Discussing Castlevania 64 in a few recent threads about Smash Bros made it clear to me that this game does not have enough lovers. Those of us who love love heartily though often in secret, unaware that we are in the midst of other Castlevania 64 lovers. Please join us in this Church of Loving Castlevania 64, praise be upon the little Nintendo 64 that is so unfairly maligned.
First I am going to state the bad things so I don't have to have people go "But that tho". Yes, the graphics are soupy and the game is presented to you courtesy of Vaseline-o-Vision. Yes, the camera gets hella-wacked out sometimes and you must play the game as though you were a meth head, jittering furiously. Yes, the game is no SotN in neither beauty nor voice. And yes there are wacky skeletons on motorbikes (though I would argue that wacky out-of-time enemies are core to what Castlevania is anyway, but we have to address the "I heard this on a Podcast lol!" people).
So what is special about Castlevania 64? In my opinion, it is the truest conversion of the 2D actionvania format to 3D. The game is linear and is built primarily around platforming challenges, combat with enemies, and environmental puzzle solving. If you put this game up against Lament of Innocence (which is OK) or Curse of Darkness (which is just bad), IGA's attempt to make a game in 3D, you would find a game designed much more in the style of Super Castlevania IV or Rondo of Blood than you would Devil May Cry or God of War, and I like that.
The game's action stages are mixed with more exploration or adventure-style stages, generally where the player progresses through a non-linear or less linear environment exploring the castle grounds, navigating mazes, and meeting new characters. Like SotN, Dracula's bachelor pad is full of NPCs both friendly and unfriendly that enrich the world.
My favorite of these levels is probably the villa, which I think most people love. After you fight your way into the villa, you are immediately attacked by one of the first vampires in the game. Finally at peace, you explore some hallways and meet another vampire slayer and a demon merchant. You encounter a villager looking for help when you notice he doesn't have a reflection. It's a vampire. Yep. Time to beat his ass. This is all while haunting music plays and you feel a cold breeze blow through the villa's flowing curtains. Where is stuff like this in Curse of Darkness or Lament of Innocence? I don't even know them.
The thing about this game's platforming is that it is PLATFORMING. There's no autoplatforming, there's no "oh maybe you should go this way" cloud of bats like in Lords of Shadow 2, there's no highlighted ledges and shiz. This is bareknuckle platforming, particularly so in the original version of the game (because the camera is so bad! lol!). Playing as Carrie puts you on the more platformery path and through the Tower of Sorcery, which is basically just appearing and disappearing platforms over a void. For like 20 minutes. You will cry. You will scream. You will shit with fear.
The atmosphere of this game is really second to none. It does a lot with its crappy graphics. The Forest of Silence feels like something is constantly off. It's quiet. Maybe too quiet. The path up to the villa feels dark, damp, and decrepit. And there's actual platforming. Like a lot of it. The villa feels ornate and well appointed, like some kind of magnificent Tuscan holdover that just happened to appear in the middle of this gothic horrorfest. The music makes a solid impression despite the limited capabilities of the N64, and everything sounds good and has a strong melodic hook to it.
And then there's the Castle Keep. Oh, you cold, cold bitch. Many a run you have ended. This level is ingenious in design but execution requires patience and persistence. There's a central elevator you need to activate to advance. To advance, you need to basically deactivate a magic seal in the basement. Deactivating the seal requires you get some explosives and something else, I don't know what it is so let's call it IGAjuice. Carrying the dynamite from the roof of the Castle Keep, basically, all the way down to the basement has two nasty ass requirements: you can't jump at all and you can't get hit by an enemy. Oh mother of god. Oh lord. So you precariously carry this shit all the way down through spinning gears and through ferocious armor knights and through all that and you put it there. And then you fight a big ferocious dog thing. What a beast this game is.
With multiple paths through the game, great atmosphere, wonderful level design with actual platforming, and fun combat that makes you manage your life throughout the stage, this is a classic. Is it flawed? Yas. Is it perfect? No. Is it the best 3D Castlevania? Hell to the yas and you should try it.
And girl I haven't even talked about the time system or Reinhardt and Rosa.
First I am going to state the bad things so I don't have to have people go "But that tho". Yes, the graphics are soupy and the game is presented to you courtesy of Vaseline-o-Vision. Yes, the camera gets hella-wacked out sometimes and you must play the game as though you were a meth head, jittering furiously. Yes, the game is no SotN in neither beauty nor voice. And yes there are wacky skeletons on motorbikes (though I would argue that wacky out-of-time enemies are core to what Castlevania is anyway, but we have to address the "I heard this on a Podcast lol!" people).
So what is special about Castlevania 64? In my opinion, it is the truest conversion of the 2D actionvania format to 3D. The game is linear and is built primarily around platforming challenges, combat with enemies, and environmental puzzle solving. If you put this game up against Lament of Innocence (which is OK) or Curse of Darkness (which is just bad), IGA's attempt to make a game in 3D, you would find a game designed much more in the style of Super Castlevania IV or Rondo of Blood than you would Devil May Cry or God of War, and I like that.
The game's action stages are mixed with more exploration or adventure-style stages, generally where the player progresses through a non-linear or less linear environment exploring the castle grounds, navigating mazes, and meeting new characters. Like SotN, Dracula's bachelor pad is full of NPCs both friendly and unfriendly that enrich the world.
My favorite of these levels is probably the villa, which I think most people love. After you fight your way into the villa, you are immediately attacked by one of the first vampires in the game. Finally at peace, you explore some hallways and meet another vampire slayer and a demon merchant. You encounter a villager looking for help when you notice he doesn't have a reflection. It's a vampire. Yep. Time to beat his ass. This is all while haunting music plays and you feel a cold breeze blow through the villa's flowing curtains. Where is stuff like this in Curse of Darkness or Lament of Innocence? I don't even know them.
The thing about this game's platforming is that it is PLATFORMING. There's no autoplatforming, there's no "oh maybe you should go this way" cloud of bats like in Lords of Shadow 2, there's no highlighted ledges and shiz. This is bareknuckle platforming, particularly so in the original version of the game (because the camera is so bad! lol!). Playing as Carrie puts you on the more platformery path and through the Tower of Sorcery, which is basically just appearing and disappearing platforms over a void. For like 20 minutes. You will cry. You will scream. You will shit with fear.
The atmosphere of this game is really second to none. It does a lot with its crappy graphics. The Forest of Silence feels like something is constantly off. It's quiet. Maybe too quiet. The path up to the villa feels dark, damp, and decrepit. And there's actual platforming. Like a lot of it. The villa feels ornate and well appointed, like some kind of magnificent Tuscan holdover that just happened to appear in the middle of this gothic horrorfest. The music makes a solid impression despite the limited capabilities of the N64, and everything sounds good and has a strong melodic hook to it.
And then there's the Castle Keep. Oh, you cold, cold bitch. Many a run you have ended. This level is ingenious in design but execution requires patience and persistence. There's a central elevator you need to activate to advance. To advance, you need to basically deactivate a magic seal in the basement. Deactivating the seal requires you get some explosives and something else, I don't know what it is so let's call it IGAjuice. Carrying the dynamite from the roof of the Castle Keep, basically, all the way down to the basement has two nasty ass requirements: you can't jump at all and you can't get hit by an enemy. Oh mother of god. Oh lord. So you precariously carry this shit all the way down through spinning gears and through ferocious armor knights and through all that and you put it there. And then you fight a big ferocious dog thing. What a beast this game is.
With multiple paths through the game, great atmosphere, wonderful level design with actual platforming, and fun combat that makes you manage your life throughout the stage, this is a classic. Is it flawed? Yas. Is it perfect? No. Is it the best 3D Castlevania? Hell to the yas and you should try it.
And girl I haven't even talked about the time system or Reinhardt and Rosa.
