Topic: A Detailed Analysis of Legion, The Stuff of Nightmares

[Sindra]

Very nicely done article. You did what I wanted to do with my Stop Watch Theory thread and include pictures to illustrate, but didn't have the time to.

Legion to this day is probably one of the most memorable boss fights for me. I can't express enough how much I love the delicious morbidity and creep-factor it had, and still has to this day when I play the game. The amount of detail and the holds-no-punches-back attitude when it came to design and execution of this boss in particular is exactly what I hope for more bosses in the series. You're combining body horror, manipulation, death, and the demonic all together into one boss, that it gets the desired reaction.

Konami, please.....do more like this. I for one LOVE being moderately creeped out by things like this. Adds to the entire experience.

[Darth Cariss]

I love Legion, it's such a great boss fight, and very creepy. I think what makes SOTN's version the creepiest/best (not just because it was first and new) was the sound design. It had the screams, the music, it all fit together. The later games just haven't gotten down the sounds well enough.

[Flame]

Ridu.

DO MOAR OF THESE ARTICLES.

As for legion, yeah, SoTN was awesome. At the same time actually, hitting the corpses on the main body felt satisfying, because you actually hit a whole cluster of bodies.

I liked Aria's legion. it looked creepy with that face on it. although the mechanical part underneath was weird. (awesome soul though). but if there is one thing that I LOVED about Aria's legion, its the room. it is an infinite corridor filled with the bodies that make up legion. but the buildup WAS by far the best legion buildup by far.

BTW- Aria was my first vania, so I was first exposed to it.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Legion is not from this world, and not from this dimension...

...and something tells me that Legion's Core has been transported from the Gradius Universe.  The core seems to come from Outer Space
Observe, Legion's Original Habitat (Skip to 0:22):
Gradius Arcade - No Miss Full Run on Very Difficult (2/2)

There are some pieces of evidence to this, but we will start with the basics:



1. Legion is a fleshy core with a number of tentacles.  These tentacles are able to shoot a number of different projectile and beam weaponry.  In the Gradius Universe, the tentacles reach out from this enemy.  The Internet says they're called "Brain Cores" but I'm not sure on this.

2. Legion has the unusual ability to levitate, in every iteration (including Circle of the Moon's regular 'legion' enemy), just like the ones from Gradius (though it can be argued that these are in outer space and not really levitating but more like 'free falling').

3. Soma Cruz's "Legion" Soul actually shoots a Cyclone Laser (That is, an array of lasers shooting in a cirular formation straight forward), a staple of the Gradius games.



4. Legion seems to control the bodies/souls with a type of telepathy.  Gradius's Bacterian Army is notorious for this, as there's usually a brain or brain-like controlling mechanism.

[Flame]

So basically, Legion is yet another nod to an older konami game.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Seemingly so, yeah.

The Bacterian Army from the Gradius games is notorious for taking one body/mind, and then just attaching things to it over and over (often is is cells or cellular beings), like a virus, and then augmenting it and making it grow more and more and more, until it is a giant brain capable of telepathically control a myriad of life-forms in a solar system's range.

I wouldn't be surprised if "Legion" is a baby version of a Brain Core.  This is further corroborated by the fact that is IS a baby, in Aria of Sorrow (or, at least, it resembles a human fetus).

But yeah, I would say its core is a nod to the Gradius games.

[Flame]

So the Bacterians are like the Borg.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Hmm... yeah I can see quite a few parallels between Star Trek's "Borg" and Gradius's "Bacterian Army".

And in this, you can also see the parallels between them, and the Legion enemy.

[narkolepsi]

Brilliant analysis. I'd love to see more like this.

Legion always did a good job at scaring a reaction out of me; the only one that comes close to that would be Graham. The religious allusions always seem to do it for me.

[Flame]

Hmm... yeah I can see quite a few parallels between Star Trek's "Borg" and Gradius's "Bacterian Army".

And in this, you can also see the parallels between them, and the Legion enemy.

Awesome.

[Ridureyu]

You know, the Gradius comparison is pretty spot on, especially in HoD and Aria of Sorrow.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I forgot something:

When the Vic Viper shoots the enemy, it keeps hacking at it shrinking it in size, until it's the size of its small core, and then you blow it up.
This is analogous to how Alucard/Jonathan/Charlotte have to keep chopping away at it  until it's made of less and less, until it's the core, and then you can truly beat it up.

[Munchy]

Dude, nice article. These are pretty interesting.

Legion was pretty fucking creepy, I must admit. I wish Castlevania would take more strides towards the horror side of things. LoS had a few good strides toward this point in the Castle and in the forest/village afterwards, but then it kinda died.

[xscientist5000]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Legion in Shadowman. "for we are many!"

Shadowman intro (PC)

Good review of legion by the way. I like the explanation about the catacombs being the hiding place for Christians. I always wondered how those bones got there.

I want to know what happened on those stairs in HOD. It looks like a giant steel ball was dropped on them, and the pillars are jacked up too..

[Ridureyu]

In HOD, Legion Corpse came through the portal, killed the warriors, and damaged the stairs and pillar. If you look, the damage is like a really big ball.