of the first one at my friend's house & discovered a hidden bonus upgrade item room and several hidden warp passages in the Grim Reaper's dungeon by doing a unique crouch jump (that can't actually be done in the real Castlevania) under the edge of certain platform blocks. The upgrade rooms looked a lot like the mansions from Simon's Quest, particularly the dark sections. Needless to say this was a wonderful and appropriate video to awaken to from that dream proving how much Simon's Quest & C1 has impacted my psyche. :)
8:44 weird giant Puyo character you see in Guardian Legend. COMPILE studio mascot maybe?
Yeah, the little guy is called Randar/Lander, and it was Compile's mascot for a while.
I was not aware that CV2 was based on an MSX game... I now prossess that knowledge! =)
Laurels in your soup enhances it's aroma.
Not so much based on as informed by, I’d say.
This and Rygar are the 1st grade nostalgia into this genre. Mostly hated these days but I've replayed Simons quest 10x and still enjoy it. Of course it's flawed. But there would be no symphony of the night without this.
My favorite series! And favorite series of games. I love your analyses, especially in these. Keep it up!
I absolutely adore CVII. But if it weren't for my beloved Nintendo Powers from back in those days I would never have finished it hahah
I still have the NP fold out map framed in my game room. :)
Excellent episode Jeremy, you are the man!!
I didn't have Nintendo Power, but I did have one of those Secret of NES Games book that told you all of the important tips in reverse print. You had to read the text in a mirror, to learn about the Blue Crystal trick, for instance.
In retrospect, I have no idea how anyone could have figured that out using only the in-game clues. It's like Legacy of the Wizard, in that sense. Only the meta-game can save you!
I'm always going to love Castlevania II. I know I and III are very good action games, but II really did feel like a "quest" with an emotional payoff. And I think it primed me to jump all the way on board with later Castlevania games that emphasized exploration over linear progress.
It can't be my favorite - so much of the game is impossible to understand without being told what to do - but it's dear to me.
Thanks for the great video on games that interest me, but I definitely don't have the patience to play. You're doing the lord's work.
I’ve never played Castlevania 2. I’m going to have to give it a go. Great job as always.
I actually hadn't heard of Golvellius before, but it actually looks really enjoyable, as to be expected from Compile. Might have to grab it up sometime, so I can finally give my Master System something to do. Great video as always!
Thanks for that bit about Maze of Galious, I was never quite sure what the primary influences were on CV II, outside just the original game & Zelda II. Incidentally, Galious' Japanese title, Majō Densetsu 魔城伝説, is very similar to Castlevania's Akumajō Dracula 悪魔城ドラキュラ, both using the characters majō 魔城 up front, and launching in 1986 on MSX from Konami. Not sure if there was ever any intended connection, it's kind of a weird coincidence otherwise.
Oh man. I used to buy your books! This channel looks outstanding. Congrats on all the subs. Can't to watch all these video essays or whatever we're calling them.
I don’t care what anyone says, I loved Simon’s Quest and still do. It’s a good game with the main issue being a terrible translation (intentional or otherwise). However back in the day on the playground we would talk about games and eventually we all knew how to sit for the tornado, what to do with the ferryman etc. Bosses would have been nice too...but really there is just so much I love about Simon’s Quest but I hear often about how people hate it.
You eventually all knew that shit because it was in Nintendo Power.
@@steve43ful Add to that that they didn't even payed attention to the video, which explicitly states that the translation was not the problem.
Blind nostalgia is not the way to go.
Hot dog! Another Metroidvania Works, my favorite of all your series. But I love all of them to pieces.
There are townsfolk who lie to you in this game aren't there? Was incredibly difficult as a kid but still had fun cause zombies! Vampires! Monsters! Decapitated Dracula on Nintendo Power!
Final castle theme is the best single nes track hands down
Just in time for holloween 👻
I realize this game is a nightmare to some, but I’m still fond of it to this day - probably because I rented it and a Nintendo as a kid and had to figure it out in just one weekend.
TGL!!! I can't wait for that episode! Such a great game! Really pushed the NES to its limits graphically at the time.
Some people love to hate on Castlevania II, especially compared to the first game and third games, but at the time it was a great game! My best friend (and next door neighbor) owned it and we spent many hours playing it, learning all of it's secrets and getting all of the endings. Those were good times!
And I just noticed the blue Hal laboratory looking creatures from The Guardian Legend, also Compile in Golvelius.
Thank you thank you for giving Simon's Quest (my favorite NES game) a proper review instead of hating on it like most other RUclipsrs.
I started to review Simon's Quest on my channel last year. I even started "Mapping Transylvania", to document how to navigate the game with the NES Classic. But even I have to admit that my affection for this game is based on the secret guides I read while playing the game. If I had to make sense of this game without knowing the tips, I would have gone mad.
@@tcbvgames That's awesome. I'll check out your videos.
@@baardbi Fair warning: My videos are mostly Let's Plays. But I have some tutorials for folks who are curious about weirder games like Castlevania 2 and Resonance of Fate.
I do like the music in the sequel. 😀👍🎮🧛♂️
Yay, Blue Lander! He's my favorite blue spherical mascot! (Sorry, Lolo.)
No love for Violet Beauregarde?
@@JeremyParish Eh, she got better.
I know it's still hip to hate this game but I LOVED Simon's Quest the best of all the OG Castlevania games.
Very good review
Castlevania 2 has to be the most interesting semi failure in NES history. Both extremely flawed and ahead of it's time in so many ways.
well said. I was just thinking how this game could've been nigh unto zelda levels of classic had it been executed properly.
Love your material. I too cover NES Castlevania games, mostly focused on rom hacks on my YT. Awesome work! This is def my cup of tea %)
I love how you pointed out every item usage, you should try a "hack" about the game, well, it's actually an improvement which the hints are corrected and are close as accurate to the famicom game, also, they added some details such as shattered blocks hinting the gamer to go and brake them, and the cherry on top of the cake, a map.
Do the bad hints remain bad? Some of the villagers are supposed to be lying.
@@AntonioCardenasT Most of them make no sense or are not accurate to the original Famicom game.
@@noside.foxhound but are the ones that are lies in the famicom version still lies (even if retranslated lies) or just replaced with actual hints?
@@AntonioCardenasT According to the hacker, it's accurate to the famicom version, even if they are lying.
Blue Lander!
GUARDIAN LEGEND!
i cant wait for Guardian Legend... i wrote fanfic of me being the Guardian when i was a lil'Papallion
i got in trouble at school for writing so much video game fanfic for Creative Writing
one of my essays in English class was basic maze running techniques
i got a good score, but the teacher knocked me down a grade since it was video game related
as flawed as this entry is I still really enjoy it.
What the heck is on Channel 8?
It's an anime OVA called Black Magic M66 from 1987, It's actually pretty good.
Nicely spotted!
Back in the day of early Anime companies bringing us the goods. Loved U.S. Renditions.
A slight correction about the leveling mechanic. It's not capped by EXP level. You are afforded one level up per area of the game, areas being a section of Transylvania that is "governed" by one of the mansions.
Right. There’s a cap on experience earned in each mansion. Once you hit the cap and level up, you can’t level any further.
@@JeremyParish My apologies, I must have misunderstood the phrasing. I thought you were saying that if one leveled up in a later portion of the game without having done so in a prior, the prior would be absent of EXP.
Sorry for dragging us all down into the doldrums of pedantry. Great video as always.
Yeah, I didn't break the process down in detail, because it's sort of incidental to the video. The important thing of note is that you can't just grind infinitely... not that you'd even really need to.
The greatest benefit to leveling, in my opinion, is the damage reduction to Simon. By level 3 or 4, survivability spikes way up.
Ah. The Blue Landers are here too.
I know many people bring up Redaction as the way to play Simon's Quest, but I think it's just a bit too invasive to how the game was designed. I much prefer Retranslated. I don't mind the obtuse nature of the clues, and like that they make you think about what the character is actually doing in the world rather than simply the button presses, but for the lake and Deborah Cliff, 10 seconds is too long to the point where players that try the right thing are likely to eliminate it as the solution after it initially seems to not work.
Retranslated is nearly the ideal version of the game, in my opinion. Just a few tweaks away, like reinstating the "horrible night" text, completely redrawing the in-game map to fit on one screen without scrolling and to provide a more clear sense of how things connect, and reducing the time for the aforementioned parts. Maybe also switching the hearts from being doubled on pickup to halved on prices.
Very interesting to see the evolution pf the genre.
I wonder if you have tackled Knightmare II: Maze of Galius.
Konami made a mixture of the mechanics of Castlevania, but with the open world exploration of Metroid, including obstacles overcome by different items.
I said in this video that Knightmare II is next episode...
The Maze of Galius episode as Jeremy mentioned will be the next installment of Metroidvania Works in approx. 6-8 weeks (it's tentatively scheduled for December).
First one I played was part 2 and I must have played it 2 or 3 hundred hours when I was about 9 or 10 years old in about 1989 till I found just about everything.By the time I played part 1 it took a lot of getting used to cause the game was so much different and a lot more unforgiving.
Same here. Never forgot 2's opaqueness.
Castletroid.
I have to say I really like the idea of this game and a lot of the substance. I just think some of the design is frustrating and annoying. I can forgive the fake floors and walls since it makes the mansions feel like an Rpg dungeon. I can’t look past the progression though. The townspeople don’t help you or their clues make no sense, so figuring out how to progress without a guide is ridiculous at times. I still like the game despite this.
It's always reat news when you upload. Also like that you started showing up in your videos. You were a disembodied voice before. You are kinda cute too.
*Starts video
AHHH the Devil
And he's trapped inside of a Nintendo Virtual Boy!
I never loved cv2 but did enjoy the game. Definitely needed a Nintendo power to figure out how to beat it
2:37 great typo in game there...
Golvellius is like if Compile asked "What if we made Zelda, but made it move like a shmup?"
Stick with what you know, I guess!
Query: is it intended to reduce to book form either the Gaiden or Metroidvania series?
Yes for Metroidvania Works.
@@JeremyParish While the Gaiden series would be more difficult to do in book form, the interstitial transitions between entries would in some respects add more value than the more conventional book series where the transition from one entry to the next is essentially just the sequential passage of time. Anyway, very much enjoy the books.
The Gaiden material will show up in various books where appropriate, e.g. last week's Castlevania video as a supplement in NES Works 1987.
You're still getting 2 frames of that red "media offline" card right before the game feed starts, Jeremy.
(Not trying to be super picky or anything, just want to help a guy I think makes some of the best content I've seen since the 1UP days.)
3:48 STILL don't know what that means, and played that way back in 1991.
The npc is lying. Many of them do (they tell you this in the manual) and once you know that you're being pranked, some of the sillier pieces of advice make a lot more sense. Simon should know better than to take the word of Transylvanian peasants as gospel.
@@snookers5123 which of the sillier ones make sense?
Also, WHAT is that deathstar line one NPC says?
Something like, "Don't look into the Death Star. You'll die." (I assume due to extreme retinal damage caused by the planetary turbolaser.)
Bro, what's that first anime you show
Black Magic M-66
Black magic m 66 one of shirow masamunes books/shows.
More like metroidYAYnia … I’ll see myself out.
Castle-Roids
Sounds painful... maybe see a doctor about those?
Sounds like something a king would get from long hours sitting on his throne.
@@JeremyParish I did, and it was the strangest thing. I thought the examination was finished, but then the doctor flipped me upside down and started again.
hows everyones comments 2 weeks old. anyway i like this game cause im a sucker for any game with good music
People who support this channel on Patreon get access to videos two weeks ahead of the public.
Yeah if you support the channel you get it all early, though I end up watching it on patreon and then again weeks later when it turns up on youtube. This is one of the best channels to support, cos I genuinely see it as something akin to a museum, or a history book, that'll be incredibly useful for decades (or hell maybe even centuries, who knows). This kind of preservation and documentation of art is a step above simply reviewing retro games. That's why I love this channel.
Yup, Patreon supporters get videos earlier than the public, but I often rewatch when they become public as Jeremy's videos are very rewatchable. And really good videos on Castlevania are a thing I enjoy immensely as well.
I'll take Simon's Quest over Castlevania any day of the week. And Govellius by Compile was glorious. There was a second one I believe as well.
Yeah sorry, no one is gonna convince me this game is good. I played it when it came out. Boring and tedious.
Ok