Review #602: Ultra Street Fighter II - The Final Challengers

 And, hopefully, the final stand-alone rerelease.

 Street Fighter II is more than 'just' a game. It's a classic. It's a trendsetter. It's a flippin' legend. It's also incredibly dated. Ultra Street Fighter II is one last update of this timeless classic, with new characters and the fancy HD sprites from Street Fighter II HD Remix and little else new. This is Capcom at their laziest, and trust me, they are lazy.

 Booting up the game presents you with a few options: Arcade Mode, a 12-man ladder fight with an ending for each character at the end, Offline and Online VS, 'Buddy Battle', in which you and another Player or a CPU team up to take down a single opponent, which could've been neat, but you can't even opt to be the single fighter against two opponents. Way of the Hado, a horrible first-person mode in which you use motion control to perform Hadokens, Shoryukens and Tatsumaki-senpukyakuus against Bison's soldiers. Training Mode, which is self explanatory, and, finally, a Sprite edit mode, in which you can create custom colors for your fighters. Admittedly, Sprite edit is a nice addition, but SF II sprites are pretty basic, so you can'd do much with them, and the game places some odd limits in an effort to prevent things like 'Nude Cammy'. I thought I'd enjoy this mode, I usually like tinkering with color palettes in fighting games when allowed, but this time it felt... lacking. There's one final option in the menu, an art collection, which contains various artbooks. To be fair, these images are VERY high quality, although most of the artists have a strange fixation on Chun-Li and her nipples.

 I remember when SFIIHDRemix was released that I longed for a way to own the game physically, since the new sprites looked fantastic. This cart is exactly what I've always wanted... but you should be careful with what you wish for. Firstly, you can change between the old and new graphics on the options menu, so if you are a purist you can simply toggle the new graphics off. Secondly, the more you look at these new graphics the more you'll notice how they are not as good as they look in stills. The art direction is fantastic, muscles look big, faces look badass and what not, but as good as the game looks in screenshots, the animations are a bit choppy anyways since they have the same amount of frames as the old graphics. As a matter of fact, these new, better-defined sprites make the lack of frames even more noticeable than before.

 Another issue is that sometimes proportions look off. Fei-Long's head is too big for his body, a problem share with Cammy when she crouches. Or Dhalsim's dancing victory animation, his legs alternate between being shadowed from one frame to the next, which looks very jarring. The proportions issue is also present on a few backgrounds, like Chun-Li's stage. The art looks great in pictures, but looses a lot of its luster when animated. While you can swap between old and new graphics when playing, you only get the HD endings.

 The two new characters are a scam. New characters on this old game sounded too good to be true, and it was. Capcom was too cheap to hire new pixel-artists, so they just repurposed Ken, Ryu and Akuma's frames to create Violent Ken and Evil Ryu. Violent Ken and Evil Ryu's winposes are just reused frames from their attack animations, one of V.Ken's worst is the one in which he stands mid-Shoryuken, looking as constipated as constipated can be. They don't have a single new animation, Violent Ken's teleport uses Akuma's teleport sprites and E.Ryu's Shin Goku Satsu uses Akuma's sprites too. As I said, this is Capcom at their laziest. Since Akuma has always been deemed too overpowered for competitive play, there's a new, nerfed version of Akuma... and a hidden Shin Akuma version that plays like his Boss incarnation. They share the same sprites, naturally.

 As for the game itself, it has been entirely rebalanced... but Violent Ken seems to dominate competitive play since he is just too good. I couldn't begin to get into the nitty gritty of how each character has changed, but if you enjoy Street Fighter II you'll be right at home here. Sadly, the joycons are not an optimal way to play the game. I settled for using the four buttons as opposed to the analogue stick, but both options were unreliable for performing special moves.

 If I were to speak about Street Fighter II's qualities it'd be an easy 8. The game is very old, but darn it if it isn't still a great game. Sadly, this port does it no justice. For today's standards this release is lacking meat. There's a reason Street Fighter II's most modern rereleases are either budget-priced or compiled with other games, because a re-re-re-release of an older game as it was just doesn't fly anymore. And they tried to mask how lazy the port was with the new characters, but they are the laziest additions the series has ever seen, even lazier than Decapre, at least she had different inputs from Cammy and wore a mask.
 5.0 out of 10

Review #601: Pokken Tournament DX

 The king of the Iron Pokemon Tournament begins.

 Often times called Tekken with Pokemon, the more you play the game the more you realize just how far off that comparison is. This is a one-on-one arena based fighting game in which you can play as any of 21 Pokemon. It certainly is unique, and Pokemon have never looked this good before. Also, everyone got pecs. Machamp? Pecs. Charizard? Pecs. Mewtwo? Pecs. Everyone gets pecs and muscles.

 Upon booting up the game you'll be disappointed to learn just how few modes the game offers. The main mode is Ferrum League, a repetitive ordeal in which you fight random sets of five fighters trying to climb the ranks so that you can enter a tournament, come out first and the fight the league champion... so that you can increase your League category and do everything all over, from League C up to League S. Occasionally hints of a storyline pop up here and then, concerning a corrupted Mewtwo. It's nothing special, really, what little story there is is told via simple character cut-outs between your ally-commentator and other NPCs anime cut-outs. Boring. After you're done with the storyline you can continue to fight in these leagues in order to fulfill special objectives and unlock cosmetics for your in-game anime cut-out avatar. You've also got daily fights which reward you with free level ups(More on this later), Offline and Online battles, both 1-on-1 and 3-vs-3 Team Matches, a-la-classic King of Fighters. As for offline battles, you can play in both split screen, with halved framerate, or on a single screen, which works relatively well considering this is an arena fighter, so the camera tends to be behind a combatant's back. Lastly there's a serviceable training mode that teaches you a few simple combos with each character, and let's you go over a character's entire moveset, so you can get a basic taste of how they play. Fighting in any mode(except training) gives your Pokemon experience points and upon leveling up you can increase your Strength, Defense, Synergy or Support stats. It's unclear on which modes these stats works, but the increases are negligible on the long run(For example, pumping all 98 points on your Strength Stat only gives you about an 8% increase) so they are not gamebreakers.

 Let's get this out of the way first: The 21 characters roster had no chance of ever satisfying fans since the games have over 700 different creatures. Hopefully one or two of your favorites made it in, in my case, I had Scizor, Blaziken and Mewtwo so I can't complain, but man, would I have loved Typhlosion or Tyranitar! Not having shiny colors as alternate color palettes was a huge missed opportunity. The game comes with a very annoying commentator talking over the fights and suggesting the dumbest strategies, luckily, you can just turn her off in the options menu. I did. My last complaining lies with the Ferrum League: Many goals require you using a specific Pokemon, but there's no easy way to switch characters while in the Ferrum League: You have to exit the mode itself, go into 'My Town' and navigate a few menus to change your partner pokemon. Lame.

 Luckily, gameplay is where the game truly shines. Forget all about Tekken, besides a few animations(Pikachu performing the Electric Wind God is a sight to behold) the game is nothing like Tekken, physics and mechanics are entirely different. Fights take place inside circular arenas of varying radius and shapes: Some are tight perfect circles, while others are a bit more like an ellipse. And this matters, because fights alternate between two phases: Duel and Field. During Field phase both characters get 360 degrees of movement, the camera is situated behind your back and most of your attacks in this phase have long-range or mid-range properties Hitting an enemy with specific attacks(Usually A+Back or a full homing melee combo) will switch combatants into Duel phase, which shifts the camera to the side, looking more like a traditional 2-D fighter, and your attacks become suited for close range combat. After a certain amount of damage is dealt, fighters revert to Field phase. Some characters are fantastic for Field Phase but are horrible in Duel Phase, like Gengar, other have great Duel Phases but suck at Field Phase, like Garchomp and others are decent at both, like Scizor.

 Regardless of Phase, you get three different attack buttons: A weak attack, that doubles as your main projectile attack in Field Phase, a strong attack, that doubles as homing-melee attack during Field Phase and a Special attack that behaves similarly in both Field and Duel Phase(Keyword: Similarly, some attacks may be shared, others may not). Any of the three attack buttons can be coupled with different directions on the digital pad to perform different attacks. I'm happy to say that every Pokemon is delightfully unique, even both Pikachus play very differently. It doesn't stop at their moveset, even their HP gauges and how fast they charge Synergy and Support gauges is different. Take Pikachu, he can easily enter Synergy Burst twice on a single round, but you'll probably never get to use it on a first round with Mewtwo. There're are a lot of different elements to keep in mind when it comes to picking your Pokemon.

 But what are the Synergy and Support gauges? Well, the Synergy Gauge increases as you deal and take damage, once full you can tap L and R to enter Burst mode for a short while : It makes you faster, stronger and may change the properties of a few of your moves, if the character has a Mega-Evolution they'll turn into it while in this mode. You also get to use you Super Move, by tapping L+R again, but if you miss or get interrupted you lose it until you enter Burst mode again, so be careful. As for support, there're various pairs of Support Pokemon you can pick before a fight, they may support you with an attack, a debuff or a buff. You can change between both support Pokemon before each round. The gauge for Support Pokemon increases by itself as time passes.

  Unusually, for a Japanese fighting game, you block by holding the R button. Weak Attack+Jump is a grab attack, that goes through grabs(But can be teched!) and Strong Attack+Special attack is your counter. Counters work a bit like Focus Attacks form Street Fighter IV, you can charge them for a while and you get a bit of super Armor while you charge. Each character's counter is different, some may even allow you to combo after it...

 It sounds like a lot to get your head over, and it kinda is, but getting used to the Phases took me less time than I thought it would. That said, while Pokemon games tend to be very casual at a surface level, this game is anything but. Button mashing will not work in this game. Someone who knows what they are doing will absolutely wreck newcomers, and there's no reliable comeback mechanic to save yourself. The combo system isn't very friendly either, which makes me wonder just how much fun casual players can get out of the game. If you've got more than a passing interest in fighting games, Pokken is worth a look, it does its own thing while having strong foundations on the tried and true. That said, a few more modes wouldn't hurt, adding  cosmetic customization to the Pokemon instead of a 2-D avatar would go a long way and trying to pump an extra five characters wouldn't hurt.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #600: 64 Memories - Buck Bumble

 A bee game.

Part 1: The Flashback
 Flying Dragon 64 was one of my most wanted N64 games ever, but Buck Bumble was my most wanted game ever, so it's only fitting that it's my big #600. Something about the character and so much yellow(I love yellow.) instantly captured my eye, and every screenshot, every description only fueled my need. I longed for the game so much so that even mediocre reviews couldn't deter me. I needed this game.
 But alas, it was not meant to be, I couldn't even find a copy to rent. Until now.

Part 2: The Review
 By now I've already accepted the harsh reality: Nintendo 64 games haven't aged very well. Poor framerates and bad control design are very prevalent, and Buck Bumble is not exception.... but it's still fun. This is a third person shooter in which you play as a cyborg bumble bee, armed to the teeth with various fire arms, from machine guns to rocket launchers, ready to lay waste on other cybernetic insects and arachnids.

 You play as the eponymous hero Buck Bumble as he is sent out by the powers that be to stop a herd of cybernetic insects. The game is 19 stages long, most which are fairly short, in which you have to fulfill different objectives: Defeat a boss, destroy something, collect something, etc etc. The game is played entirely in third person, with the camera situated firmly upon Buck's back. Stages can be tough... until you learn that unless you really need to, it's better to avoid enemies and move forwards rather than killing everything in your path. A few stages will have you searching for keys, which enemies might be carrying, or doors that require exterminating every enemy in the room, save for those instances, you're better off just avoiding enemies and finding whatever you need to destroy in order to progress.... which, could be enemies, but I digress.

 Moving around takes a bit to get used to, but once you get the hang of it... it feels really nice. Buck flies forward by default, and you can hold A to accelerate or B to hover on the spot. As long as you don't hit any slope you'll be fine, and if you do... well, Buck seems to have a few issues getting out of them. But, believe me, once you get the hang of it zooming around the stage becomes a blast. The game desperately needed the ability to strafe, avoiding incoming damage and retaliating is needlessly complicated due to the lack of it. That said, spread throughout every level are multiple flowers with healing nectar droplets hanging from them that will restore your life, so it never feels too overwhelming.

 The worst part about the game is its horribly outdated life system. Levels don't have checkpoints, so if you die it's back to the beginning of the stage.... which begs the question, why have lives at all? And, if you run out of lives... it's game over. Your life bar doesn't replenish between levels either. Let me let you in on a little secret... if you lose a life, just pause the game, select quit and reload your savefile. That's why the life system is dumb, bypassing it is so simple. The other biggest hurdle is trying to gain altitude without moving forwards, which is easy once you learn that you can just hold A+B+Up and gain altitude.




 While I wished for this game when I was younger, I kept my expectations at bay when I gave the game a try. But boy, oh boy, was the game a surprising delight. Mind you, the game is nothing to write home about, but there's quite a bit of fun to be had with this cart. A nice amount of weapons, decent amount of stages, a very original premise and decent, but aged, game mechanics.... I approve of this game. Past Me would've liked this one.
 7.0 out of 10

Review #599: Fire Emblem Warriors

 Warriors games never go out of style.

 I was worried. Hyrule Warriors was, in my opinion, absolutely dreadful and went against most things I loved out of the Warriors series, so another Warriors spin-off based off another Nintendo property wasn't very promising. A forum-conversation later, I was told that Fire Emblem Warriors did away with a lot of the 'novelties' Hyrule Warriors brought to the table, and boy, oh boy, was FEW worth it!

 The main story mode follows newcomer siblings Rowan and Lianne as they escape from an assault and... find themselves crossing over to the worlds of other Fire Emblem games...? Yeah, the story is dumb. It's 21 stages long and will ease you into the game. Then you've got History Mode, of which there are 5 maps with a ton of stages each(Wouldn't be surprised if each map had 20 objectives each). Apparently, these maps follow missions from a few games in the series.  As for the character roster, there are 23 playable characters, and, sadly, they don't cover many series. Awakening and Fates are in, because of course, as they are the newest games, Shadow Dragon is in as well, because you gotta have Marth, and then there's a single representative for the final 3DS FE game as well as a representative from The Blazing Blade. Their excuses? If they covered many series they'd have to have many protagonist which meant many Sword users. The reality? Most characters are sword users.

 As for gameplay, it's you against thousand of units, as per usual. In this game, on most stages, you can take four different characters on missions, and freely switch between them at any time. You can pre-set how their AI will behave during battle(It's pretty rudimentary, but it's good enough) although you can pause at any minute and issue direct orders such as 'Guard' this, 'Get' there or 'Fight' this). When the game gets going, don't be surprised if you find yourself frantically switching between characters in order to cover more ground, more quickly. It works great and was much better implemented than in Hyrule Warriors. A new mechanics lets you pair up units, which then allows you to summon the paired character for a guard-breaking assist, collaborate on your Super/Musou attack or have him help you by blocking incoming attacks every now and then. You can freely switch between paired characters and unpair them at any time.

 Besides said new additions, the core of the game remains like any other modern Warriors game, an evading dash instead of a jump button, weak attacks, strong attacks and super moves, they are all here. Defeating enemy generals yields materials which you can then spend on upgrading your character stats. Longer attack combos, being able to equip better weapons, more Super/Musou stocks and even Class Promotion. Class Promotions grant a massive boost to your stats as well as unlocking a new costume for your characters.

 The game is fast and frenetic, there's very little downtime when you play Fire Emblem Warriors... which is exactly what I expect out of these games. The game falls a bit short in the character roster department. Not only is the variety of games covered disappointing, but there are only 23 playable characters and there're many clones. Both archers have pretty much the same exact moveset, and you can find similarities between more than a few others. Having only 23 characters makes that pretty lackluster. There're 9 DLC characters, and, guess what? Even they have a few cloned movesets. DLC characters suck, but DLC clones? How low will Tecmo-Koei fall? On another note, the game might've gone a bit too far with damage sponges. An issue with some of the stages in History Modes that have you fighting against 'Shadow Enemies'. These bastards aren't particularly tough to defeat, but each one can take a solid couple of minutes or more to defeat since you can barely scrape away at their health. This can make some of the latter levels somewhat boring.

 I don't know if I'd say that Fire Emblem Warriors ranks among the best Musou games, but it easily cracks Top 15 for me. The action is fast and furious, the upgrade system is fun and I liked being able to have control of how my CPU generals behave. I would've liked more characters and a bit more variety on the movesets, but otherwise? Top-notch.
 8.5 out of 10

Review #598: Puyo Puyo Tetris

 The biggest crossover event since Space Jam.

 You've heard of Tetris. You've played it too. If you said otherwise, you are lying. As for Puyo Puyo, you might've heard of it and you might have played it, although, maybe, under another title, such as Eggman's Mean Bean Machine. Regardless, someone at Sega thought that it'd be a great idea to mix both puzzle games. Was it? Maybe. But regardless of how you feel about the mixture you're free to play either game separately, so you're basically getting two games in one!

 There're a ton of different modes. The 'big one' being the Story mode, comprised of 14 acts and about 10 stages each. Honestly, the story is childish and dumb, I gave up on it midway through Act 2 and just skipped all the dialogue. Stages cover various different goals and objectives, like clearing certain amount of lines before scoring a certain amount of points, clearing a certain amount of lines under a time limit, defeating your opponent, etc. Some stages can be a bit tough, but it seems like the game takes it easy on you if you fail enough times. I might be wrong. There're VS Modes, against players or AIs, and do be warned, AIs in Versus mode are tough, there's Swap mode in which you battle a certain opponent alternating between Puyo Puyo and Tetris boards, Big Bang, in which you must solve how to clear pre-set structures with falling Puyos or Tetrominoes, Fusion mode, in which you dealth with Puyos and Tetrominoes at the same time, Party Mode, which adds power-ups and, lastly, endless versions of Tetris and Puyo Puyo, either against opponents or on your lonesome. Clearly, there are a lot of ways to play the game, and there are plenty of unlockables, like different skins for Puyos and Tetrominoes, to sweeten the deal.

 You know how Tetris plays, you just do, so I'll just skip over and talk about puyo puyo. Basically,  pairs of bubbles, which may or may not have the same color, drop from above and you can spin them to either let'em down horizontally or vertically. Every time four or more of them touch they 'pop' and you score points. Obviously, in order to score the most points you should try to aim for chains, so that when some Puyos clear, the ones that fall pop other Puyos. As for the mixed mode, the game alternates between pushing Puyos and Tetrominoes. You can't make lines with Puyos and Tetrominoes, but Tetrominoes push Puyos out of their way... which somehow means that the puyos end up being on top of whichever piece you just dropped.

 I'm not the biggest fan of puzzle games, but Puyo Puyo Tetris was a great way to get my fix of Tetris. I suck at Puyo Puyo, and don't care much for it, so I didn't enjoy the mixed modes as much, but hey, I'm sure that fans of both games will get their kicks out of it. The multiple skins, or looks, for the pieces add a nice touch of variety, and there's a meaty offering of modes for those that just can't get enough of either game. As for me? I'm just fine enjoying the Endurance Tetris Mode!
 8.0 out of 10.

Review #597: Medievil

 I prefer it fullievil.

 MediEvil is a franchise I never spent too much time with. I used to have a bootleg Medievil 2 disc that would start you off with everything unlocked, I think, and what little I played was very lame. 10 or so years later, I find myself with an original copy of the first game, and boy, was it a doozy.

 You play as the recently revived Dan Fortesque, a fallen hero from a war hundreds of years past. Except that he wasn't really a hero, he died upon the first volley of arrows, but story remembered him otherwise. Now Dan, revived by forces of evil, is offered a second chance at proving his worth as a hero by stopping the very same necromancer that brought him back to life. The game is big on humor, past heroes are willing to offer Dan a hand, if he brings them a Chalice, but that doesn't stop them from making fun of him! Personally, while I wasn't laughing out loud, I did find the humor endearing. On the other hand, the game looks fantastic, environments and monsters look pretty great for a PS1 game.

 Medievil is the perfect mix of combat and adventure, still, the emphasis is clearly on the combat, as puzzles aren't very frequent nor very complex. Levels are fairly easy to figure out, but it's in your best interest to find each Chalice, one per level. Most chalices are hidden in every level, some in plain sight, but can only be picked up after slaying a certain amount of enemies. These Chalices are tantamount to your survival, as every Chalice collected will give you a reward: This is how you'll be getting better equipment throughout your adventure. That said, not all rewards are worth it, as some are simply gold or healing items, but most of the time it'll be a new weapon.

 You'll have to get used to Sir Dan's movement before you'll really enjoy the game. This game was released when Analog sticks on the Ps1 were still fairly new, so Dan's movement is very loose and slippery, it takes a while to get used to it, but it can be done. Combat is very loose as well, most weapons have two different attacks(A X combo attack and a special Square attack) but attacks feel as if they go all over the place. You will take damage pretty frequently when dealing with more than one enemy, but the game is pretty generous with healing sources, so it's alright. The game's biggest issue comes in the form of water, the camera can be hard to twist around with the L2 and R2 buttons, as sometimes it will refuse to spin, coupled with the slippery movement... it can make platforming over deadly water a bit tough!

 Hidden throughout the game are Life Bottles that will grant you an additional life bar, for a total of 10, so while you'll get a few undeserved deaths here and there, it evens out if you do your due diligence and explore for goodies. By the end of the game, if you've been collecting Chalices, you'll be armed with all sort of weapons: Swords, Axes, Maces, Crossbows, Daggers, etc, and while some weapons are better than others you'll be required to switch it up every now and then. Some enemies practically require you to defeat them with projectile weapons, hopefully you are stocked up(Otherwise, find a merchant to restock your supplies!), some obstacles must be smashed to smithereens with the hammer, and, sometimes, you'll have to set your club on fire to light torches. It's a surprising amount of variety for a PS1 game!

 The game is 20 levels long, and it's a blast to play. The Chalice system makes it so that, potentially, every level will reward you with something new, so there's something pushing you to get that 100%, beyond the True Ending.The game should take about six hours, give or take, and you might find yourself replaying stages if you missed a few enemies for your Chalice collection.

 After playing through MediEvil 1 I can easily appreciate why it's considered a Ps1 classic. The game is worth every penny and has aged relatively well. Definitely worth a try for anyone that's into old action-adventure games or horror-themed games. Getting used to Dan's movements will be the biggest hurdle, but nothing avid retrogamers can't handle.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #596: 64 Memories - Castlevania

 Some of the better Castlevania quotes since Symphony of the Night.

Part 1: The Flashback
 While I remembered spending quite a few afternoons playing this game, I was led to believe that the game was terrible due to pop culture osmosis. I'm happy to report that the game isn't that bad. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

 Castlevania was yet another game I got either for my Birthday or 'Childrens' day', and I remember it being the first game to ever freeze on me. As soon as the Skeletons on the first stage woke up the game froze on a black screen. And again after I reset the game. I was getting worried, but it worked the third time around, and the game went on quite fine ever since.

 I could never finish the game as Reinhardt when I was younger, something I fixed now, I started with Reinhardt first and got the first ending. Carrie was the easier character, and her exclusive stages certainly were easier! But, coming back with a more mature perception I was able to find a few shortcomings with her... Reinhardt does, indeed, have a few things going for him. That said, newcomers are probably better off playing with Carrie first.

 I don't know just why I liked the game so much. Probably because I've always been a sucker for all things horror, but this was the first Castlevania game I ever played. Curiously, as an adult with better defined tastes, I was able to appreciate other areas of the game, particularly the very distinct and colorful personalities that populate the Castle.

Part 2: The Review
 Not quite a Metroidvania, yet not quite a Classicvania either, you play through a very linear selection of levels. There are two playable characters, each one play through a total of 10 stages, 7 shared and 3 unique to each character. Objectives vary, sometimes it's a simple 'Get to the end' objective, other times you'll have to explore and solve puzzles to open your way through. Your mileage may vary, some of the puzzle-oriented stages are alright, like the Villa/Garden section, but the Castle Keep is probably one of the worst parts of the game, in which you're challenged to make your way from one room to another while avoiding getting hit or jumping, lest you explode and die.

 The biggest problem with the game is its camera, it's so bad that there's three different modes(Which you toggle by pressing C-Up): Normal, which tries to stick behind your back, Action, which tries to show you the best angles for jumps(It's a lie) and Battle, which tries to center around enemies(It sometimes fails to, however). While jumping to my doom wasn't always the fault of the camera, it might've gotten me falling to my death just a couple of times. It will make you get hit by enemies, however.

 Other gameplay mechanics are a bit clunky by todays standards. Each character has a main attack(Whip for Reinhardt, Magic for Carrie), a weak-but-fast close range attack(Sword for Reinhardt, Rings for Carrie) as well as any subweapons you can find, y'know, the classic red-heart consuming Daggers, Axes, Holy Water and the Cross. Hitting enemies can be hit or miss, Carrie has an easier time since you can just charge up your shot and let it home in on your enemy, Reinhardt, meanwhile, gets rooted to the ground when he uses his whip. Nearby enemies get soft-locked by an targeting reticule to help you side-step around. It doesn't work very well. As a whole, it's very serviceable, but you'll have to deal with its stiffness. It wouldn't be Castlevania without stiff gameplay.

 While combat is passable, the platforming is the worst part about the game. If it's not the framerate that will cause you to miss-time your jumps, it'll be the endlessly respawning enemies, or the enemies that spawn at the moment you jump, preventing you from defending yourself in any way. And some jumps require precise timing, jump a step to early and you won't make it, sending you all the way back to your last save point.

 There're a few other mechanics that haven't aged very well. There's a needless amount of time-related doors, doors that open only at night or during the day. Time passes incredibly slowly in the game, so hopefully you haven't misused your Morning/Night cards. Don't use too many of them either, as they'll toggle an optional boss at the end of the game and prevent you from getting the best ending. Powering-up your main weapon works like it did on Classicvanias, find two power-up items and you're good to go. Problem? Loading, or reloading if you died, your game sends you back to your level 1 weapon. This means that if you died to a boss, now you're back to your weakest-level weapon. Had to turn off the game? Sucks to be you. And the only way to get it back to its strongest is to grind for enemy drops and hope for the best.

 So far I've completely lambasted the game, and I bet it sounds like a terrible purchase, don't it? But if you are into retrogames you should know by now that these games have aged, which is why you have to appreciate them on another level. Castlevania 64 delivers elsewhere. The stages are just gorgeous, exploring the castle is a real treat. Plus, as soon as you hit the village you'll come across these various, distinct characters that are very memorable. Renon, the devil business man, Vincent, the Vampire Hunter that is way in over his head, Rosa, the wretched vampire and Malus, the lost kid. They don't have too much development, but what little scenes they get manage to leave lasting impressions on the player. While playing the game can be clunky, exploring the Castle can be very fun.

 Castlevania 64 is a game with very high highs, but very low lows. When it's at its best you'll be enjoying your exploration, as you climb through broken debris, land tight jumps, clamber through narrow edges and slay cool looking monsters. But at it's worst you'll be retrying the same annoying jumps over and over again, you'll be going in circles through the same few environments trying to solve puzzles and you'll be dealing with a poor combat system. I honestly think that there's some fun to be found here, if you come at it with the right mindset.
 5.5 out of 10