BTails Plays...31 Nights of Horror 3... NIGHT 1
Alright, so just like last year, I've decided to pair each game with a Pumpkin Beer, as I'm a big beer guy as well as a die hard video game fan. Plus, pumpkin beer is delicious. So, without further ado, here's game number one:
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Nintendo 64
Paired with: Jumping Jack India Pumpkin Ale from Tree Brewing (Kelowna, BC)
Last year I played through the first Castlevania for N64, having picked up both at the same time and having played neither. I ended up really enjoying it, despite a certain jankiness, but decided that I should wait before playing the "sequel" as I've heard it's really more of an expansion pack than anything. Well, 1 year later here we are!
Time to boot this bad boy up....... Except it's not working! Remove cart, put cart back in... Not working. Double check the S-Video from my N64 is still working, yup another cart boots up. Well, what's Halloween without a little bit of surgery and gore?
Yup, time to dismantle the cart and give the 'ol white vinyl eraser and alcohol bath. Despite a tricky screw on the metal shielding inside the cart, I'm able to clean it pretty quickly and thoroughly. Thankfully I haven't cracked my beer yet, wouldn't want it getting flat/warm. Slap it back together and...
SUCCESS! Time to kick Dracula's ass. Also, time to drink some beer. India Pumpkin Ale is interesting, it's very hoppy in bitter, like any good IPA, but it's also got that distinct pumpkin flavour, and is certainly a lot darker in colour than most IPAs. Pretty good beer, and I'd recommend it, though it'd probably be impossible to find outside of the Western half of Canada (And maybe the Northwest of the States).
The game starts with a cool little cinematic of a girl being chased Evil Dead style through the forest. The opening cinematic is quite good too, love the music, especially when "Beginning" (Aka the Castlevania 3 theme) starts up for a few moments as the main character, Cornell, kicks some butt as his village burns. Just like Castlevania 64 last year, I'm very impressed with the cutscenes in this game: they're very cinematic for a 64 game, and add a lot of atmosphere.
The first level has me fighting my way through a boat (for some reason), before it is attacked by a big sea creature. I escape the sinking boat, and am on my way to dry land when the sea creature comes back as the first boss.
Eat your heart out Kratos, Cornell was killing giant hydra way before you! After this neat and short opening stage, I'm thrown right into a variation of the first stage from the original game, complete with the same giant skeleton boss. The map seems a bit different, but the same mechanics apply: flip switches, open gates, make tricky jumps, kill the skeletons.
Oooooooh spooky. Also, how can you tell if a skeleton's face is in agony and pain? After killing the giant skeleton a second time, I make it into the Castle Wall stage. Except this time, I'm treated to a cool cutscene where Cornell runs into an old friend from his village who looks like Sabretooth from X-Men. He talks about sacrificing a girl from the village to lord Dracula and glows all evil like before walking away: can't wait to fight this dude later.
With that, I turned the game off for the night - only got a couple stages in thanks to the delay of having to perform surgery on the cart. Should get some more in tomorrow evening as my wife has to stay late at work. Still haven't tried the main character's ability to turn into a werewolf - saving it until I hit a really hard boss.
