@@jcchaconjr still almost for free compared with overrated glorified crap like Nintendo World Championships. Tho i do not agree the ridiculous prices some (old) games got lately, at least this game is pretty fine to not give it for just 20 bucks or less, its quality at least justify it since no one regulates officially the classic games rates.
The far less clunky, smooth and gorey 16 bit Castlevania game. My 2nd favorite Castlevania game only to SOTN. Konami certainly dragged their ass getting Castlevania to a Sega format. Paid off but I think we should of had more.
I do still really enjoy Super Castlevania IV, and I definitely miss the ability to whip in 8 directions while standing and manually twitch the whip around from that game, but it's still a great game.
+Bones Jackson I agree but as +arbereshe said, blame that on Nintendo. Without Nintendo illegal monopoly during the 8-bit days, everyone could have enjoyed better versions of Castlevania 1-2-3 on Master System. Also Rondo of Blood should have had an improved port on Mega-CD. And I don't think that the 8-way whipping in Castlevania IV was good since Konami themselves never reused it as far as I know. The subsequent 16-bit Castlevania games on other platforms removed this feature and they are all better games in my opinion: Akumajou Dracula (X68000), Rondo of Blood (PC Engine CD) and Bloodlines (Mega Drive). btw Akumajou Dracula on X68000 is even more gorey and trippy than Bloodlines! It's my fav Castlevania game followed by Bloodlines and then Rondo. As you can guess I'm not fan of Metroidvania games.
I was always sensitive to framerate long before most people even what that was, so trying Super Castlevania IV for the first time was like a shocking downgrade even compared to the NES games, for me. That jittery scrolling was like going back to mediocre eurotrash computer games, not what I wanted to see on Japanese console games.
Bloodlines is such a special game. While I never owned a copy of my own, a friend of mine when I was a kid had the game and we played it often, I remember how blown away I was by the dark tone and (for the time) realistic graphics. This game sits on the top of my most-wanted list for my growing Genesis collection
@@SegaLordX Those are my biggest fear. It's a crying shame that Konami seems to want to continually rerelease every 90s Castlevania title except that one... It remains completely exclusive to to the Genesis to this day
This video got me into the game. It's now a top Genesis game for me, too. The controls, background music, sound effects, and "process" are all so satisfying.
Truly a fantastic game. Although quite expensive in this day and age, it remains a top title for a top console. It's a shame that Konami doesn't seem to be really interested in keeping the franchise alive. Although I enjoyed the Lord of shadows titles, classic 2D Castlevania gameplay cannot be beaten and Bloodlines stands really tall amongst the different releases in this franchise.
The creative talent that Castlevania sotn still make 2D castlevania games under the name Bloodstained, I'd rank them as highly as symphony of the night you should check it out.
Thanks for doing these videos, I find them really relaxing and they help me out when I'm feeling anxiety or mild depression, for some reason. Sorta like comfort food, like having your mom's homemade meatloaf, lol. Between you for Sega and SNESDrunk for 16-bit Nintendo, I really get a cozy trip of nostalgia to an era that I sort-of skipped over, it's interesting to learn about all these games I missed, and stuff like the arcade and Saturn that I didn't even know existed growing up.
Bloodlines was definitely the shiznite. I liked it how the plot takes place 20 years after the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula was published. I also liked it that once you kill an enemy, you'd see them with blood and their bodies dismembered.
This game was my introduction to the Castlevania series as a whole, I had only gotten to try the original Castlevania on the NES in the late 80s but didn't feel much for it at the time. It took me time to get into this game and I wasn't too fond of it to begin with but it grew on me. Especially the music, wow. I've not played a Castlevania game in well over a decade, not sure when I'll ever get the chance again.
Hell yeah! This and Castlevania 3 are my favorite 2D traditional Castlevanias. Bloodlines is such a fantastic game and almost makes my overall top 10 for any system.
@@CosmicCosmo1 I own it on Turbo CD and PSP already (unlockable on there). I'm a huge game collector/enjoyer and have gone insanely deep into almost every library. Love Rondo, but 3 and Bloodlines are still my faves.
If you talk about the Akumajou Densetsu game with the VRC6 chip it is not FM but a mix of different types of sound (1 sawtooth and 2 pulse waves) and sure it sounds amazing.
Completely missed this title back in the day, but because of SLX's frequent mentions of this as his favorite game I am finally trying it out on the Genesis mini. Great content!
How fortunate were the kids growing up with games like this, SCV4, Rondo-Dracula X & Symphony of the Night within 6 years of each other? What a time in gaming!
This game is one of the all time greats on any system and is such a complete package. It is my favorite in the "classic" Castlevania style and the music, oh that music, it's incredible for the series.
15 years ago I walked into a Value Village and picked up Bloodlines (plastic box version), Contra Hard Corps, Streets of Rage 2, and Batman Returns, all in mint new condition complete with manuals, posters and inserts, bundled together in a clear plastic bag hanging on a wall for $5.99.
I would kill to see new Castlevanias made in the style of each of the old systems. NES, SNES, PCE, GEN, SAT. Hell, even Master System! Of course Konami doesn't care about actually making games anymore, so...
Konami simply grew out of the video game arena and became something else entirely. But like all companies, management changes, turnover happens, and their is always a chance that we could see proper releases down the line.
Check out Bloodstained Curse of the Moon. It's a new NES style castlevania game, with none of the metroid style nonsense in it. Konami for me only exists any more as the devs of the best football game series, PES, but other than that they're basically dead.
@@duffman18 I backed Bloodstained and was under the impression that we're supposed to get Curse of the Moon for free, but my code still has yet to arrive. Either way, very eagerly looking forward to both games!
To this day this is the only game I've ever completed with a no damage run. The super weapons were VERY powerful and the music that accompanied them was epic. Only problem, you lose them when hit. Only solution is to not take damage.
What annoys me is how Konami has neglected to release Bloodlines digitally like other Castlevania games of the time. I didn't play any of the 16-bit Castlevania games when they were new. I finally got to them several years ago after getting back into the old consoles. I played them all at about the same time, and I just did not enjoy the SNES game. I guess I just like the more traditional Castlevania feel and presentation of the other games. CV4 just didn't do anything good for me, unfortunately. I wanted to like it. However, I ended up loving Rondo and Bloodlines. After playing through Bloodlines a number of times, I thought that it might just be the best Genesis game. That's a tricky thing to determine due to genre differences and such, but it's definitely near the top for me, with just a few other games I'd consider to be contenders. Bloodlines is top notch for sure.
Yea this game was awesome! I rented it several times and when my little local video store sold off their 16 bit games I bought it complete with box for 25 bucks or something. I still have it.
Stage 6 Calling from heaven , i love that song since kids .. struggling vibes & beautiful arrangements , you right , michiru yamane rocks that sega genesis soundchip like a goddess ..
new mechanics konami added that i really love so much, like these thing has never been in any castlevania (maybe): 1. you can jump while you on upstair to dodge enemy attack at that time 2. you can whip upward 3. you can use whip to swing like indiana jones 4. the details when enemy die (welp CV gameboy advance has it too i guess) 5. move faster when you go upstair 6. weapon power change detail (idk if its in any other CV games)
This is one of the games I use to demo what the Genesis was capable of with music, so many developers/composers just didn't put in the effort which was sad.
I just recently picked the up Majesco reissue of Bloodlines for my Genesis. Just waiting on my HD Retrovision Component cables to fully enjoy the game.
I'm poking my way through a playthrough of this game...the effects are fucking amazing! Also, going to Atlantis in the second level?! How fucking cool!!!
I missed so many classics because during those heady times we were constantly moving on to the next system as soon as it was available. At this time we were into the Sega CD and I don't think we ever purchased a Genesis game again.
Sega Lord X yeah Bloodlines was definately a late Genesis release. By the fall of 1994, lots of early adopting gamers were looking forward and saving for the anticipated release of the Saturn, PlayStation and N64. So I feel sales of games like Bloodlines, Vectorman, and Gunstar Heroes suffered a bit because lots of people were ready to move on from the Genesis by late 94.
D core I disagree. I remember the summer/fall of 1994 and magazines like EGM were already highly hyping the impeding japanese release of the playstation. Remember in those days (before the ps2), most consoles came out almost a year earlier in Japan (Ie. Super Famicom in 1990 vs SNES 1991, Playstation and Saturn were fall of 1994 vs 1995, and Dreamcast fall of 1998 vs fall of 1999). That only really changed with the PS2 generation, with consoles doing a nearly simultaneous worldwide release. Before that, in the past most core gamers were well familiar with upcoming consoles well in advance. So yes, even in the fall of 1994 the PlayStation was already a pretty well known commodity to anybody that read gaming magazines in the day.
D core maybe it was different here in Canada. I was 16 back in 1994 and I remember being pretty hyped for the Playstation and looking forward to the launch games like Wipeout, Jumping Flash, etc. I was even considering importing one from Japan but instead I waited until 1995 to buy one on the north american release. and yes..I was one of those people that owned a Sega CD in those days (1992 I got it for my Genesis). At least at my school most of the gaming kids were pretty knowledgable about what was coming out. We all read EGM, GamePro, VG&CE, etc. So by late 1994, yeah both the SNES and Genesis were pretty long in the tooth and we were all looking forward to the 32/64 bit consoles. So a lot of these late genesis games like this suffered a bit and didnt get the recognition they probably should have.
As a child, I played the Japanese version of Castlevania III at a Nintendo PowerFest. A gaming magazine previously reported that all gaming kiosks at the event would be reset every 30 minutes to help let kids have a chance to play. I took a notebook to write down all my pass codes for each level of Castlevania. I had a big crowd of kids around me & beat the game on the show floor, before it released in America.
If it wasn't for Bloodlines I wouldn't have gotten a Sega genesis. It was my first console and first game my mom got for me as a kid. I'll never forget playing one of the Mario games in the back of the toy store, and I looked over to what the other kids were playing, and I saw The Golem monster coming towards someone with a whip. Right away I was more drawn to that and jumped in that line. Didn't take long for me to decide what I wanted. Still love playing this game, here I am turning 30 years old and I'd still pop this game in my genesis anyday.
I just played Castlevania for the first time and it was awesome. It was Castlevania 4 on the Super Nintendo and oh my God that game was so awesome so I'm currently searching for the Castlevania bloodlines on the Genesis and its pretty expensive for the complete set of the game including the manual and the case running between $80 to $140 on eBay
Don't bother with most of these games. They likely are repro carts these days. So just get a reprocart for cheap and if you get lucky and find the actual game take it. But allways ask to show game board these days to make sure its the actual game and not a fake. Look up TNMT Hyperstone Heist awesome game. But just get repros so you can atleast play and then search for the originals later. I spent 2 years looking for this game, I came across 2 copies sealed in the box randomly and bought them cheap. And sometimes just bite the bullet and pay. I passed up several games and price just kept going up. I passed on an arcade of Ikaruga years ago along with Cotton 2 STV Cart for 500 dollars cabinet and everything. Now the fake carts are 600 plus dollars alone so if I want the setup it will be 800 for the cabinet and 600 to 700 for each fake carthridge of the games.
@@retroaggression7416t only came out in cardboard release. It was near the end of the genesis life span so you can find a ton. I think they kept making them till the late 90s, same with a few other games like TNMT. As best as I remember anyways. Your right definitely worth getting it.
I started playing Castlevania on the Nintendo DS with Dawn of Sorrow and wanted to play more of those games. But I couldn't get warm with the traditional fomular of castlevania games. That was until I played The New Generation. What an amazing masterpiece. So glad it finally got some rereleases with with the collection on modern consoles and the Mega Drive Mini.
I came here after Konami announced the Castlevania Anniversary Collection with Bloodlines as part of it!! Super excited for this as well as Simon's Quest and Super Castlevania IV!!
I never played the Castlevania games as a kid, I tried the 1st one and noped the fuck out after dying a bunch. I started streaming and a friend suggested I try them again, and I gotta say Bloodlines is probably my favorite other than Rondo of Blood! They are so much fun to play. Thanks for this video, I feel like Bloodlines doesnt get talked about enough in the CV scene
Top game definately. What won me as a Castlevania clone was Master of Darkness on Master System,with that game back then I had one more reason not to care for the NES.
Awesome game. Konami got the Genesis right pretty fast with these graphics and sound, and also gave this Castlevania a darker and grittier feel that was the staple of Genesis action games, with plenty of blood and gore to boot. As far as you hoping for a Castlevania game in Genesis' early years, did you not know that Nintendo (aka "Evil N") had Konami, Capcom and other Japanese third party devs locked in anti-competitive licensing contracts, preventing them from Genesis development until 1991-92?
When I first heard about Castlevania on a Sega system, I was steaming mad, of course I was also an Atari/Nintendo kid. I couldn't believe Konami was putting games on a console I didn't have, nor wanted. 1998 was the year I got my first Genesis, and at Toys R Us, my first 2 games for the system I purchased were, Contra Hard Corp, and of course, this game here. 1998 was the year I decided to give a Sega console a chance, and like the SNES, it is one of the largest parts of my collection gamewise, behind the NES, where I have a boatload of games (330).
I guess it depends on the definition of limits. Games like Alien Soldier pushed sprite work and speed. Bloodlines here pushed its sound chip. Red Zone pushed a bunch of in engine special effects. Thunder Force IV pushed parallax scrolling to new heights. So yes, I'd say some games pushed the Genesis fairly well.
Lord X exactly! And Mo Go imo, only a few developers truly pushed the Gen to its maximum(s). X already mentioned some of these but yeah...Treasure impressively pushed sprite work and on screen sprite counts with AS, Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy. Vectorman also pushes animation quality. TFIV and Musha push parallax and well, kind of everything actually true technical showcases for the machine. Red Zone is awesome with pseudo 3D effects and other tricks, same with Adventures of Batman & Robin really cool stuff. Ranger X also displays wireframe graphics at times. From Sega themselves I can only think of SOR2 and Shinobi 3 tbh. Most of these games push the sound as well imo, wonderful audio/songs in these games. I think Hitoshi Sakimoto pushed orchestral audio the most with his masterful Master of Monsters, Gauntlet IV, and Devilish scores though.
I personally prefer Super Castlevania (in fact its my favorite vania game of all time) but I do think Bloodlines often unfairly gets forgotten; to me it's certainly the equal of Rondo!
John Morris (son of Quincy Morris from Dracula) isn’t a descendant of the Belmont Clan. The Belmonts entrusted the Vampire Killer to the Morris’s. This is why John Morris actually dies after using the whip in this journey, it drains him of his life. His son Jonathan, in Portrait or Ruin, is able to tap into the full power of the whip by defeating the entity of the last Belmont to possess the whip, Richter. Because he is able to do so, Jonathan lives. Portrait of Ruin on DS is the direct sequel of this game and reveals the fate of Eric LeCarde too which is why it’s my favorite of the DS games.
Fully agree with your opinion on the music of Bloodlines. It's an amazing score, this coming from a nintedo fanboy too. I was never impressed by the Genesis' sound chips but man groovy golthic synth goodness all around. Great video as always, Im really glad I happened upon your channel. Amazing content, very honest and passionate about whatever you're reviewing or educating us about. Much appreciated
Great video! Castlevania is one of my favorite series'. Bloodlines is one of the best Castlevania games, as well as one of the best Genesis games. In my opinion at least. Being able to choose between the two characters changes it up so much. I love the split paths. The music is excellent. Music and sound are so important, and they are well taken care of.
I like to play theses games on Halloween night after we get home from trick or treating with my kids, I never got to play Castlevania bloodlines until my friend gave me a copy, cos he said it was so good he wanted me to have it.
Dude, this was really well done, I really like how you went back and looked at all the Castlevanias in order to contextualize it. Rondo of Blood has always been my favorite, but I recently started Bloodlines and am really liking it!
Bloodlines is the first Castlevania I was able to beat. The final boss is hard, but the level design is way less bs than most Castlevania games with tons of cheap deaths. Definitely a good game for beginners of the series.
I´ve just saw all your Castlevania Videos.. And I lived the same experience... Hoping for years a CASTLEVANIA for Genesis.... But then one day I saw it on a magazine........ IT WAS A JOYFUL DAY!! I have all the big games.. the 3 NES games, the 2 SNES games, the PC ENGINE game, the GENESIS game, and most of the Castlevania games afterBloodlines... I even payed for the Kickstarter Bloodstained game and obtained Curse of the moon for free. Maybe you shoul review Curse of the moon.
I'd love to see you talk about Vampire Master of Darkness for Master System and Game Gear sometime. I feel like it's the best 8 bit Castlevania game, even though it's not even a castlevania game.
I've got to say that whilst I prefer this entry in the _Castlevania_ series to either of the two entries in that series on the SNES, I _greatly_ prefer the "Metroidvania" style entries in that series, with I think _Portrait of Ruin_ being my favourite _Castlevania_ overall
I see Castlevania as 2 era's of gaming. The first is the tried and true platformer like this one here. The other the more evolved adventure game with elements from other genres. Both serve their genres well.
True - and I was just expressing a preference :) And that preference might well be because _Simon's Quest_ was the first game in the series I played, and - even though I never got far - I loved the idea of its open world, partly because I was young enough that I didn't recognise what the limitations of the NES, and so that "open world", were And with regards to serving their genres well, I would've liked to have seen more exploration/variety in the 16- (and handheld 32-) bit eras; and I'm amazed it's taken this long for _Castlevania_ characters to turn up in _Smash Bros._
I really loathe the fact that every bloody 2d platformer these days seems to be a metroidvania. I get why, because it's cheaper and quicker and easier to design big open world metroid style levels instead of short and succinct normal platformer levels, so if indie deva have a lower budget (or sometimes of they're just lazy) they will just do that. But it seems like 99% of 2d platformers these days are metroidvanias, and I cannot stand that genre. I've tried time and time again to really get into them, but I can't. Like hollow knight had glowing recommendations, but it's like 1 hour of wandering about doing nothing per 5 minutes of actual action I'd absolutely love it if they started making new classic castlevania style platformers. I loved bloodstained curse of the moon for example. I won't be buying the main Bloodstained game that's basically just a new metroidvania Castlevania game. I'm so glad Mega Man 11 just came out though. It's got me hooked, it's brilliant. A normal classic style platformer. And Shovel Knight was my favourite game of last year (out of games I bought last year rather than the year they came out)
Nice video, fantastic game with great set pieces, unique visual effects and tight gameplay with two distinct and interesting characters to play with. Now, how I rank the Castlevania games of that era: 1) Akumajou Dracula (X68000) 2) Bloodlines (Mega Drive)
Konami's output on the Megadrive /Genesis was legendary. They really knew how to work the hardware to it's strengths despite some of its limitations. I can't think of a single bad Konami game on that system.
Why am I such a Sega snob? Love my genesis in box only games. And regret dumping all my master system stuff. Looking to pick up a master system again. Oh and castlevania is the best hard as f@#k but look it. Keep up the great videos. You channel is the best!!
This is one of those games that rarely leaves my Genesis and one of the reasons why I have the system in the first place
Can't argue with that. It's a great one to leave in.
Same :)
Criminally underrated and under appreciated gem.
For its time, perhaps... can't say the same today, judging from the asking price for it. :P
I'd say the price is less a result of new found admiration, and more collectors wanting to line their shelves with trophies.
@@SegaLordX that's why, due to this gem bein' underrated, we've made a page called Castlevania Bloodlines Project
@@jcchaconjr still almost for free compared with overrated glorified crap like Nintendo World Championships. Tho i do not agree the ridiculous prices some (old) games got lately, at least this game is pretty fine to not give it for just 20 bucks or less, its quality at least justify it since no one regulates officially the classic games rates.
Sega Lord X - dead on.
The far less clunky, smooth and gorey 16 bit Castlevania game. My 2nd favorite Castlevania game only to SOTN. Konami certainly dragged their ass getting Castlevania to a Sega format. Paid off but I think we should of had more.
I would have been happy with Dracula X being done properly on the Saturn.
I do still really enjoy Super Castlevania IV, and I definitely miss the ability to whip in 8 directions while standing and manually twitch the whip around from that game, but it's still a great game.
+Bones Jackson
I agree but as +arbereshe said, blame that on Nintendo. Without Nintendo illegal monopoly during the 8-bit days, everyone could have enjoyed better versions of Castlevania 1-2-3 on Master System.
Also Rondo of Blood should have had an improved port on Mega-CD.
And I don't think that the 8-way whipping in Castlevania IV was good since Konami themselves never reused it as far as I know. The subsequent 16-bit Castlevania games on other platforms removed this feature and they are all better games in my opinion: Akumajou Dracula (X68000), Rondo of Blood (PC Engine CD) and Bloodlines (Mega Drive).
btw Akumajou Dracula on X68000 is even more gorey and trippy than Bloodlines! It's my fav Castlevania game followed by Bloodlines and then Rondo. As you can guess I'm not fan of Metroidvania games.
I was always sensitive to framerate long before most people even what that was, so trying Super Castlevania IV for the first time was like a shocking downgrade even compared to the NES games, for me. That jittery scrolling was like going back to mediocre eurotrash computer games, not what I wanted to see on Japanese console games.
Bloodlines is such a special game. While I never owned a copy of my own, a friend of mine when I was a kid had the game and we played it often, I remember how blown away I was by the dark tone and (for the time) realistic graphics. This game sits on the top of my most-wanted list for my growing Genesis collection
Keep the hope alive. I see auctions go around $50-$60 here and there for the paper box reissue. Be weary though, freaking bootlegs are everywhere.
@@SegaLordX Those are my biggest fear. It's a crying shame that Konami seems to want to continually rerelease every 90s Castlevania title except that one... It remains completely exclusive to to the Genesis to this day
This video got me into the game. It's now a top Genesis game for me, too. The controls, background music, sound effects, and "process" are all so satisfying.
Simon's Theme as your ascending to Drac's tower is a masterpiece in this game.
It's chilling and so intense!! Perfect
One of the top 5 best Sega Genesis games.
Truly a fantastic game. Although quite expensive in this day and age, it remains a top title for a top console. It's a shame that Konami doesn't seem to be really interested in keeping the franchise alive. Although I enjoyed the Lord of shadows titles, classic 2D Castlevania gameplay cannot be beaten and Bloodlines stands really tall amongst the different releases in this franchise.
Indeed. I was even shocked when Konami stopped the Metroivania games for handhelds. They seemed popular enough.
Sega Lord X - yeah, that's the kind of business decision that makes you go "huh?" - the portable Castlevanias seemed to review and sell well.
The creative talent that Castlevania sotn still make 2D castlevania games under the name Bloodstained, I'd rank them as highly as symphony of the night you should check it out.
Thanks for doing these videos, I find them really relaxing and they help me out when I'm feeling anxiety or mild depression, for some reason. Sorta like comfort food, like having your mom's homemade meatloaf, lol.
Between you for Sega and SNESDrunk for 16-bit Nintendo, I really get a cozy trip of nostalgia to an era that I sort-of skipped over, it's interesting to learn about all these games I missed, and stuff like the arcade and Saturn that I didn't even know existed growing up.
masterpiece indeed! Im very lucky to own the Japanese, U.S and Pal versions complete.
I have all three myself. I had to have them all since I enjoyed the game so much.
Doesn't the Pal version run slower?
@@brendanroberts7949 yup it runs at 50hz and is censored (blood changed to blue water etc)
Wow! I never found all versions complete in box here in Brazil O.O ~ congratz dude! Take care of them!
Seems excessive.
Bloodlines was definitely the shiznite. I liked it how the plot takes place 20 years after the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula was published. I also liked it that once you kill an enemy, you'd see them with blood and their bodies dismembered.
Some of the boss deaths were really good, too.
This game was my introduction to the Castlevania series as a whole, I had only gotten to try the original Castlevania on the NES in the late 80s but didn't feel much for it at the time. It took me time to get into this game and I wasn't too fond of it to begin with but it grew on me. Especially the music, wow.
I've not played a Castlevania game in well over a decade, not sure when I'll ever get the chance again.
In my opinion, this game is tied with Symphony of the Night for the title of best Castlevania game.
Hell yeah! This and Castlevania 3 are my favorite 2D traditional Castlevanias. Bloodlines is such a fantastic game and almost makes my overall top 10 for any system.
I dug Vania III myself. It was hard, but so worth the effort.
Same
You can get rondo of blood on ps4. I bet you'll prefer that over bloodlines if you give it a shot.
@@CosmicCosmo1 I own it on Turbo CD and PSP already (unlockable on there). I'm a huge game collector/enjoyer and have gone insanely deep into almost every library. Love Rondo, but 3 and Bloodlines are still my faves.
@@NickEnlowe 3 is my favorite nes game. Rondo is probably the best castlevania game ever made imo
This game's intro video scene and music blew me away when I was a kid! It was so mysterious, and the tunes so good! I would watch it over and over.
One of the first games I loaded onto my SNES Mini. It's a crime that it hasn't been officially re-released.
... a Sega game? On an SNES?
@@crankymessiah1477 Why not? We have the tech.
Man, when I first heard the FM versions of the Castlevania music on the Famicom compared to the NES, it felt like my childhood had been a lie.
Nothing wrong with the NES chip tunes, I prefer them better than the Famicom so far, quite frankly
I know the feel, I had the American version of the Sega Master (the one without the FM sound).
Yeah! Thats another one, for sure!!!
If you talk about the Akumajou Densetsu game with the VRC6 chip it is not FM but a mix of different types of sound (1 sawtooth and 2 pulse waves) and sure it sounds amazing.
Completely missed this title back in the day, but because of SLX's frequent mentions of this as his favorite game I am finally trying it out on the Genesis mini. Great content!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic game! One of my favorite Castlevania games! Such great spritework!
This is on the new Castlevania Anniversary Collection (along with all 3 NES games, Super Castlevania IV, 2 Game Boy games, and Kid Dracula).
How fortunate were the kids growing up with games like this, SCV4, Rondo-Dracula X & Symphony of the Night within 6 years of each other? What a time in gaming!
This game is one of the all time greats on any system and is such a complete package. It is my favorite in the "classic" Castlevania style and the music, oh that music, it's incredible for the series.
15 years ago I walked into a Value Village and picked up Bloodlines (plastic box version), Contra Hard Corps, Streets of Rage 2, and Batman Returns, all in mint new condition complete with manuals, posters and inserts, bundled together in a clear plastic bag hanging on a wall for $5.99.
Damn. Awesome score.
I would kill to see new Castlevanias made in the style of each of the old systems. NES, SNES, PCE, GEN, SAT. Hell, even Master System! Of course Konami doesn't care about actually making games anymore, so...
Sorry, the old Konami has been dead for years. Their last nail in the coffin was firing Kojima.
Konami simply grew out of the video game arena and became something else entirely. But like all companies, management changes, turnover happens, and their is always a chance that we could see proper releases down the line.
Check out Bloodstained Curse of the Moon. It's a new NES style castlevania game, with none of the metroid style nonsense in it.
Konami for me only exists any more as the devs of the best football game series, PES, but other than that they're basically dead.
@@duffman18 I backed Bloodstained and was under the impression that we're supposed to get Curse of the Moon for free, but my code still has yet to arrive. Either way, very eagerly looking forward to both games!
Often overlooked when discussing the games in the series, but definitely a very respectable entry. Good video. Thank you :)
I finally got a hold of a copy of this game last summer. It instantly became my favorite Castlevania game.
To this day this is the only game I've ever completed with a no damage run. The super weapons were VERY powerful and the music that accompanied them was epic. Only problem, you lose them when hit. Only solution is to not take damage.
If you love Bloodline's OST, many different songs recieved re-arrangements in different games and on the arranged albums.
Why hasn't Konomi released a complete 8 and 16 bit Castlevania collection already?! Guess they don't like money.
Well, they just finally released a collection of the 8 and 16 bit games...
Amazing music.
What annoys me is how Konami has neglected to release Bloodlines digitally like other Castlevania games of the time. I didn't play any of the 16-bit Castlevania games when they were new. I finally got to them several years ago after getting back into the old consoles. I played them all at about the same time, and I just did not enjoy the SNES game. I guess I just like the more traditional Castlevania feel and presentation of the other games. CV4 just didn't do anything good for me, unfortunately. I wanted to like it. However, I ended up loving Rondo and Bloodlines. After playing through Bloodlines a number of times, I thought that it might just be the best Genesis game. That's a tricky thing to determine due to genre differences and such, but it's definitely near the top for me, with just a few other games I'd consider to be contenders. Bloodlines is top notch for sure.
It's part of the Sega mini HD. We'll worth getting. Made by Sega themselves and is really good.
Yea this game was awesome! I rented it several times and when my little local video store sold off their 16 bit games I bought it complete with box for 25 bucks or something. I still have it.
Man I remember finding this at pioneer pawn of 4 and Ogden in Vegas back in 97 god this game is amazing sad to see so few played it.
Stage 6 Calling from heaven , i love that song since kids .. struggling vibes & beautiful arrangements , you right , michiru yamane rocks that sega genesis soundchip like a goddess ..
I gotta a physical copy of this. Or Aladdin is a must. Emulation on a cell phone with touch screen controls doesn't do it justice.
Excellent game
Castlevania collection had been announced. I hope Castlevania bloodlines is in the collection to save us money. Great review, Sega x
new mechanics konami added that i really love so much, like these thing has never been in any castlevania (maybe):
1. you can jump while you on upstair to dodge enemy attack at that time
2. you can whip upward
3. you can use whip to swing like indiana jones
4. the details when enemy die (welp CV gameboy advance has it too i guess)
5. move faster when you go upstair
6. weapon power change detail (idk if its in any other CV games)
This is one of the games I use to demo what the Genesis was capable of with music, so many developers/composers just didn't put in the effort which was sad.
I just recently picked the up Majesco reissue of Bloodlines for my Genesis. Just waiting on my HD Retrovision Component cables to fully enjoy the game.
I'm poking my way through a playthrough of this game...the effects are fucking amazing! Also, going to Atlantis in the second level?! How fucking cool!!!
I'm just about to receive the game, I never played it on my console before... I can't wait.
I missed so many classics because during those heady times we were constantly moving on to the next system as soon as it was available. At this time we were into the Sega CD and I don't think we ever purchased a Genesis game again.
I know how easy that is to do. The allure of new hardware was strong.
Sega Lord X yeah Bloodlines was definately a late Genesis release. By the fall of 1994, lots of early adopting gamers were looking forward and saving for the anticipated release of the Saturn, PlayStation and N64. So I feel sales of games like Bloodlines, Vectorman, and Gunstar Heroes suffered a bit because lots of people were ready to move on from the Genesis by late 94.
D core I disagree. I remember the summer/fall of 1994 and magazines like EGM were already highly hyping the impeding japanese release of the playstation. Remember in those days (before the ps2), most consoles came out almost a year earlier in Japan (Ie. Super Famicom in 1990 vs SNES 1991, Playstation and Saturn were fall of 1994 vs 1995, and Dreamcast fall of 1998 vs fall of 1999). That only really changed with the PS2 generation, with consoles doing a nearly simultaneous worldwide release. Before that, in the past most core gamers were well familiar with upcoming consoles well in advance. So yes, even in the fall of 1994 the PlayStation was already a pretty well known commodity to anybody that read gaming magazines in the day.
D core maybe it was different here in Canada. I was 16 back in 1994 and I remember being pretty hyped for the Playstation and looking forward to the launch games like Wipeout, Jumping Flash, etc. I was even considering importing one from Japan but instead I waited until 1995 to buy one on the north american release. and yes..I was one of those people that owned a Sega CD in those days (1992 I got it for my Genesis). At least at my school most of the gaming kids were pretty knowledgable about what was coming out. We all read EGM, GamePro, VG&CE, etc. So by late 1994, yeah both the SNES and Genesis were pretty long in the tooth and we were all looking forward to the 32/64 bit consoles. So a lot of these late genesis games like this suffered a bit and didnt get the recognition they probably should have.
I LOVE the remixed older tracks on this game
As a child, I played the Japanese version of Castlevania III at a Nintendo PowerFest.
A gaming magazine previously reported that all gaming kiosks at the event would be reset every 30 minutes to help let kids have a chance to play.
I took a notebook to write down all my pass codes for each level of Castlevania.
I had a big crowd of kids around me & beat the game on the show floor, before it released in America.
If it wasn't for Bloodlines I wouldn't have gotten a Sega genesis. It was my first console and first game my mom got for me as a kid. I'll never forget playing one of the Mario games in the back of the toy store, and I looked over to what the other kids were playing, and I saw The Golem monster coming towards someone with a whip. Right away I was more drawn to that and jumped in that line. Didn't take long for me to decide what I wanted. Still love playing this game, here I am turning 30 years old and I'd still pop this game in my genesis anyday.
I like how you re not just a fanboy...you love all consoles just the genesis a little bit more...Great review
I just played Castlevania for the first time and it was awesome. It was Castlevania 4 on the Super Nintendo and oh my God that game was so awesome so I'm currently searching for the Castlevania bloodlines on the Genesis and its pretty expensive for the complete set of the game including the manual and the case running between $80 to $140 on eBay
if you think that is expensive, try looking for the Japanese version for a change ;) ;)
Don't bother with most of these games. They likely are repro carts these days. So just get a reprocart for cheap and if you get lucky and find the actual game take it. But allways ask to show game board these days to make sure its the actual game and not a fake. Look up TNMT Hyperstone Heist awesome game. But just get repros so you can atleast play and then search for the originals later. I spent 2 years looking for this game, I came across 2 copies sealed in the box randomly and bought them cheap. And sometimes just bite the bullet and pay. I passed up several games and price just kept going up. I passed on an arcade of Ikaruga years ago along with Cotton 2 STV Cart for 500 dollars cabinet and everything. Now the fake carts are 600 plus dollars alone so if I want the setup it will be 800 for the cabinet and 600 to 700 for each fake carthridge of the games.
I see the cardboard rerelease for 50 or so from time to time. Its worth it!
@@retroaggression7416t only came out in cardboard release. It was near the end of the genesis life span so you can find a ton. I think they kept making them till the late 90s, same with a few other games like TNMT. As best as I remember anyways. Your right definitely worth getting it.
Phillip Martinez the original release was the regular plastic case, that one has a color manual.
I started playing Castlevania on the Nintendo DS with Dawn of Sorrow and wanted to play more of those games.
But I couldn't get warm with the traditional fomular of castlevania games. That was until I played The New Generation.
What an amazing masterpiece. So glad it finally got some rereleases with with the collection on modern consoles and the Mega Drive Mini.
Such an AWESOME GAME and the music.............HEAVEN!
I came here after Konami announced the Castlevania Anniversary Collection with Bloodlines as part of it!! Super excited for this as well as Simon's Quest and Super Castlevania IV!!
I never played the Castlevania games as a kid, I tried the 1st one and noped the fuck out after dying a bunch. I started streaming and a friend suggested I try them again, and I gotta say Bloodlines is probably my favorite other than Rondo of Blood! They are so much fun to play. Thanks for this video, I feel like Bloodlines doesnt get talked about enough in the CV scene
Top game definately.
What won me as a Castlevania clone was Master of Darkness on Master System,with that game back then I had one more reason not to care for the NES.
The fact that Sega copied a superior Nintendo games gave you a reason not to like Nintendo? Makes perfect sense...
Great retrospective. Subbed!
Awesome game. Konami got the Genesis right pretty fast with these graphics and sound, and also gave this Castlevania a darker and grittier feel that was the staple of Genesis action games, with plenty of blood and gore to boot. As far as you hoping for a Castlevania game in Genesis' early years, did you not know that Nintendo (aka "Evil N") had Konami, Capcom and other Japanese third party devs locked in anti-competitive licensing contracts, preventing them from Genesis development until 1991-92?
I own this and wholeheartedly agree with every word of this video. Fantastic game, it’s always kicked my butt.
The second game I ever played at around 5 years old, after Sonic Spinball
When I first heard about Castlevania on a Sega system, I was steaming mad, of course I was also an Atari/Nintendo kid. I couldn't believe Konami was putting games on a console I didn't have, nor wanted. 1998 was the year I got my first Genesis, and at Toys R Us, my first 2 games for the system I purchased were, Contra Hard Corp, and of course, this game here. 1998 was the year I decided to give a Sega console a chance, and like the SNES, it is one of the largest parts of my collection gamewise, behind the NES, where I have a boatload of games (330).
Does anyone feel that Sega or any other developer truly pushed the Geni' to its absolute limits?
I guess it depends on the definition of limits. Games like Alien Soldier pushed sprite work and speed. Bloodlines here pushed its sound chip. Red Zone pushed a bunch of in engine special effects. Thunder Force IV pushed parallax scrolling to new heights. So yes, I'd say some games pushed the Genesis fairly well.
Lord X exactly! And Mo Go imo, only a few developers truly pushed the Gen to its maximum(s). X already mentioned some of these but yeah...Treasure impressively pushed sprite work and on screen sprite counts with AS, Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy. Vectorman also pushes animation quality. TFIV and Musha push parallax and well, kind of everything actually true technical showcases for the machine. Red Zone is awesome with pseudo 3D effects and other tricks, same with Adventures of Batman & Robin really cool stuff.
Ranger X also displays wireframe graphics at times. From Sega themselves I can only think of SOR2 and Shinobi 3 tbh. Most of these games push the sound as well imo, wonderful audio/songs in these games. I think Hitoshi Sakimoto pushed orchestral audio the most with his masterful Master of Monsters, Gauntlet IV, and Devilish scores though.
This halloween every channel is talking about Castlevania?
I'm glad
I personally prefer Super Castlevania (in fact its my favorite vania game of all time) but I do think Bloodlines often unfairly gets forgotten; to me it's certainly the equal of Rondo!
John Morris (son of Quincy Morris from Dracula) isn’t a descendant of the Belmont Clan. The Belmonts entrusted the Vampire Killer to the Morris’s. This is why John Morris actually dies after using the whip in this journey, it drains him of his life. His son Jonathan, in Portrait or Ruin, is able to tap into the full power of the whip by defeating the entity of the last Belmont to possess the whip, Richter. Because he is able to do so, Jonathan lives. Portrait of Ruin on DS is the direct sequel of this game and reveals the fate of Eric LeCarde too which is why it’s my favorite of the DS games.
Fully agree with your opinion on the music of Bloodlines. It's an amazing score, this coming from a nintedo fanboy too. I was never impressed by the Genesis' sound chips but man groovy golthic synth goodness all around. Great video as always, Im really glad I happened upon your channel. Amazing content, very honest and passionate about whatever you're reviewing or educating us about. Much appreciated
My favorite castlevania! Rondo of blood and super castlevania IV are good but this one is something special.
Goddamn right. My favorite in a series I love dearly
Great video! Castlevania is one of my favorite series'. Bloodlines is one of the best Castlevania games, as well as one of the best Genesis games. In my opinion at least. Being able to choose between the two characters changes it up so much. I love the split paths. The music is excellent. Music and sound are so important, and they are well taken care of.
I listen to the tracks often in the car even now. It's one of the best.
THE SINKING TEMPLE WAS THE RINGTONE FOR AN EX GIRLFRIEND 😔I THINK OF HER EVERYTIME I HEAR THAT SONG...
I like to play theses games on Halloween night after we get home from trick or treating with my kids, I never got to play Castlevania bloodlines until my friend gave me a copy, cos he said it was so good he wanted me to have it.
I know this is bad but I miss this one back in the day. I really stopped buying carts when I had got sega cd.
Okay, you convinced me to go out and buy Streets of Rage 2, so now I'm going to get this game too.
I was sorry I got the Nintendo online + expansion until I came across this game on saga..
This made it worth it.
Awsome game.
Great game. I always thought it interesting that the opening scene was from Castlevania 3, a game only available on Segas rival platform
Still to this day the graphics are impressive.
Lol what an awesomely done story filled with info! Thank you great vid!!!
I beat this game yesterday. Woot.
Dude, this was really well done, I really like how you went back and looked at all the Castlevanias in order to contextualize it. Rondo of Blood has always been my favorite, but I recently started Bloodlines and am really liking it!
Now Simon would be pleased
Bloodlines is the first Castlevania I was able to beat. The final boss is hard, but the level design is way less bs than most Castlevania games with tons of cheap deaths. Definitely a good game for beginners of the series.
Awesome game and awesome video. One of the few games i still play regularly on my retropie.
I´ve just saw all your Castlevania Videos.. And I lived the same experience... Hoping for years a CASTLEVANIA for Genesis.... But then one day I saw it on a magazine........ IT WAS A JOYFUL DAY!!
I have all the big games.. the 3 NES games, the 2 SNES games, the PC ENGINE game, the GENESIS game, and most of the Castlevania games afterBloodlines... I even payed for the Kickstarter Bloodstained game and obtained Curse of the moon for free.
Maybe you shoul review Curse of the moon.
My favorite Castlevania game, hands down.
I grew up on genesis but never played this game. Looks damn good though.
This was my first Castlevania, I fucking loved this game, I really hope it's in the upcoming Castlevania collection
It's on Sega's Genesis Mini, so that's a good first step to this game getting some recognition.
@@SegaLordX Yeah, I noticed that, that gave me hope that it'll be in the Castlevania collection
This is one of those videos that makes me yearn for the Konami of the olden days.
In order to play this I had to wait months for it to arrive on the switch and my god was it fantastic. One the few games I bothered with hard mode.
I'd love to see you talk about Vampire Master of Darkness for Master System and Game Gear sometime. I feel like it's the best 8 bit Castlevania game, even though it's not even a castlevania game.
Yeah, I do need to cover that one. If you can't get Konami to make a Castlevania game for your platform, make it yourself!
I've got to say that whilst I prefer this entry in the _Castlevania_ series to either of the two entries in that series on the SNES, I _greatly_ prefer the "Metroidvania" style entries in that series, with I think _Portrait of Ruin_ being my favourite _Castlevania_ overall
I see Castlevania as 2 era's of gaming. The first is the tried and true platformer like this one here. The other the more evolved adventure game with elements from other genres. Both serve their genres well.
True - and I was just expressing a preference :) And that preference might well be because _Simon's Quest_ was the first game in the series I played, and - even though I never got far - I loved the idea of its open world, partly because I was young enough that I didn't recognise what the limitations of the NES, and so that "open world", were
And with regards to serving their genres well, I would've liked to have seen more exploration/variety in the 16- (and handheld 32-) bit eras; and I'm amazed it's taken this long for _Castlevania_ characters to turn up in _Smash Bros._
I really loathe the fact that every bloody 2d platformer these days seems to be a metroidvania. I get why, because it's cheaper and quicker and easier to design big open world metroid style levels instead of short and succinct normal platformer levels, so if indie deva have a lower budget (or sometimes of they're just lazy) they will just do that. But it seems like 99% of 2d platformers these days are metroidvanias, and I cannot stand that genre. I've tried time and time again to really get into them, but I can't. Like hollow knight had glowing recommendations, but it's like 1 hour of wandering about doing nothing per 5 minutes of actual action
I'd absolutely love it if they started making new classic castlevania style platformers. I loved bloodstained curse of the moon for example. I won't be buying the main Bloodstained game that's basically just a new metroidvania Castlevania game.
I'm so glad Mega Man 11 just came out though. It's got me hooked, it's brilliant. A normal classic style platformer. And Shovel Knight was my favourite game of last year (out of games I bought last year rather than the year they came out)
One of the most underrated Castlevania games to hit the shelves given the love it deserves. #gamingbliss😁
Only time i ever played Bloodlines was on a MD emulator on the original Xbox & i thought that level (5:26) couldn't emulate properly lol
I bought this on a whim in the late 90's early 00's. Got lucky.
Nice video, fantastic game with great set pieces, unique visual effects and tight gameplay with two distinct and interesting characters to play with.
Now, how I rank the Castlevania games of that era:
1) Akumajou Dracula (X68000)
2) Bloodlines (Mega Drive)
So it made you cry bloody tears it so good it's kinda suck that Sega keeps getting the short end of the stick when comes to stuff like this
Konami's output on the Megadrive
/Genesis was legendary. They really knew how to work the hardware to it's strengths despite some of its limitations. I can't think of a single bad Konami game on that system.
T.M.N.T Tournament fighters. Other than that I agree.
@@Dre_aka_sleepysandman I've actually never played that one but you're probably right, I've not heard good things about it.
I only played it once long time ago.
It sounds like the Genesis has it floored alway to make those pipe organs.
Contra Hard Corps deserves its own video too. In my opinion, it is THE best Genesis game!
Hard Corps was a great game to be sure. Awesome special effects.
Why am I such a Sega snob? Love my genesis in box only games. And regret dumping all my master system stuff. Looking to pick up a master system again. Oh and castlevania is the best hard as f@#k but look it. Keep up the great videos. You channel is the best!!
Castlevania Bloodlines is a technical marble on every level and a awesome game!
7:10 There was a Symphony of the Night release for SEGA Saturn in Japan.
It did, but that was a PS1 port. Bloodlines is the only exclusive Castlevania on a Sega platform.
The sinking old sanctuary, what a track.
One of my all time.favorite Castlevania tracks of all time...as soon as i heard the intro to this song,i fell in love with it forever
Thanks to Michiru Yamane's talent