Topic: One evening in late '93

[yamabigdog]

Harken back to a time before 3-D graphics were a thing.  At this time SNES was the mainstream pinnacle of videogames.  CD format games systems were not a thing in the U.S. yet.  To the newer generation, this may be hard to envision. 

I had a friend, who seemed to get every new system when they came out. I'm talking the really expensive, import ones most never heard of. Examples would be NEO-GEO, Phillips CDI, 3DO, SegaCD, Atari Jaguar to name just a few this lucky soul would own.  I felt honored to just be able to play these, while they were featured in EGM gaming mag usually the same month!

Ok, enough mood setting.  Let me get to the point now.

My friend, we will call him J, calls me one evening and says he has a new system to show me.  No details, which I found strange, as he usually was gushing over new features/graphics.  I get to his gameroom and he won't show me the system, or even tell me the name of it or the game.  Now when I say gameroom, I'm talking a huge TV, as wide as a wall.  Surround sound stereo system, gaming chairs, the whole 9-yards!

We sit, and he hands me an unfamiliar controller.  Turns the lights off, and cranks the stereo on so loud!  I remember clearly, because his walls were rattling from the boot screen logos.  I was like, "Your Mom doesn't get mad?!". It was like 9-10 pm.

What I saw next, I will carry with me to the grave, pun intended!

Dracula X : Rondo of Blood's opening cinematic plays and I am left speechless.  I, being a longtime CastleVania junkie, was in gaming heaven.  The opening level reminiscent of CV2, the CD quality score pounding in my ears was so far and above anything at the time.  The multiple exits to each stage, the challenging boss fights, it was too surreal.  The culminating Dracula fight was just epic, a timeless encounter. I think this game even got me to appreciate Japanime.  We played the entire night, (not at full volume lol), until the morning sun vanquished the not-horrible night!(see what I did there!?)

I'm not sure I posted this in the proper section of the forums, but it is a story I wanted to share.  I went from being a huge fan, to a now ravenous, insatiable CastleVania connoisseur.  When you hear someone's favorite CastleVania is RoB, now hopefully you can see why.

[zangetsu468]

Your story is only second to AVGN's telling of the first time he played Super Castlevania IV, where the sound and graphics "blew my fucken balls off"!

One of the coolest things about Rondo's opening level was being able to read the sign in the Town of Aljiba, reaching back to Simon's Quest.

[Belmontoya]

I have a similar story except I was the friend with the turbo duo and rondo. It was great and I'll never forget what playing it on its native system with the nes like controller with a 4ft cord was like.

I still own the game and am considering selling it.

The whole experience was great. But I must admit that even with the cinemas and the benefits of cd rom, I was never as blown away by rondo as I was CV4.

My 5-6 year old mind was equally blown by CV1 when I first experienced it back in the 80's. Never let anyone tell you that a video game can't be a life changing experience. Castlevania is an every day part of my life 26 years later.

[X]

Welcome to the Dungeon yamabigdog 

I had a similar experience with Super Castlevania IV. It happened after I came home from school (the perfect time to unwind). My bro had my SNES fired up as I went to the basement where the entertainment setup was. He quickly reset the game and covered the cartridge so I wouldn't see what he was playing. I had literally no idea either...until after the Konami logo passed and the SCV4 logo came scrolling down. It was happy memories from that point-onward. Everything about that game blew me away as I had only known the NES trilogy previously. I played that sucker to death and beyond. It was so good I couldn't be bothered to stop. Even today, 20+ years later it still holds a special place in my heart. A game where Konami shone the brightest in one of its rare, pinnacle moments as a gaming industry.

[Lelygax]

Welcome and..

My friend, we will call him J, calls me one evening and says he has a new system to show me.

It cannot be, can it...?

(click to show/hide)

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Sounds a lot better than my intro to Castlevania.

Here's my version:

Me: *walks into girlfriend's room* Hey whatcha playin'?
GF: Castlevania Curse of Darkness.
Me: Looks cool.
GF: It is. You should try it. Admire Isaac's pants.
Me: What?
GF: It'll make sense when you buy it.
Me (three days later): *buys it and the Castlevania Double Pack*
Me: *is hooked on the series forever*

[zangetsu468]

Welcome and..

It cannot be, can it...?

(click to show/hide)

Wait... Taylor Swift grew facial hair? 

[yamabigdog]

Thanks for your replies, and sharing your similar experiences. 

I too was captivated by CastleVania on NES at a tender young age of 7-8.  My older bother had to beat the mummies(and death & the count) for me.  We would leave the system on while at school, so we wouldn't have to go thru the whole castle again.  I only beat it myself many years later.

[Lelygax]

Welcome Yama, yeah the classic games were really hard. From all of them I had to start which one of the hardest ones, Dracula X for SNES. I feel sooo lucky...

But I've no regrets about it, I could never beat the Necromancer at the time and traded it for some other game that I don't remember, it was the japanese version so I didn't knew the name of the game. Years after I saw this familiar guy dressed in blue in SotN and searched on the internet some time later only to discover that it was in fact the same character, in the same franchise. The rest is history...

[zangetsu468]

Welcome Yama, yeah the classic games were really hard. From all of them I had to start which one of the hardest ones, Dracula X for SNES. I feel sooo lucky...

One of the harder games, but I wouldn't call it the hardest. I'd argue CVIII, Bloodlines (particularly the later levels) and Haunted Castle are harder games.

[Lelygax]

That is exactly why I said it is one of them. Vampire Killer for MSX and Haunted Castle are far on the top

[Shiroi Koumori]

My very first experience was being a scared toddler watching my dad play CV1 (NES). It must be the music, the dark screen, and him playing the game at night.
I never touched Castlevania until SotN came along.

[TheTextGuy]

My very first experience was being a scared toddler watching my dad play CV1 (NES). It must be the music, the dark screen, and him playing the game at night.
I never touched Castlevania until SotN came along.

For some reason, when I was younger, Castlevania also scared me (because Dracula vants to suck your blood oooooh... yeah I was a pretty jumpy child)
It prolly wasn't until I was around 13-ish that the series really got my attention when I bought Super Castlevania IV on the VC.  Then I proceeded to like the game then buy Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP.  Then I was hooked on the series.

[Lelygax]

What scared me a bit were these images that appear while the game's story is explained, these villagers were ugly as hell! Even more the bald and fat one.

[Aceearly1993]

Wow that's some fantastic story


It's a shame that I can't enjoy and drop into the great 'vania games at the exact time when it came out, but the grief had been 80% solved thanks to the internet