DF Retro: Castlevania Anniversary Collection - Series Retrospective
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- Опубликовано: 27 май 2019
- In this episode, John explores the recently released Castlevania Anniversary Collection checking out each and every game included. What did each installment bring to the table and how do they hold up today? And how about the emulation quality? Watch to find out!
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Игры
I will never understand why Konami included the original version of the Adventure and not the EU/JP exclusive colour re-release as part of the Konami GB Collection Vol 1. Not only was it full colour, but had the slowdown removed entirely. Belmont's Revenge was included in Vol 4 also getting the full colour treatment along with the addition of the Cross sub-weapon instead of the Axe. They were far better versions than the default we ended up with.
M2 or not this collection was probably very rushed (by Konami of course)
Probably because the added color seemed way out-of-settings, with all that green and purple. It wasn't made by the original authors, or based on the original artwork.
The collection is about the origins of the serie. So they only added the first version of the games.
@@tryfon_94 I don't think that's so, because they sell this same exact version in Europe, where they had the color version.
davintheraven Gameboy games are region free and all run at 57hz however, so there wouldn’t be any judder or anything due to the usual PAL to NTSC conversion required for European games.
We need a compilation of all the Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS Castlevania titles
I was really hoping this would have rebirth from the Wii eShop.
sadly neither that nor Contra rebirth seems to be on any of the collections they put out. (So far)
I'm hopeful if this does as well as I assume it will we'll see multiple follow-up volumes.
They could probably do five volumes of Castlevania games alone.
YES! The DS games, all of them, are my jam!
@@laserwolf65
Seriously now that the 3DS is becoming legacy and there won't be anywhere left to play it Konami needs to release all those games.
But like I said I'm hoping this is just one of maybe 5 total collections. There are so many more great Castlevania games.
IMO buy the Castlevania Collection to show Konami that you want more. I am hoping for more Collection series to be released. If they make a good profit they will release more. I am hoping for DS and GBA games in one collection, SotN and RoB in one, and a Rebirth collection containing the 3 Rebirth games in one collection. We need to vote with our wallet.
All GBA, DS Castlevania Collection, but also needs SOTN to be perfect.
Bloodlines was such a fresh entry in the Castlevania franchise!
Thanks John, so much detail in this! DF Retro just gets better and better
I strongly agree
Bloodlines proved that a pointed stick was more effective at fighting Dracula and his minions than a whip.
If only the whip direction from Super Castlevania IV was in it, it would be the best of the series.
Is Bloodlines easier playing with pointed stick man rather than whip man? I’ve never played that one.
AlexRN Eric is definitely easier to beat the game with
@@AlexRN it was for me. His fully invincible pole vault is very abuseable
I mean, Morris actually does hit harder than Lecarde. I prefer playing as him because of this. He's actually speedier overall since he beats bosses faster.
25:44 YES! Finally some love for Lamment of Innocense. Great game!
Now if only Curse of Darkness could ALSO end up on PSN, i never got around to finishing it.
My favorite part was where you get locked in a room and have to kill all of the enemies to continue.
Oh wait, that was the whole game.
I really wish they had Castlevania the Adventure Rebirth too. As it was pretty much its own game based on Castlevania the Adventure
Jeremy Abbott I also wish it included Castlevania Legends
I agree. Especially since it was exclusive to Wiiware, which is shut down now, so nobody new can get it. I'm glad I downloaded a copy when I did, but I much prefer physical media.
Nice one John, DF Retro delivers as always!
You're welcome.
Great job as always, John!
Mmmmm...that VRC6 Castlevania III soundtrack. It's really one of the best across the entire series, and even all of video games.
The Japanese version has been patched in now, with the emulated VRC6 sound.
Another amazing video John! Thanks for all your hard work. DF Retro is my favorite series on all of RUclips.
I am part of a minority, but I love Castlevania II. I remember watching my older brother playing the game around its release and enjoy playing it a lot too.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest gets a bad wrap mostly down to AVGN's review of it. I love the game, and I have never finished it, but you could see the very start of the Metroidvania aspect of the more recent games and I think that makes it one of the best in the series.
@@B33FY2011 Agreed. I watched my older brother play Simon's Quest a lot as a kid and it was a great game. Sure, it had issues with translation and could be confusing, but it was so cool for a NES game back then. SQ and Csatlevania 64 were both done dirty by AVGN, and a lot of people won't even try them because of his videos.
The Castlevania IV soundtrack has been on my playlist since 1991. I still remember puzzling out how to connect the SNES to my Dad's Tape Deck to make it all work. Absolutely excellent!
Castlevania is my favorite series of all time, I've beaten 14 Castlevania games and I'm super stoked that this collection lives up to its potential and delivers some quality emulation. Thank you Digital Foundry for covering these greats.
I collected videogames for 25 years! Sold most of it in the last 2-3years,because.....you know.....you get older and tired! First i wanted to sell everything,but im glad that i did hold to my CV/Akumajou Dracula Collection!
I hate getting older.
Well...the feeling of being tired.
Thank you so much for noticing the high-pitched beep!! I kept seeing these reviews about the flawless emulation and I thought I was gonna go crazy. Also that crash-causing bug happened when I was fighting Dracula!! Aaaah!!! Still love the collection and the NES Switch controllers work with it!!
It's disappointing that such obvious bugs made it past testing.
@@yellowblanka6058 they actually fixed the bugs. And a lot of bugs can happen with emulation.
@@RX-NoName True, but NES emulation is not exactly new, and something regular like that absolutely should have been addressed before release, it's not like it was some random unpredictable memory interaction.
This is the most thorough in depth review of the game there is in YT. Great job as always!
Jesus bloodlines looks so damn good I need it!!! Beautiful video as always John keep it up :D
I remember buying a copy that real cheap at a Toys R us back in the day.
I still have the box and instructions for it.
Discovered Belmont's Revenge not long ago and was so surprised by the quality. Both level design and especially music. Became one of my favorite Castlevania titles decades after the original release.
DF is my all life desired tv program.
Amazing job bro!!! Your passion and hard work are much appreciated!!! I have zero idea why there would be a single dislike! Awesome job as always bro!!
Castlevania games always make me sing Whip it by Devo.
"Whip it.... Whip it real good..."
Let it Whip by Dazz Band for me.
7:41 The track is "Trascend both the Fear & the Despair" ("Calling from Heaven" is the Bloodlines OST name) by Dangerous Mezashi Cat. The album is Omega Catastrophe, but I can't find it anywhere to buy or listen to online other than tracks uploaded here on RUclips.
Thank you kindly for sharing the track's name! It's amazing.
Df Retro is the shining star of this amazing channel! Great content as always.
Thanks for the excellent video John! Castlevania is one of my favorite franchises ever, and seeing the collection got me giddy.
Bloodlines is the most underrated title in the series.
No, Lament of Innocence is, at least in the US. Europe-wise is somewhat appreciated.
Simon's Quest was and still is a classic.
@@kaisersoymilk6912 Lament of Innocence is bad. Both IGA PS2 Castlevanias are. Both the N64 and Lord of Shadow titles are better attempts at a 3D Castlevania, so either of those would be more underrated than LoI or CoD. But Bloodlines is one of the best games in the franchise.
@@spooky_electric I remember that back in the days it got 9,5 on the magazines, and I agree with the score, aside from some cumbersome menus there's not much you can say against it. It just didn't sell well
(the sequel to LoI is terrible though).
@@spooky_electric You're out of your mind to think Lament is worse than Lords. I'll give you the first Lords of shadow but the 2nd game was a massive pile
Castlevania 4 one of the best soundtrack for gaming ever
SupeRoesti Amen
I didn't like the remixes, but the original music is amazing to this day. I prefer CV4's moody presentation over the more upbeat and "anime" style that defined the IP later on.
Too bad it's so easy that even the final boss feeds you chicken wings to restore your health
You should download the full arranged score done by Yasher. Absolutely incredible, I fall asleep to it a lot.
@@zusk8556 I'll have a look. Thanks
I think you need to play more games
Super Castlevania has always been my favorite of them all.
I am in awe of the incredible detail of this video thank you. Keep up the good work. You have earned a subscriber.
Simon's Quest, suddenly AVGN comes to mind.
Castlevania on NES. the music is amazing. mom used to love that game :D
So what happened now?
@MultiTarded oh god no, she's still alive, just that she doesn't play anymore. But I remember I was watching her play Castlevania on the nes back when I was like 8-9. She liked that game more than I ddi
@@LISTEDGames hmm glad to hear it. it's not some kind of rip situation. otherwise it would be really hard
The funniest part of IGA shattering the wine glass is it was for a spirtual successor to Castlevania: Bloodstained Ritual Of The Night! Still Great Job! :)
One of the absolute best franchises in gaming. The classic styled Castlevania games in particular are just so masterfully designed.
Just another amazing DF Retro, these videos are the best content on youtube.
That lack of challenge in Super Castlevania IV is properly amended in the game's hard mode.
As for subweapons they get more useful, cross in particular, when you power them up which is now possible by taking out enemies with them.
@AnEn SCVIV is easily my favourite platformvania, so yeah fingers crossed for a game to carry on that torch sometime.
Just try with only the rope (starting weapon)... then its hell
@@zacsolo1594 I actually did that to some degree as a kid. Couldn't make out the powerup sprite, thought it looked like a ornate flask. Assumed it was some kinda paralyzing toxin (game freezes for a sec when you pick it up) and avoided it at all cost.
@@Rubbercookie i feel sorry when you fought Slogra
I swear you guys upload videos just when the world needs them. This video is just in time to be my mundane 'washing dishes' background video, other times they've been uploaded in time for an unashamedly long toilet session or a dinner-time date for one with the TV. You guys are heroes.
Thanks for the entertaining rundown. Looks like another solid collection.
i would totally buy the DF Retro Music Player
Really had been hoping you would do a video for this, and you delivered as always!
Great vid 👍 soon as I get a chance going to pick this up to relive these classic
I love video games and was heavily into them as a Chile when all of these titles originally released. I still own most of them today. Castlevania is also one of my top favorite franchises in all of video games. The info you provide on background and technical aspects of picture, sound, and emulation of these games makes me love and appreciate them even more. Excellent work as always John and the DF team. I’ll definitely watch this again.
Thank you for this thorough analisys of the games !
You know what? I still haven't played a Castlevania game; might finally be time to give it a shot.
Do you like old school platformers? They are slower than Dead Cells.
John, you sold me this collection, good quality video!
Great work John!!! Thanx a lot!!!
Well I'm going to have to watch The AVGN Castlevania retrospective after this.
Well as always he shits on anything Genesis and compares everything to CV4 which I think is so easy with that whipping in every direction shit
@@juanelorriaga2840 Be honest. You never would have complained about 8-directional whipping if people on RUclips hadn't started doing it. It's like the metal blades in Mega Man 2: It's fun, and if you think it's too easy, don't do it.
@@cptnoremac It's not so much about whether 8-way whipping was a good idea or a bad one.
It's more about people treating the 8-directional whipping as this *objectively good* mechanic that was supposed to become a mainstay of the series, and complaining about subsequent entries for *failing* to include it like it's this idiotic oversight that they just can't fathom.
Super Castlevania's mechanics aren't *objectively better*, they're just different, and there were perfectly legitimate reasons for not using them in the subsequent entries.
Personally... I don't dislike them, but I think the classic restricted controls make the gameplay more interesting, and they give the old Vanias their unique game feel.
@@Kani8122 Whether the whipping mechanics of CV4 are good or not is another question. It just bugs me that nobody ever complained about it before, and then Egoraptor did a video where he besmirched them, and coincidentally everyone on RUclips repeated the same sentiment, as though they're actually capable of original thought.
@@cptnoremac Yeah, that's just how people are. It can be annoying.
Fantastic work, thank you for this.
I think the real biggest difference between the Japanese and International versions of Cv3 was the difficulty adjustments.
I'm actually kinda more excited about that part.
Symphony of the night still game of my life!
Don't think i played it for more than an hr or two and only on 360 but still liked it better than any of these older ones which are just too old now to bother with.
DEVILTAZ35 which means you’re a casual wannabe gamer
Really impressed at the sound emulation for Bloodlines! Sounds damn close to a VA3 - VA6. Most emulated Genesis/MD games re-releases fall short in that regard. Stellar episode again, John! Now have at you!
Great video. I might end up buying this collection. Thanks!
I never noticed they blurred out the misspelled "Dracura" in the US release of Super.
Wife: "Honey, why did you shatter all of our wine glasses?
Me: A new digital foundry video is out.. John told me to do it!
Eric ?
If Jon told you to whip a skeleton, would you do it?
If anyone is wondering, the cause of the beeps in Castlevania 1 is due to their emulator not knowing how to handle "Pitch 0" of the triangle channel correctly. If you listen to the original soundtrack (on hardware, or in an emulator that doesn't mask Pitch 0), you will hear some "clicks" or "pops" in the same places that you hear the loud, high-pitched beeps in the Anniversary Collection. This happens in only 4 specific places in the CV1 soundtrack (the two beeps shown in this video, and also two in the level clear jingle). It doesn't show up in CV2 or CV3 at all, which is why you don't encounter the beeping there.
This can be considered a bug, so emulating it accurately isn't necessarily ideal. The devs likely wanted to remove or omit all instances of Pitch 0, as their placement is so random and minimal that it appears to be an accident and not a purposeful technique. The NSF player NSFPlay has an option called "Mute Triangle at Pitch 0", which would be a great thing for M2 to patch into their emulator. But otherwise, accuracy would also be much more welcome than the loud beeps we currently have.
Fun fact: Early Capcom soundtracks on the NES are often riddled with Triangle Pitch 0s. If M2 tried loading up something like Mega Man 2 in their NES emulator, the problem would've been immediately noticeable because the soundtrack would've been spitting out those obnoxious beeps constantly.
My favorite game series ever! Nice one John
This is a pretty well done video! Great information.
Whoever edits these videos is so good!
Sega 3D Classics releases on 3DS made me realize what an amazing job M2 does with their releases and I'm definitely going to support their efforts this time as well. Great work as always John. Have you by any chance tried the PC version of the Collection? I'd be curious as to how they handle stuff like resolutions beyond 1080p, ultrawide screens etc as these things often tend to cause problems with japanese releases.
The Pc version is filled with bugs and lacks a ton of options. Can't enter fullscreen, there is no exit option, no selectable resolutions and even if there were, the games themselves are emulated without proper scaling, this means they look blurry af while the menus and the decorative backs look properly scaled. Piss poor job but this happened because they are overloaded with work and I can imaging they don't have enough capable people to properly code a side job like this for Pc.
Blizniak I’ve heard so many good things about them, but I lack 3D vision, and therefore have no depth perception. Even if I had a 3DS, I couldn’t see the effect. As a result, I just have a 2DS as it was 100 quid cheaper.
Also there is one classic Castlevenia title missing. Castlevenia Chronicles for the PS1. Though very few people have heard of it since it's so completely overshadowed by Symphony of the night.
@@MrMarinus18 i have the psn version of castlevania chronicles.
Best channel on youtube reviewing one of the greatest game series of all time. Who brought the popcorn?
Great video guys!
"The Sinking Old Sanctuary", which you highlighted when talking about Yamane's work - pretty sure this is not only one of the best CV tracks (extremely high praise in itself) but one of the best pieces of video game music ever.
Great video. as always!
i wasn't originally going to buy Castlevania Anniversary Collection because i already have all the games in it but after watching this i changed my mind
Ah, nothing like a do retro to watch while I enjoy my morning coffee
I agree that an option to decouple scanline mode from bilinear filtering would be a good thing. But do you remember CRTs? Analog displays didn't have fixed horizontal pixels (the phoshor triplets are NOT pixels). Add the limited bandwidth of the TV standards of the day, and the result is horizontal blur.
best video series atm for me, df retro!
Now we just need metroidvania collection, thats something even i would buy. But great video again and as always, its fun to watch.
Hell yeah. I'd love to revisit Order of Ecclesia on my Switch.
That's pretty nuts. Years ago I used to be a wannabe comic book artist and graphic designer and I made up some bizarro fanfiction that tied the ending of Castlevania 1 to be a starting point for Kid Dracula, and embellished it for a few classmates back in junior high school. Thankfully, the garbage was lost to time but seeing the title mentioned and released in this compilation really brought me down memory lane. Thanks for the nice roundup review!
OMG, the Castlevania 4 soundtrack still gives me goosebumps.
I honestly hope that they do a collection Volume 2 with Rondo of Blood (classic 2D and 2.5 versions), SOTN, Circle or the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow.
Rondo of Blood and SotN are already in their own collection.
Mikel Ramirez, yeah I realize that they are already in a collection released on PSP, and again on PS4 (minus the 2.5D version of RoB), so maybe bring that collection to multi-platforms; then later release the GBA titles, as they are gems in their own right.
@@odjrin Ah, I get what you mean now.
I'm thrilled to see the gameboy versions included. They often get overlooked in these compilations.
Great video. 2:29 that Gameboy just came right from the factory :o
I'm an old school Castlevania fanatic and i agree with you that i loved the simplicity of the first few installments compared to the exploration in the latter versions & this video content is great.
This would've been the perfect collection if they added Rondo of Blood.
Good video John, I hope to see you do another DF retro video on the Contra anniversary Collection.
Totally agree, excellent retrospective!!
duuuuude!@#!@! Everything you said about the linear ones spoke directly to my heart. I loved the linear progression of the first half of the games!
Bloodlines (or The New Generation as I know it) is one of my all-time fave games; the first thing I did when I got this collection was complete it (with Eric, obviously). Thanks for this video, John! :)
One of our favorite franchises, don’t think we could have clicked on a video faster
Great work boys!
I don't mind the epilepsy quality of life changes to these classic games, but I wish they would add a setting to set them back to their original design. M2 does this on just about all of their releases. The Neo•Geo Station games on the PS3 also had some major changes, such as removing all of the animation from the neat looking League Bowling title screen. That was kind of disappointing when you paid nearly $10 for a single game.
The music in Belmont's revenge is so good. Battle of the holy in adventure is really good too
On sale in ps4 all the time. Just picked the collection of eight up for $5. Very happy
I just started playing Super Castlevania IV thanks to this collection. Loving it so far.
Castlevania 2 was the first of the series I ever owned. I actually like the adventure type of route they went. Being able to upgrade your whip permanently and buy/find subweapons to use when ever you want was a nice improvement from the 1st game. I'll admit though, I had to call a hotline back then to find out how to progress because the game really is cryptic, but not impossible, to figure out.
Castlevania 3 was my first castlevania as a kid and still my favorite to this day, I've played each more times than i can count and still this collection was a great purchase.
I had that Castlevania 1 sound bug happen in Castlevania 2 as well, though it happened more because of a combination of sounds/music going off at once as opposed to happening at the same point in the soundtrack like it does in 1.
Another wonderful, wonderful episode. Nice work and thank you
Great video! I bought this day one for the Switch, but I still really enjoyed ur breakdown of the collection.
Konami should release an arcade collection which includes the 1990 arcade game, Aliens. That game was really cool looking.
Great work as ever John.
Oh what I’d do for a Goemon collection with translations of the second and third Super Famicom games! 😍😍😍🤞🤞🤞
Dude. Nicely done, Beastmode.
Bloodlines...I remember when it came out, made me want a Genesis.
The gd music man. The music. Nothing else like it.
Great video!
Top notch video!
Hey John, been rewatching some DF Retro, and I think ROM sizes and how it affects *perceived* hardware limits would make for a great video. You could start with the official stuff, showcasing how ROM sizes typically increased over the course of each generation, and the leaps in visuals that happen within the same fixed hardware because of it. The interesting part would be finding examples of what hardware could do without ROM size limitations. Modern homebrew making use of plentiful flash memory/flash carts like the Titan Overdrive demos come to mind as fun ones. Longtime fan of DF retro, keep it up. :)
@1:32 one the most epic theme song i ever heard. Need this song lol
Castlevania the adventure rebirth: battle of the holy
@@papparaba5504 your a god thank you for the reply
@@justaguyonyoutube1937 You,'re welcome. Please let me know if you'll ever know about the first song at 00:09
@@papparaba5504 will do
Bought this collection purely for IV and its brilliant. Glad to have it back in the collection.
@Ioannis Stf Which is in the loft...... Lol! Found last night.
Dude, what's up with the Lamment of Innocence soundtrack for the first Castlevania?
Aside of that, neat video, you may have sold me on the collection (I'm a Castlevania fan but i was doubtful, since there was word out there thay it didn't live to M2's quality standards)
I'm feeling the itch for some retro Castlevania with my Switch.
Leon's Theme would have been a better fit during CV4 since it has parts of CV4's final boss music