Mega Man 2 review

Also known as:
Rock Man 2: Dr. Dr. Wily no Nazo
Rock Man 2: Dr. Wily's Secret

Originally released:
1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

Also released on:
PlayStation as Rock Man Complete Works
PlayStation as Rock Man 2 – PSone Books
PlayStation as Rock Man 2 – Capcom Classic Books
PlayStation2 as Mega Man Anniversary Edition
GameCube as Mega Man Anniversary Edition
Xbox as Mega Man Anniversary Edition
Wii Virtual Console



The game starts with a cityscape on screen and a short introduction the game’s story. It briefly describes that Dr. Wily is up to no good again. His plan is to still to take over the world. This time he’s made his own robots to destroy Mega Man. In the first Mega Man game Dr. Wily stole robots from his rival Dr. Light.

Select Your Robot Master



Right from the start of the game you can select any of the eight robot masters’ stages. This means you can defeat the bosses in any order you want. This gives the game multiple ways to play through it. When you defeat a boss you’ll get their weapon. Every boss in the game is weak against another boss’ weapon. This gives you the challenge of finding out their weaknesses to easily defeat them.

As with most Mega Man games, you’ll be able to get to the boss in around five to ten minutes. I can only briefly describe each stage because some are quite short. Each stage has themed enemies with a few common in each stage.

Airman



This stage is way up in the clouds and has a lot of airborne enemies. The floor is partially see-through and you really feel like you’re in the sky. There are giant purple platforms with a face which have two drill horns in most areas. These will shoot out smaller enemies from either side of it when you jump on them. Further on there are robots riding clouds who throw lightning bolts from above. One you’ve kill them you’ll need to ride their cloud to advance further. You’ll find fast flying birds which drop eggs which hatch into about ten small birds. These will scramble towards you in a swarm and attack. Once you get to the edge of the stage you’ll drop down through some clouds. In this area there are machines which shoot out upright snake like things. These jump around at random and their jump height and distance varies. When you get near to the end of the level, you’ll see a really fat version of Mega Man. He has a fan in his chest and will keep blowing towards you until you kill him. There will be two more to kill then you’ll be at the boss room.

Airman himself is basically a giant fan with arms, legs and eyes. His main attack is to shoot about six swirling shots of air at you. These will move straight towards you at increasing speed. His other attack is to jump around extremely high.

Bubbleman



The stage starts out on top of a waterfall. Most of the floor and walls looks like pipes. The first enemy you’ll see is a large frog. It’ll spit out smaller frogs from its mouth until you kill it. You’ll have to quickly jump across the next section because there are falling platforms. Once you drop down at the end of the waterfall there’ll be shellfish on wheels. If you shoot them their shell will fly off and they’ll speed up. The next section is completely underwater. When underwater you jump about four times as high.

When you get down to the very bottom there’ll be a giant fish that’ll shoot shrimp from its mouth. You’ll have to shoot an overhanging tentacle on its head to kill it. When you continue on forwards you’ll have to navigate through a low spiked ceiling area. While you move forward robotic jellyfish will descend from the ceiling. When you finally get out the water you’re right near the boss. Crabs will float down from the sky and you’ll have to jump over to the boss room.

Bubbleman is fought underwater and he looks like a diver. The room has spikes on the ceiling so you can’t jump too high. His attacks are to shoot water jets at you either on the floor or jumping. He also likes to jump and slowly float down shooting bubbles at you.

Clashman/Crashman



For some reason the name of this boss was changed. In the Japanese version he’s Clashman and the English version he’s Crashman. He should be called Clashman since his weapon is called Clash Bomb. This may be explained here, but I could be wrong.

This stage involves you a lot of climbing up ladders. The stage is made up of twisted pipes and some are connected to dome like objects. The stage starts with floating cylinder type things with eyes trying to attack you. You’ll have to climb up a few ladders to the next area. Once you’re at the top small construction worker helmets attack you. These will stay still until you get near them, shoot you then run and hide. When you go up the next ladder there’s a moving platform on a set route. Once again you’ll have to climb a ladder and navigate through two more moving platform areas. At the top you’ll see a creature made out of four barrels on top of each other. This thing moves slowly towards you and has to be shot in the face. It’ll fall to pieces then reform and have to be shot again to be killed. You’ll find yourself climbing a few more ladders to get to the top. Once there, you have a choice between climbing up to the left or right. Once you climb up one you’ll see a wall between them and two ladders at each side. It’s your job to navigate up the correct path with falling off. You be attacked by the egg chucking birds and stationery firing robots. When you finally get to the very top there’ll be jumping propeller robots. These keep falling from the ceiling until you get to the boss room.

Clashman has a cone shaped helmet and arms. He shoots sticky timed mines at you while jumping around a lot. He’ll keep jump around extremely high while firing quite frequently. His bombs have quite a large explosions and explode multiple times so dodging them can be tough.

Flashman



The stage is slippery like ice and has rectangular floor pieces which light up in sequence. The first part of the stage has you choose for a number of different paths which lead to the upper or lower parts of the stage. At the end is a drop down either to the left or right depending on which path you chose. There is an enemy on one side and nothing on the other. There’s another choice of two paths once you fall down into the next area. It’s up to you to choose each time you fall down. There are a total of four drops then you’ll be the bottom. All you need to do is get past a soldiers in giant metal walking legs to the boss room. This is probably the shortest and easiest of all the boss’ stages.

Flashman has a partially see-through head and a weird gun on one hand. He only has one attack which stops time then shoots you while he’s stood still.

Heatman



This stage has a lava flow underneath the floor and is full of tricky jumps. The first thing you’ll see will be jumping propeller robots. This stage is full of floating cylinder type things with eyes. There are holes in the walls which these enemies keep popping out when you kill them. This stage is a pain because you’ll be trying to time your jumps and these will keep coming at you. You can cut the stage short by destroying certain parts of the walls using the Clash Bomb. Whilst trying to make difficult jumps the platforms will disappear and reappear in sequence.

Heatman looks like a guy inside standard metal flip up lighter. He'll chuck three fireballs in the air which land making tall pilars. He can also zoom towards you in a stream of fire.

Metalman



This stage is in a factory type environment with cogs moving in the background. Most of the floor is always moving either left or right at varying speeds. Your first obstacle is to get past three dropping spikes. This is a little tricky because the floor is moving at different speeds. After that there’s a long corridor with flying drills coming out of the floor and ceiling. There are a few jumps to get past after that then you’ll soon be in the bottom of the stage. When you’re trying to get past the next few jumps there are guys balancing on top of giant machine cogs. You’ll need to destroy the cog to make the guy fall off. A little further on there are metal floor heads then a barrel monster. There’s a large jump then two more metal floor heads at the bottom. This then leads to the boss room.

Metalman looks normal apart from the mask covering his mouth and circular blade on his head. He’ll fire circular blades at you either on the floor or in mid-air. This boss room is slightly different because floor is always moving. It can change direction at random or when Metalman moves between each side.

Quickman



Set in a sort of futuristic type environment this stage can by really hard without Flashman's Time Stopper. There are lasers that shoot out for the walls extremely fast that can be easily dodged with the Time Stopper. The stage is pretty average apart for the lasers. There is one part half way though which the screen goes dark and you have to navigate though it in pitch black. There are large enemies with fire on their heads which light the stage up again, but if you kill them the lights go out.

As the name suggests, Qucikman is really fast. He'll move and jump around shooting boomerangs at you. He's really hard because he moves so fast and is a pain to hit.

Woodman



The stage starts in a woodland area then quickly moves underground. You’ll encounter metal bats which reflect your shots in they’re curled up. There are also big purple rabbits which hob along then shoot carrots at you. When you get the bottom of the underground there’s a giant fire breathing dog. There's another one in each of next two areas. You’ll then have to climb up two ladders to get back the surface. Outside there is a bamboo floor with Gorillas hanging from below. These will jump at you when you get near them. There are also egg dropping birds in this area. Once you’re at the other side you’ll have to go underground again. There are minor obstacles in the next two rooms and each has a purple rabbit in them. Once you climb down the ladder in the second room you’re outside again. This is a long room which is full of large robot chickens which jump at regular intervals. If you can get past them you’ll be at the boss door.

Woodman is a fat man who, funnily enough is made out of wood. He only really has one attack which is to surround himself in a leaf shield then throwing it at you. This battle can be hard because Woodman and his leafs are so big. While you’re fighting there are large leafs falling from the sky which can damage you.

Bonus Items

On certain stages in the game you can find energy tanks. These can be used at any time and give you back full health. You can hold a maximum of four at once.

There are three additional items which can help you reach previously inaccessible areas. Due to lack of originality these are called item 1,2 and 3. Item-1 creates a platform which goes up on a propeller. You can stand on this to reach high areas and use up to four at once. Item-2 is a jet powered surf board which will help you get across large gaps. Item-3 is a sticky platform which will help you climb up walls.



Dr. Wily’s Stages

Once you’ve defeated all eight robot masters you’ll have to enter Dr. Wily’s castle. There are a total of five stages which are harder than any of the robot master’s.

Stage 1
The stage is quite short and you’ll have to climb up the castle. You start out on in a barren area which has a rock floor. When you move forward the egg dropping birds will attack. Further on you have to use item-3 to get up a large building to the other side. You’ll have to deal with a few upright snake shooting things and climb a second building. Once you get to the end you’ll be at the castle itself. You have to use item-3 again to climb the wall and then climb a few ladders. On your way up you’ll see a number of soldiers with a shields. You then have to use item-1 to get across a large gap to the final ladder. Once you make it up there are loads of small jumps then the boss will appear. This is a huge flying dragon which will force the screen forward while you jump forward. It’ll eventually stop and you have to fight it.

Stage 2
This stage is mostly brown and green with a few spinning cogs in the walls. There are jumping propeller robots which try and attack you from the start. You’ll have to use item-2 to get across a large spiked gap. While mid flight you have a choice between two ladders, one leads to powerups and the other to lots of enemies. You eventually make it down to the bottom where you'll have to navigate though small passages avoiding drills and falling spike traps. There are two drops after that which then lead to the boss. This boss is formed by the room combining two pieces to form a small flying robot. This appear from high and low and only take a few hits to destroy.

Stage 3
There are a few drops with powerups than will then lead to dirty brown water filled with spikes. You'll need to be extremely careful because the slightest mistakes and you're dead in one hit. You make your way across dodging a large fish then have to navigate through some tough drops. The walls are still covered in spikes so you'll need to be quick to make it though alive. Once you've made it though this underwater deathtrap you can jump out to safety. There is a short corridor with stationary robots that are shooting at you. Once you've killed the robots you're at the boss. For anyone who's played the orignal Mega Man should recognised this boss. It's a giant robot Gutsman which looks like a tank.

Stage 4
This is easily the most annoying and hardest stage in the entire game. You start off having to climb a few ladders with a few construction worker hat robots trying to stop you. Next is an empty room with a long platform which has parts of the that you can fall through. This is made harder because the gaps invisible. Next is another similar room, but this time it has spikes underneath it. Once you're safely across there's an area with powerups and more construction worker hat robots. There are invisible gaps in the rooms just to make it even harder. Climbing up again will lead to a checkpoint room and this is where it all starts to go wrong.

You go down the ladder to the new area and have to wait for a platform to help you get the end without falling into the spike pits below. The platform moves in a complicated pattern and the room has three holes where the floating cylinder type things with eyes come out. Next is a similar room with no enemies, but you'll have to get across by quickly moving from ledge to ledge before the platform passes you by. If you make it to the next room it's a combination of the previous two rooms with slight differences. Finally is an easiest of all the rooms which requires a simple jump to the moving platform to progress. In the last room is a long corridor with a few soldiers in giant metal walking legs then the boss room.

The boss is five circular things which all shoot lasers at the same time. Each one has a wall protecting it with the boss and wall only being able to be destroyed by the Clash Bomb. Making use of your limited ammo is key to defeating this boss. If you die and continue the parts you destroy won't come back.

Stage 5
All you need to do is defeat all eight robot masters again on this stage. There are eight tubes like teleporters each leading to a boss. This stage is complete joke because all obstacles in the boss rooms have been removed. Also if you know their weaknesses it'll be a piece of cake. After you defeated them all you have to fight Dr. Wily in a space ship.

Stage 6
This stage is also a joke because the only thing you need to do is dodge dripping slime. It takes about 30 seconds to get to the final boss and is a waste for time. Once there you'll see Dr. Wily transform into an alien and fly around in a set path. He'll shoot at you with a single shot about every two seconds. This makes him quite predictable and you won't have much trouble defeating him.

Mega Man 2 Robot Masters Revisited

Near the end of Mega Man 3 you have to fight all the robot masters from Mega Man 2.



Enhanced Mode



Both the PSone Books and Mega Man Anniversary Edition have an updated version of the game. This includes updated in-game menus, in-game tips, remixed music and other minor changes. This may sound great, but it’s not really worth wasting your time with. The new menus are OK, but don’t really add very much to the game. The Japanese translation from PSone Books to Mega Man Anniversary Edition was poorly done. An example is on Woodman’s stage where it says something like “watch out for the cocks”, which is funny, but it should be chickens. The remixed music is from Mega Man: Power Battles and Mega Man 2: Power Fighters. Only half the music is remixed and the rest is the exactly the same. This is really disappointing and shows Capcom’s laziness in updating and porting the game. One of the best things is that it removes the screen and sprite flickering which is common is most NES games. You can also have mega-fire for your weapons which can be really useful for some enemies. There's also a nice art gallery with various artwork from the game.

Final Thoughts

This was the first game I ever completed and it took me forever to do it. I was about 8 years old at the time and found it a really enjoyable experience. This game has a lot to offer and is extremely fun to play. It has two difficulty settings so even beginners can still complete the game without too much trouble. This was the first Mega Man game to a password system so be thankful you don't have to start over. It has a lot of replay value because of the different combinations the bosses can be defeated in. A great 2D platformer and regarded as the best Mega Man game in the original series by almost all the fans. I give it a THUMBS UP.

Score: 9/10

References

http://www.planet-megaman.com

http://blue-bomber.jvmwriter.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://www.mmhp.net

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_2

http://www.engrish.com/faq.php#Q8

Super Metroid review

Originally Released
1994 on SNES

Also Released On
Wii Virtual Console

The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace



This is first thing you’ll hear before the game begins. You’ll then see our heroin, the infamous bounty hunter Samus Aran. You see a flashback from the original Metroid showing the defeat of Mother Brain on Planet Zebis. On the way back to her ship, Samus finds an egg which then hatches into a Metroid. This new born baby follows her thinking that she’s its mother. Samus captures the Metroid and gives it to some scientists on Space Colony for research. After a short period, Samus receives a distress call from the Space Colony and goes back to investigate.

Space Colony Distress Call

The game beings with Samus coming down a lift into the space station. You soon find that it’s derelict and without power. When you continue onwards you’ll see the research station where the Metroid was being studied. The Metroid is missing and there are scientists dead around it. If you continue further on you’ll finally get to a room where the Metroid has been left.

Hidden behind it is Ridley who’ll quickly fight you for control of the Metroid. You’ll be easily overpowered and Ridley will escape with the Metroid. When Ridley escapes it’ll set off the space station’s self destruct sequence. You’ll have two minutes to get back to the lift at the start. This isn’t too easy because the space station is falling apart. You’ll have steam and falling debris hindering your escape. Once you’re back on your space ship the space station will explode. Samus will then follow Ridley back to Planet Zebis.

Return to Planet Zebis

Once you land on the planet you’ll see that it’s raining outside and looks deserted. When you go through a door to your left you’ll be greeted to a large deserted area. Once you’re inside there’s only one exit further below to your left. This leads to a series of strangely nostalgic areas, which are all deserted.

The first room is the final escape point from the original Metroid. When you take the enormously long drop down it leads to Mother Brain’s chamber. You then continue onwards to a lift which goes down to the very first room from the original Metroid.

When you go left and jump over a large wall you’ll collect the ‘morph ball’. This will allow Samus to transform into a ball and navigate through narrow passages. If you go right you’ll be able to go under a small gap in the next room. In this room is a Chozo statue which will give you five missiles. These can be used to open red doors or as a power shot. Once you’re done here you can go back up the lift where you came down. All the areas you passed before will be full of enemies. You’ll go back to the first room on the planet and continue to explore the world.



Continuing Your Adventure

Planet Zebis is quite large and has a variety of different areas to explore. Each area has a distinct theme so is easily distinguishable between other areas. There are usually themed variations of the standard enemy types in each area as well. About half the areas you’ll visit are from the original Metroid. These aren’t exactly the same and are completely new. A lot of the enemies from the original Metroid are in this game as well.

As well as revisiting old areas there’s also two boss that have returned. You saw the first in the prologue stage which was Ridley. The other is Kraid who is two screens big. There are a number of interesting boss and sub-bosses throughout the game. When you defeat each of them you’ll get an important upgrade. This will give you access to new areas or further exploration of existing areas. Each boss is varied and will be a challenge to defeat. There are four statues near the start of the game showing the bosses you’ve defeated. You’ll need to defeat all four bosses to gain access to the final area. Each statue has a jewel that’s destroyed when you defeat a boss.

You’ll have to look at your map from time to time because of the size of the areas. You can find computer terminals where you can download a map of the area you’re in. The map itself is easy to follow and shows key areas like save points, missile/health re-chargers and even where the boss is. Each area has its own map which makes exploring easier. It’ll show you which areas are connected to each other if you find a lift to another area.



Weapons and Powerups

There are a number of different weapons, some are optional and some are required to progress further in the game. The major upgrade you’ll need is the ice beam. When you freeze an enemy and you can use their body as a platform to jump on.

You can turn off and on any weapon or upgrade at any time. This is works best when choosing your weapon. When you pickup new weapon upgrades they’re added to your existing weapon. Some weapons have hidden special moves when combined in certain ways. This means you may need to turn off some abilities to gain the special moves.

Almost all the original Metroid powerups are in this game. These include morph ball bomb, high jump boots and the others mentioned in the previous paragraphs. There are upgraded versions of classic powerups like super missile, power bomb and morph ball jump. Other new powerups include grappling hook, x-ray scope (see secret areas) and reserve sub-tanks.

As well as weapon powerups you can get two upgrades for your space suit. The first is the Varia Suit which reduces your damage taken and allows you to withstand extreme heat. The Varia Suit also changes Samus’ appearance by adding to her original space suit. This increases her space suit size and changes the colour to orange. The other is the Gravity Suit which allows you to walk through water with the same speed as you do on land. The only difference is that is makes your space suit purple this time.

Controls, Sound and Music

The controls are fluid and responsive so you’ll have no problems moving around. It’s really easy to perform complex actions like attacking in multiple directions. You can even do this in mid-air with no without any hassle. You can use ‘L’ to position Samus’ gun down and ‘R’ for up. This can be used for great accuracy and easy aiming.

The sounds and music are excellent and you’ll have to try hard to find something bad. The sounds are what you might expect if you’ve played Metroid before. They’re not too futuristic and really suit the game well. The music is great and really sets the mood for each area you’re in. Most areas have sub-sections so the music will change quite frequently. Some classic Metroid music also makes an appearance which great.

Final Thoughts

Overall this is a fantastic 2D side-scrolling adventure game. It’s easy to pick up and play and hard to put down. It’s really fun and you get a great sense of achievement while exploring the environment.

This is quite a long game and will take you at least ten hours to finish. Once you’ve completed the game you’ll find yourself going back for more. You’ll want to explore the world further finding everything there is. There are a lot of secrets, some of which are extremely hard to find. About 40% of the items in the game are hidden so you’ll be playing for at least another ten hours.

I highly recommend you play this and I give it a THUMBS UP.

Score: 9.5/10

References

http://mdb.classicgaming.gamespy.com/?g=sm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Metroid

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Review

Also known as:
Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight
Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku

Orignal release date:
1997 on PlayStation
1998 on Sega Saturn

Also released on:
Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360)
PlayStation Network (PlayStation 3 & PSP)
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)

Proulogue - Final Stage: Bloodlines



The game begins with you playing as Richter Belmont on the last stage of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine/Turbo Grapics 16) in 1792. You climb up the classic long staircase for the final battle with Dracula. There is a short dialogue between Richter and Dracula then the final battle commences. This battle can be easily won and once you’ve defeated Dracula the screen fades in a photograph, which burns up. After that you’re treated to the prologue of the main game with text which explains the story leading up to resurrection of Dracula’s castle… Castlevania.

Enter Castlevania



When the main game actually starts it's 1796 and you’ll play as Alucard, who first appeared as a playable character in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. You start with a sword, shield, helmet, armour, cape and necklace. Within a few minutes of exploring the castle you’ll meet with Death who warns you not to venture further into the castle. Alucard refuses so Death takes all your equipment and leaves you with just your bare hands. This may seem harsh, but you’ll soon find weapons and armour in the castle.

If you didn’t already know, Alucard is the son of Dracula. This means that he has some of his father’s attacks like the classic teleport and ‘Hellfire’ with three small or two big fireballs. He also has a few others including ‘soul steal’ which is Alucard’s signature move in later games he appears in.

Probably the best thing about Alucard is that his ability to use pretty much any weapon you can think of. The game has over 100 different weapons, most having a hidden special attack. These attacks can range from elemental to charged attacks and one even summons creatures to help you. You also get a selection of sub-weapons which Castlevania fans should recognise. These are daggers, holy water, throwing cross, stop watch and throwing axe. There are four new sub-weapons which are aguen, bibuti, holy book and a rebound stone.

This game still uses a set amount of hearts so you can use your sub-weapons. A lot of people find this confusing because you’d expect hearts to give you more health. This was used in the very first Castlevania game and almost all games in the series after this.

New additions to this game are the magic meter, ability to level up and use different equipment. As with most RPGs you’ll need a certain amount of experience points to increase your stats. The magic meter increases with each level up so you’ll be able to use the more advanced spells.

If you go into your menu you can equip a number of different things which gives the game even more RPG elements. The first on the list is two slots for weapons, shields and ‘use items’. This is great because you can have a number of different combinations which include a weapon and shield, two weapons, a two handed weapon or weapon and healing item. The other things you can equip are a head accessory, armour, cape and two other accessories. The number of accessories, amours and capes is quite vast with each having different attributes or abilities. Examples of this are a circlet which absorbs damage from poison, armour which heals as you walk and a cape which gives you hearts when you get hit. The ‘use items’ include status resisting potions, one time use weapons like javelins or flame boomerangs and other powerful spells like ‘bat pentagram’. This wasn’t the first time you could equip items because there were limited customisation options in Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest.

Exploring the Castle

Unlike previous Castlevania games, Alucard moves around in a fluid and realistic way which gives you great manoeuvrability. This makes playing the game that much better and means you can get out of tricky situations more easily. This is also the first Castlevania to give your character the ‘back dash’ ability.

This is the first Castlevania to include a map and teleporters because of the size of the castle. The map is very easy to use because of its simple layout and has been used in almost every Castlevania game after this. The teleporters are a nice addition and quickly help you get around.

While exploring the library you’ll find the Master Librarian who’ll sell you items. This isn’t really a first for Castlevania because there were people who sold items in Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. This is however the first proper shop that there’s been.

Each castle area has a completely different theme, music and enemies. This means that no area of the castle is the same and you get a wide choice of locations to explore. The castle is extremely large compared to previous Castlevania games and will take you at roughly 12-20 hours to go though on your first play through.



The enemies you’ll see are the usual things you’d expect from a Castlevania game. These are the classics like skeletons, zombies, bats and Medusa heads. There are also a lot of new additions like boomerang skeletons, invisible warriors with giant swords and lance wielding guards on top of wolfs. Each area usually has its own themed enemies which really makes things interesting. A lot of the enemies are from Dracula X: Rondo of Blood and look even better and some even have new moves.



While exploring the castle you’ll encounter a lot of bosses. A few of these are from Dracula X: Rondo of Blood and have been teamed up with other bosses for a more intense fight. The most notable examples are Slogra & Gaibon and Minotaur & Werewolf. There are a lot of new bosses which include a Doppelganger (a copy of Alucard), Succubus and Death.

You’ll find relics to help you in various different ways in certain areas of the castle. The most notable are the ability to transform into a wolf, mist and bat. These three main abilities all have two upgrades which greatly enhance them. You can also find Leap Stone (double jump), Spirit Orb (see enemy damage) and even familiars to assist you. There are five familiars which are a bat, fairy/faerie, flaming skull, demon and giant flying sword. Each familiar can be levelled up to give it more powers and make it attack more. The Japanese version has an additional two familiars which are 'tengu goblin' and 'sprite'. These are just copies of the demon and fairy/faerie and look slightly different.

Meeting Other Characters



Once you get to certain points in the game you’ll meet up with Maria Renard who was a playable character from Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. You quickly find out she’s in the castle to solve the mystery of Richter Belmont's disappearance. You meet up with her a few times and she eventually helps you progress though the game. If you die when fighting Dracula as Richter in the proglue stage you'll be able to see her briefly as a child. She was also a playable character in Dracula X: Rondo of Blood.

When you see Richter you find out he’s made a slave by Shaft, the evil wizard who resurrected Dracula. When you get far enough into the game you’ll find the long staircase from the prologue stage, which has now have collapsed. Once you get to the room where you fought Dracula, Richter will be waiting for you.

Without spoiling too much of the game for you, there is a lot more than map overage you might think. There's also a nice twist if you find a way to save Richter in Dracula’s castle keep.

Sound, Music and Voice Acting



The sound effects are also great and everything seems to fit nicely together. Occasionally enemies will shout out various things at you when they attack you or die which is always a good thing.

The music is an absolute joy to listen to and really suits the area you’re exploring. About half of the tracks are orchestral which really sets the mood for the location you’re in. Others are orchestral with a modern twist which may sound weird, but it really works. Every track is extremely well put together and is one of my favourite video game soundtracks of all time. I love it that much I bought the soundtrack CD and still listen to it every once and a while.

If you’re lucky enough to get the limited edition version of the PlayStation version you’ll get a Castlevania Music Collection CD. This has a selection tracks that span from the NES to the X68000.

In each scene with a main character you’ll be treated to a short voiced over conversation. This is quite nice and I feel this makes the game more involving. The English voice actors do a good job of delivering their lines, but with most games from the ‘90s the dialogue is something to be desired. Some of the classic lines are “What is a man?! A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk... have at you!" and “How is that I have been so defeated?" said by Dracula. The Japanese actors’ voices seem to be more suited to the characters, but since I don’t understand the language, I can’t really comment on it.

Game Over?… Not Quite



Once you’ve completed the game with enough map overage you’ll be able to play though the entire game as Richter Belmont. Richter has completely different moves compared to Alucard so this gives you an entirely new way to play though the game. He has no storyline and you don’t see any of the main characters.

Richter plays like your standard Castlevania character using the ‘vampire killer’ to whip his enemies to death. He also moves in the classic ‘tank like’ fashion. You’ll be able to use a verity of moves which gives you complete access to the castle as soon as you start the game.

It’s a real challenge to complete the game with Richter because he takes a lot of damage so you’ll find yourself dieing a lot. He does have ‘item crash’ powers which are super moves for each sub-weapon. This is something that Alucard can’t do.

You can also play the game on ‘luck mode’ when you’ve completed the game. This extremely reduces Alucard’s stats and gives you 99 luck and special luck ring. It’s quite a challenge because you’re so weak. The good thing is that your chance of getting a critical hit and rare item drops is greatly increased.

Finally if you play a ‘cleared’ save file you’ll get new items and the sound test in the shop. You also get time attack information for all the bosses you’ve defeated.

Sega Saturn Extras



The Saturn version of the game was only released in Japan and has a number of extras which are exclusive to the system. The first major difference is the option to play as Alucard, Richter and Maria at the start of the game. There is also a code you can put in to give Richter a different costume.

Maria is very much like Richter and has no storyline. She has her own unique sub-weapons and attacks which are all animal related. She also has ‘item crash’ powers, a selection of hidden moves and complete access to the castle as soon as you start the game. The only difference between her and Richter is that she has a magic meter.

The next major difference is the addition of two new areas of the castle which are the Underground Garden and Cursed Prison. These new areas don’t really add anything to the game and can be completely skipped out. The music for the new areas are remixes from classic Castlevania games. The Cursed Prison has its own music and the new remixes are ‘vampire killer’, ‘bloody tears’ and ‘wicked child’.

The Saturn version has two exclusive bosses. The first is a skeleton knight who is in the Underground Garden. The second is when you get to certain point and you meet with Maria. In the PlayStation version she gives you an item and in the Saturn version you have to fight her for it. The Maria battle has its own unique music.

While playing you can pickup additional weapons and items that are exclusive to the Saturn version. There’s also an additional relic which gives Alucard a speed boost if you double tap forward. Another exclusive is that you can access the sound test from the main menu which is always a nice feature.

Probably the best feature of the Saturn version is that Alucard has three ‘equip’ slots compared to two on the PlayStation. This means that you can equip three weapons, two weapons and a shield or two weapons and a healing item. This can be extremely useful is used correctly. I’ve found this feature weird because technically Alucard has three hands.

The reason Konami didn’t add these features to the PlayStation version is because the Saturn version was released a lot later. This means they had more time to add the new features.

Revenge of the Sega Saturn

You might think it’d be better just to get the Saturn version, but you’ll need to consider a few drawbacks first. First is that the Saturn version is quite rare so you’ll have to pay a lot of money for it. I paid £28 on eBay from a guy in Japan, but I’ve seen it go for over £50.

The Saturn’s slower CD drive speed and low hardware specs compared to the PlayStation cause most of the problems with this game. This is an issue that’s present in a lot of games that are on both systems.

The slowdown on the game can be quite unbearable at times. The game almost always slows down even if there are only one or two enemies on the screen. This means you have to really want to play the game to continue playing it.

The Saturn doesn’t have a controller with enough buttons so make playing a bit of a pain at times. On the PlayStation version you press ‘select’ to access the map, but on the Saturn you go into the menu then press ‘L’. This is really annoying and takes up a lot more time than you might think.

When moving between areas there is a wait of about two seconds on the PlayStation version, but on the Saturn a ‘now loading’ message is shown and takes over 5 seconds to load. This can be annoying if you’re going though multiple areas in a short period of time.

Xbox 360 version

The Xbox 360 version is a little disappointing. There are a number of things which annoy me quite a lot. Most are because at the time Microsoft set the size limit of Xbox Live Arcade games to under 100mb.

The controls have been changed and the ‘start’ button brings up a new menu. The ‘left trigger’ button shows the map and ‘back’ is for the status menu. There is no way to change this at all. The other controls can still be customised in the settings menu.

The sound quality has been reduced so the sound effects and voice acting sounds tinny at times. This is something that only someone who’s played the PSone version a few times will pick up on. The game sound is still set to mono in the settings menu which should have been changed.

When there’s an in-game dialogue between characters there is a blue strip with white text. When I completed the game with the best ending this was missing. This made reading the text extremely difficult because of the picture in the background. The game’s ending music was also changed from ‘I am the Wind’ by Michiru Yamane to ‘Admiration of a Clan' from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. This was probably because Konami didn't want to pay for the royalties/copyright for the song.

The money glitch has been fixed when using ‘Sword Brothers’ on the Librarian. This means getting the achievement for $100,000 will be a little harder. The glitch to keep your equipment at the start of the game is still there. This doesn’t affect much because it only works on your second play through.

All three FMVs (Full Motion Videos) have been completely removed. Unless you’ve played the game before you’ll be missing key plot points in the story. There’s nothing to replace them so it’ll be up to you to figure out what’s going on. This is a real shame and something should have been there to explain the story.

The game is displayed in HD (High Definition), but this doesn’t really update the picture quality. The picture is centralised and can be stretched in the options menu to whatever size you like. It has a border with Alucard on the left and Dracula on the right. The border has a graveyard at the bottom with crosses and fog floating across the top. There is also an ‘enhanced’ graphics option. This makes the game look really weird. I don’t recommend using it at all.

Now it’s time to point out the good features. One of the best things is that the loading times have been reduced to less than a second. This is because the game can load faster from a hard drive compared to a CD. The time you had to wait wasn’t too long but it’s still a bonus. You can also listen to your own music while playing which is also a nice feature to have. There are also thirty saves game slots, though you shouldn’t need more than three or four. You can now quit to the main menu with having to kill yourself.

As with every Xbox Live Arcade game you can get a maximum of 200 Gamer Points. This may not seem like much, but it’s better than nothing at all. Some of the achievements are stupidly easy to get. The best example is kill ten enemies without getting hit. I’m sure that whoever ported this game got lazy and couldn’t think of ways to challenge people. I believe achievements should be earned not just given away for stupid things. This game is still worth the 800 Microsoft Points (£6.80) I paid for it, despite everything mentioned above. It’s a pity that the Sega Saturn version wasn’t ported instead.

PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PSP or Game Download?

This is matter of choice more than anything. More people have a PlayStation than a Saturn so I’d recommend the PlayStation version. If you want to play the Saturn you’ll either need a Japanese Saturn or an Action Replay to play imports. If you can’t find the game or don’t have either a PlayStation or Saturn you can legally download it. You can download it on either Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360) or the PlayStation Network (PlayStation 3 & PSP). Konami has included the full game as an unlockable on Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP).

Final Thoughts

This is one of my favourite games of all time and I highly recommend that you play it. It’s also regarded by most Castlevania fans this is greatest Castlevania in the series. Konami really makes good use of quality 3D elements to a 2D game. The game also includes a few CG cut scenes which brings the game nicely together. The game has a short but sweet storyline and will gives you hours of play time. Overall a great game with a lot of replay value because of the large castle to explore and five different endings. I guarantee you’ll love every minute you play.

I defiantly give this game a huge THUMBS UP regardless of the system you play it on .

Score: 10/10

References

http://castlevania.classicgaming.gamespy.com/Games/sotn.html

http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/screen-cvsotn.htm

http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/screen-nocturne.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania:_Symphony_of_the_Night

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Review

Intro
Today I'm goning to review one of my favourite games of all time: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. A good 11 years ago Konami had released the game on the orignal Playstation, The game later was ported to the Saturn, Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and the Playstation Portable in an rehashed version of Rondo of Blood. The PS and Saturn version can be found in barging bins if your lucky but if you really want to join right now you can either get it on PS3 and Xbox360 for 10 dollars on there Arcade networks.

Story
SOTN has quite a deep story it begins of with a flashback where you kill Count Dracula as Righter Belmont after that you play as Alucard, the son of Dracula (just read Alucard backwards) who tries to stop the recent activities at the Castle of Dracula, Alucard is a pure good guy and tries to stop everything Dracula tries to do. You'll also meet Maria a young girl who tries to find her friend Righter Belmont, she also helps you defeat some bosses. Enough spoiler though let's go on.



Gameplay
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a mixture between a 2D action game and a RPG, normal combat is just like in other Castlevania game you slash enemies and when they die you can pick up a Heart, these Heart will let you do a special attack like throwing a knife or an axe, you can only hold one of these items so you need to pick the right one for the right enemy.

The RPG part of the game is quite deep, you gain experience if you kill an enemy, you will also gain levels from that experience, gaining a level means you get more health and do more damage and other stat's also boost up.

You can also find item like weapons and armour pieces you can wear to boost your stats, finding the right balance is essential. You can also find rings and which you can sell to a trader called 'The Master Librarian' you can also buy items, magic spells, tactics and get info on enemies. You can indeed cast spells you need to do a good button combination to fire the spell, these spells aren't that powerful but if they can be if you use them in a right way.

You also find Relics in the game these Relics let you get special abilities like getting hearts out of candals or even transforming in to an animal, you can transform in a Bat, Wolf or in Mist, you will need to have these powers to finish certain puzzles in the game. You can also get Pets with these Relics, these pets can also level up and will aid you in your battle.

To save in the game you have to go to an save point which will reheal you and save the game, there also teleporters in the game so you don't have to walk though the castle a million times.

Presentation
Castlevania SOTN looks very nice for a 2D game, the graphics are all smooth and there a lot of graphical wonders in the game, the only problem I have with the graphics are the 3D cut scenes you find sometimes, there just damn ugly, the irritating part is that you can't skip, you can't skip any cutscene in the orignal version and that strikes me as odd.
The music is so freaking wonderful in SOTN you almost can't top that in any other game.

Replayability
The main game is quite long and with an secret plot twist the game even becomes longer and harder, there also minor things you can find that only make the game longer and more enjoyable. There also Achievements in the 360 version so those are quite cool.

Verdict
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the best games ever made, if you haven't played this game before, your not worthy of calling yourself a gamer.

Score: 10/10

Links
Wikipdia
Metacritic PS (360) (PSP)
Xbox Live Arcade Page

Super Mario Bros. Review

Graphics

Revolutionary for their time. Finally, gamers were no longer confined to static boards! They could scroll (albeit only from left to right, no backwards scrolling yet) through expansive lands filled with freaky enemies.

Music and Sound
Sounds are surprisingly clear and oomphy for a little grey box made in the 80s. Legendary soundtracks that are still remixed in today's Mario games. Some tracks have even played by the London Symphony Orchestra! Holy crap!

Gameplay
Perfection. Mario walks, runs and jumps with ease. The first of its kind and the standard bearer for all 2D action games to come. Boss battles are bit repetitive. Don't use the warps immediately, you'll miss out on classic, trend setting gameplay elements.

Overall
A classic that even new gamers need to play through at least once. Know your roots!

Score: 10/10

Donkey Kong Country (SNES) Review

Graphics
In a word, amazing. They still hold their own today. At the time, these were unheard of, state of the art graphics for a 16-bit system. Rendered by Silicon Graphics, Nintendo stuck a fork in the Sega Genesis and called it done. It's still hard to believe the ol' SNES can handle smooth and crisp graphics like this.

Music & Sound
Excellent. Bassy, upbeat tunes resonate throughout the game. Sounds have good clarity and umph. The SNES was always known for its excellent sound processing (as the Final Fantasy series shows quite eloquently).

Gameplay
Smooth character controls (Diddy Kong runs faster, can jump in the air after preforming a cartwheel and jumps higher while Donkey has more power (can defeat bigger baddies and slam the ground to reveal secret items)) moves. Secret mini-stages are abundant in most levels throughout the game, so replayability is a no brainer. Boss fights are a little on the easy side, but still satisfying.

Overall
If you own a SNES or are interested in classic gaming at all, YOU MUST OWN THIS GAME.
Truly a must-have for any retro collection.

Score: 9.8/10

*Drool* Duhhh, I'm outta here.