As a result of these improvements, the game doesn’t feel quite as unforgivingly difficult to play, but at the same time not too easy. You can also restore your health with pickups much more regularly, which is a welcome change from the earlier titles. An earlier gripe of mine, stairs, have also been improved as you will climb and descend the vast majority of them automatically as your approach, instead of forgetting to push up or down and plummeting to a frustrating death like before. You can now also release your whip in one of eight directions and keep it extended to spin it round and defend yourself when things get hectic. Control mapping has been tweaked and feels more intuitive, with simple changes such as your secondary weapon having its own dedicated button. The game still looks and sounds fantastic today and is incredibly accessible. As with so many franchises, the game released in the SNES era is often considered the finest entry in the series, and there are many fans who think this of Castlevania, including myself. The next game in the series, Super Castlevania IV, which was released on the mighty SNES, moved the already beloved series forward leaps and bounds. Konami really nailed the vampire vibe with varied level design, enemies and eerie chiptunes. Otherwise, with a certain element of patience, the games remain very playable and enjoyable to this day. The controls can be a bit dodgy, especially when trying to navigate stairs, so I’d recommend moving with the D-Pad. These, rather oddly, don’t replenish your health but provide ammunition to your secondary weapon which you’ll rely on more and more as you progress through the game, and take on bosses.Īs they did back in the day, the games will still lag pretty badly when you start chucking jars of holy water about, but that’s part of the charm with nostalgia trips such as these and the Castlevania Anniversary Collection is no different. In all three adventures there are numerous pickups to nab, as you smash your way through the many candles dotted about, most of which are hearts. I can’t quite explain it, but mainly because of small differences, it feels like the odd one out compared to Castlevania I and III. The second game feels simplified where you only have your whip, and are introduced to a day/night mechanic, meaning the enemies would be able to take twice as much damage after sunset. You start armed with your famous whip, but can pick-up more powerful secondary weapons on your travels. With the Wii Shop channel closing this year, it would have been a “nice to have” game, but there’s still plenty to get stuck into here without it. These events would see games previously never released in the UK making it across to our shores for the very first time. It has be re-released in the past, first coming to my attention during one of the Wii Shop’s Hanabi festivals around ten years ago. The only, potentially obvious, game missing from this compilation is the fantastic Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. All this is yours though for the reasonable price of £15.99, which by anyone’s standard is plenty of Castlevania for your money. It’s a nice extra, but a bit of a bugger to navigate through. As well as these titles, the collection also contains a digital bonus book, featuring original box art, interviews with those involved in creating the games and archived designs from each release. First things first, the games included here in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection are: Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Super Castlevania IV, The Castlevania Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge, Castlevania Bloodlines and Kid Dracula.
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