Finally!! i though I was the only person in the world that actually enjoy this game, it is clear that is not the best option for a fighting title on the Wii (Smash Bros Brawl, Guilty Gear XX and Tatsunoko VS Capcom have that honor) but it is far from been a bad game, it is full of deep modes, extras, awesome fanservice and music and if you play it with a classic controller is trully a fun fighting game
A lot actually. Speaking as a Castlevania fan who only had a Wii back then, this game was a slap in the face! First the developers of Soul Calibur shat SC: Legends into our laps, and then Konami shat out this. Their "apology" was an eShop remake of a really terrible Game Boy came, and could be beaten in like an hour.
I remember when I saw everyone who disliked this game mocking the Death Note artstyle, the general crossover storyline, or Maria's cutscenes, but never actually heard a single thing about whether the mechanics were actually bad or not. To this date, I STILL don't know if the game is actually a bad fighting game.
Pretty much all I've ever heard is people complaining about the character redesigns. I'm honestly thinking that most of those people never actually played the game.
Hardly a cash grab, new art, new story, new engine , new voice recordings ..... much effort n work went into this clearly. Experimental however, this game has in spades. It was an epic risk that didn't pan out. Don't get me wrong its not a great game, but it wasn't for not trying.
It definitely seems like people hate it more for what it isn't than what it is, with one of the most common complaints I see being that they don't use the old character designs.
I actually really liked this game. Some of the designs were really out there, but they kinda have a charm. Also, I just found out that I've been spelling it wrong all these years. It's "Judgment" and not "Judgement". But the correct one looks so wrong. Thanks for covering this!
@wave razor you only think that because Death Note is popular, no other anime looks like this (except of course the ones made by Takeshi Obata, cuz that's his art style)
To know if someone actually played this game you just need to ask about the redesigns, if the person doesn't mention cornell ( like most people in the comment section ) and says "everybody looks bad" they didn't play the game
Wait!!!What?!?!Where was I when this game came out???Never heard of it and I consider myself a huge Castlevania fan,so thank you very much for this vid🙏🙏🙏
I've never heard of this game, since I bought the Wii for my mom. And she didn't play those types of games. But I'm listening to the way you describe this game, and......this game sounds AWESOME!!!!
We used to play this game. We were huge Castlevania fans already at the time, but we didn't mind the game being different. I distinctly recall we rather enjoyed this game. It was really a big fan service game, because you had all these different Castlevania characters meeting each other. A fighting game really is one of the few kinds of games where you can put different characters against each other and see what they might say to each other.
Arc Systems Works would have made an amazing Castlevania fighter. They are masters at adapting 3rd party IPs into fighters and would have made it into a fast pace and fun 2D or 2.5D fighter and the visuals would have been off the chain especially if they used Ayami Kojima’s designs.
What a coincidence. I literally just wrote "Its like a Castlevania-themed Soul Calibur game with the freedom of movement from Power Stone. Looks like fun!" then noticed your comment.... and yeah I had to put this somewhere so here it is.
@Alucard Belmont Wow, that much? I would be disappointed too. I used to go to Gamestop and buy up the cheap used Wii games. Even if it was shit, I wasn't out too much. If it helps, I bought Other M full price and a month later it was in the bargain bin. It happens to the best of us.
Honestly, a fighting game spin-off for Castlevania isn't the worst idea ever IMO. Maybe if it was a more traditional Street Fighter like 2D fighting game it might've been better received... or not.
Castlevania's best games were always 2D, and I agree. If they chose to build a 2D fighter, on the DS if necessary, it would have been better received and probably a better game.
@Budgie Cat i guess, but i think a traditional 2D capcom style fighter is a better fit, and would have made for a better game, though i also understand why Konami isnt trying to look like its copying capcom. Also, 2.5D usually refers to isometric games like Diablo and sonic 3D blast. This game is a 3D fighter, in as much as the 1st 3 Tekken games and Tekken Tag Tournament are 3D fighters.
This seems like it was kind of inspired by Soul Calibur, which would probably be a good fit for a Castlevania fighting game. Though obviously there's some deviations from Soul Calibur conventions in there, maybe leaning more into the Soul Calibur gameplay would have been better.
The idea was not bad.Everyone was doing a fighting game at that time: Dissidia Final Fantasy,Ys versus Sora no Kiseki and Tales of VS. Other old plataform series like Mario and Megaman also had their fighting games. Most of the character designs were not all that bad ,the problem was Simon who was used as the poster boy for that game. Obata's design for him was awfull,but was inspirated not in the original character look (like Trevor was) but in Ayami Kojima's already awful re-design for the character for Chronicles.
When I played this shortly after launch, I was just having fun experimenting around, trying to find the longest and strongest combos possible. But none of my friends were interested in playing against me, so I shelved it. About a year ago I happened to see Castlevania Judgment on a flea market, and I decided to slap it in again later. Lo and behold: I still had a lot of fun, but with years of fighting game experience under my belt, it felt almost like a different game compared to my first sessions. Suffice to say, it's not great, what with the awkward camera, annoying control scheme on GameCube controllers, and the rather uninspired game modes, but I still had a great time again. On the other hand, the soundtrack is amazing, the moves and combos are super satisfying, the elaborate super moves are just hilariously epic, and the artstyle lends the characters are very modern kind of goth visual note, even if it was contentious. I, for one, really liked it.
I actually didn't think this game was that bad. I did ditch the motion control for a gamecube controller and had some fun. The camera and characters design are definitely an issue. But the Music and super combos were pretty awesome. There are far worse fighting games out there.
The game's failure was also, I believe, the straw that broke the camel's back with regard to IGA working on the 'vania series from here on out and lead to his dismissal.
Honestly I would say Castlevania 64 also falls into the category of Overhated. Sure, it is no Ocarina of Time (not many games are), but of the 600 or so titles in the Nintendo 64's extremely limited library, Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness easily rank in the Top 20. I would say prove me wrong, but really that's not how this works anyway.
I think the most hilarious thing about this game is Maria Renard's motivation in her story mode: She beat up every woman in the game because they have bigger breasts than her. No, I'm not kidding, that's her storyline lol
If all fans would always hate a spinoff game for being a different genre, we wouldn't have mega series like Super Smash Bros, World of Warcraft or The Sims...
I was surprised by how much i liked this game and felt that if it had bigger maps with more arena gimmicks and a better camera set up it would have had wider appeal. It did not do itself any favors by being a fighter on the Wii and I never really liked the art style here ( I think that was a big miss in character design).
Yeah I never truly understood the hate for this game. I remember sinking hours into it back in the day. My opinion is if you like Soulcalibur you probably stand a chance of liking this game as well. Not really a big fan of the art style of the sexualization in the game (ie Maria's comments toward Carmilla, etc.) I don't remember the controls being that bad playing it with a GameCube controller. Overall I like it. Thank you. That is all. 😄
Pretty sure THGM picks topics based on whether they give him an excuse to pronounce “controversy.” As for Judgement, is it a good game? Not really. But is it fun? Hell yes.
I could see this being a cool concept but I don't like the look of most of the fighters. A Castlevania fighter would have been cool if the fighters were monsters from the series more than the heroes from different games.
I love Castlevania, especially the Igavanias. Played this once with an old friend and fellow Castlevania geek. He had unlocked all the characters prior, and I had fun. But I got disappointed a week later, when he had sold the game and said it sucked.
Truth be told it's not altogether awful. It plays more like a fighting sequence in something like Curse of Darkness over a traiditonal 3D fighting game (and is much easier to deal with with a Gamecube controller than the Wiimote's monstrous control scheme...), thus the frenetic pacing. The visuals aren't exactly good snd the character traits pretty different than they were before, and as long as you're not fighting Dracula you'll have a chance. It's not great, but definitely overhated.
I wanted to play Judgment, but money was tight at the time. And with the mix, mostly negative reviews and better fighters like Tatsunoko VS Capcom, I was driven away from it.
I think the reason why Castlevania judgment got so much is primarily because it was not a sidescroller title that Castlevania fans are familiar with. I honestly quite enjoyed this game when it was released. I think a lot of it had to do with super smash bro's comparisons people were doing or average 2D fighting games that the we had at the time. That's why that game got such heavy criticism.
I really liked the combos one could pull off with holy water or the cross sub weapons there was a juggling mechanism that really added depth to the fights also every character had its strengths and weaknesses I remember when my friends used to play this and take turns fighting The tier list was Eric Shannon and aeon as the top tier But all in all every character had something for themselves Like it was cool discovering Grant had a sub special and do did Cornell and so on
Really the only problem me and my friends had with the game was the character redesign choice, I honestly believe that had they not made that poor decision for a new art style and instead kept the character's original design with new 3D graphics that the game would have been way better received since the Obata's redesigns as a whole put off a lot of people and this was honestly a solid fighter game.
The only problem i see from this game is the supers take too long and you could say do too much damage. Other than that the game is pretty solid and worth it. This was actually the first Castlevania game i played too (I should play it again sometime). Im a very WEEBY kinda guy so i pretty bias toward the artstyle of this game. I honestly dont mind it looking like this because i LOVE Death Note. Hell i dare say make ALL of Castlevania anime as hell (Nah i dont wanna do that to yall lol). But yeah this game in my opinion was treated unfair honestly. Like how KOF Maximum Impact, Capcom Fighting All-Stars the Code Holders, and I dare say Samurai Shodown Edge of Destiny/Sen. People really just dont like change even if its good or not a major change.
I’m surprised you didn’t touch on Shanoa or Aeon in the character roster, as those two are significantly more powerful in this title than the rest of the cast, and I think you might have left out Grant and Golem too unless I missed it. I enjoyed my time with this game but I wouldn’t say it was what I’d have wanted from a Castlevania title by any stretch, especially as one of the last we would ever see from Konami outside of the Lords of Shadows titles which don’t really count for me.
Best fighting game on the Wii wow what an honor best of like what 4 games? I strongly doubt it's better than Naruto clash of Ninja, Smash Brothers Brawl or tatsunoko vs Capcom
I bought it for a very low price just mounths after its release and found it to be a good and fresh entry into the fighting genre, with a surprising amount of content/extras. Most of the hate this game received appeared very irrational to me, even back then. It opened my eyes on how unqualified "gaming journalism" can be.
Let's be honest here. This game was merely rejected because of the change in artstyle. Is the art bad? No. Takeshi Obata is a very talented artist and Death Note is a wonderful series. But you can't just make a fighting game based off of an existing franchise and change how literally ALL the characters look. It might as well be titled something other than Castlevania. If Konami ever released an HD remaster of this game, all they would have to do to get fans to buy it is include a new "arrange" mode where all of the character have their original character designs. Do this and this game would still be enjoyed by Castlevania fans the world over.
I think it got a lot of hate because it forced you to get off the couch. Super fun, I really enjoyed it - however I stay in shape, so punching and jabbing for an hour and half wasn't that big a deal for me.
I remember I had this game at some point. I also recall that my wrist hurt a lot from trying to hit anything, and the camera being atrocious. It's hilarious to hear you saying the negative reviews were biased against something different, when you're so biased yourself towards the positive reception. Instead of actually going on explaining or analyzing why the contentious aspects (camera, controls, balance) weren't as bad, as to defend your point of the game being overhated, you completely glossed them over as "hater speech".
The game looks decent for what it is and I've often thought about picking it up just to see how it plays. The only thing that stops me is that I'm not a huge fan of 3D fighters like Soul Calibur, but to each their own. I'm sure this game is treated unfairly because it's Castlevania but it really shouldn't, it's a great concept!
People bash the anime style but Konami was aleady using in the days of Rondo of blood and Bloodlines (Eric design was changed in western releases to be less feminine). In fact Legends,the N64 games (see the artwork) ...and even the original 1986 game's japanese manual also had anime style long before Dawn of sorrow and Portrait of Ruin .
I Really Loved Castlevania Judgement for Wii. It's actually the only 3D Castlevania game I liked... Will say, it was difficult to get used to the controls, but once you got a feel for it, it was fun playing a street fighter 3D Castlevannia.
If anything, it was a game with good ideas but badly executed. With a fight system akin to God of War or Ninja Gaiden used in a vs mode. We had a scene for this that (in Venezuela) lasted almost a year, with monthly tourneys, held together with the Brawl crowd and even some Naruto and Bloody Roar. The final tourney (We called them "Judgment Days") had even 32 players! Long live Castlevania Judgment! Enjoy these tourney vids! ruclips.net/p/PLdsphO0F4xrmva_1HzgjtPbYR55gt4Lfk
Top Hat Gaming Man, I have some suggested fighting games you should cover in future videos. Fighting games: Mortal Kombat (original) Guilty Gear X BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger X-Men: Children of the Atom Marvel Super Heroes The King of Fighters '95 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Samurai Shodown II Sonic the Fighters (known as Sonic Championship in North America) Tekken (original) Persona 4 Arena Mega Man: The Power Battle Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters Art of Fighting 2
Castlevania 64 is flawed but most of people that hated the game did not pass beyond the first level or did not use a Controller pak to save. Yes the plataform jumping mechanics were bad,but most of it was resolved in Legacy of Darkness (most of the levels were redesigned anyway).
I am glad i am not the only one who likes Judgement, i always thought i was the black sheep who actually enjoyed this game, i think there is fun to be had in it, and i especially adore the design of all the stages you can choose from, the Ghost Ship, Cathedral, and Throne Room being my favorites
I really love this game, it's one of the reasons I still have my Wii and cut it on every so often. I do however really wish this would've benefitted from releasing on PS3 and Xbox at the time. As well, a sequel or remake of this game could really fine tune some of it's jankiness. I like to imagine a world where we have a Castlevania Judgement with twice as many characters, and much more content.
Imagine this engine? And then rooms as subsection of levels were you beat enemies like that until the end of a level were you meet this boss (which can become a playable character for Arcade mode (the fighting game), after you beat it. It would actually have been a working 3D Castlevania :P.
When I got the game, it was because of Screwattack doing a first impression playthrough on it when they were still around. I did no regret getting it in the slightest and never saw why the game deserved any hatred beyond the character design or wiimotion option.
Castlevania is my favorite Gaming franchise,. but this game really isn't appealing or interesting to me. not saying it's bad, but it doesn't really make feel like playing it.
I played this one, I was actually surprised it played pretty well, it's closer to the Bleach arena fighter games on the PS2 from that time, but the game is good enough mechanically, even with the waggle controls it played pretty well. The few things I didn't like was the character design, too exaggerated for my taste and how modes like Story requires you to play over and over again. It gives replayability, but in the best way. But overall I was quite happy with it. If they mainly addressed those two issues I think this could have been better accepted and moved forward as a spin-off series.
I did not like the esthetics or the wild camera. I wish it handled more like Soul Calibur. Glad I didn't buy it for full price I was able to rent it back then and see for myself how much I could enjoy it. I do like the ideas for the Story Mode and True Story Mode that's the type of single player I want from my fighting games.
My judgement: the haters have done nothing but make mountains out of proverbial molehills across the board. The Wii's motion controls weren't *that* bad if you actually gave them a chance (which not many actually did simply on the grounds that it was motion control), and the two reviews even sounded like they were describing two very different games, with the camera being one of the few things they actually.
I rather enjoyed and still enjoy this game, I still own a copy in mint condition, despite being huge fan of the original Castlevaina franchise, I found this game fun for simply exploring a different outlet, the game has its flaws but then what game doesn’t, I wouldn’t rank it my favorite Castlevaina game, but I’m still having fun with it even today. I’ve personally always wanted to see a Castlevaina Warriors style game...it’s an interesting concept idea at least.
I think if it changed less designs or at least changed them less drastically it would've went a bit better (even if it also means it would've went a bit more "fanservicey"), because as is it just feels like they slapped the names of known characters onto designs that are clearly not them. The originals (read: Aeon and the Time Reaper) are fine, and the more anime-like style also is since Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin prove that (and even then Judgement is still less anime than those two, being more like a Berserk type manga style), and since the music is fine as well that only leaves the designs and gameplay, with the latter already being a mixed bag so whether it's an issue isn't quite a problem. ... Really, those new designs felt like KoF's Maximum Impact alt designs except slapped in as default for no good reason. I can't guarantee you that between this and the series constantly changing protags, no one would've been able to tell that it was Simon on the cover and not some random emo protag from some random new game. (I think only Shanoa and Dracula look perfect in this game, Alucard just looks like Sephiroth while Death just looks like they needed a simple skeleton for a fighter and then gave him a scythe to make him "Death", and everyone else is needlessly redesigned and I'd argue only Carmilla fits her redesign at all even if Cornell got the most badass one and Golem really doesn't matter how much it changed since it's still the same at the core)
Honesty I really loved playing Castlevania Toshinden, also really dug the art direction. Do wish it did get released on the 360 instead though as DLC characters could have been a thing that way, and we could still be playing it now as a backwards compatible title.
I'm convinced that Castlevania as a series is (very on-brand thematically) cursed. It feels like outside of a certain handful of games, the series just keeps getting reviewed worse than it actually is. I've heard that this game is absolutely terrible, but seeing more and more of it and hearing reviews from people, the more and more it looks like a solid game. Maybe not totally amazing, but more than solid. Just like how Castlevania 64 has been smeared as being horrific and basically "as bad as Superman 64" according to many people, yet it clearly isn't garbage. The sequel even improves upon many things.
I have a special attachment to the few games I managed to get my hands on during my deployment to Iraq in 08-09. Judgment and Order of Ecclesia were in that bunch. While Ecclesia is among my favorite games on DS, I hated Judgment with a passion hot enough to jumpstart a dormant volcano. As a lifelong Castlevania fan, I gave them the benefit of the doubt during the lead up to Judgment. Just as I had when Lament of Innocence was announced (after being burned by the N64 games). My mistake there. I don't hate the game because its so vastly different from the established norm. I hate it because it plays like absolute shit. The controls are ass. The camera is wonky. And they were trying way too hard with the story, though that may possibly have been forgivable had the same story been in a game that played in a more familiar way.
Please do videos on mortal kombat,tekken,dead or alive,blazblue,bloody roar,snk's world heroes,primal rage,sonic the fighters,xmen children of the atom,& street fighter 1
Probably if the designs of the characters had been more faithful to their originals the game would have had a little more acceptance. For me personally, I find the character design horrible.
I was actually excited for this game, but I found the gameplay a bit lacking. What was more distracting than that, though, was the art. I distinctly remember thinking "when did Simon Belmont develop an interest in BDSM clothing?" I think a lot could have been overlooked as an ok distraction if they'd had classic looks as an alternate style for each character. I wasn't even too crazy about his "new" look in Castlevania Chronicles (it was ok, not great), so I was a very happy Vania fan when we saw his Smash Bros design. If his Castlevania II armor would get some more love, I'd be set. 😁
It was a retail release. not downloadable; you can still play it (As long as you have something that can run Wii games, anyway.) Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth was the WiiWare game.
I actually enjoyed the game. Althkugh it got old fast it was still a fun game to ay once or twice thru. Idk maybe im crazy or a fanboy but I didnt absolutely hate it
Finally!! i though I was the only person in the world that actually enjoy this game, it is clear that is not the best option for a fighting title on the Wii (Smash Bros Brawl, Guilty Gear XX and Tatsunoko VS Capcom have that honor) but it is far from been a bad game, it is full of deep modes, extras, awesome fanservice and music and if you play it with a classic controller is trully a fun fighting game
indeed. i missed the days of extra stuff to unlock in fighting games, being that nowadays is all dlc
i like too! ^^/
The soundtrack was fantastic too
Indeed I like this game a lot.
Would you guy's like a sequel?
This game is so underrated a solid fighter rich with customization with artwork by the death note guy what's not to love?
A lot actually. Speaking as a Castlevania fan who only had a Wii back then, this game was a slap in the face! First the developers of Soul Calibur shat SC: Legends into our laps, and then Konami shat out this. Their "apology" was an eShop remake of a really terrible Game Boy came, and could be beaten in like an hour.
@@SomeOrangeCat relax, it's not like they completely abandoned the main series just a spin off
Not really a fan of the character designs. I like the idea of a castlevania fighting game
I remember when I saw everyone who disliked this game mocking the Death Note artstyle, the general crossover storyline, or Maria's cutscenes, but never actually heard a single thing about whether the mechanics were actually bad or not.
To this date, I STILL don't know if the game is actually a bad fighting game.
Pretty much all I've ever heard is people complaining about the character redesigns. I'm honestly thinking that most of those people never actually played the game.
I love Judgement, it is really good even as a single player game
Hardly a cash grab, new art, new story, new engine , new voice recordings ..... much effort n work went into this clearly.
Experimental however, this game has in spades. It was an epic risk that didn't pan out.
Don't get me wrong its not a great game, but it wasn't for not trying.
Max Skill Points Experimental!
Not bad
JUST NOT WHAT THE FANS WANTED...
I agree with you
Say what you want about it but you can't deny that a werewolf knight is indeed badass.
Fax 💯.
2nd best thing about the game! 1st being the soundtrack!
Pretty cool!
@@KreuzDrache 1st Is Aeon
It definitely seems like people hate it more for what it isn't than what it is, with one of the most common complaints I see being that they don't use the old character designs.
I actually really liked this game. Some of the designs were really out there, but they kinda have a charm.
Also, I just found out that I've been spelling it wrong all these years. It's "Judgment" and not "Judgement". But the correct one looks so wrong.
Thanks for covering this!
@Eiji Nieva Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for that.
There's a whole story of Americans cutting out letters from words to make newspaper printings cheaper, so yeah "judgment" is one of those cases
@@crystalalumina I never knew the newspaper reasoning, but that really makes a lot of sense!
Okay, Takeshi Obata's art is *not* "generic contemporary anime". Look to Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin for that.
Its generic. Didnt even know the artist had a name. Art looked like anime character #3221
And bakuman
@@waverazor Bro he literally made Death Note what the heck are you on about.
@wave razor you only think that because Death Note is popular, no other anime looks like this (except of course the ones made by Takeshi Obata, cuz that's his art style)
Hell, I was just happy to see Cornell again.
He's a werewolf knight on this game!
@@Invidente7 Exactly! What a dope combination! I almost wish that was the form he got in the original game! 🤩
To know if someone actually played this game you just need to ask about the redesigns, if the person doesn't mention cornell ( like most people in the comment section ) and says "everybody looks bad" they didn't play the game
Moon Knight Cornell
The soundtrack is godlike though.
Same
I skipped this game and have regretted it, I'll get it one day
Wait!!!What?!?!Where was I when this game came out???Never heard of it and I consider myself a huge Castlevania fan,so thank you very much for this vid🙏🙏🙏
I've never heard of this game, since I bought the Wii for my mom. And she didn't play those types of games. But I'm listening to the way you describe this game, and......this game sounds AWESOME!!!!
We used to play this game. We were huge Castlevania fans already at the time, but we didn't mind the game being different. I distinctly recall we rather enjoyed this game. It was really a big fan service game, because you had all these different Castlevania characters meeting each other. A fighting game really is one of the few kinds of games where you can put different characters against each other and see what they might say to each other.
Arc Systems Works would have made an amazing Castlevania fighter. They are masters at adapting 3rd party IPs into fighters and would have made it into a fast pace and fun 2D or 2.5D fighter and the visuals would have been off the chain especially if they used Ayami Kojima’s designs.
I love this game. It is one of the unforgettable games i’ve played on the Wii. I Just love castlevania i’m a big fan of the series.
I was playing this the other day, Underrated game, a fun mix of Power Stone and Soul Calibur .
Very Soul Calibur-y. Ivy would fit in so well.
What a coincidence. I literally just wrote "Its like a Castlevania-themed Soul Calibur game with the freedom of movement from Power Stone. Looks like fun!" then noticed your comment.... and yeah I had to put this somewhere so here it is.
It's not bad actually. Play with a gc controller. I paid ten for it, and it is worth a look. The designs are interesting if weird.
Classic controller even better than the awful GC pad
@@thomasbeall9069 I'd agree except I don't always have batteries.
@Alucard Belmont Wow, that much? I would be disappointed too. I used to go to Gamestop and buy up the cheap used Wii games. Even if it was shit, I wasn't out too much.
If it helps, I bought Other M full price and a month later it was in the bargain bin.
It happens to the best of us.
This was one of the first games that I ever played online on my Wii, man time flys.
The Final Lesson: give the people what they want
Like a combination of traditional fighting games and smash.
Great content as always! You're becoming one of my favorite channels!
Awesome, woke up at 4am feeling like crap but then saw this and everything got a little bit better.
Keep up the good work fella and stay safe!
Honestly, a fighting game spin-off for Castlevania isn't the worst idea ever IMO. Maybe if it was a more traditional Street Fighter like 2D fighting game it might've been better received... or not.
Castlevania's best games were always 2D, and I agree. If they chose to build a 2D fighter, on the DS if necessary, it would have been better received and probably a better game.
@Budgie Cat i guess, but i think a traditional 2D capcom style fighter is a better fit, and would have made for a better game, though i also understand why Konami isnt trying to look like its copying capcom.
Also, 2.5D usually refers to isometric games like Diablo and sonic 3D blast.
This game is a 3D fighter, in as much as the 1st 3 Tekken games and Tekken Tag Tournament are 3D fighters.
This seems like it was kind of inspired by Soul Calibur, which would probably be a good fit for a Castlevania fighting game. Though obviously there's some deviations from Soul Calibur conventions in there, maybe leaning more into the Soul Calibur gameplay would have been better.
Anything but a real castlevania game would have been shit.
The idea was not bad.Everyone was doing a fighting game at that time: Dissidia Final Fantasy,Ys versus Sora no Kiseki and Tales of VS.
Other old plataform series like Mario and Megaman also had their fighting games.
Most of the character designs were not all that bad ,the problem was Simon who was used as the poster boy for that game.
Obata's design for him was awfull,but was inspirated not in the original character look (like Trevor was) but in Ayami Kojima's already awful re-design for the character for Chronicles.
Btw, nice use of "Empty Tome" in the background, personally my top 1 Theme in all of Castlevania
When I played this shortly after launch, I was just having fun experimenting around, trying to find the longest and strongest combos possible. But none of my friends were interested in playing against me, so I shelved it.
About a year ago I happened to see Castlevania Judgment on a flea market, and I decided to slap it in again later. Lo and behold: I still had a lot of fun, but with years of fighting game experience under my belt, it felt almost like a different game compared to my first sessions.
Suffice to say, it's not great, what with the awkward camera, annoying control scheme on GameCube controllers, and the rather uninspired game modes, but I still had a great time again.
On the other hand, the soundtrack is amazing, the moves and combos are super satisfying, the elaborate super moves are just hilariously epic, and the artstyle lends the characters are very modern kind of goth visual note, even if it was contentious. I, for one, really liked it.
I actually didn't think this game was that bad. I did ditch the motion control for a gamecube controller and had some fun. The camera and characters design are definitely an issue. But the Music and super combos were pretty awesome. There are far worse fighting games out there.
When this came out, I could not find a single copy of this game in stores or online!
Interesting stuff! I had literally no idea this game even existed.
The game's failure was also, I believe, the straw that broke the camel's back with regard to IGA working on the 'vania series from here on out and lead to his dismissal.
Honestly I would say Castlevania 64 also falls into the category of Overhated. Sure, it is no Ocarina of Time (not many games are), but of the 600 or so titles in the Nintendo 64's extremely limited library, Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness easily rank in the Top 20. I would say prove me wrong, but really that's not how this works anyway.
I think the most hilarious thing about this game is Maria Renard's motivation in her story mode:
She beat up every woman in the game because they have bigger breasts than her.
No, I'm not kidding, that's her storyline lol
@AT Productions yep xD
Omg that's crazy
If all fans would always hate a spinoff game for being a different genre, we wouldn't have mega series like Super Smash Bros, World of Warcraft or The Sims...
Would devil may cry fans be excited if capcom only released a spin off of the game for the ps 5, series x?! I don’t think the fans would be excited.
It looks very interesting...
I guess exclusivity hurt it...
I never owned a wii console, I wish to play this game one day.
I was surprised by how much i liked this game and felt that if it had bigger maps with more arena gimmicks and a better camera set up it would have had wider appeal. It did not do itself any favors by being a fighter on the Wii and I never really liked the art style here ( I think that was a big miss in character design).
I forgot Castlevania Judgement can be played with a Wii Classic Gamepad or a Gamecube controller.
I would have gotten it back then.
Yeah I never truly understood the hate for this game. I remember sinking hours into it back in the day. My opinion is if you like Soulcalibur you probably stand a chance of liking this game as well. Not really a big fan of the art style of the sexualization in the game (ie Maria's comments toward Carmilla, etc.) I don't remember the controls being that bad playing it with a GameCube controller. Overall I like it. Thank you. That is all. 😄
Pretty sure THGM picks topics based on whether they give him an excuse to pronounce “controversy.” As for Judgement, is it a good game? Not really. But is it fun? Hell yes.
I have not yet had a chance to play the game but your video is another very informative one ! Congratulations !
Been Waiting For This One 😁
I could see this being a cool concept but I don't like the look of most of the fighters. A Castlevania fighter would have been cool if the fighters were monsters from the series more than the heroes from different games.
I love all Fighting games and this is no exeption
Same
Oddly enough, judgement is my third favorite castlevania and I’ve literally played them all
I love Castlevania, especially the Igavanias. Played this once with an old friend and fellow Castlevania geek. He had unlocked all the characters prior, and I had fun. But I got disappointed a week later, when he had sold the game and said it sucked.
Truth be told it's not altogether awful. It plays more like a fighting sequence in something like Curse of Darkness over a traiditonal 3D fighting game (and is much easier to deal with with a Gamecube controller than the Wiimote's monstrous control scheme...), thus the frenetic pacing.
The visuals aren't exactly good snd the character traits pretty different than they were before, and as long as you're not fighting Dracula you'll have a chance. It's not great, but definitely overhated.
I wanted to play Judgment, but money was tight at the time. And with the mix, mostly negative reviews and better fighters like Tatsunoko VS Capcom, I was driven away from it.
I think the reason why Castlevania judgment got so much is primarily because it was not a sidescroller title that Castlevania fans are familiar with. I honestly quite enjoyed this game when it was released. I think a lot of it had to do with super smash bro's comparisons people were doing or average 2D fighting games that the we had at the time. That's why that game got such heavy criticism.
This game will always have some of my favorite character designs.
Death Castle: Night Note
Featuring The Belmonts
Basically Castlevania fans HATED the makeover, I guess?
Huh. Looks like I'm gonna have to find this game and dust off my Wii then!
I really liked the combos one could pull off with holy water or the cross sub weapons there was a juggling mechanism that really added depth to the fights also every character had its strengths and weaknesses
I remember when my friends used to play this and take turns fighting
The tier list was Eric Shannon and aeon as the top tier
But all in all every character had something for themselves
Like it was cool discovering Grant had a sub special and do did Cornell and so on
I am a huge Wii fan and have never found this one in the wild. Got a spare copy 😜?
Really the only problem me and my friends had with the game was the character redesign choice, I honestly believe that had they not made that poor decision for a new art style and instead kept the character's original design with new 3D graphics that the game would have been way better received since the Obata's redesigns as a whole put off a lot of people and this was honestly a solid fighter game.
The only problem i see from this game is the supers take too long and you could say do too much damage. Other than that the game is pretty solid and worth it. This was actually the first Castlevania game i played too (I should play it again sometime). Im a very WEEBY kinda guy so i pretty bias toward the artstyle of this game. I honestly dont mind it looking like this because i LOVE Death Note. Hell i dare say make ALL of Castlevania anime as hell (Nah i dont wanna do that to yall lol). But yeah this game in my opinion was treated unfair honestly. Like how KOF Maximum Impact, Capcom Fighting All-Stars the Code Holders, and I dare say Samurai Shodown Edge of Destiny/Sen. People really just dont like change even if its good or not a major change.
I’m surprised you didn’t touch on Shanoa or Aeon in the character roster, as those two are significantly more powerful in this title than the rest of the cast, and I think you might have left out Grant and Golem too unless I missed it. I enjoyed my time with this game but I wouldn’t say it was what I’d have wanted from a Castlevania title by any stretch, especially as one of the last we would ever see from Konami outside of the Lords of Shadows titles which don’t really count for me.
Best fighting game on the Wii wow what an honor best of like what 4 games?
I strongly doubt it's better than Naruto clash of Ninja, Smash Brothers Brawl or tatsunoko vs Capcom
Exactly
I bought it for a very low price just mounths after its release and found it to be a good and fresh entry into the fighting genre, with a surprising amount of content/extras. Most of the hate this game received appeared very irrational to me, even back then. It opened my eyes on how unqualified "gaming journalism" can be.
I’d pay to have a sequel made
Let's be honest here. This game was merely rejected because of the change in artstyle. Is the art bad? No. Takeshi Obata is a very talented artist and Death Note is a wonderful series. But you can't just make a fighting game based off of an existing franchise and change how literally ALL the characters look. It might as well be titled something other than Castlevania.
If Konami ever released an HD remaster of this game, all they would have to do to get fans to buy it is include a new "arrange" mode where all of the character have their original character designs. Do this and this game would still be enjoyed by Castlevania fans the world over.
I think it got a lot of hate because it forced you to get off the couch.
Super fun, I really enjoyed it - however I stay in shape, so punching and jabbing for an hour and half wasn't that big a deal for me.
@@christopherross8358 well, there is an option to just play with a normal controller. You didn't have to use the nunchuks.
I remember I had this game at some point. I also recall that my wrist hurt a lot from trying to hit anything, and the camera being atrocious.
It's hilarious to hear you saying the negative reviews were biased against something different, when you're so biased yourself towards the positive reception. Instead of actually going on explaining or analyzing why the contentious aspects (camera, controls, balance) weren't as bad, as to defend your point of the game being overhated, you completely glossed them over as "hater speech".
By the look of it had a good blueprint for a hack n slash it could of been a good Bayonetta or DMC 🤷
The game looks decent for what it is and I've often thought about picking it up just to see how it plays. The only thing that stops me is that I'm not a huge fan of 3D fighters like Soul Calibur, but to each their own. I'm sure this game is treated unfairly because it's Castlevania but it really shouldn't, it's a great concept!
But street fighter and tekken are 3D tho
Dude, Soul Calibur plays nothing like this, is literally Tekken with weapons
It had potential but it failed mostly because of those damn controls. It was definitely something different though.
I’m early, love the show Top Hat Man
You want to know the biggest problem with this game? Every super takes half of your health bar. Under 50% health? You die. Balanced!
People bash the anime style but Konami was aleady using in the days of Rondo of blood and Bloodlines (Eric design was changed in western releases to be less feminine).
In fact Legends,the N64 games (see the artwork) ...and even the original 1986 game's japanese manual also had anime style long before Dawn of sorrow and Portrait of Ruin .
Great videos...can you do a review on the World Heroes series?
I Really Loved Castlevania Judgement for Wii.
It's actually the only 3D Castlevania game I liked...
Will say, it was difficult to get used to the controls, but once you got a feel for it, it was fun playing a street fighter 3D Castlevannia.
i remember being very excited to play this game when it launched but got really really deceived after playing it
If anything, it was a game with good ideas but badly executed. With a fight system akin to God of War or Ninja Gaiden used in a vs mode.
We had a scene for this that (in Venezuela) lasted almost a year, with monthly tourneys, held together with the Brawl crowd and even some Naruto and Bloody Roar.
The final tourney (We called them "Judgment Days") had even 32 players!
Long live Castlevania Judgment!
Enjoy these tourney vids!
ruclips.net/p/PLdsphO0F4xrmva_1HzgjtPbYR55gt4Lfk
Top Hat Gaming Man, I have some suggested fighting games you should cover in future videos.
Fighting games:
Mortal Kombat (original)
Guilty Gear X
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
X-Men: Children of the Atom
Marvel Super Heroes
The King of Fighters '95
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
Samurai Shodown II
Sonic the Fighters (known as Sonic Championship in North America)
Tekken (original)
Persona 4 Arena
Mega Man: The Power Battle
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
Art of Fighting 2
I always wanted to play this game because the screen shots of the gear tower reminded me of Soul Caliber 3.
Did anyone else have a theory that Aeon is actually Soma, from a future timeline?
What you got against castlevania 64? I loved that game and a lot of people that I knew liked it as well.... did I miss something along the way? Lol
Castlevania 64 is flawed but most of people that hated the game did not pass beyond the first level or did not use a Controller pak to save.
Yes the plataform jumping mechanics were bad,but most of it was resolved in Legacy of Darkness (most of the levels were redesigned anyway).
@@carlosaugustodinizgarcia3526 it was fun for me I liked that it had the real boss as a secret
I am glad i am not the only one who likes Judgement, i always thought i was the black sheep who actually enjoyed this game, i think there is fun to be had in it, and i especially adore the design of all the stages you can choose from, the Ghost Ship, Cathedral, and Throne Room being my favorites
I really love this game, it's one of the reasons I still have my Wii and cut it on every so often.
I do however really wish this would've benefitted from releasing on PS3 and Xbox at the time. As well, a sequel or remake of this game could really fine tune some of it's jankiness. I like to imagine a world where we have a Castlevania Judgement with twice as many characters, and much more content.
Imagine this engine? And then rooms as subsection of levels were you beat enemies like that until the end of a level were you meet this boss (which can become a playable character for Arcade mode (the fighting game), after you beat it. It would actually have been a working 3D Castlevania :P.
Fully agree
This game looks fun.
When I got the game, it was because of Screwattack doing a first impression playthrough on it when they were still around. I did no regret getting it in the slightest and never saw why the game deserved any hatred beyond the character design or wiimotion option.
Castlevania is my favorite Gaming franchise,. but this game really isn't appealing or interesting to me. not saying it's bad, but it doesn't really make feel like playing it.
didnt care for the game much but man the cover art on the box was gorgeous lol
I played this one, I was actually surprised it played pretty well, it's closer to the Bleach arena fighter games on the PS2 from that time, but the game is good enough mechanically, even with the waggle controls it played pretty well. The few things I didn't like was the character design, too exaggerated for my taste and how modes like Story requires you to play over and over again. It gives replayability, but in the best way. But overall I was quite happy with it. If they mainly addressed those two issues I think this could have been better accepted and moved forward as a spin-off series.
I did not like the esthetics or the wild camera. I wish it handled more like Soul Calibur. Glad I didn't buy it for full price I was able to rent it back then and see for myself how much I could enjoy it. I do like the ideas for the Story Mode and True Story Mode that's the type of single player I want from my fighting games.
My judgement: the haters have done nothing but make mountains out of proverbial molehills across the board.
The Wii's motion controls weren't *that* bad if you actually gave them a chance (which not many actually did simply on the grounds that it was motion control), and the two reviews even sounded like they were describing two very different games, with the camera being one of the few things they actually.
No matter what anybody say, I LOVE this game and is WAY BETTER than any of the Lords of Shadows games
I rather enjoyed and still enjoy this game, I still own a copy in mint condition, despite being huge fan of the original Castlevaina franchise, I found this game fun for simply exploring a different outlet, the game has its flaws but then what game doesn’t, I wouldn’t rank it my favorite Castlevaina game, but I’m still having fun with it even today. I’ve personally always wanted to see a Castlevaina Warriors style game...it’s an interesting concept idea at least.
I think if it changed less designs or at least changed them less drastically it would've went a bit better (even if it also means it would've went a bit more "fanservicey"), because as is it just feels like they slapped the names of known characters onto designs that are clearly not them.
The originals (read: Aeon and the Time Reaper) are fine, and the more anime-like style also is since Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin prove that (and even then Judgement is still less anime than those two, being more like a Berserk type manga style), and since the music is fine as well that only leaves the designs and gameplay, with the latter already being a mixed bag so whether it's an issue isn't quite a problem.
... Really, those new designs felt like KoF's Maximum Impact alt designs except slapped in as default for no good reason. I can't guarantee you that between this and the series constantly changing protags, no one would've been able to tell that it was Simon on the cover and not some random emo protag from some random new game. (I think only Shanoa and Dracula look perfect in this game, Alucard just looks like Sephiroth while Death just looks like they needed a simple skeleton for a fighter and then gave him a scythe to make him "Death", and everyone else is needlessly redesigned and I'd argue only Carmilla fits her redesign at all even if Cornell got the most badass one and Golem really doesn't matter how much it changed since it's still the same at the core)
Honesty I really loved playing Castlevania Toshinden, also really dug the art direction. Do wish it did get released on the 360 instead though as DLC characters could have been a thing that way, and we could still be playing it now as a backwards compatible title.
WOW
Blast from the past!
“Call me... ECCLESIA!”
XD
It isn't a bad game
Its just that gamers dont like change
Now that makes a lot of sense & is true
Downloading....to check it out
I'm convinced that Castlevania as a series is (very on-brand thematically) cursed. It feels like outside of a certain handful of games, the series just keeps getting reviewed worse than it actually is. I've heard that this game is absolutely terrible, but seeing more and more of it and hearing reviews from people, the more and more it looks like a solid game. Maybe not totally amazing, but more than solid.
Just like how Castlevania 64 has been smeared as being horrific and basically "as bad as Superman 64" according to many people, yet it clearly isn't garbage. The sequel even improves upon many things.
I have a special attachment to the few games I managed to get my hands on during my deployment to Iraq in 08-09. Judgment and Order of Ecclesia were in that bunch. While Ecclesia is among my favorite games on DS, I hated Judgment with a passion hot enough to jumpstart a dormant volcano.
As a lifelong Castlevania fan, I gave them the benefit of the doubt during the lead up to Judgment. Just as I had when Lament of Innocence was announced (after being burned by the N64 games). My mistake there. I don't hate the game because its so vastly different from the established norm. I hate it because it plays like absolute shit. The controls are ass. The camera is wonky. And they were trying way too hard with the story, though that may possibly have been forgivable had the same story been in a game that played in a more familiar way.
never heard of this. wow
Please do videos on mortal kombat,tekken,dead or alive,blazblue,bloody roar,snk's world heroes,primal rage,sonic the fighters,xmen children of the atom,& street fighter 1
Probably if the designs of the characters had been more faithful to their originals the game would have had a little more acceptance. For me personally, I find the character design horrible.
I was actually excited for this game, but I found the gameplay a bit lacking. What was more distracting than that, though, was the art. I distinctly remember thinking "when did Simon Belmont develop an interest in BDSM clothing?" I think a lot could have been overlooked as an ok distraction if they'd had classic looks as an alternate style for each character.
I wasn't even too crazy about his "new" look in Castlevania Chronicles (it was ok, not great), so I was a very happy Vania fan when we saw his Smash Bros design. If his Castlevania II armor would get some more love, I'd be set. 😁
The intro OST was perfect
Never heard of this wii exclusive downloadable fighting game,now i wanna play it :"(
It was a retail release. not downloadable; you can still play it (As long as you have something that can run Wii games, anyway.) Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth was the WiiWare game.
@@muffinboymcgee7411 Thank you for letting me know :)
Imagine if Arc System were given the rights to create a Castlevania fighting game.
I actually enjoyed the game. Althkugh it got old fast it was still a fun game to ay once or twice thru. Idk maybe im crazy or a fanboy but I didnt absolutely hate it